Curious about Curiosity Cabinets: How to start your own Wunderkammer

Collecting is a hobby that can take many forms, but displaying your oddities in the form of a Curiosity Cabinet is the ultimate way to showcase your collection, and visually communicate your interests and aesthetic. Curiosity cabinets, or Wunderkammen in the original German, have a rich history and have been a popular method of displaying personal collections for centuries.

I adore their collection of crucifixes! 
Note the mingling of oddities with books....
Source: Tumblr

Step One: Acquiring a Cabinet

While not one-hundred percent necessary for a more general oddities collection, a nice touch, and really, the defining touch to your Cabinet of Curiosities is, of course, the cabinet! Finding a suitable display case can be a treasure hunt of its own, but there are plenty of options commercially available if you are willing to spend the money. Thrift stores with large furniture selections usually have hutches or china cabinets available that could be fitted to work, and of course, ebay always has (sometimes pricey) selection of antique apothecary shelves available for purchase. 

A quick google search for "Antique Hutch" turned up this beauty,
but its easy to find similar models at any local thrift shop. 

If you are on a budget, a bookshelf can do the trick. The possibilities are endless, but remember that the display is just as important as the collection itself, so make sure to choose something that really speaks to you! A nice feature to have is a light source. Though not mandatory, it's nice to be able to really put your collection in the spotlight.

Step Two: Beginning Your Collection

Traditional curiosity cabinets were comprised of a combination of natural and man-made artifacts. Collectors would display sea fans and shells next to plater casts of grecian statues and sometimes obvious fakes "proving" the existence of mythical creatures (such as the "Piece of Skin from the Serpent in the Garden of Eden" below). Although for a while these collections were considered educational, their real purpose was to engender awe in their viewers, and capture an appreciation for the world around them. As the Age of Reason dawned, the organization of these collections began to be more motivated by scientific method and were divided into classifications for research. Eventually, wunderkammen evolved into modern natural history and art museums. Art and artifacts were separated from natural specimens, and the gaffs and mythological pieces were removed all together. 

This specimen was a showcase piece in the curiosity collection of Charles F. Gunther, a successful confectioner in Victorian Chicago who was well known for his vast and eccentric collection. In addition to owning many legitamate and important historical artifacts in his collection, he also was the proud owner of pieces like this, "A Piece of Skin from the Serpent in the Garden of Eden". Cataloging textile pieces from Gunther's collection was one of my jobs when I worked at the Chicago History Museum!

Modern curiosity cabinets in many ways harken back to the original wunderkammen of the Northern Renaissance. Most private collections these days are not intended for methodical scientific study, but rather to express one's aesthetic and interests, and to display items which whet one's curiosity and wonder. Modern collections do not have to abide by any traditional guidelines. Mechanical wonders, art, dolls, things found on walks, urban refuse, your cat's meal remains.... the sky is the limit! 

Cased Victorian Butterfly Collection featured on Shop Oddities tumblr. Available on Etsy here.

All this thinking about collecting is very exciting but beginning a collection can be daunting. Like building a wardrobe, a collection should be fairly thematic if you want to clearly communicate an idea or aesthetic. It is a good idea to choose a theme for your collection, or narrow the things you want to collect down to a few specific kinds of items. Once you have a basic collection down, you can build from there. Some ideas for themes could be Natural History (bug collections, bird skins, articulated animal skeletons), medical paraphernalia, funerary items, or religious artifacts. Ideally, these things should have some personal significance, but they can also just be things you think are cool!!

A collection of glass eyes which belong to the last lady glass eye blower in the UK:
From the Royal Berkshire Medical Museum Collection. I would die to have these in my collection!

Since a curiosity cabinet is a central part of your home's decor, its a good idea to discuss your collecting plans with your partner or family if you share your home. My boyfriend and I are both excited to start building our own oddities collection, but we have agreed together that we will not be collecting any human remains, pickled things, or mortuary ephemera, on his request, and nothing associated with black magic/summoning on my request. We have agreed we want to stick with natural history artifacts, medical equipment, and religious artifacts. 

DIY Curiosity Cabinet from the Jewelry Tutorials blog, who run the EtsyMetals blog ring. The linked article talks about what they do to inspire them as jewelers, and maintaining a curiosity cabinet is on the list!

If you are on a budget, or just aren't sure what direction you want to go with your collection, its also perfectly acceptable for your wunderkammer to be made up of little things that have no significance other than that you like them. Your curiosities don't have to be valuable, or rare, or even beautiful to be special to you. Maybe the most important function of a curiosity cabinet is to store and elevate items that have emotional significance to you. To have them somewhere where you can look at them and remember those feelings and feel proud of the object, and not just keep it in a drawer. 

