Things That Please Me: Stereoscopic Vixens

We interrupt this lull in postings with a scandalous report ~ I have discovered an amazingly expansive archive of naughty peep~show cards from Chicago's Columbian Exhibition of 1893.

What is it about the erotica of yesteryear that makes it so much more tantalizing than today's bare-it-all trashiness? Call me old-fashioned, but I find a demure hint of skin much more appealing than a spread-eagled centerfold... and real bodies with real skin and hair a LOT more alluring than the airbrushed and landing-strip-shaven models. The shy poses, the oft-ludicrous settings... I love it all.

As we are sadly lacking a stereoscopic viewing device to properly appreciate these three-dimensional treasures, my man took it upon himself to create a few animated gifs that combine the two images: behold the jittery loveliness.

There are no less than 57 pages of stereoscopic peepshow galleries, and a whole additional gallery of risque French Postcards. A few of the images are clearly more recent than Victorian times, but the vast majority are vintage naughty bits; truly an epic collection.

As my own body metamorphosizes to accommodate the little person growing within (only three more months!), I am ever more appreciative of the female form in all its incarnations ~ I am enchanted by what the body of a woman can do.

The combination of form and function is truly magnificent. And so I raise a toast for the sheer glory of this corporeal existence, and for these complicated systems of bones, blood and breath we call home.

Things That Please Me: Good Bourbon

Having been on a self~imposed dry spell that has thus far lasted almost three months, I thought now would be a perfect time for an ode to my libation of choice ~ bourbon.

Though I'll happily down the more common top-shelf stand-bys like Maker's and Bulleit, it's when the craft labels start pouring that I really get feverish. Noah's Mill and Woodford Reserve are favorites, though in researching this post I realized many of my loved ones are the small-batch labels of larger breweries - Knob Creek, Basil Hayden and Booker's are all owned by (shudder) Jim Beam, and Buffalo Trace makes Elmer T. Lee and Hancock's Reserve.

Considering my deep and abiding love of bourbon, it's positively shameful that I have yet to visit San Francisco speakeasy Bourbon and Branch, known for its period decor and password-only-entry.

It's also a mystery why I do not yet own one of these awesome vintage decanter tag bourbon necklaces I've been drooling over for years, by Dust Design Co. on Etsy.

If it must be mixed, my very favorite libation is a whiskey old-fashioned ~ but only the version made by our local country bar, the Underwood, which involves Guinness-marinated organic bing cherries ~ none of those unholy-red maraschinos. And on a cold night I might be convinced of a bourbon toddy...

But truly, I'm a simple woman. Straight-up, no ice please, that's my drink. O sweet brown medicine, though we are apart right now, we shall one day be together again, and once again your sinfully rich toffee-kissed balm will soothe my savage soul.

Things That Please Me: Arts & Crafts Wallpapers

I must confess that I am a hoarder of fine bits of paper. I am reminded of this each Valentine's Day, as I pull out my many bins full of scraps to make cards. I love textured paper, brightly colored hand-made paper, and translucent vellum ~ but most of all I love patterned paper.

(Owl by Charles Frances Annesley Voysey, 1898)
So imagine my delight when I found a trove of reproduction wallpapers online at Trustworth Studios, which sent me down a rabbit-hole searching for the original illustrations. I am quite sure that could I afford to, I would be squirreling away rolls and rolls of it. Oh, such complex valentines I would make, with the rich and intricate repeating patterns!

(The Demon by Charles Frances Annesley Voysey, 1889)
I have always loved the style and sentiment of the Arts and Crafts movement ~ the modern steampunk movement has borrowed much of that doctrine, certainly in the appreciation for the finely crafted and the hand-made. While it's the organic curves and sensuality of Art Nouveau that inspire me most, there's something glorious in the simplicity and utility of Arts and Crafts that is dear to me as well, and in some designs, as the ones here, the line between the two is blurred.

