EKD "Old World Charm" - Extras and Fun Vintage Finds

Part 7 - Extras and Fun Vintage Finds to go with my EKD "Old World Charm" digital collection.
I had so many fun and wonderful vintage items in my personal collection that I thought to include this sheet of "Extras" as part of the "Old World Charm" series.

Extra items in my "Old World Charm" digital collection

 I collect vintage photographs like Cabinet Cards and CDV's as well as any that

come with a cool mat.  I've made several great purchases recently and thought 

they worked great with my "Old World Charm" digital collection;

so I've added them in for the Grins and Giggles of it.

I Hope you Enjoy them!

Vintage "Extras"

coordinate with my "Old World Charm" digital collection

A great vintage Deco photo mat
in brown and gold

I was fortunate enough to find two vintage First Communion Photos
recently in a local antique store and had to add them to my collection. 
This lovely lady is from 1931

I took the mat from the girl above
and altered it in Photoshop to get another look that
I can now use digitally with any other image as I choose

This is the other First Communion Photos I
recently purchased at a local antique store. 
This lovely lady is from 1929

This digital frame was created in Photoshop by
altering the above 1929 photo mat

Another antique store find - A great photo in a great mat. 
I just love the lady's clothes, hat and the fact that
she wears glasses, it's all too fun.

Now the above digital mat can be used with any image.

Vintage CDV German photo

Another German CDV from my collection

One more CDV photo from Germany

A Tag Embellishment I created in Antique Blue

A Tag Embellishment I created in Moss Green

A Tag Embellishment I created in Dessert Rose

Bonus - Title Bar

I used this title bar on post 
http://ekduncan.blogspot.com/2011/05/my-ekduncan-old-world-charm-digital.html

This bar allowed my word art to keep from getting lost on the busy background page. 
The color is so light on this piece that you can use a clipping mask in Photoshop
to change it to a different color if you need to.

A French doll in my "Old World Charm" colors.
I love collecting antique paper dolls and could not resist making
at least one doll embellishment to go along with this collection

This is what the Original antique French paper doll looks like

This type of paper doll was called by the French a "Pantin" Jumping-Jack Puppet

A great vintage Deco brooch to add some bling

I hope you enjoy the extra bit and pieces 
to add in with the rest of the  "Old World Charm" digital collection.




Please remember to check all the other May 2011 posts
for the entire series of "Old World Charm" items.




The Images in this collection are sized for digital scrapbooking. 
If you like these items or use them please leave a comment or link back 
to my blog so others can join in the fun. Many Thanks!

5 Victorian Ladies - Mini Pink Cabinet Card Photographs

Years ago my Father-in-Law purchased a box of old letters at an auction and among those pieces of paper history were these amazing narrow cabinet card photos of 5 Victorian Ladies and a letter telling about them.  The odd sizes of these photos and the fact that one of them has a back and front picture has always fascinated me; so I thought I'd blog about this fun find and share what I know of their story.

 This is the first photograph that was included with the letter.

I love the fact that it is a front and back shot of these 5 Friends from the turn of the 20th Century.

 This was the second photograph included with the letter.

These ladies are in "Fancy Dress" as men.

These kind of novelty photos are just such a treasure to find and it amazes me that it ended up in an auction box of stuff; but I'm glad it did since I was privileged to study and scan them because of it.

This is the original envelope and letter that the photos were in.

It's dated from 1949 going from one relative in East Cleveland OH to the daughter of one of photographed ladies who lived in West Cleveland OH at the time it was mailed and received.

(This was part of a parcel of letters that were auctioned off close to Raleigh NC about 10 years ago.)

 The letter gives the names of the ladies in the photos, except for the one that is Alice's mother.
If I'm lucky one day I might know here name as well; but for now I think it is wonderful that I know anything whatsoever about these photos.
This back-up documentation just adds so much to this fabulous find.

Here is what I now about the photos

The best I can tell from the handwriting - the 5 Ladies were friends and two were cousins.

 They are Margaret Roop, Alice Keil's Mother, Daisy Deal, Ella Malcolm and Ida Stewart.
(who is the cousin to Alice and Wilson Reed Stewart the man who mailed the letter to Alice.)

All the Photographs are attached to a very pale pink photographers board like Cabinet Card Photos of the same time period; except these photos are much narrower.  They measure approx. 4.25 x 1.50 inches.
It's almost if if a standard Cabinet Card board was cut into slivers so that multiple narrow photos could be created from the one board.  

The pink backing board does have professionally rounded corners and had originally been gilded in gold.
(due to age the pink color of the board has faded as has the gold edging but the evidence is still visible.)

Pink photo boards came out in the late 1870's and though not one of the most popular colors they did continue to be used to the early 1900's.  

I know depending on the size of the backing board, photographs from this age have different names but I've yet to discover the correct term for this size of board backed photograph.  ( If you know what it is called or where I can find more info about this size of board backed photographs, please leave me a note in the comments section of this post.  I'd love to know more about these.)

What I speculate about the photos

My hubby made a comment about the "In Drag" photo and how it had that touristy/campy look like the old-tyme photography shops you see in resort areas.  This got me to thinking that since the letter was from the Cleveland OH area and the daughter of one of the ladies as well as the relative that had these pictures were living in the same town; that it is very possible the photo had been taken in that area as well.  I remember a very dear older friend that lived in the Sandusky OH area in the 1920's telling me about a resort area that was the place to be back in the day.

