Happy New Year!

 

 

 In the Celtic wheel of the year, Samhain, or Hallowe'en as most of us now know it, marks the start of the new year and the change from the light half of the year to the dark half.

 

The pre-christian Irish calendar revolved around the summer and winter solstices (known as litha and Yule) and the spring and autumn equinoxes (known as Ostara and Mabon) between them. Most of the chambered tombs in Ireland are aligned to one of these four dates so that the rising sun fills the interior chambers with light.

 

Between the autumn equinox and the winter solstice lies Samhain. It is the time of the year when the spirit underworld and human world are closest and so the spirits of our ancestors, as well as evil spirits are able to enter our world. 

 

 

 

 To ward off evil spirits we disguise ourselves in costumes like theirs, so that they will pass us by unnoticed, and we leave food and light candles for our ancestors.

 

In the past people in Ireland carved swedes or turnips and placed candles inside. Once the christianised festival of hallowe'en was brought to America by Irish immigrants in the 19th Century, people started carving the more readily available pumpkins and gourds. 

 

These are two that I carved as presents for friends hosting Hallowe'en parties last weekend. And this time of year always holds fond memories for me because my brother was born on Hallowe'en so we grew up having great parties with pumpkins, apple-bobbing, sparklers and ghoulish costumes, and going trick-or-treating.

 

 

When christianity came to Ireland, the festival of the goddess Bride was made into St.Brigid's day, yule became Christmas and Samhain became all hallow's eve, when people pray for their dead.

 

While I'm no pagan, I'm trying to teach myself about our pre-christian history and customs and to understand the movements of the year so that I can have a better connection to the earth.

 

Happy new year to you all. May light guide your way through the darkness ahead.

 

Bell tent chandelier

As anyone who has been to this blog before will know, I'm obsessed with my beautiful bell tent. So for my birthday my siblings got me the most fabulous tealight chandelier to hang in it. It can be used in the house too of course, but it's all about the few times each year I get to bling out the tent like this:

 

 

 

image from www.belltent.co.uk

 

Below, the chandelier hanging in my living room, just begging to be let loose in the great outdoors.

 

 

 Thanks Helen, Colm and Maria.

Carry on camping

 

They may not be the glamourous surroundings I had envisioned, but Danny and I finally put our beloved bell tent up for the first time in his mother's back garden at the weekend.

 

We were really just checking that all the bits and bobs were there so that we're primed and ready to go on many a spontaneous adventure once the sun finally decides to grace us with its presence.

 

It's four meters across and you can stand up inside which is so refreshing compared to the pop-up sweatbox of a tent that we were using before.

The fundamental question is how to decorate it? I'm taking inspiration from the examples below from nativeoutdoors , greenunion and dappercampingclub

Because who goes camping without a full bar in their tent?!

 I know I'll never make that mistake again.

 

 

Happy Birthday Hubby

 

For Danny's 36th birthday we hired out this amazing little cinema in Comber, just a few miles away from Belfast.

 

The Spence brothers have built two 1940s style cinemas just down the lane from one another, using materials reclaimed from local cinemas as they were refurbished or closed.

 

 

Look at the beautiful interior! A friend who was there with us remarked that the place reminded him of the Regal cinema in Limavady that he'd grown up going to, and it turns out that the seats came from that very cinema! Northern Ireland is a very small place.

 

 

We watched pretty much the best film ever made, 'The Princess Bride'.

Haven't seen it?

Inconceivable!

 

 

 

Happy birthday husbando.

 

 

shopping for twigs

 

Christmas is upon us once again. So Danny and I went out to the Cave Hill Forest near our house at the weekend to collect some branches, added a vase, some decorations and a random assortment of christmassy bits and bobs around it, including the obligatory animal skull. Merry Christmas y'all!

 

 

 

Introducing Melanie

 

 

This is an original 'Melanie' by Louis Shabner. I found her in a charity shop recently and swore to myself that I wouldn't spend any more than a tenner on her, but I found that I couldn't bear to pass her by even at the £20 they were asking. A bit of ebay research though leads me to believe that she's relalatively rare and worth about £150!

 

I hung it up in my sister-in-law's salon to have a gander at it and had to admit that it looked good there against the amazing wallpaper; so there it stays until I find somewhere appropriate to house Melanie in my house.

 

Isn't she a little sexpot?!

 

 

 

Here are a couple more pictures by Louis Shabner which were printed in their thousands and hung in every stylish home during the 60s and 70s.

 

 

And they're contemporaneous with the more famous work of Tretchikoff, the 'King of Kitsch'. Original prints of these used to be thrown out in their dozens but it's near impossible to get your hands on them now. I'd sell a kidney in return for an original 1950 'Chinese Girl'.

 

But for now I'm satisfied by my girl crush on Melanie.

 

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shine a light

 

Following on from my last post, here are three more styles of handmade lampshade which are available to buy from lost & found.

 

Prices range from £10 - £25 plus any postage charges.

 

email maevep22@hotmail.com for more details.

 

Handmade map lampshade

 

Here's a little sneak peek of the lampshades I'm going to be making to (hopefully) sell in the Christmas markets this year.

 

a paper globe lampshade

+

circles of pretty paper

+

double sided tape

=

a really nice present for someone.

 

 

Lampshades are available to buy. To find out more just drop me a line at - maevep22@hotmail.com 

 

- small £10

- medium £15

- large £20

 

Wedding chandeliers

 

A few weeks back I photographed the wedding of an old school friend (more of which later) and I was also asked to make some decorations for the venue. We came up with these huge coloured tissue-paper-and-drinking-straw chandeliers, inspired by the ridiculously intricate polish 'pajaki' and in colours based on the crazy-amazing cake below.

 

 

 

Here they are in the Portstewart golf club on the big day. I tried to make them all slightly different, adding strings of pearls and tassels to some, and they hung above the dancefloor, narrowly avoiding being ripped to shreds when the nearby pinata was attacked with a broom at the end of the night.

 

 

 

If you would like me to make some of these for your own wedding or event just drop me a line at maevep22@hotmail.com