Step Three: Oddities Odds n' Ends

So you're ready to turn your collection into a full blown curiosity cabinet. Here are a few useful links for where to get things you'll need or want, inspiration, research sources, and other like-minds. I only have US locations right now. If you know of any others, feel free to comment and I'll add them to the list!! Happy collecting!!! 

Those nifty glass domes: 

Collectingwarehouse.com

Oddities shops: 

Obscura - New York, New York http://www.obscuraantiques.com/

Necromance - Los Angeles, California http://necromance.com/

Wooly Mammoth - Chicago, Illinois http://www.woollymammothchicago.com/

Loved to Death - San Francisco, California http://www.lovedtodeath.net/

Evolution - New York, New York http://theevolutionstore.com/

Pandora's Parlour - http://pandorasparlor.blogspot.com/

Museums and Public Collections:

The Mutter Museum - Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 

http://www.collegeofphysicians.org/mutter-museum/

The Museum of Jurassic Technology - Santa Monica, California - http://mjt.org/

Ripley's Believe it Or Not Museums - your local tourist town http://www.ripleys.com/weird/

Outfit Snap: Dreary Night Antique Doll

A few weeks ago, I escorted a friend who recently moved to my city to a local goth club for a fan meetup. I always love to go to the goth club so I eagerly volunteered to go with her, even though I know nothing about the fandom which the meet was about T_T. Here's my outfit!

Headbow: Claire's

Jacket: F21

Overdress: vintage Laura Ashley

Fox stole: from the Cat's Meow Vintage Show

Underskirt: Vintage from Height-Ashburry in San Fran

Wooden rosary: thrifted

Wedge sandals: Target

 

I was going for a kind of elegant doll look, maybe reminiscent the work of Takato Yamamoto or of the talented duo Kokusyoku Sumire. I really enjoy using vintage items in coordinates that feel like lolita, but are really not lolita at all! Do you like my new hair and glasses? Lots of people thought my hair was a wig!

I'm trying to make an effort to make more outfit posts, but I'm terrible at remembering to get pictures of my outfits!

Thanks for looking <3 p="p">

Lost Little Dolls: Art Dolls for the Darkly Pursuaded

Like many people interested in lolita, mori, and dolly kei fashion, I'm really interested in dolls! Blythe dolls, Pullips, and ball-jointed dolls are  very popular, but I've always had a soft spot for one-of-a-kind creepy art dolls. They're fun to make, have a spooky kind of aesthetic, and are always unique. Even though these dolls creep some people out, they are definitely of interest to people of a dark-romantic persuasion. Here are some noteworthy doll artists for your perusal:

Shain Erin

Sabelia - Exquisite Monster Doll by Shain Erin

Mummy Doll by Shain Erin

Shain Erin makes macabre sculptures of mummies, monsters, and ghost children, all finished with care and aged to appear as artifacts. In addition to being deliciously creepy, the attention to detail on these dolls is superb. The fabrics and trims chosen for their clothes are hand dyed and distressed, and many feature tiny embroidery and decorative finishings (check out the stitching on the cuffs of that mummy doll above!) Shain Erin's dolls are made of paperclay, and can be viewed here: shainerin.wordpress.com

Scott Radke

Mermaid by Scott Radke

Tutu #2 by Scott Radke

Detail from Tutu #2 by Scott Radke

Scott Radke has had quite a successful career making his "marionette" sculptures as he refers to them. You may recognize his work from Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland or The Birthday Massacre's music video "Blue". He has been published in Juxtapoz and Hi-Fructose magazines, and has shown these dolls in countless galleries across the globe. While most people rightfully treat these objects more as fine art or sculpture, they would be perfectly at home on any avid art-doll collector's shelf. I am enamoured by these little guys' lovingly painted faces, that make them feel almost like illustrations rather than three-dimensional characters. Scott Raedke uses a variety of mediums, and sells dolls and prints on his website, scottradke.com.

Wooded Woods by Kamila Mlynarczyk

Lydia Turnpike: Visitor in the Night....
by Wooded Woods

Hands by Wooded Woods

Pregnant Pia by Wooded Woods

Wooded Woods is a doll line headed by artist Kamila Mlynarczyk. Her dolls are more character-oriented than any of the artists I've discussed previously, but the way she uses color, pays attention to the detail in their clothing, and really pays attention to the personality of each doll makes her one of my favorite doll artists. I love that so many of these dolls are *almost* pretty, but each is so flawed. I'm not a huge fan of her zombie style sculptures, but I'm in love with the Victorian-inspired cuties pictured above. You can see more of her work and find links to purchase here: http://woodedwoods.com/

Art dolls are great because there are virtually no limits! This post is mostly about polymer-sculpt dolls of a certain aesthetic, but there are plenty of great artists working with cloth dolls, custom BJDs, fashion dolls, and so forth. Maybe I'll do a post about some of those in the future! 

