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For Looking close on... Friday! theme : Soap bar
Donkey's milk soap of Lothantique brand (founded in 1920) placed on a rattan basket.
Connaissez vous le #showroom du maître verrier Antoine Pierini à Biot, en voici un aperçu :
pour en savoir plus :
Route de la mer
9, chemin du Plan
06410 Biot
Contact:
Galerie Pierini
04 93 65 01 14
info@antoinepierini.com
#antoinepierini #biot #cotedazurfrance #cotedazur #frenchriviera #journeeeuropeennedesmetiersdart #journeeseuropeennesdesmetiersdart #picoftheday #f3cotedazur #alpesmaritimes #provence #provencealpescotedazur #regionsud #artisan #artisanat #madeinfrance
“Life is a painting, and you are the artist. You have on your palette all the colors in the spectrum - the same ones available to Michaelangelo and DaVinci.” – Paul J. Meyer (American motivational speaker).
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 20th of June is "paint", which is about the paint itself and not a painting. A few months ago I went to a French brocante (second hand and vintage) market in the country and I came home with a wonderful box of 1930s Art Deco "Couleurs sans Danger" (colours free from poison) watercolour paints. The box, made by Bourgeois Aine Art Supplies in Paris, is almost entirely complete, with embossed blocks of watercolour pigments in vivid colours encased in gold housings, set in a canary yellow surround. The set includes fourteen colour blocks, three paint bushes of different thicknesses and two porcelain mixers. I was recently given a rather lovely blue hand painted resin Nostalgia Shoe which features red and gold accents, which matched some of the watercolour pigment blocks perfectly, so I thought for this week’s theme, I would pose myself appearing to paint the slipper with colours from the Art Deco "Couleurs sans Danger" watercolour set. I hope you like my choice of this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile!
The Frenchman Joseph Bourgeois Aine (born 1830) opened a shop for art supplies in Paris in 1867, which featured a range of specially designed paintboxes. Before that, Bourgeois Aine had invented a process for the production of alizarin lacquer and produced the first non-toxic paints, which were especially suitable for children's paintboxes. His commitment also extended to the school sector, whereby the products were closely linked and advertised with traditional colour theory (basic colours, mixing diagrams, colour harmony). In 1965 there was a merger with the competitor to Lefranc & Bourgeois, which still exist today.
“Tuesday 14th of June, 1932 - Today we received the three paper silhouette profiles we commissioned from Monsieur Hardy the caricaturist, including a lovely one of our daughter"
This pretty silhouette cut delicately and with precision from thin black card, is by the silhouette caricaturist J. M. Hardy, who had a studio at 4 Passage du Couëdic, in Rennes. It is a profile of a young child, most likely a little girl, cut in 1932 when a family were travelling through the Ille et Vilaine in Brittany. Notice the girl's fashionable pageboy bob hairstyle of the era and her long eyelashes. This is just one of three family silhouettes commissioned of the artist that I own. The other two are of the child's mother and father.
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" the 18th of July is "black" where for the theme, I am required to photograph something black, be it an object, animal or plant, but the image is not allowed to be a black and white one. I immediately thought of the family’s silhouette profile portraits commissioned from the artist J.M. Hardy in the Ille et Vilaine which are carefully preserved amidst a cache of old French postcards and trade cards. To emphasise the blackness of the silhouette I have photographed it against a bright background of gilded (rather appropriately) French chocolate cards of young children from the 1870s and 1880s. I hope you like my choice of subject for this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile.
J'ai terminé la réalisation de mon studio pour photos culinaires.
Aujourd'hui je vous présente des crèmes à l’orange de Menton, pâtisserie faite maison.
Un pur délice à déguster et aussi à prendre en photo.
je vous souhaite une excellente semaine.
