Faerie Enchantment: memory jars

Monday, April 23, 2012

Wedding Jar Vignettes
By: Lisa Kettell

Wedding: a. the act of marrying or the celebration of a marriage b. (as modifier) wedding day 2. the anniversary of a marriage (in such combinations as silver wedding or diamond wedding) 3. the combination or blending of two separate elements epithalamium - A poem written to celebrate a wedding. confetti - It is the plural of Italian confetto, "small sweet," as it was originally real or imitation bon-bons thrown during a carnival or after a wedding. morganatic - A survival of an ancient Germanic marriage custom, a gift on the morning after the wedding from husband to wife called morgangeba, "morning" and "give"; it now describes a marriage between people of different social status, especially a man of superior rank and woman of inferior rank. wedding party party - a group of people gathered together for pleasure; "she joined the party after dinner" best man - the principal groomsman at a wedding bride - a woman participant in her own marriage ceremony bridesmaid, maid of honor - an unmarried woman who attends the bride at a wedding flower girl - a young girl who carries flowers in a (wedding) procession groom, bridegroom - a man participant in his own marriage ceremony groomsman - a male attendant of the bridegroom at a wedding trainbearer - one who holds up the train of a gown or robe on a ceremonial occasion

Weddings are a special time in not just a couples lives, but their family and friends, everyone comes together to help in the celebration. If you are a bride or groom, a bridesmaid or groomsman, mother of, mother to be, friend or co-worker, someone is always looking for that one "UNIQUE" gift or favor that no one they know will think of, a special token or keepsake given at the Bridal Shower, Bachelorette Party, Rehearsal or Wedding itself.

These two photos above are of the original wedding jar vignette I made for my the bride and fellow bridesmaids for the wedding I was in.

One concept I came up with were Special Occasion Memory Jars which are also known by many who make these special tokens as: Jar Vignettes, Cloches, Time Capsules, Event Scenes, Jar Fairies, Assemblages, Jars of Life, Captured Portals, Tokens of Life. My concept differed from the iconic Captured Jar Fairy when I wanted to make the bride and fellow bridal party members a special token of my love, something special that they could cherish, so I created Wedding Jar Vignettes for the Bride and the rest of the girls in the Bridal Party over 5 years ago, I even made one for myself. After photographing these, I started getting requests for these vignettes from other friends and customers, which extended into baby showers, anniversaries and birthday parties. I created small sized jar favor vignettes, table markers and drop on your door invites, medium ones for special gifts and larger ones for table toppers and 3 to 5 foot ones for the garden, keeping within the customers specifications with colors, themes and even their own photographs.

This set of Wedding Jar Vignettes is for Gemma in England, she is getting married May 5 and wanted customized jar vignettes to give to her sisters as a special gift, the result was an enchanted scene using vintage photographs merged together with photos of her sisters and herself, using shabby and chic whites, pinks, vintage silvers and pastel green excelsior for the base, pearl sticks, some hand dyed millinery, vintage silk ribbon, vintage piano paper and writing! These were so much fun to make and I'm filled with joy that they will be going to a group of wonderful girls.

When making these jar vignettes, make sure the images are good quality, double layered on sturdy backing for added support, jars are clear to see through to the front so the images and scene are visible. Add special tokens that suggest the memory at hand.

The next set of images is of a Wedding Jar Fairy I did for Family Crafts

Here is the link to see the article/project: http://familycrafts.about.com/od/quartsizedjarcrafts/a/weddingjar.htm With the onset of Wedding Season I hope these jar vignettes have inspired you and get you ready for the wonderful wedding season!

Have an Enchanted Day!
xoxo
Lisa

Tuesday, May 10, 2011

Glass Vignettes For All Occasions !

No matter what the occasion is, glass vignettes make a welcome addition to any home, studio or party. These vignettes have been called by a few different names: Captured Jar Fairies, Jar Fairies, Memory Jars, Image Jars, Glass Houses, Glass Orbs, Recycled Jar Scenes, Snow Globes, Glass Theaters and more.

Glass Vignettes can be made from practically any glass vessel, with a wide enough opening to insert items into such as dolls, paper imagery, millinery, moss and paper shards. These vignettes can be made from wine glass, medicine bottles, canning jars, candle jars, candy jars, glass vases, clear holiday bulbs, peanut jars, baby jars, perfume bottles, gumball machines, clear plastic eggs and vessels, fish takes and discarded clocks.

These vignettes can be made as bridal shower and baby shower favors, given as gifts to the bridal party with special imagery inside, used to make vacation memory jars filled with special items and a picture to capture that vacation, create birthday party vignettes, make ornaments from them, re-create a fairytale scene, or insert whimsical fairies inside, the possibilities are ended.

I have been making these tiny scenes for years and have included some glass scene projects in my book; Altered Art Circus, Quarry Books, 2009. Inside you will find a glass fairy orb wand, fiji mermaid jar scene and jar cozies, just to name a few. As for custom orders, I have created custom wedding favor jars, bridal shower jars and baby shower jars, including a set of jar wedding fairies I made for each wedding party member for a wedding I was in.

I recently was asked to custom make 2 flower fairy jars for two sisters who shared similar birthdays, including a circus themed birthday using my circus follies characters inside the jars, which matched the circus follies cake toppers and pics, each was hand sculpted and adhered to the jars which would comprise of a huge circus scene complete w/Giraffes, Ballerina Elephants and Mer-Bears.

For some of the vignettes, I enhanced the outside of the glass jars using additional imagery, sculpted items, millinery, glitter and broken jewels, all depending on the theme of the jar being created.

Here is a more Gothic toned Witch/Wizard Glass Vignette, made with vintage shredded paper, vintage imagery, vintage 1800's lace/trims/velvet, German glitter, Velvet Flocking, Rhinestones and more.