The Art of: Selina Fenech

Time for another Art feature! This time I will share with you a few of my favourite pieces made by Selina Fenech. She is an Australian Faerie Artist and by far my favourite. I may have gotten into the Faerie art through Jessica Galbreth, Selina was the one who got me Hooked. (Yes, with capital H! ;)) Her combination of realism, soft colours and flowing lines bring a fairytale feel that most of us long for. So, get enchanted by the Art of Selina Fenech!

Along the Forest Path

Golden Gift

Guardian

His Goddess, Her God

Storykeeper

These are a select few of my favourite artworks of Selina Fenech. For more, check out her website. I'm also a proud owner of her oracle deck, the Wild Wisdom of the Faery Oracle Cards, which I use fequently and to great result. I also use them to decorate my altar, which is guarded by a statue of 'Shimmer'. Check back later for a review of her Oracle cards and much, much more! :D

Love and Leaves,
Marjolijn Ashara

Faerie Fashion Feature - Organic Armor

For those of you who follow me on Deviantart the term could sound familiar. Castlefest. It's coming, and I can't wait. Castlefest is the biggest, most awesome, most fun fantasy/pagan/faerie festival we have here in the Netherlands. Sure, Elf Fantasy Fair takes the credit, but Castlefest is so much better! Should you ever be in the Netherlands in the beginning of August, be sure to check it out! Yes, it is still a longs way away, but trust me, when you show up in costume every year, you want to start early. We have some crafting to do! So me, my fiance and my very best friend always go together, usually dressed in similar costumes. (last year was Steampunk, for pictures, check out my Deviantart gallery) So this year we decided to go Swirly Whirly Pagan. It's a real theme... trust us... *looks innocently* We started looking for inspiration and stumbled upon the creations of Organic Armor. We were all totally blown away, such beautiful, magical pieces and such craftsmanship! I'm so jealous, I really wish I had the skills and the patience to make the stuff that they make. So, without further ado, I give you the magical makings of Organic Armor!

The back of their amazing Greenwoman Vest, it looks like the world tree, adorned with gemstones.

This is the front of the Greenwoman Vest, I love the open sides!

Karnaya Helmet, armguards and necklace, the swirls and patterns are so intricate, it's rediculous...

 Greenman Breastplate, I just can't get over the use of colour and the shimmering stones.

They also make smaller pieces, like circlets and bracelets which are just as lovely and magical. They're currently working on a shop, so keep on eye on their website!

Love and Leaves,

Marjolijn Ashara

I'm back!

Good morning everyone on this lovely spring morning!

I know, I'm so ashamed, it's almost been a year hasn't it? A year in which a lot of things happened and a lot of things went wrong. But, I found that I missed the blog, which is why it is back in action! There are going to be some changes though. I've decided to make it a bit easier on myself, so expect shorter posts, but hopefully there will be more of them :) I also plan to post reviews of books, tv shows, movies and music. There might be more pagan related posts and some more personal posts of my own findings on the faerie and pagan path. So I guess in that sense, less really is more.

So to kick off this new and improved Faerie Door Blog, a feature of something amazing. So, one of the things that happened in the past year is that I got engaged!!! Yay! My super romantic boyfriend proposed to me in Disneyland Paris, in front of Sleeping Beauty's castle when it was dark and all lit up and beautiful. The most happy, romantic, epic, awesome moment of my life! So we're currently starting with the planning. It's going to be amazing! We have a theme, which is still a secret ;) But to start things off again here, a few photo's of an amazing faerie wedding!

The Bride and Groom, don't they look magical?

The High Priestess who performed the ceremony. She looks like a vision of Morrigan to me, so beautiful!

The wedding party and a view of the ceremony. Everything is just perfect, the location, the decoration, the costumes, the loving couple, just amazing.

And of course we end this lovely feature with the kiss! The magical kiss! There is so much softness and emotion in these photo's, it melts my fairytale heart <3

For all the pictures and more info on this amazing wedding, go to Tricia Fountaine's website. She designed everything and, let's be honest, did an amazing job! I for one am totally in love with this wedding and can only hope that my own wedding will be as magical as this one.

