[Random] The Victorian Clutter

August has been an eventful month so far, with my parents coming into town from South Korea for my dad's business trip. During our stay at my aunt's place in Hazleton, PA, our family stopped by Jim Thorpe, a town dedicated to an athlete of the same name. The small town was a pure delight - petite streets with hidden gems of vintage & antique shops in the midst of beautiful mountains, not to mention the Victorian architecture. Unfortunately, I did not bring my camera with me, and I was not faithful in taking pictures with my iPhone. However, I did take a picture of this beautiful, Victorian porch. 

For me, the Victorian & Edwardian eras, La Belle Époque, and the Gilded Age are my fantasies. I love everything about Victorian architecture: 

 the fashion of the Edwardians:

the social excitement of La Belle Époque, and the coexistence of the old & new in every aspects during the Gilded Age: 

After an amazing experience touring the mansions along Bellevue Avenue in New Port, RI, I decided I wanted to "Victorianize" my rather modern-looking room filled with Ikea furniture. Of course, little by little. I decided to start out with my dresser. 

I purchased a three-part, foldable mirror from a vintage shop at Jim Thorpe for $20, and I am loving this new addition. 

I decided to try out the "Victorian clutter" with random decorations. 

"Alice in Wonderland"-themed decorations I made for an exhibition back in June. The cakes are, believe it or not, erasers. I filled up a small corked bottle with some random beads lying around in my crafts drawers for the drink. I love how the burned edges of the signs worked out!

I filled some empty jars (from Blick Art Store) with pearl beads that had to be stored somewhere. I stuck in some left over pastel-colored feathers from the afore-mentioned exhibition as a touch of color. 

I had some pearl beads laid out on the lid while I was making crochet bracelets and was too lazy to put them back in the jar... My air-dried roses were starting to fall apart, so I stuck in a petal for fun.

This is a handmade, lemongrass soap that I also purchased at a store at Jim Thorpe - smells pretty awesome! It turned out that this tin box from Ikea made a perfect storage box. 

Some rose-scented candles that I purchased at Ikea (don't we all LOVE that place). 

I also decided to place my tatted doily (my first!) amongst the "clutter" - the washed-out mint color goes perfectly with the antique, vintage look. 

Of course, the attempted "Victorian clutter" goes nowhere near the original, authentic clutter of the times. It also doesn't help that the items aren't antique and Ikea furnitures are too modern, but I hope that little by little, I will recreate my own Victorian-inspired room. I think lace curtains over my blinds would be a possible next step. And so my Victorian obsession goes on!

[Crafts] Tatting Lace Lesson Book

With my best friend's wedding coming up in a few days and myself leaving for Chicago on Thursday, I had quite a list of things to do today, like buying gifts and a dress to wear for the big day. But before venturing out on a full day of shopping, I decided to start out the day by going to Kinokuniya, a Japanese bookstore right next to Bryant Park.

Disappointingly, Kinokuniya didn't have a wide range of tatting books, and I only found two. I grabbed this book.

The book titles translates to something like "This book is all you need to learn about tatting lace." 

Japanese books are awesome when it comes to step-by-step tutorials with pictures, making it really easy to figure out what's going on. 

Although the book is targeted for beginners, it contains a variety of patterns, ranging from doilies to accessories. The patterns themselves are easy to medium in difficulty level. The patterns start out very easy and then progressively become more difficult as the book introduces the readers to each tatting technique.

I've only just looked through the book, but I think it has great patterns which are easy yet beautiful at the same time and allows you to master each tatting technique as you go. I say this is a great practice book with awesome patterns. Looking forward to starting this book when my threads are delivered tomorrow!

In the meanwhile, I tried the DMC perle cotton (size 8) yesterday. The thread is very smooth, so it was much easier to close rings when compared to Valdani threads. I still think it's too soft and cushiony and delicate, so I'm really looking forward to how sturdy the Lizbeth and Majestic threads are when they arrive tomorrow. 

My failed attempt at a Chantilly Border pattern. But I learned how to reverse work, so that's one, small step! 

[Crafts] A growing collection

Being in a crocheting and tatting frenzy, it's only natural that my thread collection has started to grow.

From left to right: a random cotton thread that I discovered in my drawer, DMC perle cotton (size 8), and two balls of Valdani perle cotton (size 12). 

Although theses are quite pricey, I love the color of Valdani's hand-dyed threads. They have such depth and are so pretty! However, these are more cushiony, soft, and delicate - not that suitable for tatting. It's great for crochet though. 

DMC perle cottons have a great sheen to the threads. I have yet to find out if it's suitable for tatting, but I highly doubt it. This is also great for crocheting. 

Comparison. DMC perle cotton in size 8 is similar to Valdani perle cotton in size 12. 

Tried crocheting chains with a size 1 (2.25mm) crochet hook. 

Tatting with the Valdani perle cotton. Valdani isn't that great for tatting - the thread gets knotted and twisted like crazy, and the resulting work isn't as stiff (although you need to starch and iron finished works to get that stiffness anyway). I've ordered some Lizbeth and Majestic tatting threads, so I'm excited to see how they will work out.