(Seahorses by Charles Frances Annesley Voysey, 1887)
Most of these wallpaper designs are by British architect C.F.A. Voysey, who had an eye for whimsy and playfulness that I find irresistible. In his late career, Voysey focused almost completely on fanciful designs for children's nurseries.

(I Love Little Pussy by Charles Frances Annesley Voysey, 1898)
Design movements aside, I could just lose myself in the worlds of these papers, like this seemingly odd and lovely combination by French designer M.P. Verneuil, of bats and poppies ~ which were both motifs used to suggest altered states of consciousness...

(Bat and Poppy by Maurice Pillard Verneuil, 1897)
Learn more at The Textile Blog or the Arts and Crafts Home.

Things that Please Me: Crankbunny

In need of some whimsy to cheer an otherwise gray day yesterday, I turned to puppet-maker and animator Norma V. Toraya, also known as Crankbunny. In a world of overwhelming technology and frenetic multi-tasking, there's something comforting in the mechanical simplicity of her paper treasures.

Like the red bloom framed above, all of Crankbunny's beautiful pop-up cards are an art-form unto themselves ~ my most lusted-after being the Secret Decoder Card, where she will add a hidden message of your choice to be decoded by the lucky recipient.

But it's her paper puppets that tug my heart-strings. I want to scamper about inside her world of vintage-looking and oddly vulnerable creatures, her sad factory robots and thirsty zebras and winsome monkey-ladies...

Like so many craftistas that inspire me, Crankbunny's devotion to the details is incredible. She says she makes every card with her "tiny little marshmallow fingers" ~ and at over 3,000 sales on Etsy, that's a lot of wee bits of paper to cut out and assemble. And if you're wondering *why* she makes handmade goods, watch this lovely short film she animated.

Now you know! Want more? Visit the Crankbunny Etsy shop, or check out the new book she's just published, Paper Puppet Palooza.

On Etsy, you may even watch one of her puppet-making how-to's, or read her Featured Seller Interview, which is quite sweet and quirky. And of course, check out her Web site and blog.

Now go buy handmade!

Things That Please Me: Pie

Though one wouldn't guess it, considering how rarely I write about epicurean delights here, I am actually something of a foodie. So a brief interlude from our regularly scheduled shameless debauchery and costume lust for an ode to the humble pie, one of my most favorite desserts.

(Image via Pie of the Month Club)
I had a most sublime pie-eating experience last weekend at a coffeeshop ~ house-made blackberry-rhubarb pie, and it was perfect. Buttery flaky light crust, tangy sweet fruit, and a big dollop of very lightly sweetened handmade whipped cream ~ heaven on a plate.

(Image Courtesy of Faith Durand via The Kitchn)
And I'd choose pie over cake any day. My love for pie is so strong that when Stache and I got married, we refused to have cake for our wedding feast. Instead we requested a pie potluck, which resulted in the delight of dozens of varieties of pie, all spread out on a long table as far as the eye could see.

Amazingly, we were not eating processed sugar or white flour in those days, and a family friend who owns a bakery made us a rather glorious whole-wheat-crust, honey-sweetened, triple-decker ginger pear pie for our very own.

Who can deny that home-made pie makes everything better?

Things That Please Me: Sepiachord

Perhaps I'm predictable, but lately I've been delighting in a genre of music best described as sepiachord. And what, you may ask, is this "sepiachord"?

I'm shamelessly borrowing the term from the Seattle-based Web site that coined it, and explains it thusly: ...something that looks back to the past to comment on the present while looking sideways at the future. A cubist aural experience... assembled like a clockwork orchestra... It is the music our grandparents or great-grandparents would have listened to, if they were as off-set as we are.

Like steampunk, sepiachord is open to interpretation, and the genius is in the marriage of seeming opposites. The label is broad enough to include genre-busting favorites like Beirut, Tom Waits, and the Dresden Dolls, but it's the electronic-beats-versus-old-timey-jazz-samples that I've been swooning over as of late.

