Tag: natural

Tintype Vintage Feeling

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I recently got this really pretty lace collar from a friend, and it has a wonderful sweet vintage style to it. I decided to build a whole outfit around it. I wanted to stick to the vintage feeling by using soft browns and muted colours, and natural motifs. I am also more than ready for autumn, and wanted to see if I could evoke that without shouting “ORANGE! RED! FOLIAGE!” from the metaphorical rooftops. I do think that I managed to grasp it, as well as emulate the look and feel of an old tintype photograph. All the browns and beiges work so well together.

The obi I bought as part of my final Ichiroya purchase ( 😥 ) was perfect – more matching than contrasting, which suits the soft and subtle aesthetic I was aiming for. In lieu of an obiage I used some beautiful creamy crocheted lace to echo the collar. My initial plan was also to add some at the cuffs, but unfortunately I didn’t have enough.

Despite being relatively busy, the obi felt like something was missing. The ivory phoenix obidome brings in more soft cream tones as well as more birds, and is the perfect finishing touch. Unfortunately this obidome has somehow escaped my cataloguing escapades so no close-up photo of it for now, but I will fix that later.

I am thrilled with how this outfit feels almost monochrome but not quite, with the unexpected accents of pale blue and an almost salmon pink shade popping up in both the obi and the kimono. They’re the sorts of details that only make themselves known up close, and one of the things I love about kimono.

Items used in this coordination

The Ocean is Calling Ikebana

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I am feeling pulled towards the ocean right now. The wet sand between my toes, the crackle and crash of the waves breaking on the shore. Floating away from everything that’s wrong with the world.

Sadly, that’s completely impossible right now. What isn’t impossible, however, is making an ikebana composition that helps evoke that feeling. Using tropical-looking flowers and a shell instead of a traditional vessel and kenzan was the perfect solution.

This conch shell was brought back from the Bahamas when my folks went there on their honeymoon, 41 years ago. While it wasn’t intentional I also used the same sort of lilies my mum had in her bouquet! The small button mums remind me of seafoam, and were chosen for no other real reason than that.

For the actual arrangement I was aiming for an intersection of diagonal lines. The lilies form one axis and the button mums form the other, anchored by the conch and the palm frond. I feel like this brings a lot of dynamic energy to the whole composition, and I’m very happy with it.

Bountiful Garden Ikebana

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Today’s ikebana is inspired by our beautiful, bountiful garden. I love this time of year. It’s not oppressively hot or humid yet, but it’s warm and sunny and there are flowers blooming everywhere! It’s not great for my allergies, but they’re so pretty I can deal with it.

Everything in this arrangement came from the garden. Irises are one of my favourite flowers of all time, and my mother planted these gorgeous rich purple ones for me. I managed to catch them at the perfect time, freshly bloomed and vibrant. The lilacs are reaching the end of their life cycle, but I still liked the soft, textural quality they brought to the arrangement, helping to balance out the roughness of the wood. The leaves are from a huge ligularia plant. It’s nowhere near blooming yet, but I do hope to use some blossoms off it when it does.

I’m still riding the wave of motivation I got at the ikebana display last week. I was particularly inspired by the use of driftwood in several pieces there, as well as in one of those charming books Naomi sent me.  I put my smaller kenzan in a little glass dish and nestled it into one of the natural curves of the wood. Funny story, this piece of wood is actually an old decoration from our aquarium. Our plecostomus likes to chew on them and smooth them out so we’ve got a bunch of old ones lying around.

Of course, I had to make use of the screen I made last week. I’m so pleased with how it looks, and it has an added bonus of helping diffuse light which makes the photos look much more even. I’m certain you will be seeing a lot more of this screen! I’m tempted to make one in black as well but I have lots of other things that need to be finished first.