Something about dresses

Quite unexpectedly

three dress forms have come into my possession.

This might not have surprised me as much as it did if I hadn't been wondering 

just last week

how I might find one

if it turned out I needed one

in the not too distant future ...

not necessarily this year

but perhaps next.

And there they were.  Lined up in the back sorting area of the thrift shop

where I volunteer.  Were these spoken for, I asked?

You mean someone might actually WANT these? was the reply,

We weren't sure what we were going to do with them - the shop is full.

Is it silly to say my heart started racing?

The wooden bases are a bit dinged up,

the paint is scratched and one is a tad wobbly

but they go up & down easily enough and the linen canvas is immaculate.

So I bought them on the spot.  Even better, having more than one leads to sharing.

Guess I'll confess ...

I have this thing for dresses 

which is so odd really, because I don't even wear them.

I described this fascination to my friend as best I could:

it's like being the tomboy who secretly loves lace curtains & silk pajamas.

Those who visit here often already know about my love of [scruffy] lace ... but 

you may not know I also love flounces,

swathes of ruffles,

over-the-top haute couture,

courtly wear from the Medieval Ages [especially velvet]
and also ... the most simple, contemporary A-lines.

Should you wish to see examples of my obsession

[uhmm, around 2,968 of them at last count - crikey, how'd that happen?]

'I don't wear dresses'

is a Tumblr blog I started about three years ago.

It's been a handy way to explore one  unexplainable obsession  subject, over time.

[note: clicking on "Archive" will bring up the entire collection in scrapbook format

by month & year]

Hopefully I won't fall short of inspiration when my "someday" arrives.

And now there'll be a shoulder to pin to,

a waist to acknowledge

and visions of a skirt won't just be dancing in my head.

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So different, yet still the same?

Years ago as a child, I used to keep scrapbooks (didn't we all?) and later in junior college, journals  -  a proverbial mountain of them.  Oh my, I was filled with so much angst in those days - I'm so glad they're over.  Then it was off to art college and my whole life was recorded in sketchbooks of some form or another.  Each of those venues was about the record-keeping, having a spot to put things one didn't want to forget...or was inspired by...a place to capture an idea before it flew.  For good.

Lately,  forced into a stretch of "down time" away from all my usual life activities ...you know, that spot of trouble with my right hand I've mentioned before...I've had a lot of time to think.  Unable to do many of my most loved things, I have finally been able to type so I decided to use this big chunk of time and catch up with the art world in general and more specifically my three main passions: photography, textile art, and beadwork, all via the internet.  Guilt free research.  Heaven.

I'm going to blame what happened next on Robyn over at Art Propelled (go over and look at her blog, it's gorgeous) because she started a Tumblr blog  (Tumblr...huh?...what's that?)  I came across it by trawling one late night and one thing led to another, some correspondence started, questions were answered and before I knew it, Robyn had persuaded me to start one of my own.

She has not steered me wrong.  It's been fantastic!

All the images I'm posting today are from my Tumblr collection and can be clicked over there to enlarge.    The globe can be found here, girl in the dress here.


The outcome of this leap into yet ANOTHER blog (good grief, I can barely deep up with this wee blog!) is now I have a scrapbook, a journal, and an idea sketchbook all in one spot.  Hopefully I will no longer be losing links to wonderful things I see online.  Best of all?  My image library is growing into a veritable encyclopedia of inspiration...

Images above:  wagga by India Flint here, painted leaves here.

When I sat down to write this post, I wasn't quite sure where I was going with it.  Generally, I love to share images, you all know that by now, but when I pulled up my Tumblr Archive today's theme almost shouted at me.  Funny what happens when you mass together a group of pictures that strike a chord.  You begin to see yourself more clearly.  You begin to see how you see...

Images above: feather from Normandy, France, here;  17th century Ottoman tent here.

My penchant for spirals cropped up repeatedly.  I must have a good twenty bookmarked so far.  These two - a macro & an aerial - are favorite extremes...

Images above: spiral lacework on velvet here, Richat structure in the Sahara Desert here.


More extremes, real and imagined...

Images above:  bridge here, illustration of precipice here.


Knitting - sharing some cell structure with trees?  It's all about relationships really....

Images above:  lace weight knitting here, photomicrograph of juvenile pine here.


Ann Wood creates the most fantastic owls from repurposed vintage clothing and bits of old quilts, utilizing antique buttons for eyes, paper mache feet and hand stitching details.  The boro patching on the right was utilitarian in nature, traditional.  I love these two photos together, contemporary alongside timeworn...

Images above: owl here, sashiko stitching & boro patching here.


Images above:  cloud tree here, flowering tree here.

I think these two are quite extraordinary together, right down to the matching high collars..

Images above:  woman with medallion here, Thomas Dodd's 'Brainstorm' here.

As you reach the end of my post and see these last two photos, you may be asking yourself, "what on earth...???"  Up on the left is an inflatable bicycle helmet for the fashion conscious.  And on the right?  Well, that's my hand, after yesterday's surgery on the infamous finger that drove me to all this in the first place.  My very own finger helmet.

So different yet still the same, don't you think?

Be sure to let me know if you're on Tumblr and I'll come by your place for a visit  :>]

Images above: bicycle helmet here and here.

One should really use the camera as though tomorrow you’d be stricken blind.

— Dorothea Lange 

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