I’ve Got A New Notebook

Every time I buy a new notebook it’s not just a monetary transaction for a bound stack of paper. It’s a promise.

The promise to start writing in it one day.

This one is supposed to become a fashion journal (not my first try, anyway). To store my ideas and inspirations.

Writing my name into a new notebook has some magical quality to it. It takes time. It has to take time, it’s nearly like a ritual. Which name to choose, with which ink to write, which quill to use. Sure, I could do it with the next pen as well, but I don’t want to. A new notebook is a contract with myself and a stack of paper that isn’t only that, and when I seal it, I want to do it right.

30 Questions Mori Girl Challenge – 10 – 12

This was a hard one. I wanted five examples for each category at first but changed my goal into three when I noticed that five would never happen (and I still needed months). My main problem was that my definition of Mori mixes with my definition of Lolita quite a lot, so most of the things I could think of were ones that I have mentioned before.

10 – what are your favorite books? do you think they’re mori or not?

1. The Brambly Hedge by books by Jill Barklem are some of my all-time favourites and something I’d call mori, even though they are quite something for Lolita, too. The stories are so full with mice and candied violets and houses in trees and picnics, they have to be mori!
2. Life on Seacrow Island by Astrid Lindgren is less wood and more sea, but I’d nevertheless call it a mori-able book.
3. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, another one I’ll always love. I’d even go as far as to say that one could see Mary Lennox as the original Mori Girl, even though nobody knew back then.

11 – name 3 of your favorite mori girl style songs or musicians, even if they’re not explicitly “mori.”

Is there actually music that is “explicitly mori”?

1. Loreena McKennitt, one of my favourite artists ever. I seem to mention her here often, I fear, but I simply love her.
2. Patrick Wolf, who sees himself in some sort of Irish bardic tradition. My favourite piece of his music is The Tinderbox.
3. Blanche, a Southern Gothic inspired alternative country band. I discovered them by luck some years ago and have taken a liking to their haunting style. I especially like this recording of their So long cruel World.

12 – What films, if any, inspire your mori girl look and life?

One thing I read about Mori rather often was that the character Hagu from Honey & Clover was kind of “the original” Mori Girl. Which is a little bit confusing as there are not only the initial manga and anime, but also a live-action film adaption and not only one but two additional live-action dramas, one from Japan and one from Taiwan.
As most dramas are rather unnerving I watched the anime, and I even noticed that I had started reading the manga some years ago.
Hagu ist nothing of a Mori Girl. At least not the original Hagu. She’s a 18-year old that looks and acts like a (rather annoying and sociopath) 9-year old. Actually, this character managed to ruin the entire – otherwise quite fun and absurd – anime for me. I dare say I was rather baffled, if not disappointed, and didn’t even make the attempt to watch further that the fist two episodes. Maybe it gets better later, but if a series can’t get me with the first two episodes, it’s simply not for me. She might be a Mori Girl in one of the live-action adaptions after all that I’ve seen from clips, though.
So much for my two pennies worth on one of the Mori Girl moving picture staples, sorry for the bit of bitterness. But now: on to the list!

1. My Neighbor Totoro is so centered about woodland spirits that it was the first one that sprung to mind.
2. Chocolat, one of the rare occasions that I liked the film even though it differed from the book. The atmosphere of the story is lovely, the costumes are wonderful and I always like things related to patîsseries and chocolateries.
3. The Secret Garden, again. Even though I only advise you to watch it if you’ve read the book, as they mixed it up a little.

Birthdays are great

I know this because Monday was my birthday, and as a good lifestyle blogger I’ll show you some pictures (and maybe even give you some notes on them. Oh well, of course I’ll comment them.).

Birthday Breakfast

This is the birthday present I got from Scoundrel, a book on fungi from 1919, including coloured illustration cards. I had been staring at this through the window of the used bookstore for month and not dared to go inside. When the book wasn’t there anymore one day, I got a little suspicious, but Scoundrel assured me quite believably that he had nothing to do with it… And now there it is!
He usually hides my presents somewhere in my room and I’ve got to find them. This time he only replaced one of the flower illustrations over my drawing table with one of the mushroom pictures, and I was incredibly happy when I found it!