#mentonfrance #menton #orange #orangecake #pastry #pastryaddict #pastrylove #pastrychef #cotedazurfrance #gettyimages #gettyimagescontributor #canon #canonphotography #canonfrance #jmlpyt #photography #photooftheday #pictureoftheday #madeinfrance #madehome #foodporn #foodstagram #foodphotography #foodlover #instagood #homemadefood #shootuploadrepeat
Once upon a time there was a widower king who had twelve beautiful daughters, each more lovely than the last, but the eldest was by far the most beautiful and intelligent of them all. They slept in twelve beds all in a row in one magnificent, gilded chamber; and when they went to bed, the doors were shut, bolted and guarded. But every morning when the locks were unbarred, the princesses’ fine satin dancing shoes, placed at the foot of their beds the night before, were worn to a ravelling with torn and tattered toes, broken louis heels and holes in their soles; as though they had been danced in all night. And yet nobody could find out how it happened, or where they had been. The princesses remained silent, but the eldest remained the most silent of them all.
‘The Twelve Dancing Princesses, or the Shoes That Were Danced into Holes’ by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.
The theme for "Looking Close… on Friday" for Friday 4th of April is "pair of shoes". I have many pairs of shoes, but perhaps none are more beautiful or delicate than this pair of elegant louis heeled cream satin wedding slippers from 1902, which are part of my antique costume collection. As satin of this age has a tendency to deteriorate, these are in remarkably good museum quality. Very probably only worn the once, these French pumps made in Paris, are decorated with wonderful ruched satin rosettes and mother-of-pearl buckles. I hope you like my choice for the theme, and that it makes you smile!
"If you're blue, and you don't know where to go to,
Why don't you go where fashion sits?
Puttin' on the Ritz.
Different types who wear a day coat,
Pants with stripes and cutaway coat, perfect fits.
Puttin' on the Ritz."
Lyrics from the song "Puttin' on the Ritz" (1929) written by Irving Berlin.
The theme for “Smile on Saturday” for the 8th of February is "two-gether" where in order to meet it, I need to submit a picture of two similar animals, plants or objects, close to each other, excluding people. Being a collector of vintage and antique costume, although these do not belong to me but to a fellow vintage fashion collector, I fell in love with these beautiful wedding pumps when I saw them! I asked my friend if I could take a photo of them. He was more than happy for me to do so, so I put them on a table in a spot where they could bask in the sun. I took this photograph last year, but I had yet to upload it to Flickr, so it is lovely to have an excuse to share it with you today as my choice for the theme. These beautiful white kid leather Spanish heeled slippers with their pearl spangled satin straps are wedding pumps made in Paris and worn by the bride in April of 1929. I hope you like my choice for this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile!
Dahlia - isn't that a delightful name for this vibrant shade of magenta? For all their dizzying array of colours produced on the past, Dewhurst's also managed to provide a delightful array of wonderful names. Who could resist something, even a patch, stitched with Dewhurst's Sylko Dahlia cotton?
When it was my birthday six months ago, a very dear friend who enjoys photography as much as I do, and knows that I collect beautiful and vintage pieces, gave me a wonderful selection of antique ribbons, buttons, buckles, lace and other fine notions. She also gave me three follow up tins of similar delightful gifts for Christmas.
Those wonderful gifts are what has inspired me to create this series of "Embroider my World" images featuring my vintage bobbin collection. In this case, the wonderfully creamy vintage lace from the 1930s comes from my own collection of antique notions, as does the French satin rose and the net flower in the background. The purple lace flower in the foreground was part of my Christmas gift from my dear friend. It was made and dyed in Latvia. I have accessorised them on a 1930s embroidered tablecloth with a Dewhurst's Sylko Dahlia reel of cotton which dates from between 1938 and 1954.
Belle Vue Mill, commonly known as Dewhurst’s, was built by Thomas Dewhurst in 1828. It opened in 1829 as John Dewhurst & Sons and was one of Skipton’s largest spinning and weaving mills. The mill’s position next to the Leeds Liverpool Canal meant that raw cotton could be shipped in by boats from Liverpool. Finished goods would then be sent back the same way ready for distribution. Coal to power the machine’s steam engines was also delivered by barge. In 1897 Dewhurst’s was bought by the English Sewing Cotton Co. It continued to produce Sylko, one of the mill’s most famous products. It was produced in over 500 colours and sold throughout the world. Sylko cottons are still available at haberdashers today.
