100 Years Old. That’s Right. Born In 1912.

I look pretty good for my age, right?

Don’t answer that.

So check out this fascinating little piece of photographic history that was running on BBC News online today:

These color photographs are 100 years old.  I’m completely fascinated by this.  Not only do they bring to life a past that is frequently difficult to imagine from grainy black and white photographs, but the actual process invented to create them is brilliant.

A coffee table book was produced in 1980 with Sergei Mikhailovich Prokudin-Gorskii’s photographs.  I wonder if the print quality was any good.  I may have to check into it.

99 Years.

 

Eve Arnold, 1912 – 2012

E≠MC²

 

You know what I love about neutrinos?

No, not that they defy the laws of physics as we currently define them.  No, not that they are so super-fast that we question their very existence.  No, not even that this existence will allow us to see into the center of the galaxy.

Psshhht.  Whatever.

I like them because they make this pretty pattern.

Photograph: Cern/Science Photo Library

I am all about the pretty patterns.

Like Colors Through The Hourglass, These Are The Days Of… no, wait…

Have you checked out The Color Of…?  It’s some experimental software that Paul Overton featured on DudeCraft earlier this week.  Gotta love it.  They’re taking a bunch of photos pulled from Flickr based on your text parameter and then superimposing them to get an aggregate pixel color.  Um.  You put in a word, it finds pictures associated with that word and averages the colors.  Then you get a pretty picture.

Now, one flaw so far is that this only uses Flickr for it’s photo sampling and presumably only uses tags to pull the images…. so you have a pretty limited range of images in your mélange.   I could not, for instance, do “Beangirl” as it only pulled up six images when I tried that (none of them mine, since I don’t use Flickr).

Here are some others I tried though:

I find them surprisingly evocative.  For instance, the “Fargo” images had just one single landscape in the sampling and included several vintage cars and neon signs and people, and yet the end result looks strikingly like… well… Fargo.  Coincidental, but amusing.

I think this will be very interesting with added options to broaden the search parameters to get a wider sampling of images.  Or, uh, not so interesting.  Uh, to normal people.  I’m easily amused by playing with random color.  Whatever.  It’s my blog.  I can play with the pretty colors if I want to.

Nyah.

Oh How I Hate, O-hi-o State.

I love Kent State, however.  And here is why: The Kent State University Museum.   It is the only reason I can see for wanting to visit, let alone live in, Ohio.  (Please send all hate mail regarding the blatant slander of the state of Ohio to: 1234 University of Michigan Drive, Ann Arbor MI 12345.  Go Blue!)

The Kent State Museum has an astonishing array of textiles and clothing.  A-ston-uh-shing.  There are many a book and CD collection dedicated to it (none of which I own).  They don't have a searchable image database (as far as I can tell), but they do put up some images of their exhibitions. They did a particularly thorough job with their recent "The Art of the Embroiderer" exhibit, which was on view for over a year.  I seriously considered going to Ohio for the sole purpose of seeing this exhibit in person.  Then I recovered my senses. 

I will warn you: the large number of online images could be due to the fact that this exhibit only just came down.  I’d get a gander while you can, because once their new exhibit goes up, these images may be gone.   And what images they are.  Here’s a tiny fraction of a sampling:

  

 

The website also has images from some of their other exhibits, both past and present.  For example, this lovely little series is a part of the "Mood Indigo" page.

 

And of course, any place that has the genius to create an exhibit by combining E.S. Curtis photographs and shoes is just about perfect in my book.

 

Oh yeah and the website also has a bunch of you know words and stuff and I suppose you could read all about these exhibits and their intentions and meanings and value to society and whatnot.  If you like that kind of thing.

A Shameless Plug For People I Have Never Met

I will say up front and immediately that this next installment of "Eye Candy: A Splendid Way To Waste Your Not-so-valuable Time" is not a museum collection or picture archive.  It is, in fact, an actual store.  Yes.  A store.  Which means, among other things, that not only do I feel compelled to warn you about this as potential advertisement but also that you can buy this stuff and have it for your very own.