What do you think? Do these kinds of dolls creep you the heck out, or do you like them? Ever tried your hand at making your own? 

Outfit Snap: Tea for Two

Tuesday, my mother came to visit me in my city for an afternoon of pampering and treats! My family lives in a different state, so I don't get to spend very much time one on one with any of them. Getting to see her this way was quite a treat in itself!

After she arrived, we stumbled upon a farmer's market set up downtown. We had plans for tea, so we didn't get much, but the vegetables and flowers were so pretty!

Sunflowers are my mom's favorite flowers, and the ones at the
market were incredible examples

After browsing the market, we had our nails done in a little parlor nearby. The girl working on mine recognized that I was wearing Lolita.

Next, we enjoyed afternoon tea at one of my favorite tea houses in Chicago, Russian Tea Time. Our waiter was very old-world and insisted on teaching us to drink our tea "the Russian way", which involves putting a generous amount of white sugar and lemon into your tea, and then sipping your tea through a brown sugar cube you hold in your teeth.

Russian Tea Time serves a house-blend Russian style black tea, in addition to
 a more conventional tea menu. The Russian tea is served in these cool tankers! 

Tea was excellent, and so generous that had to bring home some of the sweets.

A selection of our goodies! Not pictured are our
scones, cream, and jam, and our extra order of sandwiches.

I wore lolita for the first time in ages. It felt really good to dress up. I like spending time with my family in lolita because I hear so many stories about people's families opposing their interest in lolita or other alternative fashions. I am lucky to have such a supportive family, they all really enjoy my fashion choices!

I went for a subtle daytime smokey eye, a peachy-nude lip, and penciled eyebrows.
My hair is a wig from Gothic Lolita Wigs pulled into pigtails. 

I wanted to go for a fairy-casual, summery look. I think my coordinate turned out slightly sweeter than I intended, but I like the result. Sorry I didn't get a better picture of my outfit!

Jumperskirt: Innocent World

Bolero: Emily Temple Cute

Shoes: Bordello

Tights and hair accessories: off-brand

Thanks for looking!

Refining Your Style: a wardrobe-wrangling guide for the alternative style-schizophrenic

If you are reading this blog, you probably love clothes. You probably love fashion, and maybe many diverse, obscure fashions all at once. In an attempt to create a complete wardrobe for each of these styles, its easy to end up with a lot more than most people can handle. The result can be really disorganized, both for your style, and physically in your closet! Everyone wants an interesting and diverse collection to pull from, but no one wants to deal with the headache of managing an overflowing closet of mismatched, inharmonious items that are impossible to make sense of.

Every fashionista strives for that look that they alone define. Most who do it successfully, even those who wear multiple styles, achieve wardrobe unity through refining of their style, and a close shave to their wardrobe. Even if at first it seems counter-productive, the key to creative dressing is often to limit your wardrobe to a handful of pieces that really express your aesthetic.

Fantastic closet from Diana D's Lookbook

Phase One: Finding Your Personal Aesthetic

1) Do a personal inventory: Search yourself and acknowledge your interests beyond fashion. Refining your style is about more than the garments you purchase and wear, its about creating an  expressing a creation of self. Consider your lifestyle, hobbies, and social life. Does your wardrobe fit the part? Do you want it to? Always remember, dress yourself for the life you want to live.

2) Make an inspiration Tumblr: Post things that inspire you aesthetically and in mood, and only that. Try to keep the blog strictly aesthetic. The purpose of this is to be able to easily look at your archive. Most likely, you will see a pretty strong themes in the things you have posted over time, and you might surprise yourself by how cohesive your tastes actually are. 

3) Be honest with yourself about your tastes: Sometimes its easy for those interested in alternative fashion to lump themselves into a specific subculture. Naturally its alright to like more than one style, but admit to yourself when you are growing into new tastes. The motivations that lead you to your original style will probably still be there, but they might be on the verge of metamophizing into something new.

This person really has a clear aesthetic just judging by their shoe collection. I wish I had the source!

Phase Two: Cleaning out your closet

1) Acknowledge when you have too much and set a guideline for a full wardrobe: Be honest with yourself about how much clothing you actually need. Know what this is and make it a goal to pair down to. The Everyday Goth and FYeah Lolita! both have great articles, for goths and lolitas respectively, about how to know when your wardrobe is complete.

2) Get rid of worn-out items: I have a tendency to think things look better with age. Sometimes this is true, but most the time, it isn't. Don't let nostalgia trap you with dozens of stretched-out sweaters and faded blacks. Exceptions can be made for you 12-year old Burzum t-shirt (which I will keep for ever!)

3) Choose a color palette and stick to it: Choose three basic colors, and two or three accent colors. Mine are black, grey, and off-white, and my accent colors are muted blue and wine red. If you want to experiment with a style, its much easier to switch out a secondary color and match it to one of your primaries.

