Marie Antoinette's Traveling Toilette Steamer Trunk

 

During the 18th century - the time of excessive, over-the-top, luxurious and extravagant styles and fashions, Marie Antoinette needed a full armoire-sized traveling toilette steamer trunk especially to carry her many perfumes, powders, creams, rouges and paints.

When I saw this wonderful little (4” wide x 5” tall x 2-1/4” deep) apothecary cabinet kit from Alpha Stamps, I knew it was the perfect place to begin creating a miniature version of 

'toinette's traveling steamer trunk.

The exterior is covered with the very realistic brown leather scrapbook paper, and embellished with Jolee's gold laser cut borders and images cut from the Valentine's Borders collage sheet. Black heavy chipboard stands in for leather straps, and gold brass hinges and antique bronze oval drop handles make the trunk fully functional.

Once open, the middle section (above) and the two side sections (below) hold perfume flasks and bottles created from the tiny bottle selection and various beads and teardrop crystals. Light blue Dresden metallic borders serve as trim around the top of the shelves. Miniature books are created from the Little Library collage sheet and red mini rose buds complete the top sections.

The lower half of the middle (above) and lower (below) sections start with drawers made from chipboard and 'veneered' with Asian Calligraphy scrapbook paper and embellished with more Jolee's laser cut gold borders. The top row of the middle section holds Marie's jars of creams, bath beads, and powder, created from the tiny jars in the bottle assortment and tiny labels.

Having just read a book about Marie Antoinette, I knew that every morning her toilette articles were handed to her in a new 2-yard piece of silk fabric which was then given to one of the ladies-in-waiting. I used various hand-dyed ribbons to create the bundles of silk fabric needed to complete the queen's toilette each and every morning.

Here is a supply list of everything from Alpha Stamps used in this fantasy miniature setting:

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Apothecary Cabinetfor Smaller Bottles

Brown LeatherScrapbook Paper (exterior of trunk)

  Juliet VeronaScrapbook Paper  (bottom shelves backing paper) 

Asian CalligraphyScrapbook Paper (drawer fronts) 

Baroque DresdenBorders – Light Blue (‘molding’ trim ontop shelves)

Jolee’s Gold LaserCut Borders (exterior embellishment,interior drawer decoration)

Antique Brass MiniOval Drop Handle (exterior trunk handles)

Small Gold Hingeswith Screws

List of Tiny BottlesUsed As Perfume Bottles, Cosmetics Jars, etc.

DIY Tiny BottleStopper Mix

DIY Potion BottleBead Mix

Fancy Swirl Bead Caps(bottle stands)

8x4mm Teardrop Pearlswith Loops (bottle stoppers – stain with alcohol inks)

Valentine Banners#1704 (roses on trunk exterior)

Little Library #1835 (books)

Mini Rose Buds – Red

Ceramic Cupcake Beads

-       Items Used in Photo Styling Set Up – 

Brass FireplaceAccessories with Clock Miniatures (clockunder cloche used)

Bust of DianaMiniature

Gold 5-Arm Candelabra

Mini Ivory Jardiniere

Victorian Table Kit –Black 

Pewter Dollhouse TeaService

I hope you enjoyed your visit today to Enchanted Revelries and seeing my latest little creation from the wonderful treasures at Alpha Stamps!

 ...now go make something beautiful!

¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)(¸.•´ 

(¸.•´♥ Tristan ♥

Vision of the past ...

Tour Eiffel, 1900

Julien Knez brings the past to the future by placing photos of Paris from the 19th and 20th centuries against their modern-day counterparts to reflect on home the city has changed, yet remains familiar.

 

Le Moulin Rouge, 1900

 

Jardin du Luxembourg, 1895

 Place Vendôme, 1871

 

Place de l’Opéra, 1940

June 23, 1940, the day after Germany established occupation of France, Hitler made a lightning trip to Paris. His two hour tour of the capital included Notre Dame, Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe and, as seen here, the Opera.