I got two of the accompanying books for the Spiderwick Chronicles by Holly Black and Toni DiTerlizzi from my mother and grandparents, Arthur Spiderwick’s Field Guide to the Fantastical World Around You and Care and Feeding of Sprites. They are wonderfully illustrated (the main reason why I wished for them as I haven’t read the actual books yet) and the latter even came with a large glow-in-the-dark poster.
The other book is the Steampunk Bible, a compendium that just came out this year. Nocker gave it to me wrapped in prints of a Steampunk Uncle Sam poster, and he also acted as a proxy for Constantine who couldn’t come as he’s in Ireland for the next Semester.

The felted flower hair clip is from Teli (self made, of course) who also made a blog post with better pictures about it. The wonderful leather pencil case with its contents is from my father and meant to accompany me for at least the rest of my university life, but probably longer.

The wrapping paper my father used.

In the evening Bertie turned up, too, and we went to the African place just around the corner. Sadly I took no pictures, but they placed us in the tent-like part of the restaurant which is lit by torch-like lamps and has a thick layer of fine sand instead of usual flooring. We’ve been there before, but we didn’t even know of this part! And of course, the food was great, too.

I’d actually say it was one of the best birthdays I ever had.

Closing picture from left to right: Bertie, Nocker, me, Scoundrel, Teli.

Skirts and Books – What I made

Of course, as it was a swap, I made something, too.

First, the skirt swap.

The demands were fir green, silver and black in colours, a dislike for patterns but love for butterflies and in style something between Alice in Wonderland, military and Steampunk. The girl I was fairy godmother to also wanted the skirt to end above her knees and told me that Lolita didn’t suit her. This is what I came up with:

The elfin one was so nice to model for me.

And here are the details:

(photo not by me but by Schiriki who got the skirt)

clock embroidery

And the accessoires I made, too:

The clock-alike thing is a hair clip.

At the book swap, I decided to make something matching to Rumo and His Miraculous Adventures, one of the books that were given as favourites of Ravna, the girl I was a fairy godmother to in this case.

She also had given black as her favourite colour, maybe with red accents, and a liking for second-hand fabric and some sort of grunge in the design – not too perfect, after all – too. Plus, she wished for a sweat jacket, something I never made before. But I like a good challenge and so I went to the thrift store and got some old sweatshirts and this is what I made of them:

Front with open collar

Front with collar closed

The hero of the book, Rumo, is named after a Zamonian card game, hence the card inlays. I like the grungy effect on the symbols.

Hearts

Spades

Diamonds

Clubs (my favourite)

Collar detail

Collar with label

Back

In the first part of the book Rumo is also in search of a “silver ribbon” which actually leads him to “his” girl. Well, anyway, I had lots of fun painting the ribbon:

Ravna also collects fairy tale books. When I found the Anderson book at the book store across the street, I instantly thought of her! Also, I usually pack something sweet into the swap boxes, but Ravna had written before that she didn’t like sweets so much and preferred tea.

All pictures were taken in our front yard, the light and scenery were  just perfect.

The parcel arrived and Ravna was really happy with her sweat jacket. She even allowed me to use her pictures for the blog. I’m so glad it fits!

I must confess that this jacket was he most difficult piece I made for a swap as yet. At the moment I’m in a pirate themed swap until May, but after that I’ll need somewhat of a hiatus from swapping. There are so many things I want to sew for myself, after all!

Matching Monday – Princess Sara

This time we don’t have a how-to-achieve-the-look monday, but rather outfits inspired by the book.