The mind boggles.  Yes it does.  Boggles.

This company used to be called "Charles Rupert Designs", they're now called "Historic Style" and they're based in Victoria, B.C..  I have personally purchased items from them (albeit about 5 years ago under their old name) and so I feel I can say with some confidence that the quality of their products is lovely.

Still, even if you have absolutely no intention of wallpapering your home in a William Morris print or covering your couch with a C.F.A Voysey linen (and if not, what the heck is wrong with you, anyway?  Oh wait, it costs how much?), you can still enjoy the beautiful images.  And now they have fabulous tiles, hardware and other cool stuff.  They also have a very small selection of Charles Rennie Mackintosh fabrics, which are harder to come by than William Morris prints.  Unfortunately for us, their fabrics are intended for interiors so they have a somewhat limited use for garment construction.  They make for some interesting options in the coat-designing department, though.  And there are a few lighter-weight linens and some voiles that maybe have some potential for clothes.  You can order samples for a fee.  And yes, their yardage is crazy expensive.

Mostly I just like looking at them.

Do you ever get the feeling that you were born in the completely wrong time?  I’m pretty sure I was supposed to be born in 1864.  In England.  And very wealthy.

But then, who wasn’t?

Vanda, My Dahlink

Ah, Vanda.  How I love you.  Actually, that's V and A.  As in Victoria and Albert.  Not the monarchs.  The museum. 

Saying that, I have never actually been to London (unless you count a truly soul-destroying layover I had at Heathrow once) so I haven't been in the museum in person.  But I know that it is heaven on earth.

The Victoria and Albert Museum has an online image library and then they also have an online print shop, where you can order prints.  This source has some really nice images.  The online library does too, but it's a bit more of a slog to find something.  Sort of just depends on if you’re cruisn' for eye-candy or looking for something more in-depth.

And not only do they provide this embarrassment of riches, they also participate in DailyLit.com by providing the lovely "Shoes, Bags and Tiaras" for free.  Awesomeness.

Speaking of which, some random samplings:

silk  shoes, 18th C.

 Mary Quant boots, 1967miniature with dress-up overlay

 Liberty Dress, c. 1930

 Liberty dress, c. 1885

 silk dress, c.1870

And last but not least, something I actually personally owned (until my miserable children caused my feet to swell like sponges at the beach):

Docs, 1982

And from the fabulous Print Shop:

 Barbier illustration

 

Bernier illustration

Heideloff and Ackermann illustration

 

And that’s just from the fashion illustration section. 

Vanda.  You hav to luv it, dahlink.

Chipper. Not the wood kind.

All day Monday I thought it might just possibly be Thursday.  Or more accurately, I hoped it might.  This isn’t really a good sign for the rest of the week, but I have determined to be cheerful and positive.  No, really.  I have.  Yes.  Me.  I am not making that up.

However, because the day was just too exhausting for words, I did not even remotely have any intention of sewing something.  In fact, I counted myself pretty lucky to have slumped down in my chair to watch the second half of “The Women".  No, not the fabulously over-the-top 1939 version starring the fabulous Norma Shearer with fabulous supporting performances by the fabulous Joan Crawford, Rosalind Russell, Joan Fontaine, et al.  No.  I mean the horrid 2008 version.  Yes.  That is how tired I was.  All I can say is Clare Booth Luce must be spinning in her grave.

So while I did not in fact do anything sewing related, I did manage to put the entire Burda World of Fashion Skirt Fiasco behind me and make a firm decision to Move On.  Um.  I didn't quite get to the What To Move On To part, but hey, it's a start.   Those Burda women will not get me down!  And yes, it is totally their fault that I keep laboring under the delusion that I am, in fact, 6 feet tall and not, in fact, 5 feet tall.  That is their fault!

Ahhhhh… in with the good air… out with the bad air…

In the meantime, here's another good image library link.  This is the Bridgeman Art Library based in the UK.  They have a nice collection of online resources that are relatively easy to sort through by topic.  And yes, they have a textile section (look under the "Crafts and Design" sub-heading).  The images are sometimes watermarked in places that obscure your view and there isn't an option to zoom in, which is unfortunate since there are tons of things that I would like to see more closely.  But for a quick eye-candy fix, this is a great stop.