Connaissez vous le #showroom du maître verrier Antoine Pierini à Biot, en voici un aperçu :
pour en savoir plus :
Route de la mer
9, chemin du Plan
06410 Biot
Contact:
Galerie Pierini
04 93 65 01 14
info@antoinepierini.com
#antoinepierini #biot #cotedazurfrance #cotedazur #frenchriviera #journeeeuropeennedesmetiersdart #journeeseuropeennesdesmetiersdart #picoftheday #f3cotedazur #alpesmaritimes #provence #provencealpescotedazur #regionsud #artisan #artisanat #madeinfrance
we were on vacation over the holidays, every day we would walk by these artifacts . . . I kept thinking about them . . . why are they together
“Love and red rose can't be hid.” - Charles Holcroft (English dramatist, miscellanist, poet, novelist and translator).
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 14th of March is "red on a white background". A fortnight ago, the theme for "Smile on Saturday" was a guessing game, and I used a photo of a corner of a rich red velvet rose as my choice. This week for "Looking Close on Friday" I am using the same rose, and a second, for the theme. Both velvet roses are vintage pieces, made in France in the 1920s, which I acquired from a former milliner who was selling all her excess stock. As a collector of vintage haberdashery, it will probably come as no surprise that I left with two bags full of beautiful and interesting fabrics and trims. I hope you like my choice for this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile!
Scrapbooking was a popular pastime in Victorian times for both children and adults. Creating a scrapbook was not only a craft project, it was also a way of preserving memories.
In the 1800s, the automated printing press was invented. Suddenly books and printed material became much more widely available. As well as writing in their commonplace books, people began to cut out and stick in printed items. Things like greeting cards, calling cards, postcards, prayer cards, advertising trading cards and newspaper clippings were collected. Some of these books contained a mix of personal journal entries, hand-drawn sketches and watercolours, along with various scraps of printed material. These books were literally books of scraps.
By the 1820s, collectable scraps had become more elaborate. Some items were embossed: a process by which a die (a metal stamp for cutting or pressing) was punched into the reverse side of the paper, giving the front a raised three-dimensional appearance.
In 1837, the first year of Queen Victoria's reign, the colour printing process known as chromolithography was invented. This lead to the production of ‘ready made’ scraps. Brightly coloured and embossed scraps were sold in sheets with the relief stamped out to the approximate shape of the image. These pre-cut scraps were connected by small strips of paper to keep them in place. The laborious task of cutting out small pictures was thus removed, and sales of scraps went soaring. Many of the best-quality scraps of the period were produced in Germany, where bakers and confectioners used small reliefs to decorate cakes and biscuits for special occasions such as christenings, weddings, Christmas and Easter.
These embossed chromolithograph scraps are of German and British in origin and date from the 1880s.
The circus themed cards with their gilding are part of a set of eight which are French (although unmarked) and date from the 1870s.
The theme for "Smile on Saturday" for the 10th of August is "four in a row". Recently, a rather worn set of French dominoes came into my possession, and I have been looking for an excuse to photograph them. It is the middle of winter where I live, and most days have been grey with overcast, leaden skies, and yet the other day in the afternoon we had some glorious sun. I noticed the rays of light shining onto the floor of my sunroom through the French doors I have looking out onto the garden. I liked the dramatic shadows that were created, so I went and fetched my Grandfather’s hand made marquetry chessboard and put it in the sun with the intention of setting up four pawns in a row with their shadows. Then I remembered the dominoes, so I set them up instead. I did several configurations of them in a row, but this one with its dramatic shadows cast across the board won out! I hope you like my choice for the theme this week, and that it makes you smile!
This rather worn French dominoes set that has come into my possession has earned each and every chip, dint and scratch as it was made by hand in the late Eighteenth or very early Nineteenth Century. The black base layer is made of ebonised wood, whilst the top, white pieces, are ivory - now yellowed with age - with the circular grooves inked in black paint. The two layers are affixed together with a silver rivet in the centre of each piece.
The chessboard was made by my Grandfather, a skilful and creative man, in 1952. Two chess sets, a draughts set and three chess boards made by my Grandfather were bequeathed to me as part of his estate when he died.
