The Fable Tribe and museums
Mar. 15th, 2012 09:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
elabyI know I've been kind of absent from LJ-land lately (I'm in the middle of taking a break from social media), so if I haven't been reading/commenting, rest assured I still love you all! I had to post to spread the word about ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
willow_cabin and mermaiden's charming, inspiring, magic-filled Etsy store, The Fable Tribe. It's bursting with beauty and love and precious things - their trademark Glamourkins (pendants made from antique and vintage fairy tale illustrations), vintage animal figurines reclothed in glitter and magic, exquisite wall art, sparkly hair clips, crystal invocations - and I just had to share it. They make the most lovely things, and they're such inspiring, hard-working, beautiful ladies. Please take a look at their creations and, if you can, spread the word. The world needs more Fable Tribe magic in it :)
Last weekend, whencaitirin and hak42 were at Fiber Camp, I went to the Museum of Fine Arts on Saturday and the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology on Sunday. It was really fun going around by myself; ever since I went to LA, I've noticed that I enjoy navigating cities by myself. I tend to spend forEVER reading the plaques in museums, so it was nice to be by myself and not be holding anyone up XD
I got to the MFA before it opened, and the first thing I went to was the new exhibits - musical instruments and jewelry. The musical instruments were from all eras and places, and they were really fascinating. Some that I remember were the shamisen, a glass flute, a ton of harpsichords and virginals and other big stringed-keyed-instruments, a mouth organ (no really; it was like a tiny pipe organ you stick in your mouth), and some musical glasses. People used to think that the music of played glasses caused insanity! XD The jewelry exhibit was pretty cool too. Predictably, I was interested in all the jewelry that had been made before approximately 1930. Some cool things included Mary Todd Lincoln's diamond necklace and earrings and a big treasure box that was created solely to showcase some guy's incredibly impressive collection of amber cabochons and cameos.
After that I wandered all through the Ancient and Asian art sections, which I always think are my favorite until I realize the entire place is my favorite XD When I was faced with the mummy room between me and the only route to the cafeteria that didn't take me a half hour out of my way, I practically ran through it XD GAH MUMMIES. I sat and drew in a hallway with mostly armless Greek and Roman statues. The Buddhist and Hindu art galleries are always incredibly peaceful to me, and I spent a long time in there (I also heard deep, slow chanting in there. Not sure what that was all about, because it didn't repeat like a CD or anything). After lunch, I went over to the European and American art galleries, which are generally paintings and not artifacts. I thought I didn't like those as much, but I was wrong XD I love the paintings of awe-inspiring romantic landscapes, with sunlight pouring through stormclouds and windblown trees and such. I also like all the girls XD Much unashamed ogling went on. I sat down in the middle of the floor and drew a marble statue of Venus that was about the prettiest thing I've ever seen. About a half hour before closing, I left, amidst much bustle - they kept closing off sections to get ready for some kind of event, and there were staff members driving huge cards of tables and trays at breakneck speed down the halls O_o
I only took one picture at the MFA because I knew if I started, I'd never stop, and I had forgotten my phone charger XD This one was painted on the ceiling!
I took this one because it has beautiful women hugging and touching and generally cuddling each other all naked. Yup, total lesbian over here.
On Sunday, I went to Cambridge to go to the Harvard Natural History Museum. Sunday morning at around 9:30 is THE time to go to Cambridge, I tell you XD It was sunny and crisply cold, and there was no one around except a Japanese tour group and some people walking their dogs. It was gorgeous. At the Natural History Museum, I spent a ton of time in the mineral room (OMG crystals like whoa). And I finally took some more pictures!
Huuuge amethyst geode! I wanted to sleep inside it. It reminded me of the Crystal Cave in Mary Stewart's book of the same name.
I'm officially in love with smithsonite. It's got this amazing satiny sheen, and looks like the underwater parts of an iceberg. This was a huge specimen!
