Tarot Cards Photo Shoot

Finally, the photos from our summer Tarot Cards themed photo shoot are here. It was a lot of fun and I'm very happy that I can share the photos here with you.

My first costume was The Star

Source

It's the 17th card of the Major Arcana. It tends to show a naked woman kneeling next to a pond or a river and pouring out water from two jugs. There is usually one or more stars above the woman.
 

In divination, The Star signifies spirituality, hope, inspiration and serenity.



I had my own interpretation of the card and was very much inspired by the beautiful Hedy Lamarr and her star dress. More on that here. I picked a really lovely spot next to a small fountain with the bay behind me. However, the day was very windy and my hair lost most of the curl and the dress was a little hard to manage. Still, I am quite happy with how the photos turned out.

For my second costume, my friend and I went for Two of Cups

Source

It's a card of the Minor Arcana. It usually depicts a man and a woman standing face to face and holding cups as if they are toasting each other.

Nicoletta Ceccoli Tarot

In divination, The Two of Cups means relationship, attraction, unified love and bonds of friendship.

We decided to create two shield maiden characters, who are drinking from goblets at the end of a long day's fighting.

I am particularly proud of my tunic which I made from a bed sheet and then embroidered. I used my woven belt that I had bought during a Times & Epochs historical reenactment festival in Moscow a few years back. The gold medallion was something I'd found at a thrift store and the sheep skin vest was a souvenir from Greece. My friend made her tunic out of a dark blue crimped material and trimmed it with faux fur. She's wearing an old Kalevala necklace and a pair of men's boots she'd picked up at the Opera flea market.        

I still wish we had more time to work on the costumes. And the weather was a little grey and indifferent. I have learnt a valuable lesson, though, if you use body glitter, be prepared to find specks of it everywhere for the rest of your life.

 
Photos by Salomon Marttila 

Visiting the French Gardens at Kuskovo

My sister and I have been making the rounds of all the manors around Moscow for the past couple of years. This year we decided to visit Kuskovo, a little green paradise in eastern Moscow. One of its main attractions is the only French formal garden left in Moscow.

The French garden at Kuskovo

A formal French garden is characterized by symmetry and order; it's nature brought under human control. This type of garden was particularly popular in the 17th century. In the 18th century the English landscape garden emerged which is all about the picturesque and creating the illusion of wild, untamed nature.              

French garden on the left, all order. English garden on the right, all wilderness. Source

Well, you get the picture.

Kuskovo was the summer estate of the very wealthy and powerful Sheremetev family. They owned large chunks of land around Moscow (their name may be familiar to you from the Sheremetyevo Airport, where they owned a village and its inhabitants), owned a large number of people and were patrons of the arts and theater. I very much recommend reading about them - TV shows like the White Queen will look pretty tame in comparison to their lives.

Kuskovo manor and church, view from the pond 

Apart from the palace, which is just a very large manor house beautifully decorated, the park has a grotto, a hermitage, the Dutch house, the Italian house, the Swiss house, the menageries for the waterfowl, the remnants of a summer theater, and two orangeries.  

The Grotto

The Italian house

The orangery 

The hermitage

After a tour of the park, it is essential to take a little rest in the shade with a good book.

Barely visible roof of the Swiss house

The Dutch house in the background

There was also an English landscape garden, wild and romantic.
 

And some semi-wild cats everywhere.

After getting enough fresh air and sunshine, we decided to take a turn around the manor house.

The dinning room

The tiled oven in the reception room, typical of Russian interior design of this period  

The reception room

The dancing room

While we were there, we got to see the French Elegance exhibition. Different rooms of the manor housed a collection of dresses and outfits, recreations of the the French 18th century fashions.

My favorite gown was in the dinning room.

 More outfits from the dinning room.

A beautiful formal gown from the reception room.

I found this replica of the famous Madame de Pompadour dress delightful.

Some less formal fashions and wigs from the dressing room.

And finally, in the last room of the manor house there was a small exhibition of shell art from the grotto. The grotto is undergoing some restoration work, so they moved some of the pieces from there into the main house. I did not know that you can make such beautiful art with shells. Now I do!

