I’m almost at the end of my carte de visite book. The next page is a child and then the more modern photos start to appear.
How did that woman get herself up on that fence post?
(Sorry for the blurry photo.) Don’t worry, there is a better one here. I guess they had more than one copy of this photo so they slid it to the back of the book.
I realize my posting has been a bit spotty of late. Drama at work (potential department cuts) has left me uninspired for posts and for completed things to post about. Pretty sure you are not interested in seeing my completed coloring pages and jigsaw puzzles! My group and I are also not getting out in costume lately…partially due to busy schedules and partially due to my energy slump.
But in the interest of letting you know that I have not died, here is a quick post about my carte de visite album.
Next page:
Queen Victoria’s doppelganger or what! I find the profile sitting interesting. Was there a reason for that? Something on the right side of her face she is trying to hide? Trying to draw attention to the head wear? What is the thing she is wearing on her head? Is it purely a fashion statement or does it mean something? Not a nun, but a nurse perhaps? If anyone knows, be sure to share.
Out of the sleeve, we get no further information. There is no photographer’s stamp on the front or the back.
Now for the gent…
Taking him out of the sleeve reveals one thing…these two photos were likely not taken at the same place so it is harder to speculate that there is some sort of tie between the two.
The style of card stock is different and the gent has a photographers stamp.
We seem to have his birth and death written on the back. (A good 84 years of life!) So possibly these were reprinted after death or the dates were added later? I read the word on the bottom as Rebecca’s. Perhaps the person handing out the photographs, wrote the name of the person who was to receive each one? I know I have done that with my kids’ school photos.
That’s it for me today. I can’t say there will be effort on my part to post again this week. I’m expecting some major developments this week in regards to the work drama so depending how the chips fall, my motivation will either rise or fall…we shall see.
Next up in the carte de visite album is two lovely ladies.
The one on the left is a tin type possibly from the 1870’s. Love the stripes! And I wish I had the kind of neck that would rock a choker like she does.
The next lady had a head shot done.
Here is the photo out of the sleeve.
The back of the carte.
I interpret the hand writing to mean that the photo is of a 15 year old girl named Ann Lodge. I love it when I know their names!
The Costume Museum is setting up a display of some its books for the public to flip through. We have set up the display like a library so folks can sit down and flip through the selected books. It didn’t take long to create the selection so once done, we sat down to flip through some of the books ourselves. I found one on crochet that seemed to be from around the turn of the century (though I couldn’t find an actual date on it.)
I found a couple of patterns I’d like to try and this blog seems like a good place to save it. I often think of my blog as a kind of “cloud” for saving photographs and ideas in the event of a computer crash.
so here goes…a lace with a matching insertion.
I haven’t tried this yet but I anticipate some struggle to comprehend vague instructions. Sigh….
On the last outing with the Victorian at Heart group, I had a nice chat with Lottie in the car and she mentioned a hair work lecture at Dalnavert Museum. It sounded cool so I decided to sign up for it. I wasn’t sure if she had signed up or was just thinking about it so I wasn’t sure if I’d see her there. She was there!
We were working on some of the techniques used in Victorian hair wreaths. Lottie chose blond hair and I chose black. (For the workshop, we were using fake hair but both Lottie and I want to try it with our own hair.)
I think they turned out rather well for first attempts!
The class was put on by Sandra Klowak.
Sandra is an amazing artist who has put a modern slant on an old technique.
During the question and answer portion, it came up that now a days, people seem to want to have little things made from their pet’s hair. Ginger, my dog, is probably wondering why I keep looking at her tail!
I’d almost forgotten about the carte de visite album I’ve been sharing with you. Here is the next photo pairs.
At first glance I thought this is the same woman with photos taken at the same time. But when I zoomed in on the photos I decided the dress was different. The dress on the left seems to be lighter in color. The buttons are bigger and spaced wider apart on the left. The collar on the left is the same material as the main part of the dress and the collar on the right is taller and made of the same material as the contrast part of the dress. The hair style is the same and the watch chain is the same. In the face only one, she is wearing earrings but not in the full length photo. The photo on the right the face is fuller and appears younger to me. What do you think? Same woman different time?
Once they are out of the album, you clearly see that the photographers and location are different. So definitely, they were taken at different times. So now what do you think? Same woman significantly different times? (Isn’t the details on the over skirt and cuffs of the dress in the full length photo yummy!)
I’ve been working on a project off and on for some time now and it took a long weekend and a sick day on the couch to finally finish it. I’m happy with it.
Not sure what I am doing with it yet. House warming gift for a son that is moving out next month? We shall see.
