Today's Work is Just a Mere Whimsy

I love this striking little black, white and silver trinket box. It's a papier mache box covered with vintage and contemporary papers, painted wooden findings, vintage feathers and floral trims, ribbons, and wonderful contemporary eyelash fringe. The little beads around the top of the lid are antique black jet beads...I just love them, and don't have many left. I'll have to keep my eye out for another broken jet bead necklace so I can get a new stash! The dusting of white German glass glitter on the flower embellishment is the perfect extra sparkle!

This box is only 4" and makes a perfect hiding place for treasures - or a particularly lovely gift box for - oh, say - a diamond ring! I put this in my Etsy shop, if you're interested in it.

Black and White Pierrot Mini Theatre

Last night I started working on a small black and white theatre which might display a Pierrot or Pirouette paper doll puppet. I had planned on it being tiny, but the more I started playing with the black and white papers and trims and beads and feathers, I decided it really needed to be a larger theatre. So it grew into this 16" display theatre. I took a detail photo of the balcony, because I think the Dresden scrap 'railing' and and the antique jet beading trim are especially lovely. I found the black button that is in the middle of the back wall at an antique shop years ago and it's finally found a home. It's multi-faceted and looks like a big jet bead - though I don't believe it is. I think this is going to be a really pretty mini vintage theatre. Jon asked me if I was going to put a "splash of red" on it and I said that I hadn't planned on it. However, the idea of a black and white and red piece intrigues me, so I'm sure there is going to be one of them this year!

Today's Mini-"Vintage"-Theatre Construction

I was going to work on doing an out-doors-y sort of woodland faery theatre piece.

But, it just seemed to get fancier and fancier as I went along, and it turned out a tad too royal for a forest scene.

I think maybe it's going to require a Marie Antoinette character inside it ...

I used papier mache (as usual) for the basic structure, and added vintage and handmade papers, a beautiful piece of antique brass filigree, an Anna Griffin crown embellishment, glass fringe in the shape of leaves, crepe paper, silk ribbon (for the bunting) and paper-and-ribbon covered dowels for the columns. As I look at it more and more, I think that maybe I'll need to add something to the facing of the balcony to add to the rhinestones. They're looking a little lonely there by themselves.

I guess now I'll need to see if I can get that natural forest-y stage structure started!

I started pulling out my vintage ribbons and trims and papers and my Dresden scrap and fringes and everything else that would fit on my work table. I made this little Victorian trinket box out of a small papier mache box. This is the first piece of 2009 stuff for the Open Studios art space open houses. We're having a debate here about whether the wooden legs and the wooden knob on top need more done to them. I, of course, always believe that more is more and more is good.

What do you think? Should I keep piling on stuff, or leave it as is?