Sartorial Saturday: Beehive Girl

That title would have been so much more poignant if I had my hair fashioned into a beehive that day. Alas, I didn’t, but as these pictures were taken (by Jules, thanks for that!) on campus during freshmen acclimatisation week the buzzing building could count as a bee hive, too. Plus, bee-ish stripes.

Outfit Rundown:

- short longsleeve top: Oxfam
- wife beater: H&M
- shorts: pimkie
- tights & socks: H&M
- shoes: Dr. Martens

Accessoires Rundown:

- arm warmers: made by Jules
- necklace & lace choker: selfmade
- earrings: Africa festival
- buttons: gift from Bertie & some gift shop, I think
- bag: thrifted

10 Adorables in November

A whole week of not posting! That’s rather rare with me, isn’t it? University wanted most of my time, but now there’s only one more presentation and I’m done for 2011. The picture above was taken on my way to lunch break from uni, by the way, and I had to put it in in this size, to show you all the splendor.

1. Urban Threads. They have some awesome designs and I’m quite tempted to buy some of them for Jules (who actually has an embroidery machine) to bribe him into making me equally awesome patches.
2. Dry Leaves that rustle when I walk through my fairy tale town. They make rising early and going to uni so much more rewarding!
3. SketchUp! We are supposed to use this for university to display a 3D view of very early temples, but when Imp taught me how to work with it I used it to plan some changes for my room, too.
4. Clementines and Mandarines. I try to substitute most of my sweets with them at the moment.
5. Blythe. I always had a weak spot for dolls, an even weaker spot for posables and even thouh they are kind of creepy, I do develop one for Blythe, too.
6. Silhouettes and alike paper cuts. Miss Lumpy shared some fake lashes made of scherenschnitt paper lately, and I admire the artists that were or are able to producesuch wonderfully detailed pictures. Actually, I plan on making some silhouettes myself, but as many of my projekts, it’s just another part of the pile. *sigh*
7. The Cold. I love it when I can see my breath in the morning and snuggle up with woolen socks and Scoundrel’s hoodie and a book and hot cocoa in the evening.
8. The *Plopp* of the breaking vacuum seal when I open a new jar of my favourite pesto.
9. Fog. It’s hanging all over town, in hedges and trees and on the tips of the roof tops. Some mornings it’s so much that even the other side of the street seems a little blurry.
10. OMG that dress!, a wonderful tumblr showing the most beautiful, remarkable dresses from the last five centuries.

Sartorial Sunday: One Day Late

Due to this week’s schedule I’m a little late with my weekly feature. I had to take the photos today as I left in a hurry and returned when it was already dark when I wore this outfit on several occasions. But the alliteration stays, so that’s okay.

This is an outfit I actually wore twice this week (and today), the first time to the fan meet-up with Steampunk author Gail Carriger of Parasol Protectorate fame (more about this great book series in a post of its own) on Tuesday and a second one for the book fair convention yesterday.

Outfit Rundown:
- blouse: once-upon-a-time H&M
- bodice: probably some LARP shop
- trousers: Takko, altered by me
- shoes: cropped-off Undercover steel toes
- coat: Pimkie (changed buttons)
- scarf: handed down
- fingerless gloves (unseen): local shepherd

Accessoires Rundown:
- watch pendant: Promod
- bell earring/ acorn stud: self-made/ Accessorize
- hair clips: H&M

close-up of the clock face appliqués on my trousers

This is pretty much the city look I wrote about in my last post, and I love it. It’s quite influenced by my time in Frankfurt, but picturesque and playful enough for Marburg, too. When I wear something like this I feel like nothing in the world can stop me. I feel savvy, good-looking (rather than pretty), strong, I’ll-get-my-will-and-you-know-it like. I guess the biggest part of this awesome feeling comes from trousers and coat, the trousers make my legs appear quite long (and I’ve been assured that my back looks quite good in them, too) – just like my Savate sports trousers -, and the coat has something rather professional about it, as if it were a little (and more practical) sibling to the expensive woolen coats all the business people in my old city wear (I wear my coats open most of the time, I guess I just like the dramatic effect of them swinging).

I also think that this last part will become a regular part of the Sartorial Saturday, it’s just such an interesting thing how different outfits can make us feel like different persons, or parts of our personalities, at least.