When it was my birthday six months ago, a very dear friend who enjoys photography as much as I do, and knows that I collect beautiful and vintage pieces, gave me a wonderful selection of antique ribbons, buttons, buckles, lace and other fine notions. She also gave me three follow up tins of similar delightful gifts for Christmas. Those wonderful gifts are what has inspired me to create a series called "Embroider my World" which features images featuring my vintage bobbin collection www.flickr.com/photos/40262251@N03/albums/72177720314094967/.
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 14th of June is "spools of cotton ", so I have decided to use one intended for the series that I have yet to upload, for this week. In this case, the wonderful pieces of golden vintage lace from the 1920s and 1930s come from my own collection of antique notions, as do the 1950s French satin roses. I have accessorised them on a 1930s embroidered tablecloth with a Dewhurst's Sylko Dahlia reel of cotton which dates from between 1938 and 1954. For all their wonderful range of bright and subtle colours, Dewhurt's also have a fantastic array of delightful names, like this reel of cotton which is called "Sugar Cane". I hope you like my choice of this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile!
Belle Vue Mill, commonly known as Dewhurst’s, was built by Thomas Dewhurst in 1828. It opened in 1829 as John Dewhurst & Sons and was one of Skipton’s largest spinning and weaving mills. The mill’s position next to the Leeds Liverpool Canal meant that raw cotton could be shipped in by boats from Liverpool. Finished goods would then be sent back the same way ready for distribution. Coal to power the machine’s steam engines was also delivered by barge. In 1897 Dewhurst’s was bought by the English Sewing Cotton Co. It continued to produce Sylko, one of the mill’s most famous products. It was produced in over 500 colours and sold throughout the world. Sylko cottons are still available at haberdashers today.
This Christmas bauble was hand beaded with sequins and pins by me. I have a Christmas tradition. I bead Christmas baubles for a select group of friends every year. This is for a friend who loves pink and magenta.
Each bauble is 15 centimetres in diameter and contain hundreds of sequins, varying in number depending upon the complexity of the pattern and the type of sequins I use. Most sequins in this bauble are 5mm in diameter, except the large flowers which are 8mm, their sequin cup centres which are 4mm and the small flowers which are 3mm and very fiddly. The large flowers are vintage sequins, and both the large flowers and their central cups are French. Depending upon the colour of the sequin, I will use either a gold or a silver pin to attach it to the bauble. I always leave the flowers and stars until last, allowing a gap in the sequin chain to pin them in.
These baubles are smaller than some others I do, however because it is a complex pattern which starts from the inside and is worked outwards in ever larger circles, each bauble takes approximately 2 to 2 1/2 hours per side.
It is however, a labour of love which I do to pass the time throughout the year.
When it was last my birthday, a very dear friend who enjoys photography as much as I do, and knows that I collect beautiful and vintage pieces, gave me a wonderful selection of antique ribbons, buttons, buckles, lace and other fine notions. She also gave me three follow up tins of similar delightful gifts for Christmas.
Those wonderful gifts are what has inspired me to create this series of "Embroider my World" images featuring my vintage bobbin collection. For something slightly different, in this case, my Dewhurst's Sylko Light Old Gold reel of cotton, which dates from between 1938 and 1954 and and a matching smaller spool of golden coloured cotton from J. P. Coats, have been accessorised with some pieces of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century French ormolu. A bold golden yellow oriental satin embossed with cranes has been used as a backdrop.
Ormolu is a gold-coloured alloy of copper, zinc, and tin used in decorating furniture and making ornaments. The term originally referred to a process in which powdered gold was mixed with mercury and used to gild metal, a technique that was banned in the Nineteenth Century on account of its toxicity.
Belle Vue Mill, commonly known as Dewhurst’s, was built by Thomas Dewhurst in 1828. It opened in 1829 as John Dewhurst & Sons and was one of Skipton’s largest spinning and weaving mills. The mill’s position next to the Leeds Liverpool Canal meant that raw cotton could be shipped in by boats from Liverpool. Finished goods would then be sent back the same way ready for distribution. Coal to power the machine’s steam engines was also delivered by barge. In 1897 Dewhurst’s was bought by the English Sewing Cotton Co. It continued to produce Sylko, one of the mill’s most famous products. It was produced in over 500 colours and sold throughout the world. Sylko cottons are still available at haberdashers today.