Here's a random sampling:

cotton block printed dress, French, 18th C. 

fabric swatches and fashion sketches, 20th C.

woven scarf, 20th C

pre-Columbian embroidery, 12th – 13th C.

Coptic shroud, painted fabric, 4th C.

 Mexican embroidery sampler, 19th C.

lining from boy’s coat, Russian, 19th – 20th C.

Roller-printed chintz, English, 19th C.

cotton curtain, English, 19th C.

And now I have to feed my starving family.  Assuming I can scavenge something.  I’m like a wild puma that way.

 

Metrovisual

Um.  So this weekend I didn’t have tons of time to sew or fit patterns (and oh man do my patterns need drastic fitting efforts).  I mean, I had to go to a hockey game and then I had to do some housework and then… uh… I had to watch some TV.  You know.  Important things.

Which is all to explain why I’m posting yet another of my (apparently) on-going series of Image Collection links.  Hey, at least I’m posting the ones that have fashion and/or textile collections.  So it’s, uh, moderately relevant.   Really.

This week’s Project Runway reminded me of something that I wanted to add back to the list.  So here’s a goliath of a resource: The Metropolitan Museum of Art Collection Database.  Wowzer.  With just under 150,000 works cataloged online, there is plenty to look at.  And since most of us can’t make a quick run uptown to take a look whenever our fancy takes us, this gives us the next best thing (and to be honest, I find actually being at the Met a little overwhelming and I never seem to find my way to what I went to see in the first place—curse you ancient Egyptian hieroglyphs and your mysterious power to ensnare us).  Plus, not everything is on view in the real world.  In the magical world of the Interweb you can see everything!

 

Dior Shoes, 1958

Worth Afternoon Dress, c. 1874

Zandra Rhodes Dress, 1969

 

There is some disadvantage to not seeing things in person.  I want to see the back of that Worth dress.  What kind of interesting bustle must it have?

Inclement Weather Day

I didn’t get one.  Awww, man!  What a gyp.

(What the heck does “gyp” mean, anyway??? I always wondered that when I was a kid.  Where does that word come from?  Seriously.  If you know the etymology of the word “gyp” I’d very much like to know.  I don’t think people say that anymore, so old people: step up and let your voices be heard.  Gyp?)

Anyway, schools are all 2 hours delayed but of course I’m a grown up (unlike my husband and my children) and I have to go to work.  On time.  Hmmph.

So you might not know this, but I’m something of a visual kleptomaniac.  I have been since I was a teeny tiny tot of less than two years.  I collect images.  Oh my dear lord, do I love images.  When I was painting every day (back, far back, in the hazy mists of time) I did mostly collage.  Most people thought it was because I like collage (well actually I do, I’ve been doing that since I was two years old also).  However, the real secret reason was, in fact, to facilitate my image hoarding. 

With the advent of the Interweb, my image collecting has changed somewhat.  Instead of perusing magazines and books and library collections, now I spend a lot of my online time searching for good image collections.  I used to have 110 (seriously, that’s one hundred and ten) links to online image databases.  Then my computer crashed and took the backup with it and I lost them all.  Oh, the humanity.

So I’m slowly piecing in new links.  Here’s the one I rediscovered today.  VADS (the Visual Arts Data Service) from University College for the Creative Arts in England.  These image collections are copyright free in the UK.  Awesomeness.

So here’s a little preview from a few of the many many collections.

turkish velvet, 17th C.

one of many many many pattern envelopes

William de Morgan ceramic tile,  c. 1888

Oooooo.  Pretty.  Again.

And now I have to slog my way to work.  Have a good snow day, all you Okie readers.

(edit at 8:48 a.m. to say:   Oh, sure.  Now the schools are closed for the whole day.  This is totally ridiculous as it is currently RAINING.  Oooo, water fall from sky.  Gods angry.  Must close schools.  But not place where people work.  People work, make gods happy.   Double-hmmph.)