Let's make... Decorated matchboxes!

It's been a shamefully long time since I published my last "Let's make..." post so here's a lovely one for you. This craft project can be made more challenging for adults and more simplified for children.  It utilizes something that most households should have tucked away in a drawer... it's the humble matchbox! They make the best decoration receptacals and if you are of a certain age, you will remember seeing them being used many times over for craft purposes on tv programs like Blue Peter [Sindy's bedroom chest of drawers?]  Yes, today we look at decorated matchboxes and to get us started, here are some I've produced over the years.

I decorated these tiny matchboxes with the patterned side of some office envelopes [see further down for more information] and pages of text from an old, damaged book - they were then filled with sweets and given as gifts.

This larger box was decorated and then filled with wild flowers - a few of them were used to decorated a birthday tea table - they looked SO pretty! 

You can buy newly made blank boxes in most craft shops but ideally, try to use old boxes. 

Remember, whenever you can, always try to use recycled materials. 

You can of course buy old boxes for pennies in flea markets and boot sales. Although, try not to make my mistake of purchasing these lovely vintage boxes and then not having the heart to cover them! They have been sitting on a shelf in my craft room gathering dust for a number of years!

The shape is pretty straightforward to cover with paper but for young children I would recommend only covering the outer sliding box as the drawer section can be tricky.

I thought this might be an opportunity to show you how I create pretty vintage looking backgrounds and old telegram-like text for my designs, like this one...

Firstly, would you believe that this beautiful green leaf pattern was found on the inside of a basic office envelope I received through the post? I could not believe how pretty it was and if you keep an eye out when opening your bills and correspondence, you will find lovely examples like these...

For the text, I type out the words and then cut the sentences out as strips. Then I douse them in black coffee for a few seconds only and then let them dry. You can use back tea but I find using granulated coffee, you can better control the strength of the color stain.

As stated previously, I'm passionate about using recycled materials and particularly love finding them in unusual ways. Look at these beautiful sheets of shimmering silver paper and before reading further, take a minute to try and work out where I found these... 

Did you guess correctly? 

These sheets are wrappers from the little square stock cubes sold in supermarkets! 

I've only just started using this silver paper and already have some great ideas where it can be used in Christmas crafts. In the meantime, here it is wrapped around a matchbox with a scull motif added. Wouldn't this be perfect filled with sweets as a Halloween treat box? 

So there you are, a delightful little craft project for old and young to enjoy.

They are so useful as gift boxes and lovely as pretty objects to brighten up a desk in work [for holding tiny stationary supplies]. 

Specifically for children, take a look at this great blog post:

Petit and Small 10 matchbox craft ideas

However, matchboxes are also used to make seriously beautiful art objects, take a look at these two very talented artists: 

Kaija Rantakari

Andrew Malone

To finish up and leave you with a few more ideas, here are more boxes I've covered, happy crafting!

All photographs taken by the author / poetry written by the author

Fairy voices

Happy International Fairy Day!

This post showcases a new body of art work inspired by a small selection of artists who have fallen under the profound spell of those tiny winged creatures we know as fairy folk. But these encounters are a far cry from the stories found in nursery books. These are bleak, frightening accounts of madness, incarceration and public shame.  

Inspired by the Cottingley Fairies photographs
A re-imagined collection by Mayfifth1935
[April 2020]

Childhood doll collection photographed in and around my home town 

I have always been drawn to fairy illustration, especially from the Victorian and Edwardian eras. I adored Arthur Rackham's spindly sprites and fairy maidens but also loved the wholesome nursery styled fairies painted by Dorothy Wheeler, Florence Harrison, and 

Anne Anderson. However, when I chose to study art history, my tastes settled on the more classical painters who envisaged a darker version of the fairy realm and I loved it. John Anster Fitzgerald [1819-1906] in particular painted his fairies in frenzied detail, his imps and pixies cavort about in mad and lovely vignettes but look closer at his works like The captive robin and Chase of the white mouse for hints at a more vindictive creature. 

