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Lost and found

It was the Monthly Market at Farnham Maltings on Saturday, and as regular readers will know it’s something I like to go to regularly.

I started to put together a skirt & leggings type outfit, but it just wasn’t working, so in the end I went for jeans, boots, and a top. I chose a nice striped top by Phase 8 that I like, along with a Per Una cardigan and a jacket, and overall I think the outfit worked pretty well.

I wore one of my favourite necklaces – a 1920’s/1930’s oriental style necklace in gold or gilt silver (not sure which) with black enamel inlay and 24K gold engraving that I bought a couple of years back. I have a matching bracelet for it but since it lacks a chain I am always nervous about wearing it in case it comes undone and I lose it. But I decided to risk it.

Partway into the journey and I realised that I had lost the bracelet already. Oh no! But at least that meant that I had either lost it in the house or in the car, so there was a chance I would find it again.

I arrived at The Maltings just before midday, and started having a look around. It was quite busy!

I got talking to a seller who spotted my necklace and showed me two bracelets she had that were similar. They were gold, and very good quality, and so unblemished that they looked almost new. One was too small for me, and the other, which fitted me, was £45 which was far more than I wanted to pay. I told her that I had no doubt that it was a fair price but it was too much for me, and she asked what I would pay. I stressed that I wasn’t trying to beat her down to this price, but that I generally didn’t pay more than £25 for a bracelet. She looked rather shocked, but I went on to say that I’d spent under £30 on the necklace. She semi-seriously offered me that on the spot for it because she said it was worth far more, but I declined explaining that this was one of my favourite necklaces and I simply couldn’t part with it. After chatting a little more, I moved on.

Bracelet

Imagine my surprise when, in another part of the rabbit warren that is The Maltings, I found a seller with a very similar bracelet priced at £25. It fit, it had a chain, and it complimented my necklace. It also had more of a patina to it, which I liked. I don’t see this style for sale very often, so it was quite a surprise to see a total of three bracelets in this style for sale at one event.

I asked the seller if she had any movement on price, but she said she did not. So I just paid her the £25 asking price as I really wanted it and it was within budget. She even threw in a box for it, which was a nice bonus.

I also picked up a pair of tiny little silver heart stud earrings that will be ideal for work, for a very reasonable £4

Free parking

After I had finished at The Maltings, I decided to go home via Fleet High Street, and parked up in the Council car park. I was pleasantly surprised to find that parking was free due to a “Small Business Saturday” initiative by Hart District Council. I think this is a great idea as I have long been of the opinion that one of the things contributing to the death of High Street shopping throughout the country is the cost of parking. Let’s hope that this initiative was a huge success and encourages it to become a regular thing.

My main reason for visiting the High Street was to call into Serendipity. If you’re not familiar with this shop, it’s a small unassuming shop front on the Fleet High Street that belies a large Tardis-like rabbit warren that seems to go on forever, culminating with Daisy’s Tea Room at the very back.

Drop your pants here

I didn’t find a huge amount there, but I was drawn to a cute & cheeky laundry sign. It was brand new and made in China, but at £12.50 I thought it was just about cheap enough to justify buying. I tried to get it for a tenner but unfortunately the ticket price was fixed. Oh well.

I didn’t find anything else I wanted there, so walked up the High Street popping into the various charity shops, but didn’t get anything other than a DVD. I did get a new scarlet matte lipstick by Maybelline in Superdrug though, which I think will look nice.

I ♥ my bedroom

When I got home, I hung the new sign on the mirror in my bedroom, which is above (but to one side of) my laundry basket. I think it fits in there quite well.

I then went looking for my bracelet. It wasn’t in the car, or on the driveway, and it wasn’t in my bedroom where I had put on my cardigan (I thought perhaps this is when it might have fallen off), and wasn’t any of the places in the house that I had been that morning.

I was scratching my head by this point, and then I remembered that I had transferred the contents of my old hand bag to my new Radley one. And there, inside my old handbag, was the bracelet; it must have fallen off whilst I was moving stuff across. So that was a relief.

Clearly I needed to put a chain onto the bracelet if I was to wear it again with confidence.

I’ve been collecting this style of jewellery ever since I bought the necklace, and now have the aforementioned necklace, the two bracelets, a broach, two pairs of clip-on earrings, and another necklace which is rather clunky and has some damage and which I have never worn.

The collection

As luck would have it, the broach has a small security chain on it with a spring clip at one end and a safety pin at the other. Since I don’t really wear broaches, the chain looked ideal for use on the bracelet.

I very carefully opened up the ring securing the chain to the safety pin, removed the safety pin, and then attached the ring to the bracelet. It was a very fiddly job and took me a while, especially closing the ring up again satisfactorily, but I got there in the end. I’m quite pleased with myself for achieving it, even though I say so myself.

Added security

Before I got my makeup off, I also managed a quick photo shoot in the outfit I was wearing. I chose the spare room for this, with me sitting in the window. I was quite pleased with how it turned out, although the end of the bed does rather distract from the picture. I could have digitally removed it, but I thought it was far funnier to leave it in and lampshade it with a knob gag. 😀

Insert knob gag here

I’m wearing my new lipstick in this pic, but you can’t really see it very well.

