Posts Tagged beauty

Some lovely summer solstice faeries for you…   have a mystical, magical faerie filled summer!

“The most beautiful thing we can experience is the mysterious.  It is the source of all true art and science.”

Albert Einstein

Remember when I wrote a while back about the wings I was making for a lovely bride?  Well I have finally finished them along with a beautiful cloak and wreath to complete her wedding ensemble.

I am so pleased with the results, and I can say that as they are now in the bride’s hands and she seems thrilled too.  I had my friend Nancy Little Moon come over and try everything on for me so I could take a few pictures.  She is so beautiful inside and out.  I just love to have her model for me (she was the high priestess in the faerie wedding photo shoot on my web site). By the way she is also a wedding officiant who preforms the most beautiful and meaning full ceremonies. You can visit her web site Blessings in Paradise.com for more info.

(above) detail of the beading on the cloak.

I split the cloak up the back so it flows around the wings.  The wings are on a padded metal brace that slides between the skin and the corset.  They are remarkably light weight for being so large.

(above right)  detail of the wreath

I used a vintage Indian Sari and then glued to the edges moss, beads, jewels, bugs and all manor of magical things

My bride wanted it to evoke not just faeries but mermaids as well so I gave it a bit of a fish tale look.

(above) detail of the wing root.  (above right) a lovely dragon fly just for fun!

What a magical way to start a marriage!

I have been deep in the creative process working on a precious wedding that happened last Saturday. I will show you all the pictures in a few days. For now some beautiful images and a quote that I find very true.

“The human spirit needs places where nature has not been rearranged by the hand of man.” Unknown source

Photos by Elizabeth Messina

Remember I said that I had had the pleasure of working with Elizabeth Messina again?  Well here is the result.  A lovely bride and groom wanted to redo their photos only this time with Elizabeth and I got to make the bouquet and boutonniere.

Here they are…

I wanted to show you an incredible artist whose work I just revisited.  Her name is Leslie Clark and I love her paintings!  I went to Ojai the other day for a beautiful photo shoot with Elizabeth Messina (I will show you those photos a bit later) and afterwards I stopped in Leslie’s gallery.  I had first seen her work several years ago and admired it then but have not had an occasion to go back to Ojai.  It was such a treat to see her gorgeous work again!  She spends half of the year in Africa painting the people she lives among, capturing their beautiful faces and traditions with her magic.  She particularly focuses on the Sahara and the Niger regions but has traveled all over Africa.  She also has the Nomad Foundation, a non profit foundation that “… seeks to blend cultural preservation with economic opportunity”.  Feast your eyes on these amaizing paintings.

… and of course one of my favorite things, saris!

I had the great fortune to indulge in a faerie dream that was swimming around in my imagination and create a beautiful and fastastical faerie and elf wedding.  I wallowed in making wings and costumes, and setting a beautiful stage on the magical ranch my husband and I live on.  I went a little crazy with it and the results have been published I am happy to say in Faerie Magazine  (summer 09) and is currently in Santa Barbara Magazine and is coming out in Elle mag in China in May as well as on numerous bolgs.  The most excellent photographer Elizabeth Messina captured the magic on film beautifully.  This was my faerie bride and groom and their magical owl,

To see the whole wedding go to the faerie gallery on my web site.

I know that most people would not go to quite these lengths in a muggle (non-magic folks) wedding so I have taken some of the faerie pictures and suggested what you could incorporate from them in your wedding,

Hold the ceremony outside at the base of an ancient tree.  Possibly add a garland around the trunk or hang a chandeliere from one of the branches.  You could easily purchase an old funky chandeliere from a thrift store and then cover it with moss or bark.  The day of the wedding add fresh greenery like Ferns and Ivy.  You can hang ribbons from the branches and then pin wishes to the ribbons or tie flowers to the end of the ribbons.  You could hang a big beautiful flowering basket from the branches off to one side of where you will be standing.  Keep in mind what the camera sees and make sure that nothing looks like it is coming out of your head in the photos.   You could place around the base of the tree trailing potted plants and flowers like Ferns, Petunias or Impatients for added lushness and color.  Hanging colorful lanterns looks very festive even if the ceremony is in the day time.