Inspired by the Cottingley Fairies photographs
A re-imagined collection by Mayfifth1935
[April 2020]

Childhood doll collection photographed in and around my home town

 

Inspired by the Cottingley Fairies photographs
A re-imagined collection by Mayfifth1935
[April 2020]

Childhood doll collection photographed in and around my home town

The dark side of any cultural genre if charismatic enough can be deceptively tempting and the disturbing fairy canvases and shocking life story of Richard Dadd [1817-1886] had me mesmerized. He was an exceptional artist whose promising career at The Royal Academy was tragically derailed and then bizarrely re-railed as the infamous artist sent to Bethlem Psychiatric Hospital [also known as Bedlam] for the murder of his father in 1843 when he was 27 years old. Probably suffering from Paranoid Schizophrenia, Dadd became subject to hallucinations and voices in his head whilst on a painting holiday in Egypt. Unfortunately, these symptoms were left unchecked and when he was arrested after the murder, he recounted how the spirit of an ancient pharaoh told him his father was the Devil in disguise. Knowing the reputation of Bethlem, it may be surprising to learn that he was actively encouraged to paint by the staff and over the years produced an astounding body of work. However, he remained sectioned for the rest of his life and was remembered by staff as a gentle, polite man prone to unexpected bouts of violent temper.  

Inspired by the Cottingley Fairies photographs
A re-imagined collection by Mayfifth1935
[April 2020]

Childhood doll collection photographed in and around my home town

Our next fairy victims were a father and son and my association with them began round 25 years ago with a particularly fruitful visit to Hay-on-Wye's collection of second-hand book shops. It was the cover that drew me to The Doyle Diary: The Last Great Conan Doyle Mystery, written by Michael Baker [1978]; a scratchy sketch of a bearded Edwardian gentleman shaking hands with Death, drawn as a skeleton, carrying a giant scythe and wearing a very becoming bridal veil. 

My copy of The Doyle Diary by Michael Baker
[1978] published by Paddington Press [U.K.] Ltd

The book is actually about Charles Altamont Doyle [1832-1893] who is best known as father of Arthur Conan Doyle [creator of Sherlock Holmes]. Charles was an illustrator and painter of fairies as was his brother Richard [Dickie] Doyle. The difference between the two brothers was was that Dickie became very successful but Charles suffered with crippling alcoholism that eventually lead to incarceration in the Sunnyside Clinic at  Royal Montrose Lunatic Asylum in Edinburgh sometime around 1885. While there, his health worsened and he began to suffer epileptic seizures and sank into a deep depression. But, he also continued to paint and filled numerous diaries with illustrations of peculiar and fantastical creatures. The images are enchanting and unnerving, miniature demons giggle and slither about on twisted limbs bothering tiny ladies who take refuge in branches and hide behind giant birds. However beautiful, the diary is bleak, exuding hopelessness and loneliness. The illustrations are captioned with little messages to his wife and protestations of his sanity. Sadly [like Dadd], he never made it home and died alone from a fit during the night in 1893. 

The Doyle Diary contains a complete reproduction of one of the Sunnyside Clinic diaries of Charles Altamont Doyle [circa1885]
I have copied a selection of the figures, re-coloured them and added moth wings
Mayfifth1935 [April 2020]

The Doyle Diary contains a complete reproduction of one of the Sunnyside Clinic diaries of Charles Altamont Doyle [circa1885]
I have copied a selection of the figures, re-coloured them and added moth wings 
Mayfifth1935 [April 2020]

Arthur Conan Doyle was one of Charles Doyle's seven children, famous during his own lifetime for his creation of Sherlock Holmes but also infamous for his misguided belief in the Cottingley Fairy photographs hoax during the 1920s. The hoax centered around two little girls, Elsie Wright and Frances Griffiths, who claimed they'd taken photographs of genuine fairies in their home town of Cottingley, Yorkshire. Conan Doyle already had a deep belief in the after-life and spiritualism since he had lost his son during WWI. Therefore it is no surprise that when shown the photographs, in a moment of madness he not only publicly announced to the world his belief in their validity but also published an article in The Strand Magazine and wrote a book titled The Coming of the Fairies. Doyle also arranged for Theosophical Society member Edward Gardner [who had introduced him to the photographs] to visit the girls at home in the hope that he might also bear witness to their story. Gardner kept a diary of his visits and went on to publish several books on the subject. 