This amethyst has chevron-shaped crusts in it. The plaque explained how the crusts were formed, but I don't remember XD [Edit: Ahaha, the picture totally includes the explanation on the plaque).
Chalcedony quartz! I wanted to touch this so bad. Look at those globules!
It would be so cool to break open a rock and find this inside.
"Remarkably clear" quartz crystal cluster. This one was pretty huge. So beautiful.
OKAY SO THE GLASS FLOWERS. There was this room - three rooms, really - full of cabinets upon cabinets of glass flowers made by a father and son botanist/artist team in the 1800s. They're not meant to be art pieces; they're meant to be specimens for botanists to study, and they look so much like real flowers that I heard people scoffing that they couldn't be made of glass. Seriously, they look so real, just like dried flowers. Some of the petals and stamens and leaves were so tiny I have no idea how someone could have crafted them.
These leaves, for instance:
And these:
And these fall maple leaves!
THESE ARE MADE OF GLASS, GUYS.
I MEAN REALLY. The artists also created awesome close-up cross sections of the plants reproductive parts.
Last ones. Look at those tiny vines and itty bitty flowers!
The Natural History Museum also had lots of ancient taxidermy (didn't like that so much) and some cool whale bones. By noon it was filled with kids, which was cool, but at that point I moved on to the attached Peabody Museum of Archaeology. I didn't take a lot of pictures there, but there was the coolest reconstruction of a Mayan mural that one of the professors from UNH discovered! The art style with the geometric swirls and stylized waves and blood is so compelling to me. The Mezoamerican exhibit was very cool and told a lot about the culture as well as showing artifacts, as did the Native American and First Nations exhibit, but the Pacific Islands exhibit had been preserved as it was when it was first created in the 1800s and didn't have any explanations about what any of the objects were. Which was kind of puzzling :\ This is what it looked like!
All glass and dark wood and twelve BILLION things crammed into a tiny space low on windows - yep, that's Victorian XD
I had a really awesome time :3 I love museums. I need to take Rachel back to the Harvard ones so we can squee over things together.
willow_cabin and mermaiden's charming, inspiring, magic-filled Etsy store, The Fable Tribe. It's bursting with beauty and love and precious things - their trademark Glamourkins (pendants made from antique and vintage fairy tale illustrations), vintage animal figurines reclothed in glitter and magic, exquisite wall art, sparkly hair clips, crystal invocations - and I just had to share it. They make the most lovely things, and they're such inspiring, hard-working, beautiful ladies. Please take a look at their creations and, if you can, spread the word. The world needs more Fable Tribe magic in it :)Last weekend, when
caitirin and hak42 were at Fiber Camp, I went to the Museum of Fine Arts on Saturday and the Harvard Museum of Natural History and the Peabody Museum of Archaeology on Sunday. It was really fun going around by myself; ever since I went to LA, I've noticed that I enjoy navigating cities by myself. I tend to spend forEVER reading the plaques in museums, so it was nice to be by myself and not be holding anyone up XDI got to the MFA before it opened, and the first thing I went to was the new exhibits - musical instruments and jewelry. The musical instruments were from all eras and places, and they were really fascinating. Some that I remember were the shamisen, a glass flute, a ton of harpsichords and virginals and other big stringed-keyed-instruments, a mouth organ (no really; it was like a tiny pipe organ you stick in your mouth), and some musical glasses. People used to think that the music of played glasses caused insanity! XD The jewelry exhibit was pretty cool too. Predictably, I was interested in all the jewelry that had been made before approximately 1930. Some cool things included Mary Todd Lincoln's diamond necklace and earrings and a big treasure box that was created solely to showcase some guy's incredibly impressive collection of amber cabochons and cameos.