Posted by Hay Llamas on 4th December 2017 in Arts and Crafts, Diary, Out & About, Photos, Shopping

3 Comments

Tags: Antiques, art deco, diary, fashion, Jewellery, jewelry, necklace, photo, shopping, transgender, transgenderism

Project Reorganise: Jewellery Rack

18 Apr April 18

Credit: Mango Stream

Recently I found a jewellery rack for sale on Amazon. It’s the first one I have ever seen for purchase that doesn’t require you to remove the back from a post earring, push it through a hole, and then reattach the back. Instead, you put it through a larger hole and then let the earring drop down into a much smaller slot, which then holds it.

The rack is available in silver or matte black, and comes in either ‘standard’, or in ‘deluxe’. The latter has an extension add-on that slides into the standard part to increase the total amount of storage space.
I chose the ‘deluxe’ in black but with an idea in mind to improve on it; I have a spray can of Antique Bronze paint and had the idea of spraying the rack a mottled bronze and black.

I got the balance of bronze to black pretty much spot on first time with the lower add-on part, but for the upper ‘standard’ part I completely overdid the bronze. With hindsight, I should have not been painting in fading light!

Too much bronze!

Fortunately, I had a spray can of matte black so was able to bring it back again. It took me several iterations to get to a point that I was happy with.

Almost done

Once happy, I then gave it two coats of clear lacquer and then mounted it on the side of my tall chest of drawers, which is right next to my dressing table.

The finished item

Posted by Hay Llamas on 18th April 2016 in Arts and Crafts, Diary, Home furnishing, Photos

3 Comments

Tags: diary, earrings, Jewellery, jewelry, Project Reorganise, Shabby Chic

Farnham Maltings

11 Jun June 11

On Saturday I popped over to The Maltings in Farnham for their monthly Maltings Market. I’ve not been to one of these before, despite Farnham not being too far away for me. But a recent advert in a magazine mentioned that it has around 200 stalls of arts, crafts, jewellery, antiques, collectables and memorabilia, and that sounded like it was right up my street.

It was a quick and easy journey and after a bit of searching I managed to find a car parking space – the car park was pretty full.

There were some sellers with trestle tables out in the car park and immediately outside the Maltings, and I started to browse them when I suddenly realised that I had come out without my wallet.

A quick search on google revealed that there was a branch of my bank nearby within walking distance, so I walked over with a view to trying to get some cash.

So without my card or any identification, and armed only with the knowledge of my account number and sort code, PIN number, telephone banking password, internet banking password, inside leg measurement, and with my mobile phone in my possession (and whose number they have on file and could ring), I asked to withdraw money from my account. The cashier said that all she needed was my signature. Which, it turned out, they did not have on file, despite me banking with them for 25 years, because they had recently gone digital and hadn’t digitised their paper records. D’Oh.

All my passwords etc. were no good to them – all they would accept was my signature which they didn’t have on file. It was all rather Last Century and it initially looked like I was out of luck. Fortunately when the manager was called, she had the good sense to ask me various questions about my account activity which I was able to answer, including recent transactions, where my monthly salary payments came from, and eventually was satisfied I was who I said I was and authorised the cashier to let me withdraw the £50 I wanted.

The fact that I was in guy mode probably helped enormously in this case as it would have complicated matters enormously otherwise, as I would have had to explain why a woman with no identification was trying to access a bank account whose account holder had a male name. I think that if I had been in girl mode I simply wouldn’t have bothered and would just have gone home.

Anyway, I walked back to The Maltings and tried again.

Once I’d browsed the outside stalls, I headed inside and discovered that The Maltings is an absolute rabbit warren. It has several halls, on several levels, and also has a large courtyard and also several side rooms. All of these were full of stalls. Some were selling the usual Antiques and Collectors Fair stuff (and, indeed, there were some familiar faces from other fairs), some were local artists selling jewellery and art that they themselves had made, there was one stall with handmade leather goods, there was vintage clothing, new clothing, art, postcards, ephemera, cakes, jams, and all sorts. And being in many different rooms and halls meant that there was quite a bit of exploration and wondering if you had found everything. I loved it and will definitely go again.

Dragonfly earrings

One seller had some dragonfly drop earrings which I liked. She saw me looking at them and said that she makes them herself, and without really thinking I said that I love dragonflies and butterflies, and drew her attention to the little silver butterfly stud earring I was wearing.
“So, um, are these something you’d wear then?” she asked, slightly surprised. Rather than be embarrassed or flustered at the fact that I had said something out-of-gender, I simply smiled and replied “Well, not dressed like this. I’m disguised as a guy today. But when I’m dressed in girl mode then definitely”. She didn’t seem overly bothered by this, and merely asked if I had both ears pierced to which I said I did, and she just shrugged in a sort of “fair enough” kind of way and I bought them for £9.

Another seller was selling older stuff, and was playing 1930’s music on a period gramophone. It surprised me just how much volume it was managing to kick out, despite appearing to be purely mechanical.

Necklace

Amongst the stuff he was selling was a necklace which caught my eye (pictured). It was unusual not just because of the shape and decoration, but because it was the same on both sides. Usually necklaces have a show side and a back side, so if they turn themselves round whilst you’re wearing them then they don’t display properly.

I asked the price, and he said £25 and that the chain alone was worth that. I asked if he’d take £20 and he said that he couldn’t budge at all on price. And he didn’t – I couldn’t get him to drop even a penny, which is quite unusual as you can usually get something off. But I decided to buy it anyway.