In 1802 James Coats set up a weaving business in Paisley. In 1826 he opened a cotton mill at Ferguslie to produce his own thread and, when he retired in 1830, his sons, James & Peter, took up the business under the name of J. & P. Coats. In 1952 J. & P. Coats and the Clark Thread Co. merged to become Coats & Clark's. Today, the business is known as the Coats Group.
For all their wonderful range of bright colours, Dewhurt's also put our a fantastic array of subtle shades too, and often with the most delightful names, like this extremely pale shade of creamy yellow, which has been blessed with the delightful name of "Straw".
When it was my birthday six months ago, a very dear friend who enjoys photography as much as I do, and knows that I collect beautiful and vintage pieces, gave me a wonderful selection of antique ribbons, buttons, buckles, lace and other fine notions. She also gave me three follow up tins of similar delightful gifts for Christmas.
Those wonderful gifts are what has inspired me to create this series of "Embroider my World" images featuring my vintage bobbin collection. In this case, the wonderfully creamy vintage lace from the 1930s comes from my own collection of antique notions, as does the French wooden bobbin. The pretty crocheted daisies were amongst the gifts I was given at Christmas time, and they were made in Latvia. I have accessorised them on a 1930s embroidered tablecloth with a Dewhurst's Sylko Straw reel of cotton which dates from between 1938 and 1954.
Belle Vue Mill, commonly known as Dewhurst’s, was built by Thomas Dewhurst in 1828. It opened in 1829 as John Dewhurst & Sons and was one of Skipton’s largest spinning and weaving mills. The mill’s position next to the Leeds Liverpool Canal meant that raw cotton could be shipped in by boats from Liverpool. Finished goods would then be sent back the same way ready for distribution. Coal to power the machine’s steam engines was also delivered by barge. In 1897 Dewhurst’s was bought by the English Sewing Cotton Co. It continued to produce Sylko, one of the mill’s most famous products. It was produced in over 500 colours and sold throughout the world. Sylko cottons are still available at haberdashers today.
Quite recently, I obtained some lovely pieces of vintage and antique haberdashery notions from a contact of mine who specialises in importing French pieces. Amongst the items that caught my eye were this wonderful Victorian era floral embroidered trim in cream and copper coloured silk, and this Edwardian spool of Fil Au Conscrit black linen thread (fil de lin) which has a particularly lovely graphic and typography in copper upon the label.
Fil Au Conscrit which translates as "thread for the conscript' was a very popular haberdashery brand in France. Up till 1905, conscripts were randomly selected for national service.
The downcast Frenchman on the label pulled out the number thirteen which you can see on a card affixed to his hat, and so must go to war. On postcards featuring this image you can even see tears on his cheeks as he reluctantly goes to fight for his country.
The beehive thimble is sterling silver and was made by silversmith James Fenton and Company in Birmingham in 1905. James Fenton and Company was in operation between 1854 and 1956. They were well known for their manufacture of silver and gold thimbles, and later for their silver and enamel jewellery.
In the mid to late Eighteenth Century, there was a craze in England for dinnerware in the shapes of fruits and vegetables, which meant that the great British porcelain and pottery manufacturers like Wedgwood began producing pieces like confiture dishes in the shapes of melons, side dishes in the shapes of corn, and in some cases, whole dinner services featuring vegetable designs, such as their “Cauliflower Ware”. One of the more popular items were soup tureens in the shape of pumpkins!