Bring natural elements into the ceremony such as having the rings brought forth on a moss pillow or on a lovely piece of bark.  Nestling rings in large shells or birds nests look beautiful as well.  Set a feasting table outside in the middle of a field/park/forest/glade/orchard/wherever natural.  Hang lanterns all around for twinkling light as the evenings draws near.  Use any type of lanterns or even a hodg podg of different styles.  If cold evenings are a factor you can rent mushroom heaters from a party rental company to scatter about or have some outdoor fire pits for a wonderful effect as well as heat.

Bring natural elements to your table such as plants (both green and flowering), cover any plastic pots with moss and tuck in lots of goodies like fruit, mushrooms, feathers, bark, branches, driftwood, shells, etc.  You can also add in sparlkey elements like beaded bits, crystals, personal momentos, pictures,  and lots of pretty glass containers for candles.

Make chargers for the plates out of feathers, moss, large green leaves or bark or other natural elements.  Add a bit of sparkle with gliter or colorful glass beads.

Set you cake outside near a tree or other beautiful vista.  Go a bit crazy with a lushious display of gorgeous candies, fruit and flowers.  It becomes a lovely focal point throughout the evening as well as makes for beautiful pictures.

I also created another wedding for a photo shoot with a magical/mid-summer-nights-dream feeling.   Christine Arnold took the following great pictures.  Most of what I created muggles could do.  I used lots of plants and natural material like tree branches and trunks, moss, mushrooms and bark.  I also used lots of outdoorsy items like garden figurines, old fashioned hurricane lamps, and mixed them with more elegant pieces like candelabras, Indian saris, beautiful goblets, and absolutely loads of candles and twinkle lights.  I really think almost anything can look beautiful in candle light and twinkle lights come as close to candle light as any electric light available.

Use large leafs as chargers, have short sections of tree trunks as risors.  Tuck in bits like pine cones and fun fruit and vegiatbles.

Make a green wrap or head wreath for some of the statues in the garden.  They should be decked out for the festivities too!

Use lots of candle elements like lanterns and pretty glasses with votives in them.

Even bottles with tall grasses in them look cool.  Go and trim your yard and tuck in the bits of branches, ferns, and succulents on the table.

Use lots of layers of mismatched fabrics for great texture.  Stay within a color story of 2 or 3 colors so it doesn’t get too messy and then use lots of variations of those colors.  Rent a simple inexpensive base linen for all the tables in the same color and then layer on lots of other fabrics.  I also like to include a natural fabric like burlap or gauze to reiterate the outdoor feeling.

Use lots of lanterns, it doesn’t matter if they match.  One way to keep things from looking too eclectic is to keep each table with like items on it.  So have one table with hurricane lanterns and then another table with more exotic lanterns.  Do not mix the two different styles on the same table.

Here I have used a vintage Indian sari that had wonderful gold thread woven throughout.  The colors for this event were browns and greens.

Here I use my own green sequened shawl over a long strip of brown velvet which was layed over the base brown linen.  I also swirled around the candle holders more fabric.

Hanging all over were large tree branches with the leaves still on them and curtains of twigs with Spanish Moss all interwoven with lots of twinkle lights.  Wrapped on several of the beams was dried Honeysuckle vine, again mixed with twinkle lights.

I also created a mini lounge with tree trunks with cushions on them and a brass table again on a small tree trunk. On the table were lots of river rocks and moss which would also look good on the dinning tables.

Just remember to bring outside items in and add a bit of sparkle.  It is the combination of rustic or natural elements with sophisticated glamour that is so alluring and beautiful.

“Faeries are seen not by the eyes but through the heart”

Brian Froud

Hoping your heart is open and full of love and wonder.

Photography by Elizabeth Messina

“When we dance with the faeries, we dance with the reflections of our true selves and the true inner self of the world.”

Brian Froud

Photo by Elizabeth Messina

Photograph by Elizabeth Messina

The reason birds can fly and we can’t is simply that they have perfect faith, for faith is necessary to have wings

James M Barrie

Photograph by Elizabeth Messina

Hello and welcome to my musings on all things beautiful, magical and precious.

Not that many years ago I had no idea what a blog even was let alone imagining myself creating one.  When I discovered that they were not just a technological computer thing to be puzzled by but a magical creative forum for like-minded souls I had to have one of my very own.

So please join me on this creative sojourn, pack your vintage suitcase or your carpet bag, wear your best hat and climb through your magic portal and board my Gypsy wagon for a fun journey I know not where.  I only know it will be at times beautiful, inspirational, educational, and all the more magical if you join me.

Lets have fun!