Euclid Beach Park opened it's doors for business in 1895 on the shores of Lake Erie just northwest of Cleveland OH and it was patterned after Coney Island. 

Chances are good that there was a photographers studio that would take fun pictures of this nature.  It's all a guess on my part but I believe the scenario is a good one for how these odd sized pictures came about; considering these ladies were dressed as men in one of the shots, which meant they probably did it for a lark.

My best estimate at the age of these photos would be somewhere in the mid 1890's;

due to hairstyles, collars and sleeve styles of the ladies blouses.  

I located a Cabinet Card Photo with a confirmed date of 1894 at Phototree.com that resembles one of my ladies quite closely.

Phototree.com show this photo as having a confirmed date of 1894

The hairstyle, sleeves and ruffled neckline from the above photo are very similar 

to Daisy Deal's blouse in the center of the below photograph.

Front View of the First Photograph.

 I have to say these ladies are dressed in the late Victorian style

of the later 1880's to mid 1890's and most likely the mid 1890's.

(Please, any of you fashion historians out there let me know if you can positively give an exact date.)

The Reverse Back View of the above Photograph.

It's great to see the back of the hairstyles and the pins and combs they used to put there hair up.

 I have long hair and use these same old fashion style "fork combs" to keep my up-dos in place.
Sometimes the old ways are the best ways.

This is also the best shot to show the pink color of the backer board the photos are on, since the fronts of the boards have faded so much over time.

This is the Second Photo of the Ladies in Drag.

Too fun for words!

 Here is a listing of the products I used to add some extra fun 

in documenting these photos and letter.

The Background paper I used came from ScrapGirls.com
"Time Traveler Biggie Collection"

Time Traveler Biggie Collection from ScrapGirls.com

 I used the paper you see behind all the gadgets at the bottom right hand side of the this pack for the background to the photos and letter.

The fun Dolls I used to accent my pages came from Cemerony at her Etsy shop.

Fun Doll set from Ceremony at Etsy

Click HERE for link to Cemerony's blog showing these dolls.

Click HERE to view Cemerony's Etsy Shop

Many thanks to Cemerony and ScrapGirls for creating great products

that make my crafting experience more fun!

Thanks for dropping by.
I hope you enjoyed seeing these Victorian Photos as much as I have.

As always, till next time...

Grins and Giggles,

  Evelyn

Antique Cabinet Card Photos & Altered Art - Great for Steampunk Art

 I still have Steampunk on the brain and am starting to collect the items I need to create a series of Steampunk Art Altered Cabinet Card Photos. I created some Altered Cabinet Cards in the past that have a touch of Steampunk about them but now I want to take it to the extreme; so that is a future quest and complete mission I will post once I create them.

 Steampunk Man with Goggles

The inspiration for creating Steampunked Cabinet Cards comes from a swap I participated in a while ago with other artists where we were all to alter Antique Cabinet Card Photos.  I had so much fun creating my series of cards that I wanted to keep them all and back out of the swap altogether; but I was a good girl and sent them in to the other players.  I even created one just for me to keep.

 This was the first Altered Art Cabinet Card Photo I created and the one I kept for myself as a memento of a fun first with a new item to alter.  I masked off the mans face then painted the rest of the card black. I used rubber stamps and vintage looking stickers for accents and the wording.  I highlighted the photographers information at the bottom of the card with a bit of gold ink and then used gold leafing pen around the whole card. 

Oh - If you are wondering what a Cabinet Card Photo is... (ya, I had to be told what one was too).

Cabinet Card Photos are antique photographs that were made in the late 1800's till the early 1900's.  They are on a very heavy type matboard that usually has the photographers information on the very bottom edge or on the back of the carded photo.  Not all cabinet cards have this information but most of the nicer cards do. Cabinet Cards measure about 6 1/2 x 4 1/4 inches.

CDV's (Carte de Visite) - a smaller version of a cabinet card photo. These measure approx. 2 1/2 x 4 inches.  A bit taller than an ATC but these would be fun to alter too.

Here is a very nice example of a wedding party Cabinet Card Photo

This is the back of the above Cabinet Card Photo Back

At first I was a bit concerned that I would be ruining an antique photo and then the more I thought about it the more I realized I was giving new life and creating art, from someones discarded relative.  Mind you, I did not spend much on the photos I purchased. I paid between 50 cents and $1 per photo because the ones I purchased had some issues.  The photos I used were faded, scratched or a bit moldy in spots, so really I was rescuing them and giving them a new life and hopefully a pleasing personality.

These are the Cabinet Card Photos I altered for the Swap

The Leader of the Band

The Banker

The Motorist

The Traveling Salesman

I don't think I could do this to a $10 or $20 Cabinet Card Photo; however I have considered creating my own version of Cabinet Cards using digital images of vintage photos and attaching them to heavy matboard. This way I could play with beautiful images without altering a collectible antique in the process.  (The Cabinet Cards with beautiful people or interesting fashions like military uniforms, usually cost a lot of money so this will make my using those types of images possible going forward, especially for my Steampunked creations).

These are some Altered Cabinet Cards created 

by others who played in the swap.

Sorry - I don't remember what artist created these two, 
but I thought they were great!

Unfortunately, I was not the lucky enough to get one of them.

 These three creations were done by Kerrie Guinane

It just goes to show you can almost anything you want, paint, stamp, add clip art, transparency overlays, stickers or other odds and ends to create a fun piece of recycled art.

Grins and Giggles till next time,

 Evelyn (EKDuncan)