Bakelite, Lucite or fakelite. I don't care I loveite!

Oh dear, what is this? A pagan, loving plastic? Ah but this is not any plastic my friends, this is vintage plastic!

Bakelite was an accidental creation in the 1900s by Dr. Baekeland and was one of the earliest plastics widely used, from telephones, radios and light switches. Another use for the plastic was jewellery and it could come in a variety of playful colours and different designs including bangles, necklaces and brooches.

Some of the more rarer colours and highly detailed carved bracelets sell for a lot of money but if you know where to look bargains can still be found.

I have a few bangles, some that I have tested and are Bakelite and others I think might be Lucite, another early plastic or maybe 'Fakelite', the term used for knock-offs, I hope they are not but it doesn't really matter to me as I only paid a couple of quid for them and not hundreds like some pieces fetch!

Some Bakelite jewellery have nature as a theme like this beautiful acorn and leaf necklace.

Or this cherry one.

The colour of Bakelite make it look good enough to eat! Yum!

Fellow blogger, Tempermental broad posted a great blog post all about Bakelite including how to test it what type of plastic you have.

http://temperamentalbroad.blogspot.co.uk/2011/01/bakelite-bakelite-bakelite.html?m=0

The best places to buy Bakelite from are etsy and eBay and although some of the prices are extortionate if you know what you are looking for then you can find pieces that have been listed incorrectly and as such won't attract a lot of bidders.

So far my collection consists of at least 3 true Bakelite bangles, however I have seem to mislaid my mah-jong tile bracelet at time of writing and I hope it turns up soon and I have not lost it!

The bottom two bangles in this photo have tested as Bakelite but I am still unsure about the top two but I love them all.

J D Mcpherson, Brighton and Wassail! Oh my!

The last couple of days have pretty much summed up what being a Rockabilly Pagan is all about.

Firstly it was Leon's birthday (21 again) and I got him tickets to see J D McPherson in Brighton. On Friday it began to snow and it was touch and go whether we would go or not but thankfully we did.

J.D played an amazing set to a very busy and enthusiastic sell out crowd. The band with him were also fantastic as well as the supporting act Sean Rowe.

I remember first hearing the song 'North side gal' and immediately brought the album July last year and when J.D played the song live I felt that same rush of excitement like hearing it for the first time again.

The turn out at the venue was great, considering it was so cold and had been snowing all day it hadn't deterred the bandana wearing chicks and the slick haired greasers. I realised that this was my first event where I had been surrounded by other rockabillies and I loved it!

After the gig we drove to our lodgings for the night in Newhaven and yes it was still snowing!

The next day the snow had eased off and we went back to Brighton to do some shopping. I love visiting the laines and the flea markets. I didn't find any vintage bargains but I did get a lovely green fleece jacket by Gekko Camden and a t-shirt from cyber dog.

In the afternoon we left for Eastbourne for the Pentacle Drummers first annual Wassail.

Don't know what a wassail is? Check out :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wassailing

We meet up with fellow Celtic Mooners; Moonstream, Breaca and Vandrake and a fun night of dancing and drinking was had.

The Pentacle Drummers opened the event with a stirring drumming set, followed by Belly dancing and other music. The festivities moved outside for fire poi and then we gathered for a fire lit parade to the bonfire site.

A touching ritual then took place as the quarters were called and the apple tree was planted and blessed as the bonfire burned brightly.

The congregation then went back up to the marquee for a very well stocked raffle and more belly dancing and drumming.

The evening rounded off with music from a fantastic band called Wojtek Godzisz which we all enjoyed dancing to and it warmed us up immensely.

It's events like this that make me proud to be part of the pagan community and I will be going to next years Wassail for sure! 

Photos courtesy of Vandrake and Breaca.

Fashion and style changes- what does a rockabilly pagan wear?

Last night I went down memory lane and looked at all the photos I had been tagged in on Facebook and how different my style is now from when I was in my early twenties.

When I was at younger I was at art college and I dressed more Gothic than anything else. Black and red was my watch words and I loved the style. I even brought a PVC dress for my 21st birthday! 

This picture use to get me a lot of 'likes' on vampirefreaks!

Everything I wore was pretty much red and black!

As time went by and I got more involved with the faerie and fantasy art community I found my style became a bit more hippie with other colours like purple and brown creeping in, my ears even grew longer and pointy!

At chalice well gardens 2009

For a little while my fashion sense went out the window, no longer feeling I could carry off being gothic as I got older and was no longer a student.

Then this happened!

I won a beautiful dress on eBay from Hell Bunny and I decided to learn how do do my hair in a vintage style to go with it, well I had never received so many compliments from friends and complete strangers  and it made me feel good!

Now I don't dress like this everyday so now my fashion style is a fusion of rockabilly, 40s/50s style along with a more ethic/ pagan clothing. So I have evolved a rockabilly pagan fashion style!

But of course there is always the excuse to get dressed up as a faerie!

 A dread pirate!

or a Steampunk!

My clothing choice has changed over the years I think I feel at my most confident now with my style and really that is all that matters.

The art of burning

For Christmas I got a pyrography tool. I have always wanted to take up this craft as a hobby and I am having a lot of fun trying out the different nibs.

So far I have only burnt on thick gsm paper but I can't wait to try burning images on to wood and leather.

This was my first large image attempt, still along way to go but I am happy with the result.

Also, happy birthday to Elvis and David Bowie!