This whole notion was first introduced to me by my dear friend of startlingly impeccable tastes, Meester Ralph, and then furthered by Stache. Both have gifted me with delicious play-lists featuring all manner of lovely musicians - British band The Real Tuesday Weld, French hip-hop talent Wax Tailor, and Austrian artists Waldeck and Parov Stelar spring to mind.

It's the mash-up that pleases me most ~ the thoroughly postmodern pursuit of blending the most disparate elements into an enjoyable and seamless whole. Behold "Crazy in Love" by the Puppini Sisters - a cover of a Beyoncé song, remixed by The Real Tuesday Weld. Brilliant.

San Francisco Bay Area band Beats Antique takes the fusion a step further by adding a dash of middle eastern flavor and a sprinkle of circus whimsy... which just may spontaneously combust into the coolest beats ever.

I've only recently discovered them and I have yet to see them live, but I hear they're splendid. Who wants to come out and play?

Things That Please Me: Surreal TV

I'm one of those people who simply doesn't do television. But every once in a while a show makes it through the filters and captures my attention, and then I become addicted and have to watch every episode in all-night marathons. The most recent of these is Lars Von Trier's cult classic horror mini-series from the early nineties - Riget, or The Kingdom.

I haven't completed the marathon yet, but thus far I've been captivated enough by the bizarre and colorful characters, ridiculous plot twists, and dry moments of comedy to forgive the shaky claustrophobic camera work and indulgent B-movie gore. Besides, the fact that it's all in Danish makes it that much better.

Preceding Riget by a few years, and drawing frequent comparisons, is Stache's favorite TV show of all time - Twin Peaks. I somehow missed the phenomenon the first time around, but when it finally came out on DVD, I consumed it like candy. The unsettling snail-like pacing, the unabashed absurdity, and the droll humor all instantly endeared me to David Lynch's foray into the small screen.

I both love and hate the way Lynch makes you feel like you might be missing something deep, when in fact there is no answer - the truth is that it just doesn't make any sense at all. Twin Peaks reached levels of artfulness rarely seen before or since on television, and scores of rabid fans are still talking about it.

But perhaps my most beloved surreal TV show is HBO's Carnivàle, which certainly owes much to these earlier shows. But Carnivàle takes the top honors in my book for the stunning production values, and because, well, it takes place in a traveling carnival in the 1920's.

I have such appreciation for the painstaking way in which the creators immerse you in the world of the show. All of the extras look like living Dorothea Lange portraits. The opening title sequence takes my breath away every time. And the stunning art direction, gritty costuming, and luminous lighting lend a palpable sense of beautiful decay and doom every time you watch the show.

It seems shows like this always end poorly, or not at all, as in the case of Carnivàle, which was written as a seven-season show and canceled with a fist-clenchingly frustrating cliff-hanger after only two seasons, spawning desperate campaigns to bring it back from heartbroken fans. And they are all too rare - clearly the general public does not share my peculiar tastes.

So I'll have to wait, perhaps years, for the next time some rogue director wants to make a brilliantly baffling show to remind me that sometimes, TV can be worthwhile.

Things That Please Me: Enchanted Dolls

You may have guessed, faithful readers, that I have a deep appreciation for meticulously detailed work. So you can imagine my excitement upon discovering Enchanted Doll, and the exquisite art of Marina Bychkova. Here is her most recent work, a vision of Alice.


I am transfixed by these dolls. Painstaking bead-work! Miniature accessories! Hand-cast porcelain! Anatomical correctness! For many of them, Marina crafts phenomenally detailed costumes, with actual gemstones and precious metals, and the finest velvets, furs and silks... as for Dunyazade's and Scherezhade's lustrous dresses.

The steampunk in me fell head-over-heels for this one ~ the helmet she wears is actually cast bronze.

Marina sometimes goes to elaborate lengths to photograph them in creative environments. On her blog she details building a miniature lotus pond so her boyfriend can photograph Kia, her russet-haired, henna'd, water naiad doll.