After that I wandered all through the Ancient and Asian art sections, which I always think are my favorite until I realize the entire place is my favorite XD When I was faced with the mummy room between me and the only route to the cafeteria that didn't take me a half hour out of my way, I practically ran through it XD GAH MUMMIES. I sat and drew in a hallway with mostly armless Greek and Roman statues. The Buddhist and Hindu art galleries are always incredibly peaceful to me, and I spent a long time in there (I also heard deep, slow chanting in there. Not sure what that was all about, because it didn't repeat like a CD or anything). After lunch, I went over to the European and American art galleries, which are generally paintings and not artifacts. I thought I didn't like those as much, but I was wrong XD I love the paintings of awe-inspiring romantic landscapes, with sunlight pouring through stormclouds and windblown trees and such. I also like all the girls XD Much unashamed ogling went on. I sat down in the middle of the floor and drew a marble statue of Venus that was about the prettiest thing I've ever seen. About a half hour before closing, I left, amidst much bustle - they kept closing off sections to get ready for some kind of event, and there were staff members driving huge cards of tables and trays at breakneck speed down the halls O_o
I only took one picture at the MFA because I knew if I started, I'd never stop, and I had forgotten my phone charger XD This one was painted on the ceiling!
I took this one because it has beautiful women hugging and touching and generally cuddling each other all naked. Yup, total lesbian over here.
On Sunday, I went to Cambridge to go to the Harvard Natural History Museum. Sunday morning at around 9:30 is THE time to go to Cambridge, I tell you XD It was sunny and crisply cold, and there was no one around except a Japanese tour group and some people walking their dogs. It was gorgeous. At the Natural History Museum, I spent a ton of time in the mineral room (OMG crystals like whoa). And I finally took some more pictures!
Huuuge amethyst geode! I wanted to sleep inside it. It reminded me of the Crystal Cave in Mary Stewart's book of the same name.
I'm officially in love with smithsonite. It's got this amazing satiny sheen, and looks like the underwater parts of an iceberg. This was a huge specimen!
This amethyst has chevron-shaped crusts in it. The plaque explained how the crusts were formed, but I don't remember XD [Edit: Ahaha, the picture totally includes the explanation on the plaque).
Chalcedony quartz! I wanted to touch this so bad. Look at those globules!
It would be so cool to break open a rock and find this inside.
"Remarkably clear" quartz crystal cluster. This one was pretty huge. So beautiful.
OKAY SO THE GLASS FLOWERS. There was this room - three rooms, really - full of cabinets upon cabinets of glass flowers made by a father and son botanist/artist team in the 1800s. They're not meant to be art pieces; they're meant to be specimens for botanists to study, and they look so much like real flowers that I heard people scoffing that they couldn't be made of glass. Seriously, they look so real, just like dried flowers. Some of the petals and stamens and leaves were so tiny I have no idea how someone could have crafted them.
These leaves, for instance:
And these:
And these fall maple leaves!
THESE ARE MADE OF GLASS, GUYS.
I MEAN REALLY. The artists also created awesome close-up cross sections of the plants reproductive parts.
Last ones. Look at those tiny vines and itty bitty flowers!
The Natural History Museum also had lots of ancient taxidermy (didn't like that so much) and some cool whale bones. By noon it was filled with kids, which was cool, but at that point I moved on to the attached Peabody Museum of Archaeology. I didn't take a lot of pictures there, but there was the coolest reconstruction of a Mayan mural that one of the professors from UNH discovered! The art style with the geometric swirls and stylized waves and blood is so compelling to me. The Mezoamerican exhibit was very cool and told a lot about the culture as well as showing artifacts, as did the Native American and First Nations exhibit, but the Pacific Islands exhibit had been preserved as it was when it was first created in the 1800s and didn't have any explanations about what any of the objects were. Which was kind of puzzling :\ This is what it looked like!
All glass and dark wood and twelve BILLION things crammed into a tiny space low on windows - yep, that's Victorian XD
I had a really awesome time :3 I love museums. I need to take Rachel back to the Harvard ones so we can squee over things together.