4) Avoid holding onto things because you "might" wear them: I am absolutely terrible about this. I love clothes and I tend to collect things that I may or may not even intend to wear because I find the garments interesting.  If you do this, and absolutely cannot make yourself give your excess up, it might be wise to invest in a storage unit, or have a separate closet or rack for the clothing in your "collection" verses for your wardrobe. It's important to avoid mixing them!

5) Sell things: EGL Comm Sales Livejournal community is a great place to sell second-hand lolita, but you can also sell things on Etsy, Ebay, or locally at consignment shops like Buffalo Exchange, Plato's Closet, or Crossroads.

Photo courtesy of weheartit.com, but borrowed from Lady Inky's post on
deciphering your lolita closet!

Phase Three: Keeping your new look clean
1) Avoid impulse buys: Remember this experience of letting go and question if you really need that new "it" dress or bag.

2) Try to buy for quality, not quantity: Seek out really special pieces. They should be versatile, bold, and really embody your aesthetic. Try to uphold a standard of quality, even if that means buying less often than you were previously.

3) Don't buy for the label: When you start trying to collect quality pieces, its easy to convince yourself to buy simply because an item is from a certain brand. If its Vivienne Westwood, it must be good, right? Don't clutter your wardrobe with superfluous pieces, even if they are of great quality, they still must really speak to, and add something, to your style.


Most of all, remember that refining your style, and your wardrobe, is about creating a style that is uniquely and genuinely you! Have fun!

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Artist of the Week: Egon Schiele

Artist of the Week: Egon Schiele

He's kind of handsome... but also kind of creepy.... 

Schiele was born in Austria in 1890 to a railroad worker of modest means. His mother was an immigrant from Bohemia, and her influence appears in his work in the Eastern European folk costume in that appears again and again in his drawings. In 1906, Schiele moved to Vienna and became involved in the Vienna Secessionist movement, making the acquaintences of artists such as Gustav Klimt and Joseph Hoffmann. Although Schiele's drawings were greatly admired by those in artistic circles, the public considered them obscene. His lifestyle added fire to this already controversial figure: Schiele lived unwed in Vienna with his very young mistress, was well known to hire teenage models, and was at one point arrested for seducing a girl under the age of consent. Regardless of his notoriety, the way the artist was able to capture the human body is one of the most evocative and stunning known to art history.

Portrait von Wally - 1912

  In Egon Schiele is fairly well known compared to some of his contemporaries, but his work is no less moving. Known for his jarring nudes, Egon Schiele is one of the most well-respected Vienna Secessionists today. His work has inspired many designers, illustrators, and artists and it is easy to find contemporary art that seems to be a result of his influence.  Perhaps less obvious, Egon Schiele was a formidable fashion illustrator. Although his work was made as fine art, many of his drawings show clothing with very rich detail and texture. Many of his subjects have a look that might appeal to quaintrelles and neo-romantics today....

Left to right: 1. Red hair and flushed makeup in a provincial shoot from We Heart It  2. Retro Girl! feature in TomoTomo magazine October 2011  3. "Portrait of the Artist's Wife" Egon Schiele 1917  4. Autumnal look from whimsical fashionista Amy Flying a Kite  5. Handmade Autumn Harvest patchwork skirt available from Elyse Originals on Etsy

Because of his Bohemian lineage, many of his drawings have strong references to Eastern European folk dress and lore, which resonates today in dolly-kei styles. 

Left to right: 1. Doll head vase necklace with tiny flowers from MeghaUniqueBoutique on Etsy  2. Off with her head! Doll head rings from Allies Adornments on Etsy  3. A dolly-kei  coordinate by Hitomi from the Grimoire blog  4. Striped-tartan stockings in a victorian-inspired runway look - source unknown   5."Girl with Hood" Egon Schiele 1910

6. "Mother with Two Children" Egon Schiele 1917  7. 1980's embroidered "ethnic" vest from North Brooklyn Dry Goods on Etsy  8. Handmade crochet shawl from Nefertari Crafts on Etsy  9. Dolly kei x classic lolita look from 

Autumn 2010 Alice Deco ala Mode

Left to right: 1. "Girl with the Green Pinafore" Egon Schiele 1910  2. One piece and pinafore by lolita indie brand Moon Afternoon 3. Promotional campaign for Emily Temple Cute 2010   4. "Girl in a Green Dress" Egon Schiele 1913  

5. Green chiffon jumperskirt by Juliette et Justine   6. Chunky knit socks on Etsy

So I thought I would do something a little different with artist of the week this week. Instead of focusing only on the artist's work with style tips at the bottom, I thought I would try my hand at incorporating works by the artist in with fashion that relates. How do you like it? Would you prefer more biographical information and less fashion commentary? Is this format better?