Love and Leaves!
Ashara

Faerie Fashion Feature - Faerie Footwear

Yay! Time for another Faerie Fashion Feature! This week we will be tackling Faerie Footwear. Because of course we can't walk around barefoot all day (although I wish we could... really!) These shoes that I found on Deviantart are truly the embodiment of the faerie spirit. I love love LOVE them:

Fairy shoes by Ibukij on Deviantart

These adorable little shoes are for sale on her etsy! As well as a lot of other beautiful faerie fashion items. Go check it out!

Although these shoes are amazing and supercute, they are not for day-to-day wear. You couldn't really show up for work in these babies. So, what is a faerie to do? Well, luckily there are a lot of easy tips to upgrade the shoes you already have into amazing faerie shoes!

1. Ribbons
The easiest step and yet, so effective. If you have pumps or sandals, you could add long lengths of ribbons to it that wrap around your lower legs. If you have lace-up shoes, replace the laces with ribbons! It's cute and funky, yet functional... Try different colours and different fabrics, mix and match if you want. Combining organza and satin ribbon makes it all the more faerie...

Styleconcious.org has a handy tutorial
on how to make these cute pumps!

Missa by Design has a handy video tutorial
on how to make these lace up heels!

FairyfeetSA painted these adorable
shoes and added cute ribbons
instead of laces!

2. Paint
Like the cute Bees and Butterflies shoes above painting your shoes is a fun and whimsical way to make your shoes more faerie-worthy. Add nature patterns or entire fairytales, whatever your imagination can think off... Painting works best on canvas or leather shoes, with the right types of paint. Here is a tutorial on how to paint your shoes!

Flower shoes by Petmonkey0 on Deviantart

Unicornville by Gemsville on Deviantart

Black Swirl Shoes by Miss Bunny Shoes on Deviantart.

3. Buttons, flowers and beads
Another simple way to make your shoes more faerie-like is to simply glue (or sow) buttons, silk flowers or stings of beads to your existing shoes. If you want to use glue, use a hot glue gun (careful, it's not called 'hot glue' for nothing!) Simple and easy, but the effect is amazing!

Crystal Falls 2 by Moonshine Mustardseed on Deviantart.

Button Shoes by Stiched-Up on Deviantart

Fairy Shoes by Tonya

4. Inspiration
Look towards other designers and other crafters to see how they make their shoes more fun. Adapt it to your own personal style et violá! Faerie shoes of your own design! Some designs that I find inspirational:

Butterfly heels by Alexander McQueen

Flower Shoes by Scherer Gonsales

So, get crafting and show me your shoes!!

Satyrs

The sky has turned pink by the setting sun. A cool breeze ruffles the tall grass in the meadow. The nymphs giggle as they are chased by the horned and antlered satyr, their hooves leaving deep imprints in the soft soil. They've been running and chasing for many hours, but they do not tire. They know they have a long and steamy night ahead. If they can just catch those nymphs that is......

Nymphs and Satyr,
by William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905),
French Academic painter

That is the image that pops into my head at the word 'satyr'. It's also the way I had been taught in high-school and through fantasy books and movies. However, one little google search left me doubting all of this...

When I got the idea of doing articles on mythological and 'faerie' creatures, I know I had to do one on satyrs, creatures that I'd been fascinated with ever since I was little. One google search burst my little fantasy bubble. The horned and hoofed creatures I had loved were actually faun, not satyr. Satyr look like regular men, well, regular except for those donkey ears and tail.

Greek Vase

In the beginning we see vases depicted with these horse/donkey eared men. They are still seen chasing the nymphs around, just in a slightly different form. Much later the writers of old stated that the faun (who were part man, part goat) and the satyr were the same, and that image stuck with us ever since.