I had a good wander round all the stalls and whilst there was some nice stuff, there was nothing else I wanted to buy, and eventually I headed home.

I will definitely visit the Maltings Market again next month and this time I will make sure I don’t go out of the house without my purse or wallet (delete as appropriate).

Posted by Hay Llamas on 11th June 2015 in Clothes, Shoes, and Jewellery, Diary, Out & About, Photos

1 Comment

Tags: diary, Farnham, gender, gender identity, Jewellery, jewelry, Maltings, Maltings Market, shopping, transgender

Jewellery update

28 Apr April 28

I was at one of the bi-monthly (as in, once every 2 months) Antiques and Collectables Fairs at Sandown Park Racecourse on Sunday, and was looking forward to catching up with Amita Vetta of Love That Jewellery. Amita and I had already exchanged a few emails prior so I knew that she would be attending and likewise she was expecting me to be there too.

~~Swallows~~ Swifts drop earrings

When I arrived I saw that she was busy, and indeed this continued for quite some time although we did see each other and managed a smile and a wave. But eventually she had a moment and we were able to talk.

She was keen to see what I had done with the conversion of the Pilgrim bracelet to a necklace, and also of the conversion of the earrings from posts to fish hooks. I was wearing the earrings, and we both agreed that they sat far better like this. The Centre of Gravity was completely wrong with posts which caused them to drag downwards, whereas with the hooks they hang naturally.

Amita was also nice enough to say that the necklace looked great when I showed it to her – I wasn’t wearing it because the chain turned out to be too long for the neckline of the dress I was wearing. I will have to shorten it some time.

Whilst we were chatting I suddenly interrupted myself and said “Ooh! I like those!” as I spotted a lovely pair of enamelled metal drop earrings in the shape of Swallows. Well, I’m presuming they’re Swallows – I’m no ornithologist. At £5 they seemed like a no-brainer purchase.

Amita also mentioned that she now has a Facebook page, so I made sure I followed that. It’s at https://www.facebook.com/Lovethatjewellery if you would like to follow also.
Incidentally, it also gave me the idea to set up my own Facebook page to complement my Twitter account, so if you’d prefer to follow me on Facebook rather than Twitter then you now can at https://www.facebook.com/hayllamas

I didn’t want to take up too much more of Amita’s time, as I was very aware of how busy she was, so I let her be after that.

Also at this fair I saw an unusual Japanese-style necklace with a butterfly motif which I immediately loved. Again, I think it is enamelled metal although, unlike the Swallows, it is dull and matte rather than gloss. I don’t know what the age and provenance of it is, but I tend to buy stuff that I like rather than getting too hung up on that.

Japanese necklace

Clasp

Even the clasp on it was interesting. It uses a spring-loaded barbed tongue into a socket and has a square of enamel on it. I’m not entirely sure it is meant to be upside-down though.

The seller had a label price of £34 on it and I asked what the best price might be. She said the best she could do was £25 and I thought that was a fair price so didn’t try to haggle down any further than that.

The only downside of the necklace is that it is very snug on me and sits almost as a choker which I’m sure it’s not meant to. It’s probably designed for a much slimmer and more delicate Asian woman rather than my fat Western neck. I’m not sure what can be done about this. Maybe if I can find some similar chain I could perhaps extend it a little.

Another necklace that caught my eye was one with lots of flowers and butterflies (are we seeing a pattern here?), predominantly in green, with green glass pendants. I was in two minds about this one, but a price of £10 swung me towards a “yes”.

Flowers and butterflies

Butterflies

I decided I had bought quite enough by now, and fortunately didn’t see much more to tempt me, so left not long after.

The only other purchase to report on was one I made a couple of weeks ago at a small Antiques and Collectables Fair in Hartley Wintney. I bought these tiny stud earrings in a butterfly design. They are Sterling Silver (although I confess I can’t see a hallmark on them, so maybe they aren’t) but at £4 I don’t really mind. What is important is that they are my new favourite daily wear studs when I’m in guy mode and I absolutely adore them.

Update:

Apparently the “Swallows” are actually Swifts. I told you I wasn’t an ornithologist!

Posted by Hay Llamas on 28th April 2015 in Arts and Crafts, Clothes, Shoes, and Jewellery, Diary, Photos, Shopping

4 Comments

Tags: Antiques, Art Nouveau, bargain, butterfly, Jewellery, jewelry, necklace

Project Reorganise: Necklace rack

04 Apr April 04

I buy too many necklaces and am starting to have trouble storing them. I have a table-standing necklace rack but it’s getting pretty full and also I find it looks a little messy.

I’ve seen a product for sale that is a full length mirror that is actually a shallow jewellery cabinet, but the quality is very poor and I didn’t much care for it. So I came up with my own idea.

12mm cup hooks

First off was a purchase of 50 small (12mm) square shouldered cup hooks from eBay for the grand total of £3.50 inc P&P.

The plan was to attach these to the inner side of the two doors of one of my fitted wardrobes. The wardrobes are built in and are just made from white Conti board / furniture board, so I didn’t feel too bad about doing this.