It was a little hard to decide what to do for this Matching Monday, and I came up with an interpretation of Sara’s beautiful “rose fairy” dancing outfit, mashed up with her travelling attire:

• Long Sleeved Dress. When it comes to Sara I always think of OPs. There is no way I can imagine Miss Crewe in a jumperskirt! The dress above is from Fan+Friend, if you wonder. In my copy of the book, Sara is most of the time depicted wearing blue, but as I tried to capture the air of the dancing outfit it’s rose-coloured.
• Granny Boots. An essential for a refined, Victorian inspired look. In the book, Sara’s shoes are described as making her feet look very, very small. Granny boots with lacing will do, but with buttons they are perfect!
• Crown Motives. To embrace the princess feeling, a crown is one of the symbols to use (but that is common knowledge, I think). In the coordinate above they are very understated in the mounting of the studs, but I think that a pin or an emblem on a headdress would be lovely, too. Just limit the number, less is more in this case.
• Books. Sara is an avid reader, you might even say a bookworm. I tried to include this part of her personality with the book locket ring and the book hand bag. I myself own a book-shaped locket that belonged to my mother, and you can find many of this style on dawanda and etsy.
• The Doll. Emily is Sara’s best friend when she first arrives at Miss Minchin’s Select Seminary. I love the idea of having a perfect doll with specially tailored frocks and lots of equipment! I even consider making one my own, but I’m still planning here.
• Roses. They come from the dancing outfit, too, and as roses are my favourite flowers I had to include them. Plus, they give an air of royalty without being to serious or overdone. When Princess Portal was still online there was a tutorial on how to make a wonderful wreath out of artificial roses, but I think one can figure out how to get them in shape without it, too. The biggest problem with artificial flowers is to find some that look convincing if you want them to look natural. But if you want some black or blue ones, just go ahead and paint them yourself! There are plenty of other hair pieces with roses too, just keep your eyes open at Claire’s or Accessorize and the like.
• Jewelery. In this case I chose a really pretty locket with a rose motif, to catch on to the hair decor again. Lockets in general are very good to achieve a victorianesque look, and if I recall this right there is also a story line about a locket in the 1995 A Little Princess movie.

As for lockets, here is how I include a bit of Sara’s story and philosophy into my everyday life. Not only do I still try to follow the Princess Code by the Lost Princess Skye (Princess Portal sadly is offline, but you can still read the code here), I also try to remind myself, just like Sara, of the fact that if I want to I can pretend and behave like one. It even went easier when I found my locket:

It dangles over my bed on the knob of my made-from-a-drawer bookshelf together with a small bundle of thyme Teli gave me. Inside it, there’s a small folded piece of paper, reminding me…

I hope my inspiration was at least nice for you to read this time, best inspiring for you, too. I’ll say good bye today with a piece of wonderful music made from sound from the movie mentioned above.

 

New Old Books

The book store vis-à-vis my window is having a “tat sale” at the moment. As soon as we saw it, the Satyr and I had to head over and go through hundreds of second-hand books (they still get new ones every day).

Amongst others I spotted a wonderful coffee-table book about Baroque buildings and art which could be quite interesting for Jules, but as he is coming today to stay here a few days he’ll have to judge himself and I won’t make any rash decisions.

And for my self I found a real treasure. But first the other ones.

First, I stumbled across Victoria R. I., a biography of some sort not only of the Queen but also about her era in general.

Second, I discovered an abandoned copy of Oliver Twist which is part of my reading list anyway and I already started reading it yesterday. I’ll have to do something about that awful cover (hence no photos), but that shouldn’t be too much trouble.

Third was a small booklet about birds of prey, owls and corvidae which will come in handy if I should ever feel the need to draw one of those. And when I went to pay for it, the nice lady at the counter waved it aside and told me I’d get it for free (no pictures, too).

And now to the main piece. Pieces, that is. It wasn’t the last I found, but the most stunning. When I flipped through the books, three volumes catched my eye, thick, brown and green, with dark red edge colouring. Together they formed a historical summary of the 19th century in words and pictures, printed in 1900.

 

A detail from the embellishments at the corners.

 

 

My favourite embellishment on the books. Looks a little bit steampunky, doesn't it?

 

And I was even able to afford it.