The satyr are attributed to be both companions of Pan and of Dionysus. They were a prominent part of the Dionysus cult. The satyr were the male followers, while the maenads were the female. Satyr were often depicted carrying a thyrsus, a staff topped with a cone, which is sacred to Dionysus. Other attributes they carry are flutes, bags or cups of wine and a shepherds staff. They are clad in animal skins and have wreaths of ivy in their hair. In the early greek days they satyr were depicted as being old, with big bellies and receding hairlines. Later on they became younger and more elegant, more like the images we are familiar with today.

Satyros

The satyr were not always kind spirited. The ancient Greeks actually feared the satyr, as well as other forest spirits. Not much of their myths survived, but they are seen as "subversive and dangerous, yet shy and cowardly" (wikipedia).

In the Roman period, poets depicted the satyr as goat horned and hoofed, with furry legs and tails and the horns of a goat growing out of their heads. Exactly the same as the faun, forest creatures from Roman myths. And this is where it gets complicated. Looking at a lot of different sites and several books, I just don't know anymore. It appears to be that the terms 'satyr' and 'faun' are now interchangable. Just google 'satyr' on google images and almost all you see are half men, half goats. So what is a satyr, really? I guess we have forgotten...

The Art of Ian Daniels

Happy belated Fairy Day!!! I know, I know, shame on me for not posting anything for 10 days, but I'll make it up to you by posting two things tonight! I did have something planned for the 24th (Fairy Day), but since I had to work until midnight on the 23rd, I had other priorities, namely sleeping! But here is a beautiful Faerie Art Feature with the art of Ian Daniels.

I just started in the book 'Dark Fairies' by Dr. Bob Curran. I immediately fell in love with Ian's beautiful drawings that are featured in the book. So, I looked up his website and was happy to find that he not only makes beautiful (dark) faerie drawings and paintings, but also pagan themed art and images of myth and legend. So to honour Fairy Day here are some of my favourites from his gallery!

Dreamsleep

Greenman

Ur-Nanna

Mathonwy

Summerqueen

Ace of Skulls

5 questions for...... Doe Deere!

"Once upon a time in a beautiful city of Los Angeles, there lived a girl named Doe Deere. One day she proclaimed herself the Unicorn Queen and launched Lime Crime Makeup to realize a dream."

Doe Deere is an entrepreneur, makeup artist, model, makeup manufacturer and blogger extraordinaire! She turned thirty yesterday (Happy Birthday Doe!) and has been featured on the covers of Young Entrepreneur, Fae, Auxiliary and Lipstick Royalty. She's done features for MTV Buzzworthy and NYLON, among others. Recently she's been featured as one of the '50 women entrepreneurs who inspire us' by Self-Made Magazine, and I agree wholeheartedly!

I've been a big fan of Doe for many years now, she is one of my biggest inspirations when it comes to makeup and fashion. I'm a total deerling (i.e. a follower of her blog) and when I got the idea for doing these short interviews, she was one of the first people that I thought of. I'm very glad she has found the time to answer our five questions. Ready? Here we go!

1. Where do you get your inspiration to create such unique looks?

Ever since I was little, I loved fairytales -- both reading and telling. Anything whimsical and fantastical gets me going, and I love to translate that into makeup looks.

2. What colours do you love to work with?

I'm a big fan of pastels such as mint green and robin's egg blue, accentuated by glittery golds! That, to me, is the most magical combination.

3. What are your 'tools of the trade'?

Pigments and makeup brushes -- whether I'm at the lab creating new products or simply experimenting on my face!

4. Who do you admire? 

I'm a big fan of Lady Gaga. Anyone strong, female, with a big vision.

5. Last but not least: Do you believe in faeries?

In my ideal world, fairies would be very much real -- and I would be one of them. I'd build a house out of a leaf, drink flower nectar and bathe in morning dew. Until that happens, I shall continue creating real-life fantasy with makeup! ;)

 Find Doe Deere on her blogazine, where she posts weekly glee's, makeup tutorials, inspirational style diaries and much, much more!

Find her wonderfully colourful cosmetics line at the Lime Crime Makeup website!