One of Edward Gardner's Cottingley diaries 
Flat-lay arrangement of an imaginary find using personal ephemera, a notebook made from vintage paper and pressed flowers
By Mayfifth1935 [June 2020]

The public backlash began immediately and Conan Doyle especially received the lion's share of ridicule due to his association with Sherlock Holmes's famous logical reasoning. It is hard to imagining how Doyle and his fellow believers might have felt during their plummet from euphoria [Doyle called the photographs "an epoch making event"] to being the butt of jokes and caricatured in cruel cartoons. In this story, there was no murder or madness but Doyle and Gardner must surely have been heartbroken. However, as far as we can tell, the hoax did not alter their otherworldly beliefs as they both continued to write on the subject. Moreover, if you read about the hoax, there appears to have been no malicious intention. It was most likely a joke meant only to be have been shared within the family. Within the correspondence of both Elsie and Frances there is a sincere sense of embarrassment and guilt at the ridicule heaped on Conan Doyle and certainly no crowing at having "got one over" on such a famous intellectual. This story is one of profound sadness and regret. 

In conclusion and a final thought. Just because these photographs were staged, does it mean absolutely that fairies do not exist? Of course we know this not to be true and the following question has occurred to me. Might the fairies regret not having come to the aid of Doyle and Gardner? By showing themselves to the world they could have vindicated our heroes and things would have been very different. But here, we come to another question, can fairies even feel regret? Do they have any concept of right and wrong? This conjecture however, is for another conversation so I leave you now with the culmination of this portfolio. A poem that imagines a hazy summer evening and a little band of fairies who fondly remember these devotees with a sorrowful reverence.

Fairy Voices

💔

Walking through a meadow near the end of day

I once saw a fairy troupe engaged in dance and play

Like little dolls in foreign dress cavorting all around

Their tiny sing song voices made a strange and haunting sound

I strained to hear of what they sang and thought they chanted names

Of those who fell under the spell of twisted fairy games

One was a ghost who painted them while locked in Montrose Royal

A frail and frightened broken man who hoped his name was Doyle

For Richard Dadd they wept and raged, a cursed and awful man

Who killed his father, lost his mind and lived inside Bedlam

 Of Arthur Rackham’s spindly sprites and winged angels fair

They sang of how he painted them as spirits of the air

They sang of summer days at play with Francis and Elsie

Upon wet rocks and lichened oaks at secret Cottingley

 Of Conan Doyle and Gardner they spoke in whispered awe

Regretting all the lies and shame for now and ever more

💔

Poem by Mayfifth1935

Inspired by the Cottingley Fairies photographs
A re-imagined collection by Mayfifth1935
[April 2020]

Childhood doll collection photographed in and around my home town

Inspired by the Cottingley Fairies photographs
A re-imagined collection by Mayfifth1935
[April 2020]

Inspired by the Cottingley Fairies photographs
A re-imagined collection by Mayfifth1935
[April 2020]

As mentioned above, this post has been created to showcase my recent fairy related art portfolio. Therefore, as good blog posts shouldn't ramble on, I've only presented the very bare bones of these artist's stories. If you wish to learn more please use the hyperlinks over the names, these will take you to their Wikipedia entries. 

Below is an interesting link telling Dadd's story in more detail:

https://www.popsubculture.com/pop/bio_project/richard_dadd.html

Below is a link to a blog post by Monster Brains on Charles Altamont Doyle and includes an image of [in my opinion] his most profoundly sad and beautiful painting, The Spirits of the Prisoners, 1885 [ghosts and fairies flying around Montrose Asylum in the moonlight]: 

https://monsterbrains.blogspot.com/2020/01/charles-altamont-doyle-1832-1893.html

If you've enjoyed reading this post, please consider following me: 

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Museum Menagerie

I have worked at National Museum Cardiff for over 20 years, I began as a Museum Assistant in 1999 then moved to Visitor Services administration. After a short time administering in the Director's Office I began a 6 months maternity cover in the Library. I loved the beautiful Library space, and enjoyed the work. I was so relieved when the Library Assistant I was covering decided not to return and I was able to apply for the post. I have been there ever since and am now Assistant Librarian.

The Library collections are eclectic, full of unexpected treasures and due to the foresight of the early Librarians, it holds an extensive archive charting the history of the Museum. I enjoyed getting to know this archive and learning about the early staff who created it. One character in particular who stood out  for me is Archibald Lee, the first Museum Secretary. I wrote a blog post on him, to read it click here.

