Style Saturday - Updo twisted bun hair tutorial

Holiday Beauty ~ Twisted Bun Tutorial by lucky-ruby

Hello everyone!

Hope that you enjoyed my hair up tutorial that I shared the week before last (click here if you missed it). This week I wanted to share another hair up tutorial with you all. This is another simple tutorial but looks great and could be accessorised with some pretty vintage style hair slides and clips to make the hair up look even prettier. 

The hair up would look fantastic for a special occasion; maybe if you are a wedding guest or are going out for a nice supper but could also be worn as a smart work up-do and will stay in securely for the whole day.

The Dorothy Days X

Film Friday - Elsewhere by Stefaan De Croock

Hi everyone,

Last week for my Film Friday feature I shared with you all a short animation by Tokyo based artist 'Summer House'(click here to take a look if you missed it). Today I wanted to share with you something totally different; a different 'type' of art, a completely different style of film.

The film shows the construction of Elsewhere, a mural by artist Stefaan De Croock in June 2015 in Mechelen, Antwerp.

Elsewhere is part of a wider project in the town. The town of Mechelen invited 10 artists from all over the world to make works of art on the walls of it's buildings.

Elsewhere is a recycled wood mural built from old doors, wooden planks and furniture which was, fittingly, installed on the side wall of an old furniture factory.

The artist behind the piece is Stefaan De Croock who was born in 1982 and lives and works in Bruges, Belguim. He trained in graphic design and this has a strong influence on his work and artistic vision.

He starts by drawing the basic lines and then his drawing becomes fast, spontaneous and even impulsive.

Photo Credit: Stefaan De Croock 

I think Elsewhere is a amazing work of art and I particularly love the beautiful colours of the painted doors and the different textures of the wood.

Please find more about Stefaan and his work here: http://strook.eu

The Dorothy Days X

Kate Clark - Taxidermy artist

Photo Credit : Kate Clark

Today I wanted to share with you the amazing work of Brooklyn-based artist Kate Clark.

She uses clay to sculpt human faces and then covers this in animal skin to make her unusual taxidermy and breathtakingly beautiful sculptures.

Kate comes from a background in arts; her father was a painter and it was originally painting which Kate enjoyed and wanted to pursue. It was not until she went to college that she discovered her love for sculpting.

Kate only uses imperfect pelts in her work. Ones that have holes or rips in and are likely to have been thrown away by other taxidermists. She salvages these pelts and turns them into sculptures which are both unsettling and magically beautiful.

Licking the Plate by Kate Clark

Kate says of her work....

"When encountering my sculptures, the viewer is faced with a lifelike fusion of human and animal that investigates which characteristics separate us within the animal kingdom, and more importantly, which unite us. 

Our current lifestyle does not necessitate physical interaction with wild animals. Yet we revere the natural world and are seduced by characteristics we no longer see in ourselves, such as fierceness, instinctiveness, purity. 

The unexpectedness of the human face on these animals also evokes curiosity. They are obviously reconstructed yet they are not monstrous, they are approachable, natural, calm, innocent, dignified. The facial features are believable and the skin, which is the animal’s skin, has been shaved to reveal porous and oily features that we recognize as our own. The viewer has an intimate relationship with the face and then identifies with the animal, acknowledging the animalistic inheritance within the human condition."

In this short video she talks to National Geographic who filmed her in her studio over a 2 month period.

The Dorothy Days X

Item of the Week - Fairy/ Angel necklace

Hello everyone!

Super excited to share with you my new angel/ fairy necklace which I made just before Christmas.

She has a really detailed bell shaped dress, little wings, a pearl for a head and long dangle chains which adds some length to the necklace and adds to its prettiness.

She is part of a series of three angel necklaces that I have made for my shop.

Hope that you like it!

The Dorothy Days X

Style Saturday - Terrariums

#1 - Faceted Terrarium by West Elm

Photo Credit - West Elm

These geometric terrariums look fantastic when displayed separately or in a collection like shown above. They are available in two different colours; black and gold.

The downside? These beauts are not water tight so are suitable to air mist plants only.

Find them here on West Elm 

#2 Green House Terrarium

Photo Credit: Pottery Barn

When you think of terrariums the first thing that springs to your mind probably won't be this greenhouse style terrarium. So, if you want a terrarium which is a little bit different or perhaps you have a more vintage country look to your house rather than modern then this is the terrarium for you! Instead of geometric shapes in metal this terrarium uses vintage style wood.

I am totally in love with this green house terrarium. The shape and style of it reminds me more of a Wardian Case than a terrarium. The Wardian Case was a kind of early terrarium which was invented by Dr. Nathaniel Bagshaw Ward (hence the name, Wardian Case). The case was invented in c.1829 in London as a way of transporting plants without them becoming polluted by the smoky city air and as a way to get plants from overseas without them dying before they arrived. 

They soon as become popular within Victorian houses as decoration pieces (and we can see why!)

This terrarium comes in two different sizes and can be found at Pottery Barn 

#3 - Icosidodecahedron terrarium

This terrarium has been beautifully handmade and is available in a variety of sizes and finishes. The terrarium was made by Murat who is a twenty- something year old man from Turkey. He says he " studied psychology and neuroscience but still feed a great interest for crafting, inventing and design". 

Find Murat's beautiful terrarium shop here on Etsy: Waen

#4 - Minimalist Style Terrarium

You can't go wrong with this minimalist style terrarium. It has two compartments so you can make two different collections of plants in one place and it is easy to get into with a little hinged door at the top. If you get bored of having plants in there (not sure why you would!!) it would also look lovely filled with other items such as seashells, candles, pebbles etc.

Find it here at dotandbo
#5 - Terrarium Figures

So you have found your perfect terrarium, now it is time to choose your plants and don't forget your terrarium figures either. You can pick up standard small standing figures for pretty cheap but if you are looking for something a bit more unusual then why not let your imagination run wild and go for something a bit more unusual such as this figure doing a handstand!

There are loads of really cool figures in this Etsy shop which you can find here: 

FaerieNest

Hope you enjoyed reading this blog post!

The Dorothy Days Xx

Film Friday - Violation by Summer House

The start of the year is always an exciting time. A time to review the year before and come up with new ideas for this year.

I spent some time this week looking back on some of the blog posts from 2015 and thinking about what posts I liked the most and planning new ideas for the blog (watch this space!!). One of the things I really enjoyed blogging about last year was cool little videos and films that I found.

So.....*drumroll*.....this year each Friday I will be posting a new short video or film and I picked Friday so I could call it Film Friday....catchy right?!




The first piece I wanted to share with you is called Violation and is by an artist who goes by the name of "Summer House".

He is based in Tokyo and has worked for clients such as Mercedes Benz, Toyota and Wired Japan.