I'm absolutely floored by Marina's work. These are more than just dolls, they are high art. They are at once sensual and innocent, disturbing and stunning. As someone who began my journey in costuming by hand-sewing tiny Victorian dresses for my dollhouse dolls as a child, I have nothing but admiration for someone who can elevate my childhood passion to such heights.

If you're intrigued, read this interview with her. And of course, take some time to get lost in her world. You'll be blown away.

Things That Please Me: Cephalopods

This probably won't be shocking, given the propensity of a certain kind of person - that is, the Ectomo-devoted, Victorian-ephemera-appreciating, underground-art-loving kind - to also have an affinity for creatures of the tentacled variety.

In fact, it might even be a bit trite. Witness the ubiquity of the Octo on Etsy. I don't know what it is, really... A much tamer interpretation of the terribly-not-safe-for-work Hokusai woodcut Dream of the Fisherman's Wife? Some sort of Jules-Verne-ian deep-sea-monster fixation?

All I know is that I'm helpless to resist all things tentacled.

Exhibit One: A gift from the much-beloved Stache - vintage dictionary illustration of an octopus, made into a striking pendant on vintage velvet ribbon, by Found & Made Designs.

Exhibit Two: This miraculous thing from UnCorked - all good things rolled into one: Octopus! Mini clipboard! Test Tube! Two keystrokes and it was mine.

Exhibit Three: On the wish list - together at last... tentacles and little Victorian girls.

It's a Moleskine journal etched with a print by Dan Hillier. Brilliant. And Modofly has these with covers by dozens of my favorite artists.

Exhibit Four: Just discovered breathtaking art by Tucson artist Chiara Bautista, also known as Milk.


I could go on, but... I'll save some tentacles for another post. I know I'm not alone on this fixation.

Things That Please Me: Baroque Architectural Details

Yesterday I happened to be in the historic City Hall in Providence, Rhode Island. While I was supposed to be focusing on the interview at hand, all I could do was gaze at the opulent detailing around me in the 1878 building, which Google kindly informed me was in the Second Empire Baroque architectural style, popular in the late Victorian period.


I snapped a few photos surreptitiously - of the deliciously patterned walls in plaster relief...

The shamelessly decadent gilded curves on every available surface...

The ridiculously ornate lamps with frolicking plump cherubim...

Now, I'd like to think I've evolved from the Z-Gallerie fleur-de-lis wall-sconce aesthetic of my younger days, and I've sworn off Design Toscano for good - but I have to admit that cornices and crown molding still give me a thrill.

Here's the curious part. For all seven years that I lived in San Francisco, I was fortunate enough to be happily tucked into one of the more famous "Painted Ladies", reputed to be a former bordello built in the late 1890's by Francophile architect James Francis Dunn. And I just today discovered that my old house was one of the few San Francisco examples of the Second Empire Baroque style, which caused me to swoon only yesterday in Providence!

That would've been me at 19, peeking out from the second-floor balcony. You can't see the winged mermaids on the roof in this picture.

Can I help it if I'm mysteriously drawn to decadence and excess, even in architecture?

Things That Please Me: Sub-Culture Blogs

'Cause who doesn't love blogs that offer up tasty bits of sub-culture?

COILHOUSE calls itself "a love letter to alternative culture, written in an era when alt culture no longer exists."

Photo from their lovely survey of Ruffs in fashion.

Stunning imagery, snarky commentary, and entries on favorite topics like steampunk, Victoriana, and of course Cthulu make this a treasury of entertainment for Choklit.

Ah, Cthulu ~ a nice segue to the venerable Ectoplasmosis: "a wonder closet of fringe art, culture, and ephemera."

Ectomo features must-reads like Moustache Monday, where my very own Stache was once featured, and juicy categories like the multi-purpose prefixpunk and perennial favorite tentacles are what keep me going back to Ecotomo for more.

Image from a post on Brass Goggles. Which is another visual treat for those with a love of all things steampunk. But that's rather deserving of a post of its very own, don't you think?

Go forth and be amused!