The theme for "Looking Close on Friday" for the 18th of October is "pumpkins", which interestingly enough for an easy topic, I found to be a great challenge. The reason being is that it is spring, rather than autumn, where I live, and pumpkins are traditionally an autumn vegetable. I didn’t fancy going to buying a pumpkin from the grocers, so I sat and I pondered what I could do. At first, I thought I might apply my artistic skills and draw a beautiful stylised Art Nouveau pumpkin. And then, the idea hit me! Anyone who follows my photostream knows that I love and collect 1:12 size miniatures which I photograph in realistic scenes. The artifice of recreating in minute detail items in 1:12 scale always amazes me, and it’s amazing how the eye can be fooled. After many decades of miniatures collecting, I have found there are many wonderful miniature artisans around the world, and in this shot, I feature the work of two such artists. The central focus of my photograph is a bright orange pumpkin tureen which has been made by French ceramicist and miniature artisan Valerie Casson. It has been decorated authentically and matches in perfect detail its life-size Wedgwood counterpart. The top part of the rind where the stalk is, is a lid which can be removed, just like the real thing, revealing a hollow and glazed inside – a remarkable feat when you consider that this miniature tureen is barely one and a half centimetres in diameter including the vine and floral handle! Valerie Casson is renown for her meticulously crafted and painted miniature ceramics. The pumpkin tureen sits upon a miniature Wedgwood style Cauliflower Ware dish by Welsh miniature ceramist Rachel Williams who has her own studio, V&R Miniatures, in Powys. I hope you like my choice of this week’s theme, and that it makes you smile!
“Little Polly Flinders,
Sat among the cinders,
Warming her pretty little toes.
Mother came and caught her,
And whipped her little daughter,
For spoiling her nice new clothes.”
Old English nursery rhyme
I'm not entirely sure why, but when I saw this beautiful French half-doll for the first time, I just immediately thought of Little Polly Flinders from the old English Nursery Rhyme. Perhaps it is her rather wistful look as she dreams, or perhaps her age discolored and delicate lace gown.
Quite recently, I obtained some lovely vintage and antique haberdashery notions from two contacts of mine who specialise in supplying French and British pieces. Amongst the items that caught my eye were this wonderful French Art Deco half-doll, who came complete with her two original porcelain legs and an array of spools with interesting labels on their heads, including one from Harrods in Knightsbridge.
Even though the labels on these spools are all from different companies, they were all manufactured by the Wardav Company who made spools for an array of different businesses, both large, like Harrods and small like C. Payne Ltd. I don’t know anything, nor can I find anything about the Wardev Company after extensive research, other than the business was run by a Jewish family and located in London’s multicultural East End, and that they produced cotton spools for the Chinese Silk Twist Company, Harrods and many more businesses.
The "half-doll" is a dainty porcelain or bisque figurine, fashionable in the early Twentieth Century with an upper body, head, arms, but usually no legs. These dolls were produced in the thousands at the height of their popularity by German factories such as Dressel and Kister, Heubach, Goebel and Kestner. Later they were produced in France, America and later still, in Japan. They commonly served as handles and toppers for fabric covers made for powder boxes on ladies’ dressing tables and small brushes, however they were also made for jewellery boxes, pincushions, tea cosies and other covers. In this case, my French half-doll is dressed in contemporary (for the time) style dress, and under her lovely age discoloured skirt she has a pale floral pincushion. I love her original dainty white legs and feet clad in golden pumps.
The thimble at the front of the image, near the half-doll’s legs is sterling silver. It was made by the famous silversmith firm Charles Horner in Chester in 1905. It is more unusual than many thimbles with a pierced cast bright cut border. Charles Horner was born in 1837 in Yorkshire. Born to a local weaver in Ovenden, his business was founded in the 1860s in Halifax. Although the company was known for producing a wide range of jewellery and silver objects, they were particularly recognised for their Arts and Crafts and Art Nouveau enamelled pendants. N Although Charles died before the turn of the century, his company continued to flourish under the stewardship of his sons. Thanks to them, it survived both World Wars, and continued producing jewellery until the mid 1980s. Charles Horner of Halifax, first grew to notoriety due to the development of the ‘Dorcas’ thimble, which was patented in 1884. Dorcas thimbles differed from the ones made before as they had a layer of reinforced steel in between the decorated silver shell. Prior to this, thimbles were often made of a softer silver that did not stop sewing needles from pricking the skin. The Dorcas thimble was incredibly popular. Although the company also produced traditional silver hallmarked thimbles and jewellery, the Dorcas thimble was most likely the innovation that earnt the company acclaim and allowed them to expand. Charles Horner of Halifax continued to produce thimbles until 1947.