During my early years as a Museum Assistant, I became very attached to the zoological specimens I watched over. These beautiful static creatures with their frozen glassy-eyed stares, who once breathed and panted, scampered, galloped, flew and slithered in the sunshine, now sit quietly, remembering, dreaming. Imagine my wonder when, I saw the Vertebrate Store for the first time. There are thousands of animals, all neatly arranged on pristine shelves and labelled with genus, dates and accession numbers. The store also holds specimens too large to fit on a shelf, there's a tiger in there, and a bison too.

As well as a Librarian, I am an artist and poet and to celebrate my 20 year anniversary at the Museum, I have created a portfolio of animal portraits. Below are selected highlights of the collection, a link to the full collection appears under the last portrait.

They are my love letter to the Museum, I hope you enjoy them.

Museum Menagerie - works inspired by National Museum Wales’ Natural Sciences collection
Barn Owl [currently residing in the Library]

Museum Menagerie - works inspired by National Museum Wales’ Natural Sciences collection
Gold and glittered Robin

Museum Menagerie - works inspired by National Museum Wales’ Natural Sciences collection
Zebra with floral bonnet 

Museum Menagerie - works inspired by National Museum Wales’ Natural Sciences collection
Rhea with floral cap

Museum Menagerie - works inspired by National Museum Wales’ Natural Sciences collection
Snow Leopard with crown

Museum Menagerie - works inspired by National Museum Wales’ Natural Sciences collection
Fox in ancient halo crown

Museum Menagerie - works inspired by National Museum Wales’ Natural Sciences collection
Mouflon [wild sheep] in floral and gold braid head-dress 

The whole collection of Museum Menagerie is available to view here:
Mayfifth1935 Designs Museum Menagerie Album

More about the Museums' natural history collections:
https://museum.wales/cardiff/natural-history/
Natural Sciences collections & research at Amgueddfa Cymru-National Museum Wales Twitter account

More about the Library here:
https://museum.wales/curatorial/library/
The Library of Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales Twitter account

My other blog posts concerning Archibald Lee can be read here:
https://museum.wales/blog/2016-01-05/Our-Museum-during-the-Great-War/
https://museum.wales/blog/2018-07-12/Museums-Association-Conference-of-1948-at-National-Museum-Cardiff-/

A year in review 2017

I don't do review posts but, January has been so long and dire, this is an exercise in thinking more positively. It turns out that my year was pretty good, creativity-wise a tad slow to begin with but rather wonderful towards the end. The main thing is that writing this post made me happy, looking back over holidays and family events and choosing what photos to include really lifted my spirits. Hope you enjoy reading it.

We begin with April and a wonderful holiday to the South of France to stay with my sister and my niece. They live in a tiny little village nestled at the foot of the Alps, right on the coast between Monaco and the Italian border. This exceptionally beautiful place has been a regular destination for me since my sister moved there way back in 1984 and it always works wonders on the soul. This holiday was no exception, especially as the weather was great.

Carnoles, South of France



Tropical St Ives! I'm on the left

During May two notable events occurred, the first being that I dropped a day in work. This had been on my mind for ages and for a number of reasons, but mostly I felt it was time to alter my work life balance. I love my job as a museum librarian, but I've been doing it for many years and felt I needed a little tweak. Reducing the work hours so as to enable more time for art and craft, and all artistic endeavours that contribute to my well being. I miss the extra money but it was the right decision!

The second event was another lovely holiday, this time to St Ives in Cornwall. We always take a trip around May 5th to celebrate my late father's birthday [Mayfifth1935 <3], and we've had some wonderful trips since we began this in 2008. The weather was a challenge [to say the least] but we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.




St Ives, Cornwall

Let's skip forward to August and the birth of my Great Niece, Juliette! She might just be the most beautiful baby in the history of all babies and the absolute light of my life. I took this photo in December when she was already six months old - she spent the holiday season laughing, delighting everyone with little squeaky dolphin noises and loved nothing more than wriggling and rolling about on the floor.