I laid down some masking tape so that I could mark it all out without marking the wood (I wish whoever made it had done the same!), and then used a metal Combination Square to ensure a straight & level line and then marked out two rows of regular 2cm spacing on one of the doors. Then I used a spring-loaded centre punch to mark out where each hook was to go, and removed the masking tape. Then I used a small 2mm drill bit to pre-drill a hole into each mark made by the centre punch so that each hook would easily go in without damaging the wood. The hooks then screwed in easily.

The end result didn’t look too bad at all.

2cm spacing

After hanging some necklaces on it, I realised that I needed much wider spacing for some of my necklaces. So, since I still had 12 hooks left, on the other door I did a much wider spacing of 8cm and then, for the last 2 hooks, a really wide one specifically for my large butterfly necklace. If I need even more space, then more hooks are a cheap purchase and I have 4 more doors in my fitted wardrobe set. And I can always add additional rows to these two doors as well. It’ll be a long time before I run out of space.

Wider spacing

All in all, I think that came out pretty well. I’ll be putting my table-standing necklace rack up for sale on eBay I think – I have no further need for it.

(Note: These aren’t all my necklaces. Whilst I was doing this project I took the opportunity to have a sort out and ditch about 6 or 7 necklaces that were some of my earliest and cheapest, and I know that I will never wear again.)

Posted by Hay Llamas on 4th April 2015 in Diary, DIY and Home Improvement, Home furnishing, Photos

3 Comments

Tags: diary, DIY, Jewellery, jewelry, necklace, necklace rack, necklaces, Project Reorganise

Project Reorganise: The delivery

19 Mar March 19

As I mentioned previously, the bed and the furniture were due to arrive last weekend and I was going all out to get my bedroom cleared in time. Fortunately I achieved that goal and by Wednesday evening the room was cleared, hoovered, and ready. With the room clear I could see that the carpet was rather worn and could really do with being replaced but it was entirely too late by then.

On Friday late afternoon just after I got home from work, the bed arrived as scheduled and was assembled without any fuss or bother.

The furniture was due the next day and since I had ordered it in girl mode, I thought I might as well receive it in girl mode. Not that the delivery guys would have given two hoots either way, of course, but I thought it would be appropriate and fun.

I didn’t know what time they would be arriving, and decided I wouldn’t bust a gut to get up early – I would get up when I did, and if it meant that I was awoken by them arriving then I’d just pull on a t-shirt and joggers and open the door in guy mode.

Au naturel

As it happened, I awoke before they arrived. I decided I would just go for minimal make up – just foundation, a little eyebrow pencil, some mascara, and some lippy. Just as well really, because I had just got that done and my wig on, and was just brushing it, when the doorbell rang! If they had arrived when I was in the middle of things that would have been the worst possible scenario, and one I had not thought of.

It’s going to be tight

There were two guys, and they chose to do the hardest item first – the 7-drawer low wide chest of drawers. The route involved coming in the front door, turning right along the hallway, then a 180° turn to get up the stairs. It was very, very tight. They had to tip the whole unit vertically, and it only just cleared the ceiling on the mini-landing at the foot of the stairs (pictured). Then they had to tip it forward parallel to the stairs and there were literally millimetres of clearance on the ceiling. I’m not sure what we would have done had it not fit.

The rest of the furniture went up without any problems and in no time at all it was all done and the guys left me to it.

I did a little organising, and then decided to go out for a while. I added a little eye shadow and some eye liner to my make up, and then left the house. Whilst I was out I was a victim of rather an unpleasant road rage incident where the other driver was trying to force me to stop by trying to cut me up and block me to a halt so that he could remonstrate with me, but I don’t really want to go into that on a public forum. Sufficient to say that I eluded him each time and eventually lost him. But I learned an important lesson that it is even more important not to rile other drivers when you are a woman than it is when you’re a man. Until that incident I would have predicted that the reverse was true – that a man would be more aggressive towards another man, but it would seem not. Very scary.

Shorter, comfier

When I got back home, my longer hair was really annoying me but I wanted to stay in girl mode, so I swapped to my older, shorter, wig which you’ll have seen many times in my photos in the past. I haven’t worn it since buying my new wigs, so it was nice to go back to it.

I spent the rest of the evening doing this & that, and then had an early night. For once I didn’t take all my make up off – I removed my foundation and lippy but left my eyes, with a view to getting back into girl mode the next day.

The next day, I got into girl mode again and headed over to Woking for a Take Five Flea & Collectables fair. Amita Vetta of Love That Jewellery was there again and she instantly recognised me, and we had a nice little chat. And the guy who does the Swing style singing was there too, only I have only ever talked to him in guy mode, which made me realise that I should really make an effort to always go to these things in girl mode even if I don’t feel like it because it is good to build up relationships with people.

Necklace

This was especially true when I got chatting to another seller who I have previously bought a necklace from, because she remembered me buying it and also remarked how lovely the necklace I was wearing was (it was the same as on Saturday, pictured). I saw she was selling a necklace I liked the look of, and I thought the price of £15 she was asking was reasonable so bought it. I really should stop buying necklaces or I will have to declare myself a collector of those too! I told her as much and she laughed and said that was how she started as well and if I wasn’t careful I would be opening a stall like her. 🙂

I spent a lot longer at this fair than I usually do – normally I whistle round in around 45 mins – but I took far more time this time and was there for double that if not longer. Possibly because I have more I want to buy now that I am accessorising a room. I bought a couple of Art Deco / Art Nouveau style postcards. I’m not planning to start collecting, but if I get enough similar cards together I will collage them into a picture frame to hang on the wall. It doesn’t matter if it takes a while until I have enough – they can sit in a drawer until I do.

