Saturday, March 21, 2009

Let Them Eat Cake!

I figured this was fitting... I am less interested in the political stance around Marie Antoinette than the above statement. It seems just perfect for an over-indulgent, opulent and many pastried social event. I suppose my new credo is when in doubt, guild it!







I have a friend who carries the badge of "foodie" like a God given proclamation, and she has taken it upon herself to appoint each lovely piece of my pink depression glass collection with its very own special stack of pastries. Most of them I cannot pronounce, but I have complete and total faith. It is amazing to what extent one can carry a colour scheme. Lavender macaroons, who would have thought?

My wig arrived today and I think that once I figure out how to affix my three feet of hair beneath it, it will be fabulous! I dunno about the corsets of the time, a bit ruffly for me, but the fabrics are gorgeous and it always comes down to a stunning swath of silk for me. I am so excited...


I am having to wait out the structural renos to my space before I can paint, but there are some very intense painting days ahead my friends. I have a surrealist painter and a serious costume lover on my team and we shall create a space not for the faint of heart, I promise! (Think Holly Dyment.)


Oh, just for the record, Marie-Antoinette should be forgiven for the cake statement, as it wasn't her. Not only that, but at the time, it seems, it was an entirely correct political statement to make. Just sayin'...

Sunday, March 15, 2009

Well, I s'pose it would go without saying that I am an eco girl at heart... and being an eco girl who makes things out of stuff, I try very hard to make that stuff sustainable. I have been reading an interesting article in my search for organic silk threads, and I thought I would pass a bit of it on to you. I have long known that silks are, while obviously a natural fibre, not very ethical in terms of production. Many many poor little worker silk worms meet their demise when in the employ of silk manufacturers. I did not, however know that the original silk worm (who just happens to go by the uber cool name of Bombix Mori) has been so domesticated that they are actually unable to live without the aid of their human masters. Very interesting...




“With time and patience the mulberry leaf becomes a silk gown” – Ancient Chinese Proverb. The finest, most desirable silk comes from the mulberry silkworm, which is actually a caterpillar and not a worm. Known as the Bombyx mori by entomologists, the mulberry silk worm is a fascinating but tragic bundle of insect life. Raised by professional keepers in China on trays of mulberry leaves a thousand years before the Roman Empire when wild tribes were roaming Europe living in stick and mud huts, the mulberry silkworm has been totally domesticated and can not live without humans for their care and feeding. There are no wild silkworms or Bombyx mori moths that roam and feed in the wild.


Across several thousand years of captive breeding, the Bombyx mori evolved into a blind moth that cannot fly and lives only a few days during which it lays about 500 eggs and then dies within four or five days. The silkworm moth has even lost the ability to eat because of undeveloped structures within their mouth. "

The rest of the article can be read here. It is a good thing to realize just what goes into these things that we take for granted. There is a reason that things were once considered for the use of royalty only. Not that I am supporting that concept at all, but it is an interesting place we have come to where we now have access to so much that some things just don't even seem special anymore.


Anyway, on the note of extravagance, I am very near to my super stellar birthday bash which seems to have taken on a Marie Antoinette theme. I am bringing "Let them eat cake!" to a whole new level. I am renovating my studio and have decided on a rather parisian confectionary look to the entire thing. Much flocked wallpaper and girlie colours. You may as well enjoy where you work! I live in a very tiny one bedroom apartment with two boys and simply cannot do it in my closet, so I rent a studio across the street (I live downtown) and am now very excited! Photos to come...