Intermezzo: Curious Tuesday III

1. If it was your birthday tomorrow, what would be on your wishlist?

Fabric. Loads of it. And maybe the World of Darkness: Changeling book of rules. And some more books. And – of course – a Canne de Combat mask and a bâton (we had bâton training last week and it was great!), new colours for my paint box and a clay kiln.

2. Do you look after your nails? Do you paint them? If so, do you have a colour that you keep returning to again & again?

Well, I tried to look after them. Really. The problem with painting (the only thing preventing me from biting) is that the paint wears off on paper and other materials when I’m crafting. Not so nice, therefore I just try to keep them clean. The colour I mostly use when I give in again to paint my nails is a deep, dark red that looks nearly black.

3. What star sign are you, & do you think it is accurate?

I am a Virgo. Sometimes it seems quite unrealistic, but I tend to get clean up frenzies from time to time. I’m also quite sensible and a book-worm and nerd, so I think it fits, even though I embrace many of my ascendant – Gemini – related features, too.

4. What is something you have recently learned to appreciate?

Sleep. Just this morning I woke up by the ringing of the door bell as a handyman wanted to check the heating. At half past seven. I also learned to appreciate fresh fruit, salmon and having people who care for me, not only me caring for others.

5. What is your favourite city in the world, & why?

Phew, that’s a hard one, isn’t it? I’d say at the moment it’s Marburg. It’s so small and fairy tale like and I met such wonderful people here. But maybe it’s Edinburgh, too as I really loved it when I went there some years ago… I don’t know. I think I’m too young to have a favourite city yet, I’ve seen far too few to decide.

Book Plates and Hats

Yes, very inspired and original, this title. ^^

It is Sunday forenoon, the sky is overcast with a shimmering cover of clouds and my right hand and especially the wrist hurts with every move. It seems that I overcharged it in the garden yesterday, the ache in the hand itself seems more like a muscle soreness, while the wrist shows the same problems as usual. Well, too much cut-down ivy, I guess. ^^ At least the compost heap is rearranged now and seems way less than before (and Simon and the Historian took great fun in jumping around in the other compost bin). My hands are quite rough when I return from the garden but I got me some hand lotion, sea buckthorn and pomegranate from our local wholefood shop that’s only two streets away. Goth, I love my home. :)

But now I’m sitting here with a cup of hot chocolate, waiting for a carrier pigeon (that will reach me in the afternoon, presumably) with the information of a train arriving to bring a certain scoundrel here – Scoundrel, for he stole my heart.

Some days ago, I received a small package from the wonderful Tilliel containing her splendid, perfect (no overstatement) Hats & Headdresses swap gift for me:

She considered my love for corduroy...

... as well as for small details.

The colours are perfect, toned down and kind of vintage.

And I simply adore the fact that she added bells. ^^

I already wore the cap on my visit to my grandparents, it perfectly fits my old cotton ex-sari shawl.

Sadly, the package that I gave to the post office didn’t arrive yet and by now I doubt that it will at all. :(
Tomorrow I’ll go shopping for the material that I lack for the substitute as I really don’t want to make an exact copy of the first hat (maybe it will arrive one day, and having two same hats would be somehow boring, wouldn’t it). I also have to get the materials for the Alice swap, with all the events going on in my personal life and the upcoming term I didn’t find any time for it yet! But I’m all an eager beaver for it, so this shouldn’t be a real problem.

What’s about the book plates in the title?, you may ask now. Well, I love book plates. As somebody who loves and collects books, it is sometimes quite difficult to get those back that I lend to somebody (my beloved rebound half linen copy of Discworld’s Maskerade is still lost somewhere in Hamburg, I think, and I’m quite angry about that). Book plates are a great opportunity to avoid that somewhat ugly inscriptions on the title page. The bookshop across the street was selling some last week, and I couldn’t resist:

I clearly prefer toned down classic motives here, too. And now I’ll go and mark my copy of Northanger Abbey as my own and nothing but my own, just to feast on avocado and corn crisps afterwards. Healthy and incredibly tasty. :)

Intermezzo: Lolita Checklist

When I was browsing my favourite blogs I stumbled upon Victoria Suzanne’s Lolita Checklist on Lolita Charm and found her challenge to write my own list quite interesting. First of all, I love lists, I always write them: For assignments, to-do-lists, for things I need and things I want, things that inspire me and birthday presents. Second, I thought about my own definition for Lolita or rather how I define myself as a Lolita. And after reading different of these checklists I thought I was able to take the challenge and here it is:

My Lolita Checklist

Loves her Teddy bear like Christopher Robin loves Pooh.