10 Adorables in September

1. The Silmarillion Deluxe Edition by Benjamin Harff. You can find pictures and an interview here.
2. Telling the Bees, a darkly-crafted folk band from Oxford, UK. The artwork on their page is done by Rima Staines, by the way.
3. Pirate Pad, my EtherPad of choice (What’s an EtherPad?) which I find incredibly useful. It’s used for the planning of two projects I’m doing with others and I even use it to keep an eye on my 10 Pleasures list to avoid reruns.
4. The Importance of being Ernest by Oscar Wilde. It’s a wonderful comedy, not such a dull, tragical scenery porn like most of his other works. The 2002 picture is also great, featuring Colin Firth and Reese Witherspoon (of whom I was most pleasantly surprised, I must admit).
5. The Beginning of Autumn. The air is getting crisp and I need to take some sort of jacket outside. I love autumn in our fairy tale town!
6. Windy by The Association. I first stumbled upon this song thanks to a Kiki’s Delivery Service fan video.
7. 100 Years of Fashion (and Dance). And this is actually a commercial! I can’t decide which era I like best, but  it’s rather at the beginning than at the end.
8. Ratatouille, both dish and Disney movie.
9. Our new flat mate. The Satyr is moving to Wales for one semester and his room will be taken by a girl for this while. I’
   ve only seen her for ten minutes so far and don’t really know her yet (as she will move in in October), but I’m sure she’s nice!
10. Mushrooms. I just bought a book to collect and classify mushrooms that grow here in Germany, less because I really want to go on a hunt but more because I simply like them in looks and concept. Of course they taste awesome, too!

Autumn Lights

A week ago was my mothers birthday and I gave her something I had started as a project a year ago.

Fairy lights made from egg cardboard! I painted the “flowers” with my pigment aquarelles after I pretty much drowned them, as the water allows the colours to flow down the structure of the paper like little veins.

My mother loved her gift! I had already feared it was too useless for her, but it was just right.

The flowers look a little bit like nasturtium or field bindweed blossoms, both flowers that I really like.

It’s a little bit like I’m brightening up her rainy, dark autumn evenings even though I’m not there myself.

Mouse Guard

When I was wandering trough the upper town about two weeks ago I couldn’t resist and went into the comic shop. Said comic shop is on the mezzanine of one of the old houses up there, pretty small and stuffed to the brim with things wonderful and whimsical. And just as I thought I wouldn’t find anything today and wanted to leave, a small, nearly quadratic book catched my eye. It was Mouse Guard: Winter 1152. The sign next to the book said that it was the second volume and I’m someone who craves for continuity, so I inquired if there was a first one, too.

And so I ended up with Mouse Guard: Fall 1152 and my heart filled with love for David Petersen’s creation and creatures. The adventures of Saxon, Rand, Sadie, Kenzie and especially Lieam, the little red mouse don’t need so much words, they are heartwarming without any explanation.

Plus, here’s the official site. And right after my birthday I’m going to get Winter 1152.

I love the celtic influence in the artworks of the "historical" part.

The little grey fellow that’s scampering between the pages and that fits so awfully well for Mouse Guard once belonged to my grandmother when she was dancing in the theatre in the Pied Piper of Hamelin in a ballet.

10 C°: Sheep and Tea Cups

It’s getting colder again. I embrace this change of weather towards autumn, but I definitely am ashamed that I didn’t go swimming once. Sure, there are indoor swimming pools, but it is just not the same. Well, maybe it will be a little bit warmer when I travel to the south to my mother’s the next time… anyway.

When I was there – in the south, at my mother’s – last weekend, it was also quite chilly. We originally wanted to go to the flea market but the weather didn’t want us to so we went into the blackberries instead. As my mother’s house is settled at the foot of a hill where vast amounts of blackberry shrubs grow we had not to go far to pick the richest fruits. It’s a kind of tradition for my mother and me to go to the hills for blackberries in late summer and early autumn.

On sunday when I awoke I heard the not-so-distant baa of sheep through my open window and when I went there and looked outside there was a nice, large flock of white, cloud-like wooly beings on the hayfield on the other side of the small path that leads into the woods.

I spent hours picking blackberries and apples and pears (And some of the apples I brought here to Marburg for Abigail and Kajal. They were delighted.). I could indeed show you even more and more pictures of sheep, but I think these three above are a pretty good choice to sum it up.

On Sunday when I returned together with my mother it was the last day of the medieval fair at the castle gardens here in Marburg. Sure, the fair was small, but nice and I met several acquaintances of mine. I also got me my first own bone folder (a bookbinding tool, for those of you who don’t know) and another mug. It seems that I can’t go from a fair without a tea-cup… it’s like other girls and shoes.

Maybe you know that normally I’m not a person for blue things, but I really like the glaze of my mug, as well as those three little legs.