 

Rue du Faubourg-du-Temple, 1871

Arc de Triomphe, 1909 

 Quai de Conti, 1900  

La Seine. Notre Dame, 1930

Place de l’Opéra, 1940

June 23, 1940, the day after Germany established occupation of France, Hitler made a lightning trip to Paris. His two hour tour of the capital included Notre Dame, Invalides, the Arc de Triomphe and, as seen here, the Opera.

Le Grand Palais, 1944

 

 

Hôtel-de-Ville, 1944

Two friends celebrate the liberation of Paris at Place de l'Hôtel de Ville, August 1944.

Notre Dame, 1944
A joyful Liberation scene on August 25, 1944.

Special Thanks to Did You Know? and Steampunk Tendencies

... now, go make something beautiful! 

 

¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)(¸.•´ 

(¸.•´♥ Tristan ♥

 

 

Alice's Challenge from The Queen of Hearts Dessert Fair

Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is often used as the motif for themed cafes and restaurants in Japan, namely for its fantastical blend of quirky characters and the curious world in which the story unfolds. The Hilton Tokyo, located in Shinjuku, is also a fan, and from September 3rd, the hotel will be offering an Alice in Wonderland-themed dessert buffet inside its Marble Lounge for Alice and dessert lovers everywhere.

The buffet, officially titled “Alice’s Challenge From The Queen Of Hearts,” will offer around 30 different desserts that will all transport you to the world of Alice and the Queen.

Many of the desserts are reminiscent of specific scenes from the Disney movie, such as the fruity Card Tarts with white chocolate ganache and your choice of blueberries, strawberries, raspberries, or cherries, the Paint It Red Roll Cake adorned with red and white roses much like those painted by the Queen, and the extravagant Queen’s Chocolate Fountain.

 

This gorgeous buffet will last until October 31st, with the second part of the dessert fair including sweets, sandwiches, pastas, and pies to celebrate this year’s Halloween. Whether an Alice in Wonderland fan or not, this scrumptious buffet is sure to satisfy anybody’s sweet tooth.

Alice’s Challenge From The Queen Of Hearts Dessert Fair

Location: Hilton Tokyo, Marble Lounge
Date: 9/3~10/31/2016
Time: 2:30PM~5:30PM

 

... now, go make something beautiful!

¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)(¸.•´ 

(¸.•´♥ Tristan ♥

 

 

 

 

Come Up and See Her Sometime ...

Happy Birthday, Mae! 

 

Mary Jane West was born in Brooklyn, New York, on August 17, 1893, to parents involved in prizefighting and vaudeville, "Battling Jack" West and Matilda Doelger. Mae herself worked on the stage and in vaudeville from the time she was five years old. She never was academically inclined because she was too busy performing. She studied dance as a child, and by the time she was 14 she was billed as "The Baby Vamp" for her performances on stage.

 

Later Mae began writing her own plays. One of those plays, "Sex", landed her in jail for ten days on obscenity charges in 1926. Two years later her play "Diamond Lil" became a huge Broadway success.

 

 Mae caught the attention of the Hollywood studios and was given her first movie role with George Raft in Night After Night (1932). Although it was a small role, she was able to display a wit that was to make her world-famous. Raft himself said of Mae, "She stole everything but the cameras."

 

She became a box-office smash hit, breaking all sorts of attendance records. Her second film, She Done Him Wrong  (1933), was based on her earlier and popular play that she had written herself. The film was nominated for an Academy Award as Best Picture. It also made Cary Grant a star. 

Her third film later that year was I'm No Angel (1933). The controversy aroused by these two films resulted in the studios establishing the Motion Picture Production Code, which regulated what content could be shown or said in pictures. As a result of these codes, Mae began to double-talk so that a person could take a word or phrase any way they wished. This was so she could get her material past the censors, and it worked. She really felt she had a vested interest because it was her written work being scrutinized. She had already written and performed these for the stage with the very material now being filmed.