Juliette

In September, I was once again in the South of France and spent my birthday at the Oceanographic Museum of Monaco - this place is AMAZING and one day is nowhere long enough to explore its magical galleries, but I've visited a few times now so just look in on my favourites. We were really lucky this time to catch the Borderline   exhibition by French artist Phillipe Pasqua, his sculptures were placed within museum's historic maritime galleries but this magnificent silver beast was up on the roof!



Phillipe Pasqua - photograph taken by Hanna Ounis

 

Monaco Port 03/09/2017

 

 

Now we come to the first of two events concerning my artistic endeavours of which I am so very proud. In October, I had two photographs accepted for an exhibition at the SHO Gallery in Cardiff. It was called The F Word and the brief was for artists to create pieces of work relating to fashion through a choice of decades. Being a child of the 1970s, I chose this decade and I had already photographed a collection of my childhood toys [portfolio here], so had an idea of what to create. I re-photographed a collection of dolls from the portfolio  that were dressed in national costume; these 'dolls of the world' were very popular at this time and evoke a very special childhood memory.

In the early to mid 70s, my family would gather around the television every year to watch the Miss World competitions and one of our favourite sections was when the contestants paraded in their own national costume. However, to me as an adult, these dolls now represent two very  conflicting emotions; an uncomfortable acknowledgement of male domination in a  world  of absurd political incorrectness and also a very comforting childhood memory [to illustrate this further, during this time, I received a  Top of the Pops LP every Christmas - now just Google some images of these circa 1970s and you'll get my drift].

 

My entries for The F Word; I was very proud to be a part of this exhibition.

Verona [Dolls of the World as Beauty Queens] October 2017

Sienna, Alassio and Verona [Dolls of the World as Beauty Queens] October 2017

The second event was having one of my poems and some artwork published in the very last issue of  Thistle Magazine . This lovely publication and I go back a long way, they've published some of my work and I've collaborated with them, supplying images. The Design Director, Erin Fassinger, has always been very kind and supportive and so I was thrilled when not only did they publish my Symphony poem in their last ever issue, but they published it on the very last page! Thistle issues have always been havens of artistic whimsy and their pages bursting with creative talent. You can still purchase all the issues via their website. I don't know yet what future plans the Thistle team has but I wish them every luck and look forward to seeing where their creative aspirations take them.

 

I wrote two other poems during the year, a romantic Valentine inspired love poem titled  The Vow and the darkly horrific Welcome to Salem, inspired by the Salem witch trials of 1692-93 [and the recent tv series]. I also handmade a book of my poetry - I wanted an aged look to the pages so printed text onto tracing paper and then immersed it into coffee [I always use coffee than rather tea]. It's amazing the effect that water has on tracing paper, it makes it hard and crinkly and the coffee tint turns it "old" - just perfect for the book. The blue covers were recycled office folders and the doll portrait you might recognise from my SHO Gallery photographs. This was my first artist's book and I definitely intend to make more. I have lots of ideas!

 

 

During December I had a table at the festive extravaganza that is the Oh So Crafty Christmas Market organized annually by Chapter Arts Centre. I did these regularly up till a few years ago and it was lovely to do one again - online sales are great but nothing compares to you standing behind a table of your own craft and people telling you how wonderful they think it is and asking you questions and really engaging. I absolutely loved it and will sign up to do more throughout this year. 

 

Another reason I especially enjoyed doing the Christmas market was that my sister Heidi had a table next to me. She does weird and wonderful botanical things creating terrariums and selling them along with plants and cacti she grows herself, always with a quirky slant. During the summer months she also sells home grown vegetables from her own allotment. She sells under the name of The Little Newport Kitchen Garden and you can follower her on Twitter and Facebook.

 

 

So there we have it, a whistle stop tour through my year. What does 2018 hold? Well, so far, it's not been great, a challenging January, a nasty cold that developed a few days ago, and driving into the back of a Land Rover on the M4 yesterday [no-one hurt thank God but my little car is a write off]. Then again... it's not been all bad, I've already had a sneaky weekend at Disney Land Paris and it was fantastic and it snowed!

 

I hope you enjoyed reading this post - one of my resolutions for this year is to post more regularly - so watch this space <3

 

Taking shelter from a blizzard outside Ratatouille's Restaurant at Disney Land Paris 06/02/18



Disney Land Paris 06/02/18

 

 

All photographs taken by the author [unless  otherwise stated] and Copyright Mayfifth1935 Designs