NEW: African American Vintage Photos Collection on CD

Announcing another new collection available at Lunagirl.com ~ a new CD of African-American Vintage Images featuring 150 vintage photos and other vintage images of African-American women and men, ready to print.  This collection features hard-to-find antique photographs of Edwardian and Victorian women, men, girls, and boys in period fashions.  There are individual portraits as well as group portraits from schools and societies. 

You'll also find a nice selection of Music Theater and Cabaret images, including antique theater posters, showgirl photo postcards, and American sheet music covers.

I'm pleased to offer this collection, as I've had many requests for such a collection over the years, and I hope that I can expand it in the future.
<<< Free image for personal use at left!  Come visit for more on CD and digital collage sheets!

Free Vintage Image: Girl Graduate Victorian Card

I found this lovely, unusual picture of a Victorian / Edwardian era picture of a female graduate, and thought I would share.  Isn't she pretty?  I like her eyes, and the flower.  Download and enjoy for personal use!
Congratulations to all graduates ~ and we should remember with gratitude the brave Victorian and Edwardian ladies who led the way, fought to get an education when no one thought they should, and blazed the trail for girls today!

Surprising List about Victorian Women and Girls

I came across an interesting "History List" of misconceptions about Victorian women.  For example, did you know that the average age for first marriage for Victorian girls was 22?  It was usually even older for working-class women ~ many people think they all married very young!  And get this ... since red was considered masculine and blue was considered feminine ... and children wore pale versions of adult colors ... boys wore pink and girls wore baby blue!  I don't know if history fascinates you as much as it does me, but visit the list for some more.

Free Santa Picture ... and a little history

A nice old Santa Claus!  This card is interesting because of its greeting: "All Xmas Joys Be Thine."

You might be surprised to see "Xmas" on an antique Victorian-era card, but actually the use of Xmas as an abbreviation for Christmas goes back to the Middle Ages.

The "X" is a cross and stands for "Christ."  It's not modern, and it's not an attempt to "take religion out of Christmas" as some seem to believe.  It's just an old abbreviation.

Anyway, I hope you'll enjoy this lovely old image of Santa!

Victorian Scrapbook Pages Part Two

 The word ephemera is related to ephemeral, meaning temporary or transitory and not meant to last. Antique scrapbooks preserved bits of paper that otherwise would be lost to time ~ thereby preserving memories as well and giving us a window into the life of women and girls long ago. And sometimes men, too ~ for example, Mark Twain loved scrapbooking!
 

Antique scrapbooks often contained trade cards, which were printed by companies to advertise their products and were often collected for their colorful sentimental or humorous illustrations. Calling cards (or "visiting cards") were often saved in scrapbooks.   A child's scrapbook might include Reward of Merit cards received at Sunday School or school, to be shared at family gatherings.
 

As scrapbooking became more popular, one could buy sheets of "scraps" with die-cuts, chromos, or embossed reliefs created especially for scrap albums. Newspaper clippings, tickets, letters, greeting cards, any little bits of paper ephemera might find their way into a Victorian scrapbook.

Victorian Scrapbook Pages

The popularity of scrapbooking is nothing new ~ the word "scrap-book" appears in print as early as 1854, and people were pasting mementos into albums at least a hundred years before that.

Victorian young ladies often kept "memory books" that might be filled with cards, scraps, signatures, poetry, sketches, quotes, photographs, dried flowers, even locks of hair.  They collected calling cards to show their popularity and created friendship albums to give as gifts.

Scrapbooks were sometimes used to teach children at home and in Sunday school, or just as a "rainy day" activity for mother and children.  Ladies' magazines gave tips for scrapbooking supplies to be kept on hand.

Victorians created scrapbooks as a way to preserve mementos and memories of special events, to celebrate family and friends, to show off achievements, to document personal interests and tastes, to remember childhood, and of course as an enjoyable hobby.  Just like we do today!  More on antique scrapbooks on Monday...

New CD! Actresses Actors Drama Theater Posters

At long last we have completed production work on our third collection of Vintage Theater Posters. This lovely new collection features beautiful images of Victorian Edwardian era actresses, actors and producers as well as fascinating posters for dramatic plays and operettas of the day: Lunagirl Actors Actresses Drama & Operetta Theater Posters on CD

We have carefully restored the images to remove creases, tears and stains, to show them as they haven't been seen in over a hundred years. These old pictures are fun to browse, great for history buffs and anyone interested in theater and actresses, and are an untapped resource for great images to use in altered art!

We also have similar volumes of Burlesque Vaudeville Comedies posters on CD and Magicians Musicians Novelties posters on CD ~ or get all three at a special bundle price: Lunagirl Vintage Theater

What Is Steampunk?

What in the world is "steampunk" you may ask? (And some of you have).

Steampunk is one of those things that can be difficult to describe but you know it when you see it. It is related to the neo-Victorian movement but has more to do with funky machinery, gears, gadgetry, etc., inspired by the Victorian interpretation of the then-emerging industrial revolution, especially by wildly imaginative futuristic literature of the era such as Jules Verne and H.G. Wells. Steampunk is imagining the Victorian view of science and technology into the present. What if everything still ran on steam power and was built of brass and iron and wood and leather?

Steampunk: Building a fabulous steam-powered bat-winged flying machine in your study. Airships. Steam engine trains. The Nautilus submarine from Jules Verne. Those giant antique brass diving helmets. Goggles and telescopes and pocket watches. Gears and cogs and gadgets, and elaborate machines with lots of brass and copper and moving parts and engraved instructions. Having these things in your book-lined wood-paneled study (or laboratory). A gadget-enhanced wood-sided leather-upholstered flying car with retractable webbed wings. Mad scientists and eccentric inventors. Aeronauts and aviatrixes. Curious and daring young ladies who have read all the books in their fathers’ scientific libraries. Antique typewriters and calibrating devices. Contraptions and chronometers. Thaumatropes and stereoscopes and difference engines. Building a modern device out of salvaged antique parts. Neo-Victorian dress with a little mad scientist Victorian techie flair. A corset or leather vest accessorized with lace gloves, goggles and a brass laser gun.

These amazing, working computers were designed by Datamancer.com.

Steampunk seems a bit related to cyberpunk but inspired by older technology, and also related to “retro-futurism,” which has to do with how people in the 1930s-1950s imagined the future (think jetpaks, rayguns, Buck Rogers, streamlining, shiny tight metallic clothes, flying saucers) and bringing that aesthetic into contemporary design.

But steampunk is instead inspired by an earlier vision of the future imagined by the Victorians ~ a “future” of amazing technology and progress based on steam power and brass fittings and the aesthetic of their time.

Steampunk subculture has been around for quite a while and is now filtering into the mainstream as a “style,” as such things do.

Visit www.brassgoggles.com or http://steampunkpics.blogspot.com/ for more. If you do a search on “steampunk” on http://www.etsy.com/ you’ll find some interesting items (although we’re of the opinion that steampunk means more than just “made of watch parts”!)
Here is a search for STEAMPUNK IMAGERY on my site Lunagirl.com.