Tuesday, October 29, 2013

Victorian Dinner Party



 

I decided last Halloween that I wanted to have a Halloween Party the next year. So as the year wore on, I gave it quite a lot of thought and decided that rather than the traditional costume party, I would hold a Victorian dinner party.  All year, I wrote down ideas in a notebook as they came to me. As it turned out, my chosen theme provided huge scope for the imagination! 

Here is the invitation I made for the event.  The clock and images of the figures were taken from an 1901 Eaton's catalogue.


As I was creating the invitation, I thought it would be fun to date the event as Saturday, October 26, 1901, rather than 2013.  I then wondered what day October 26, 1901 actually was. I had one of those "I don't even need to check this, somehow I already know" feelings. A quick check of a perennial calendar confirmed it, October 26th had been a Saturday in 1901 as well. How perfectly spooky is that?




The first layer was a simple pocket watch to denote the sense of time.


The second layer was a black lace veil, overlaid with the explanation of how Halloween is the time of the year when the veil between this world and the spirit world is at the thinnest. Raising the veil layer...


revealed a Victorian couple in 1901 finery, in essence the hosts of the party.
 

I glued all the various layer together, added a black and white ribbon, and voila...


My invitation was complete.