Her next film, Belle of the Nineties (1934), was an equal hit. By 1936, with Klondike Annie (1936) and Go West Young Man (1936) she became the highest paid woman in the US. After 1937's Every Day's a Holiday (1937), she didn't make another film until 1940, when she co-starred with W.C. Fields in another film she wrote herself, My Little Chickadee (1940). It was well known she had little use for Fields and his ways, which were crude even for her.

After The Heat's On (1943), Mae took a respite from the film world, mainly because the censors were getting stricter. She decided she would be able to have greater expression in her work if she went back to the stage. Mae continued to be a success there. When censorship began to end in the 1960s, she returned to film work in 1970's Myra Breckinridge (1970).

Her last film was 1978's Sextette (1978). Mae suffered a series of strokes which finally resulted in her death at age 87 on November 22, 1980, in Hollywood, California. She was buried in New York.

  The actress, who only appeared in 12 films in 46 years, had a powerful impact on us.

There was no doubt she was way ahead of her time with her sexual innuendos and how she made fun of a puritanical society. She did a lot to bring it out of the closet and perhaps we should be grateful for that.

 ...as Letitia Van Allen in Myra Breckinridge, 1970.

Mae as Letitia Van Allen in Myra Breckinridge, posing in the agent's infamous white office. 

Mae's final film, Sextette, based on her early 20th century play. Former Mr. America Reg Lewis was an alumnus of West's 1954 Las Vegas act

Her films are credited with single-handedly saving failing and debt-ridden Paramount Pictures from bankruptcy in the early 1930s.

... now go make something beautiful!

¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)(¸.•´ 

(¸.•´♥ Tristan ♥

  

Happy Birthday, Hitch!

Sir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, , (13 August 1899 – 29 April 1980) was an English film director and producer, at times referred to as "The Master of Suspense". He pioneered many elements of the suspense and psychological thriller genres. He had a successful career in British cinema with both silent films and early talkies and became renowned as England's best director. Hitchcock moved to Hollywood in 1939 and became a US citizen in 1955.

Over a career spanning more than half a century, Hitchcock fashioned for himself a recognisable directorial style. His stylistic trademarks include the use of camera movement that mimics a person's gaze, forcing viewers to engage in a form of voyeurism. In addition, he framed shots to maximise anxiety, fear, or empathy, and used innovative forms of film editing. His work often features fugitives on the run alongside "icy blonde" female characters.Many of Hitchcock's films have twist endings and thrilling plots featuring depictions of murder and other violence. Many of the mysteries, however, are used as decoys or "MacGuffins" that serve the films' themes and the psychological examinations of their characters. Hitchcock's films also borrow many themes from psychoanalysis and sometimes feature strong sexual overtones.

Hitchcock became a highly visible public figure through interviews, movie trailers, cameo appearances in his own films, and the ten years in which he hosted the television program Alfred Hitchcock Presents. In 1978, film critic John Russell Taylor described Hitchcock as "the most universally recognizable person in the world", and "a straightforward middle-class Englishman who just happened to be an artistic genius."

Hitchcock directed more than fifty feature films in a career spanning six decades and is often regarded as the greatest British filmmaker. He came first in a 2007 poll of film critics in Britain's Daily Telegraph, which said: "Unquestionably the greatest filmmaker to emerge from these islands, Hitchcock did more than any director to shape modern cinema, which would be utterly different without him. His flair was for narrative, cruelly withholding crucial information (from his characters and from viewers) and engaging the emotions of the audience like no one else." Prior to 1980 there had long been talk of Hitchcock being Knighted for his contribution to film. Critic Roger Ebert wrote: "Other British directors like Sir Carol Reed and Sir Charlie Chaplin were knighted years ago, while Hitchcock, universally considered by film students to be one of the greatest filmmakers of all time, was passed over". Hitchcock was later to receive his knighthood from Queen Elizabeth II in the 1980 New Year Honours. In 2002, the magazine Movie Maker named Hitchcock the most influential filmmaker of all time.

... now, go make something beautiful!

¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*´¨)(¸.•´ 

(¸.•´♥ Tristan ♥

 

Robert Cummings and Grace Kelly in 1954's "Dial M for Murder"