Art nouveau picture frame

Another thing I managed to get was a gorgeous Art Nouveau picture frame for £5. I didn’t have the nerve to haggle on that price – generally £5 and under I don’t, although my mum definitely would. I don’t know how she has the cheek to do so, to be honest.

Fairy earrings

I also saw a really lovely pair of silver fairy drop earrings. The seller wanted £12 for them and I offered £10, which he accepted.
I particularly liked them because they are mirror images of each other – I really hate it when single-sided asymmetric earrings are identical to each other because it results in them facing in different directions when you wear them. I’m strange like that – things like this matter to me.

Eventually I was done, and I moved on to the small fair in the Village Hall at Ripley, since that’s not far from Woking. I’ve been to one of these before, although didn’t blog about it. In fact, now that I come to think of it I have been to quite a few of these fairs since I last blogged about one. I think perhaps I’ve been going to so many that I thought readers of this blog might be rather bored to hear about yet another one!

Although Ripley Village Hall is a small venue, last time I was there I got some reasonable stuff so I was hoping for the same again.

Away with the faeries

I spotted a pair of what seemed to be lead or pewter faeries for £3 each. I wasn’t too sure on them, but the seller said I could have both for £5 so I decided to take a punt. The wings are definitely lead or some other soft metal as the tips had bent and needed to be teased back into shape. The crescent moons, however, are clearly resin as the silver paint has worn off them showing the translucent resin underneath. I may touch them up with silver paint or I might just bin them. I haven’t decided yet.

Slim cabinet

I then came across a rather beat-up slim wall cabinet in a shabby chic style, whose knobs match the ones I have fitted to my wardrobes. The label price was £35, and I asked the seller what her best price was and she said she could come down to £25, which I thought was fair. However, it turned out I literally only had exactly £24 left by now, so I asked if she would accept that and she did. It’s nice enough, although it has an absolutely horrid modern white plastic magnetic catch (not visible in the pic) holding it closed. I think I might have to replace that with something more in keeping.

I looked around the rest of the hall, even though I was out of cash, but there was nothing else of interest, so left with just those items.

When I got home, I made myself a nice lunch and settled down to watch the Australian F1 GP. However, a combination of the lunch, the active morning, and a less than thrilling race, meant that I fell asleep on the sofa and missed much of the race. However, it appears that I didn’t miss much, sadly.

There’s nothing much more to report for now. I am still pondering on the Art Deco light. I have two options for making it shorter but I will leave that to another day to blog about.

Likewise I will leave it to another day to report on how the bedroom has come along this week.

Posted by Hay Llamas on 19th March 2015 in Clothes, Shoes, and Jewellery, Diary, Home furnishing, Out & About, Photos, Transgender

2 Comments

Tags: Antiques, art deco, Art Nouveau, butterfly, furniture, Jewellery, jewelry, photos, Project Reorganise, road rage, Take Five

Project Reorganise

06 Mar March 06

It’s been well over a month (6 weeks, in fact) since I last posted, and a few people have asked me what I have been up to and said that I should post it on a blog post. I confess that I have been wary of turning this blog into a “Dear Diary” one which is why I have held off a little.

So, what have I been up to since my last post?

For quite a while now, I’ve been rather ‘treading water’ in my house. I’ve bought the odd picture here and there, the odd houseplant here and there, have moved various items of furniture around, but haven’t made any really major changes since my divorce.

Over the past few years, as I have embraced all facets of myself, I’ve come to realise how much I love Art Nouveau and the whole vintage aesthetic. I also have come to appreciate Shabby Chic, whimsy, and quite a feminine vibe. It started with a few little trinkets and accessories around the house here and there, and then recently has coalesced into a grand plan for my bedroom.

The plan, which is already well-progressed, is to move the heavy antique pine furniture in my bedroom into the back bedroom, where the wardrobes from the same set already are, to end up with all pieces from the set in the same room. It should make for a really nice themed guest room. Who knows, maybe I might even have some guests over to enjoy it.

That leaves my own bedroom, and the plan is to go for a rustic sort-of Shabby Chic look but without going all the way to half-broken mismatched furniture. So a sort of “Shabbyish Chic”. 😀

I’ve been keeping my eyes open for suitable furniture and finally found what I think to be ideal in a branch of What Not Antiques. It’s a bedroom furniture set called Claremont that is made from solid reclaimed timber in a rustic style. Unlike true Shabby Chic, everything matches, but this is what I want.

Claremont tall chest, wide chest, bedside cabinet, and table

Funnily enough, just after I bought the Claremont items I was in House of Fraser and saw a very similarly styled chest of drawers to the 7-drawer low & wide one. However, unlike the one I had just bought, this was all smooth melamine-faced board with smooth drawer runners and shiny handles, and completely lacked any character. And, ironically, it wasn’t a huge amount cheaper either. So although what I have bought is fairly expensive, I’m really pleased with it. It also comes with an extremely comprehensive insurance-based 5-year warranty which even covers it for having a glass of red wine spilled down it – if they can’t remove the stain they’ll replace the item.