   
Well, that's all from the beautiful Kuskovo. Until next time!

Outfit notes:
Dress - originally Lindex, thrifted
Wrap - KappAhl
Belt - thrifted
Bag - borrowed from Mom
Hat - farmers market in Porvoo
Shoes - Keds from Shooz

All images by my sister Maria K. 

Back Again with a Few New Things

It's been years...Yes, years...I feel bad about abandoning my blog. But there were a few things happening in my life, and I just didn't have the time. Recently, I came across some of my old posts and it just reminded me how much I love writing things about things. As I follow a lot of blogs, the amount of creativity, cleverness and the general sense of community never ceases to amaze me. 

And, thus, here I am, back again. But with a few changes.

First, the name of the blog has changed. I decided to call it Tea with Anastasia. Not terribly creative, I know, but I am Anastasia and I do love tea, and, darn it, I want people to know. 

Second, I want to focus a bit more on my new found love of vintage. I've always flirted with vintage style a little bit, but now I want to go steady with it. I'll try to document my ideas, successes, and failures here. 

Third, I have spent the last several months living abroad in the UK, and I want to share these experiences, too. 

And, finally, I think blogging will be a wonderful outlet for my non-academic interests and passions. 

I call this list my Declaration of Intent (kind of like New Year's Resolutions, but mine come in February) 

And so, here we go...again!

Botanical Art by Female Artists

I very much hope that you're not tired of my flower themed posts just yet because here comes another one. It's dedicated to some beautiful botanical art by some very talented women.

Maria Sibylla Merian (1647-1717) was a German artist, naturalist, and publisher. Her vivid, detailed and dramatic watercolors turned into engravings were highly prized both as exquisite pieces of art as well as works of great scientific merit. They were also used for pattern books on painting and embroidery, and Merian herself taught embroidery, which endears her to me even more.

You can see more of her work here. 

Another prominent 17th century botanical artist is Rachel Ruysch (1664-1750). With a botanist for a father, it is not at all strange that this Dutch artist turned her mind to painting sumptuous bouquets of flowers. Ruysch's work is very detailed, with strong vivid colors against a dark background.  

Flowers in a Glass Vase,1705-1715, Rachel Ruysch 

Flowers in a Terracotta Vase, 1723, Rachel Ruysch 

A Spray of Flowers, unknown date, Rachel Ruysch

You can see more of Ruysch's painting here. 

Marianne North (1830-1890) was a Victorian biologist and artist who led a pretty unconventional life for a woman of her time. She traveled extensively, often alone and spent her time hunting for flowers and plants all over the world which she then turned into painting of unprecedented beauty. 

Amatungula in Flower and Fruit and Blue Ipomoea, South Africa, Marianne North 

Various Species of Hibiscus, with Tecoma and Barleria, Marianne North 

A South African Sundew and Associate, Marianne North

You can see a lot more of North's art here, and if you're interested to know about her, check out this article. And you want to enjoy her art live, you have every opportunity as she has a permanent exhibition in the Marianne North Gallery at Kew Gardens, London. 

Medieval Fair at Hämeenlinna

I'm back! Sorry for neglecting my blog, but this summer turned out to be very busy: trips, events, crafts and school took over my life. But now I'm back with a new post on something recent and very fun indeed.

Last weekend I went to Häme Medieval Faire, which is a Medieval festival held at the Hämeenlinna's castle. Like all such occasions this one had food, mock fights, vendors selling everything a history enthusiast could ever want and lots and lots of rain and dirt (this is Finland in August, so that's to be expected), which made it feel very authentic.

A pig roasted on a spit may look horrible, but tastes great.

Barbarians arrived to show us some impressive horseback rindding stunts.

Vikings fought Saxons.

Saxons won.

Though most of them got killed.

I'm not at all an expert on medieval dress, so the fashion show was a real eye opener.

A little child was put in charge of a catapult.

My friends and I went dressed up, though we sacrificed historical accuracy for the sake of comfort and fun.

I have some great photos from the Times & Epochs festival in Moscow, but I still need to sort through them. So that's for another post.