Could spend days in antique or thrift stores.

Adores children’s books.

Is an anglophile.

Has daydreams about wild rose gardens in old castle’s ruins.

Sings musical songs aloud on the platform at the railway station.

Dreams of dancing all night long in a great ballroom.

With prince charming.

Doesn’t need much make-up, only a little rouge and mascara, sometimes.

Sets her mind at rest during long walks in the countryside or along the river.

Dresses in elegant colours like grey, black and rosé rather than in neon.

Loves green.

Rather designs and sews her dresses than buying something that everybody has.

Calls a poupée account her own and tries to update daily. ^^

Tends to use SPF 50 in summer to keep her white skin unburned but gets burned nonetheless.

Loves moths (look and name!) but wouldn’t want to have them in her room for any worldly treasure.

Collects old books, fabrics, lace and stamps.

Dreams of having a successful band with stunning stage personalities and outfits.

Would love to own a manor house for Steampunk or Victoriana LARP or an adequate small hotel downtown.

Loves to lie on mellow moss in a forest watching the clouds go by and then get up with dry leaves entangled in her hair.

Would rather be Rose Red than Snow White.

Could take a bath in good tea (figuratively), in a clawfoot tub, of course.

Could spend days browsing Manufaktum.

Does crafts like embroidery, crochet, spinning and sewing.

Is practically never found without her sketchbook.

Is vain enough to check her look in nearly every shop-window – just like Mary Poppins.

Sees fairies, goblins and leprechauns everywhere.

Lives in a fairytale.

The End of Holidays

Here I am, at the end of holidays. Uni will be starting again to-morrow and yesterday I spent my afternoon at Simons’ (a fellow student and kobold whose house is about five minutes away) doing homework for Old and New Irish. Old Irish was quite nice albeit costly in terms of labour, as it was translating the opening of a saga, The Tale of Mac Da Thó’s Pig, but I dearly love translating and I had great company, so it was fun anyway.

Holidays are always gone so fast! I definitely could need somebody to remind me of all the things I wanted to do through my free time, or at least a good plan…

I also love the design of the cover...

Yesterday evening, after Bambi had come home from his holidays, too, I went to bed at half past midnight but stayed awake until 3 AM reading Howl’s Moving Castle which was kindly lent to me by Simons’ flat mate. The book is so much better than the film, and the film alone is already quite great! I love the literature references and the fact that Howl is from Wales (I mean, hey… I’m a student at Celtic studies.). Sophie is way more aggressive and energetic than in the movie and overall, the book is less lethargic and in exchange more ironic and conscious of the story’s clichés. More my kind of story.

At the moment I’m sitting in Bambi’s room with the rabbits and him, sipping tea (I made three pots – thermos flasks are great!) and chatting with my fellow students over the topic of New Irish homework and palatal and neutral consonants. It is snowing outside in very fine snowflakes which means that the snow will last a while and I can see the all the lightened windows of our street through Bambi’s largest window.

I’ve got to go out to take some photos of my fairy tale town!

Snow spirits are wandering the botanical garden at night...

Well, so I went out and took some photos and then called Bambi on the phone for him to come down and have a snowball fight with me and then Simon came along (he had been to a choir rehearsal) and we went to his house (it’s adorable, I’ll write about that another night) for a cup o’ tea and a pillow fight in the living room. We just came back ten minutes ago, but now it’s nearly 1 AM and I’ll have to be at my New Irish lesson at 10 AM and I wanted to look up something before so I’ll load up all the other pictures when I’m home from university tomorrow.

Good night now, and may all the world sleep well under the thick blanket of white…