Bed

I don’t want everything to be matching, though – I felt that would be just too much. I envisaged the bed being a metal-framed one, possibly in a Victorian wrought iron style – perhaps black with brass detailing. Benson’s for Beds had something sort-of suitable and, better yet, it was in their sale for £199 rather than the usual price of twice that. For the price, it was ok. However, I really had my heart set on something antique with some character and on Saturday I found just that at Victorian Dreams, which is a company based in Hampshire who specialise in sourcing and restoring antique beds. Although the prices were way outside what I was planning on spending, I found the most awesome bed with the help of the owner of the shop, and she gave me a good discount to help me afford it too. The bed dates from the early 1900’s and is apparently Portuguese in origin, and I’m so excited about how it’s going to fit in with the style that I have chosen.

The plan is to have the low, wide, chest of drawers across the foot of the bed, which is why a high foot was quite important to me. By my measurements the top of the chest should come to exactly the base of the vase on the bed, which is ideal.

Butterfly Lamp

Whilst this has been going on, I’ve been visiting various Antiques and Collectables fairs around the Hampshire, Berkshire and Surrey area, ranging from small village halls to large Sports Halls, looking for things to complement the look I’m going for. There are probably too many to mention here but notable purchases include a gorgeous Tiffany-style butterfly lamp and a mirror featuring artwork by Alphonse Mucha. I also bought a cheap table lamp also in a Tiffany style to use as a bedside lamp.

Mucha Mirror

At one show I bumped into Amita Vetta of Love That Jewellery again, who was the person selling the Charles Horner necklace that I mentioned in a previous post. I bought a lovely earring and bracelet set off her, and was chatting to her about the Charles Horner necklace but it was quite clear she didn’t remember me. It was only when I got home that I realised that I was in guy mode this time and that I had chatted to her in girl mode originally. No wonder she didn’t recognise me!
A few weeks later I was at another fair and she was at that one too, and I was in guy mode again, so I went up to her and she instantly recognised me. I explained the situation and it was like a light bulb came on over her head and there was a look of relief on her face. She said she did remember the conversation and that I had been wearing a really lovely necklace when we’d been talking about the Charles Horner one, which indeed I had.
The thing that I found the most nice is that she totally took it in her stride and didn’t so much as bat an eyelid over the concept. How wonderful! I think it is yet more evidence that Society as a whole (the decent members thereof, at least) are much more tolerant to transgenderism these days.

Rose mirror

Another purchase was a gorgeous mirror, although with the design of the room starting to mutate out of Shabby Chic and towards a more vintage bronze look (what with the Tiffany-style lamps, the bed, the handles on the furniture, and one of the candidates for the chandelier light fittings I’m considering), I’m starting to be concerned that it still fits. But I really like it so I think it will stay.

The furniture and the bed both arrive next weekend, and once installed there will be a little more still to do, but I will be sure to post pics when it’s all done. I’m not planning to re-decorate or re-carpet, but I do want to fit some coving to soften the feel of the room and make it less boxy.

Not only have I been pretty remiss on this blog, but I’ve also been remiss on going out in girl mode and taking pics for my Flickr. I think I’ve only done it once or twice since my last blog post. I’m at the stage right now where it is no big deal whether I do or don’t. Much as I love the clothes and jewellery of girl mode, it is a complete palaver and if I’m absolutely honest, after a long week at work I can’t really be bothered on a weekend. Especially in the cold weather we’ve been having, I just like to dress up warm and comfortable, and I can do that much more easily in guy mode than girl mode. There may also be some confidence issues too, but I think it is more down to the fact that warm clothing doesn’t really flatter any woman, although I do think I look particularly chunky in my more recent pics even though I’ve put no more than 5lbs back on. That’s well on the way to coming off again though, so perhaps by the time Spring comes I will be in a place where I want to resume.

I recently got to a stage where I considered stopping buying any more dangling earrings because I think I probably buy them more often than I wear them! So I told myself that I had two options – either stop buying them and start wearing what I have, or else say that I am collecting them. So, a Collector of Nice Earrings I now am. 🙂

I will have to photograph them all and make a static gallery-style page on this blog, I think. Something to do one day.

Posted by Hay Llamas on 6th March 2015 in Diary, Home furnishing, Transgender

2 Comments

Tags: Alfons Mucha, Alphonse Mucha, art deco, Art Nouveau, Charles Horner, diary, fashion, Home Furnishing, jewelry, Mucha, Project Reorganise, Shabby Chic, Tiffany

Take another Five

31 Dec December 31

20th Century & Art Deco fair

On Sunday I was back at the Woking Leisure Centre for another of Take Five‘s fairs, this time for a 20th Century, Art Nouveau and Art Deco fair. These are generally less packed with stalls than the “flea, antiques & collectors” markets but the sellers tend to have more expensive and larger items for sale.

I went in knowing from previous experience that I would be unlikely to find something that I both liked and could afford, and that was certainly the case. There were some lovely pieces but were way outside my price range. Rather amusingly I also saw a few items that had also been in the ‘flea, antiques & collectors’ market a few weeks previously. I guess there is some overlap between the two.

