Hummingbirds collection

Well I've almost completed all the pieces in my Hummingbirds collection!  Thought I'd blog a sneak peek on here, before listing them for sale.

The general feeling of the collection is bows, bows, bows, but each individual piece has a story behind it.  For example, the Dixie Doyle pieces are bright pink and bubbly, reminiscient of the girl herself with her pigtails and lollipop.  The Liz Warren brooches are more studious and serious, in dark navy and forest green.  Leo Binhammer and his wife have co-ordinating rings, to represent their marriage (and complications) as would a wedding band.  The charismatic Ted Hughes bow-tie necklace is brown tweed to represent his authority as an educator, yet the pink highlights demonstrate his propensity to charm women.  So here are the pics:

 Dixie Doyle headband (large)

 Dixie Doyle studs

 Liz Warren brooch in navy (left) and green (right)

Small headband in Dixie Doyle (top) and Ted Hughes (bottom)

N.B.  Black headband (middle) is from prior collection

alessara in the press

So, the moment I have been waiting for for months has finally arrived.  Australia's premier wedding magazine, Real Weddings, has released it's 2010 Style Issue, and on page 56 you will find a feature on the wedding of none other than the sister of yours truly!

And if that weren't enough, Sister Bride has just informed me that our favourite wedding blog, 100 Layer Cake, has done a feature too!  Check it out here.

Those of you who were around to watch me as Maid of Honour will know the high levels of energy required for and resulting stress of this spectacular event.  But it was all worth it - especially to see the wedding in print!

Creating the jewellery and accessories was my absolute favourite part of the wedding.  It was my first ever 'collection' really.  I was charged with, first, creating a hairpiece for the Sister Bride, and, second, with designing a unique necklace and hairpiece for each of the four bridesmaids, myself included.  I gathered together ivory glass pearls, silk dupion in various shades of pink, linen and lace in an earthy taupe, and sparkling Swarovski crystals.  This was the result:

Photography by Jonas Peterson

http://jonaspeterson.com/

My favourite of all has to be my sister's bridal hairpiece.  It was an elaborate creation of layer upon layer of ruffled silk tulle, carefully spiralling out from the Swarovski crystal centre.  The outer petals were made from softly scalloped ivory silk dupion, all fastened onto a felt, silk-covered base.  She loved it, I loved it - what more do you need?

Anyway, the full story of the wedding can be read in Real Weddings 2010 Style issue, and more photos can be seen on the website of the amazing Jonas Peterson (photography).

Review: The Butterfly Mosque

This book is amazing. The Butterfly Mosque is one of those works that is so blatantly ordinary, yet undeniably extraordinary at the same time.  It's a memoir written by a woman whom theoretically I have nothing particular in common with... and yet I felt like the book was speaking to me personally.  It was almost like an affirmation of faith; I was able to rediscover and newly appreciate the religion I have come to take for granted, as I read about it through the eyes of someone who truly was seeing it for the first time.

G. Willow Wilson's memoir tells her tale from confused, Boston University graduate and nominal atheist, to naturalised Egyptian, Muslim convert, and wife.  Now, I may not be Egyptian or American, I may not have lived in a foreign country, I am not a convert and I am not in a cross-cultural marriage.  And yet everything Wilson discusses, whether directly or indirectly, rang true with me. Living in a post-9/11 world where the 'clash of civilisations' is rife in many corners of society, I can identify with the struggle to reconcile being a 'Westerner' and being a Muslim.  Of course, prior to 9/11 those two were never even contemplated as mutually exclusive in my head, but in today's world they are touted as necessarily so.  It is not a question of choosing between the two, but finding your path as an individual through which you can authentically express your faith in a society that is not always accepting of it.

At the heart of the book, in my opinion, are relationships.  Wilson's relationship with Allah, with her fiancé, with her American friends and colleagues, with her parents, with her new family, and with Egypt.  The nuances of these relationships - Willow's careful articulation of what a person will do for someone they care about - carry the story and give the reader hope.  Ultimately, The Butterfly Mosque predicates that what is good and right will outlast the hatred, xenophobia and fundamentalism (religious and other) that have come to pervade our world.  Regardless of war, politics, tragedy, and all forms of destructive human behaviour, beauty and truth will triumph, just like the 'Butterfly Mosque' itself.

The Butterfly Mosque by G. WIllow Wilson at Allen & Unwin

Photo by Ewen Bell at M.I.L.K. Photos