The theme for “Looking Close on Friday” for the 27th of May is “blue and green”. This was a wonderful challenge as there were so many possibilities. I contemplated pieces of blue and green porcelain, blue and green glass, blue and green fabric, but in the end I settled on blue and green guilloché enamel. I chose an English guilloché enamel and sterling silver button made in 1911 and a French guilloché enamel and pearl gold stick pin. Guilloché is a decorative technique in which a very precise, intricate and repetitive pattern is mechanically engraved into an underlying material via engine turning, which uses a machine of the same name, also called a rose engine lathe. This mechanical technique improved on more time-consuming designs achieved by hand and allowed for greater delicacy, precision, and closeness of line, as well as greater speed. Translucent enamel was applied over guilloché metal by Peter Carl Fabergé on the Faberge eggs and other pieces from the 1880s. I hope you like my choice for the theme this week, and that it makes you smile.
This peacock blue guilloché enamel and sterling silver button was made in Birmingham by James Fenton and Company in 1911. It is one of six small buttons, two long hatpins and belt buckle, all made of silver with the same peacock blue guilloche enamel, presented in a blue leather presentation box with gilt tooling. James Fenton and Company, was a Birmingham silvermakers between 1854 and 1956. They were well known for their manufacture of silver and gold thimbles and later silver and enamel jewellery.
This French made Art Nouveau (circa 1905) lapel stick pin of flowers and leaves is made of 18 carat rose gold, and features seven seed pearls and six beautiful vibrant green guilloché enamel leaves on rose gold backings in a dainty filigree setting measuring just over a centimetre in diameter. With its curling foliage, it represents the delicate and elegant style of the Belle Epoque. The maker is unknown.
When it was my birthday a few months ago, a very dear friend who enjoys photography as much as I do, and knows that I collect beautiful and vintage pieces, gave me a wonderful selection of antique ribbons, buttons, buckles, lace and other fine notions. She also gave me three follow up tins of similar delightful gifts for Christmas.
Those wonderful gifts are what has inspired me to create this series of "Embroider my World" images featuring my vintage bobbin collection. In this case, the rich vintage grosgrain ribbons come from my own collection of antique ribbons. Both are French and are wound around their original labeled spools: the one in the midground even has its original paper layered between every layer of ribbon on the spool. Both spools are Edwardian. I have accessorised them on a 1930s lace tablecloth with a Dewhurst's Sylko Beech reel of cotton which dates from between 1938 and 1954. Shades of brown are not hues I am particularly enamoured with usually, however in this case I will make an exception.
Belle Vue Mill, commonly known as Dewhurst’s, was built by Thomas Dewhurst in 1828. It opened in 1829 as John Dewhurst & Sons and was one of Skipton’s largest spinning and weaving mills. The mill’s position next to the Leeds Liverpool Canal meant that raw cotton could be shipped in by boats from Liverpool. Finished goods would then be sent back the same way ready for distribution. Coal to power the machine’s steam engines was also delivered by barge. In 1897 Dewhurst’s was bought by the English Sewing Cotton Co. It continued to produce Sylko, one of the mill’s most famous products. It was produced in over 500 colours and sold throughout the world. Sylko cottons are still available at haberdashers today.
Created supported by COKIN ND gradual grey filter plus COKIN gradual blue filter with COKIN A system.
Dominoes - cousins of playing cards - originated in China in the 1300s and represent one of the oldest tools for game play. From professional domino game competition to setting them up and then knocking them over, dominoes allow for a variety of games, as well as tests of skill and patience, and most importantly, fun!
This rather worn French dominoes set that has come into my possession has earned each and every chip, dint and scratch as it was made by hand in the late Eighteenth or very early Nineteenth Century. The black base layer is made of ebonised wood, whilst the top, white pieces, are ivory - now yellowed with age - with the circular grooves inked in black paint. The two layers are affixed together with a silver rivet in the centre of each piece.
I can imagine two Regency ladies, characters from a Jane Austen novel playing dominoes to test each other's skills, patience and strategy! Can't you?