Credit: Love That Jewellery

One thing that did catch my eye was an absolutely gorgeous Art Nouveau necklace, which I asked to look at. As the seller took it out of the display case to show it to me, she said it was an original Charles Horner dating from around 1908, and at that point I knew that I wasn’t going to be able to afford it.
As we chatted she remarked on the necklace that I was wearing and how pretty it was, and I mentioned that I had bought it for next to nothing. She then said that this one was going to be a little more and the very best price she could do was £220. I winced, and explained that I really just buy stuff on aesthetics and I don’t really know anything about anything, and I don’t buy to sell on; I buy to wear. She said she totally understood, and that she thought I had a very good eye given the fact I liked this necklace and also given the necklace I was wearing.

I asked if she could write down the name of the creator of the necklace for me, so I could read up on him and if I could possibly take a picture of it to remind me how beautiful it is, so she wrote down the name ‘Charles Horner’ on her business card and said that there was a picture on her website. Her name is Amita Vetta of Love That Jewellery, and when I got home I visited her website and saw that the necklace is for sale there for £285 so she really was giving me her best price and I appreciate that, and also appreciate the amount of time she spent chatting to me; a thoroughly nice lady. It’s just a shame that it was just way outside of my price range. I confess I was really tempted though. I do hope this doesn’t turn out to be another of life’s little missed opportunities.

A little disheartened, I moved on and eventually came across a necklace that I thought was quite nice, and which the seller said was probably from the 1920’s. The best price she could do was £20. I said I’d have a think and come back to her, and continued to wander around. At some point a live male singer began to sing to a backing track (you can see the microphone in the centre of the pic above if you look hard), which was really nice and gave a lovely atmosphere despite the fact we were all in a Sports Hall.

Go on then

Eventually I finished my tour of the stalls, and I returned to the cheaper necklace and after a little pondering said “ah go on then” to the seller and gave her a £20 note. It was probably a little more than I wanted to pay but I consider it a consolation prize for the fact I couldn’t afford the Charles Horner necklace.

After that, it was a drive from Woking to Basingstoke, via Lightwater to the M3, because I had to take that sequin dress back and only had one day left to do so. I made good time despite the M3 being on a 50mph speed limit with Average Speed Cameras due to the extensive roadworks they are doing, and eventually I arrived at Festival Place.

I took the sequin dress back to Top Shop and they gave me a full refund for the £68 I paid for it (I notice it is now £40 in the sales) without any quibble. When the sales girl asked me if there was anything wrong with it I said there wasn’t, it just wasn’t right for me. She nodded and said that this is always the problem with t-shirt dresses and that she prefers a more fitted waist. I agreed and said that was exactly why I was returning it. So in some ways I felt quite vindicated by her comment. Which was nice.

I wandered round the shops but nothing much caught my eye apart from this awesome pop art canvas of Iron Man. I knew the moment I saw it that I had to have it, and the fact it was only £15 was a bonus. So I bought that and returned to the car to stow it, and then went back down to wander the shops some more.

Iron Man canvas

I came across a very strange thing in one shop. It was one of those pop-up clothes shops that sells all sorts of brands and they had my ‘Gold & Grey Mesh Flower Print Dress’ that I had bought from Quiz. Only the label didn’t say Quiz; it said Stella Morgan. I’ve done a little detective work on this since, and it seems legitimate – Tesco are also selling it branded as Stella Morgan under their F&F range.
The shop had the Gold & Grey, and also a Black & Blue. My research online has shown that the usual colours are Black & Grey and Gold & Grey, but I can’t find the Black & Blue online anywhere, which is a pity as if I’d known that I might have been tempted to buy it despite it being £39.99 as it looked stunning in Black & Blue, but it might work in Black & Grey too. I notice that Tesco have just reduced the Black & Grey to £30 in their online sale so I might buy that as I really do love the Gold & Grey that I have.

I’m still a little confused by the fact that this dress is by Quiz with some sellers (including Amazon) and Stella Morgan with others. Clearly there is some re-branding going on.

Anyway, I didn’t find anything else, and decided I was done. But before I went home I took an obligatory selfie because, well, you have to don’t you? 🙂
You can see the pic on Flickr (click here), and can see the necklace I was wearing too – the one Amita complimented me on.

Posted by Hay Llamas on 31st December 2014 in Clothes, Shoes, and Jewellery, Diary, Out & About, Shopping

1 Comment

Tags: art deco, Art Nouveau, Canvas, Charles Horner, clothes, Iron man, Jewellery, jewelry, Take Five Fairs, Woking

Sequins no more

18 Dec December 18

As I mentioned in a previous post, I had been planning a night out with a friend and had bought the “Two-Tone Sequin Bodycon Dress” by Top Shop in anticipation.

That night out was meant to be last Friday and was to have been the December BNO at Pink Punters, but for one reason and another I had to drop out and not go. If I’m absolutely honest, then I have to admit that cold feet was one of the reasons.

The dress

On Sunday, after I got back from the Take Five fair at Woking, I thought I should try the dress on again in order to decide once and for all if I should keep it for another time or take it back for a refund.

I tried it on, and it was really easy to get into. I particularly like the fact that the zip is long, robust, has large metal teeth which do not jam or snag, and also has a long tag on it which makes doing it up on your own quite easy. So many dresses with back zips are a real struggle to do up on your own and seem to be designed for someone else zipping you up.

Once on, it is really comfortable and fits me absolutely perfectly across the shoulders; it almost feels as if it was tailor-made for me. However, I simply can’t escape the fact that this dress simply does not flatter me and is really rather shapeless. Despite being a size 14, I think that it makes me look a lot bigger. I also feel that, although the flip effect is fun, it only takes brushing against something to alter how it looks and make it look messy. So, really, I just don’t think it’s “me” because for one thing I would be stressing about that all the time!

Dress + jacket

As a result, I think that it really has to go back for a refund which I will be doing ASAP as I only have until 29th December to get a refund according to the receipt. That means I either have to brave Basingstoke’s Festival Place on the last weekend before Christmas or else brave it immediately after Christmas when the sales are on. I’m not sure which will be more busy and stressful!

I also tried the Snow Leopard Faux Fur Jacket that I bought from Select Fashion. I think I will keep that because I really like it and it’s so glamourous. I’m sure I will be able to wear it next time I have a night out. It’s certainly nicer than that overcoat that I bought which I have never worn and, with hindsight, I think I probably never will either.

Dragonfly earrings

Finally, just as a follow-up to my post about the Take Five fair at Woking, I went on Amazon last night and found a lovely pair of Dragonfly earrings that look to be virtually identical to the ones I declined to buy at £19 at the fair (and which the seller had been asking £20 for initially). They cost me £15.20 including postage. Just shows that you have to keep your wits about you when attending fairs and know what is a bargain and what is not.

Update:

The earrings arrived today and, in fairness to the seller at the Take Five fair, I should say that these are smaller than the ones he was selling. However, they are hallmarked silver and I’m not sure if his were. But they’re just the right size and I really like them. So expect to see them in a future pic!

Posted by Hay Llamas on 18th December 2014 in Clothes, Shoes, and Jewellery, Diary, Shopping

Take Five

15 Dec December 15

Obligatory selfie

On Sunday I attended one of Take Five‘s flea, antiques & collectors markets. These are held roughly once a month at the Woking Leisure Centre, although some events are 20th Century & Art Deco events. You can find a calendar on their website if you are interested.

I got there just after midday, which probably wasn’t ideal as it had been open since 9am but there was still plenty to buy.

Flea, antiques & collectors market

You enter the main hall of the Leisure Centre via the balcony (hence the angle of the photo of the hall) so whilst I was up there it was kind of obligatory to take a selfie too. 😀

Bieres de la Meuse

I’d no sooner got down into the main hall and looking at the stalls when I spied my first bargain – a retro metal sign in the Art Nouveau style which was only £3 and is ideal for my Retro Wall. The sign is a little beat up, unlike my others which were all bought new, but I think it adds to the charm.

It took me a lot longer to find my next purchase. I was quite tempted by some dragonfly earrings, but the seller had £20 on the smaller pair and £30 on a larger pair. When I asked him how much he’d come down from the £20 for the smaller pair, he sucked his teeth and suggested £19. They weren’t worth that to me so I politely said I would leave them, and moved on.

As I wandered around the hall and chatted to the sellers, at least 3 complemented me on my jumper with one lady saying it was “just so cute”, which was really nice.

I also got chatting to a toy seller who, amongst other things, had a Captain Scarlett car for sale and as I was looking at it said that he had the rocket for it and that it was kept safely in a small box to be included on sale. I don’t blame him – having owned several rocket-firing toys when young (including a Buck Rogers Star-Fighter and a James Bond Lotus Esprit). I know how incredibly easy it is to lose those! I told him about how my ex’s step-son had begged to be allowed to fire the rockets on my Esprit just once, and I refused and said he’d lose them. My ex browbeat me into letting him, and sure enough he immediately lost one on just one firing.

Necklace

My next purchase was a lovely necklace which I got for £10. It’s not hallmarked (that I can see anywhere) and provenance is unknown although the lady selling it thought it might be 1950’s. I didn’t mind because I was just buying on looks and form. I’m not a collector or a reseller – I just buy things that appeal to me and that I would wear.
I probably could have beat her down on price, but I thought that £10 was fair.

There were a few other things that I sort of liked but not enough to buy. It was quite interesting to see the range of things on sale though – after all, being a flea, antiques and collectors market you can well imagine that it was an eclectic mix. Certainly at the “flea” end of things there was some absolute tat that wouldn’t have looked out of place at a car boot sale yet at the other end of the scale there were some genuine antiques (with prices to match). But on the whole, many things were ‘reasonably priced’.
I think I will go back for the 20th Century & Art Deco fair in a few weeks although I know from experience that often these ones have a lot of stuff that is way outside of my budget.

After about an hour I felt I had seen everything on sale, so made my exit. Since I was not far from the centre of Woking I decided to try out their shopping centre as I haven’t been before. This probably wasn’t a great move. The multi-storey car park was very full, and I had to drive right up to the 9th level (out to 10) to park, then descend to the shopping area. Once there it turned out to be a vertigo-inducing multi-level mall that was absolutely heaving with people. I stuck it out for a little while but realised I really wasn’t really in the mood. Then I had to queue for ages for both the parking station and the lift back up to the car.

When I got home, I decided to take some photos for my Flickr, but I’ll leave that for another post.

Posted by Hay Llamas on 15th December 2014 in Clothes, Shoes, and Jewellery, Diary, Out & About

2 Comments

Tags: Art Nouveau, bargain, Jewellery, jewelry, Take Five Fairs, Woking