Paljettipommi is born!

On the 23.8 I had the great pleasure of being part of a historic event, since Paljettipommi was born! <3

Our dear Kiki Hawaiji, who is one of the people who brought burlesque to Finland, put tons of time and effort into creating the very first Finnish burlesque magazine (Paljettipommi = Sequinbomb), and a bunch of us who have been performing longest got together to celebrate it at the release party. It was so much fun! We were mostly asked to perform our very first acts, which in my case is my absynth fairy (of course with an upgraded costume, the old one was falling into pieces!), and some acts were seen that haven't been performed in years.

The magazine is written in Finnish, and it's full of articles featuring both Finnish and international performers, such as the original King of Boylesque Tigger! Even yours trully got a few lines ;-)

Looking forward to the next release!

Paljettipommi release party, all pictures by Jari B. Miettinen
Up left: Kiki Hawaiji, Up middle: yours trully, Down left: The Itty Bitty Cabaret,
Right: Kiki Hawaiji and Bettie Blackheart

Vapriikki Vintage finds: day 2

Second day at Vapriikki Vintage! Unfortunately enough (or fortunately enough for my wallet) I didn't have much time to look around the vintage market this day. Both Fintage's fashion show and the Helsinki Traditional Jazz Dance group's performance and lesson were happening on this day, which meant I spent part of the morning rehearsing and doing both my and Malin Grahn's hair and makeup, and part of the afternoon getting ready for the fashion show. Nevertheless, I did find a couple of gorgeous pieces of textile by Tampella!

above: damask weaving
bellow: Tampella damask tablecloth
pictures from www.tampere.fi

Oy Tampella Ab was a factory that made of Tampere one of the most important industrial cities in Finland, and operated from 1856 until 1991. Although it produced a huge amount of different products (mostly industrial machinery), I'm going to write a bit about one of their most famous textiles: the damask. 

The damask is a textile of a single colour, with reversible patterns that are created by weaving threads in different directions. 

Tampella started to produce damask textiles in the 1890 decade, and designers created the different models, which were tipycally produced during a few decades. Famous designers such as Siri Brunou, Louis Sparre and Aili Rancken created some of these pieces. 

my gorgeous finds! <3

The first piece I spotted on the first day already, but since I didn't have cash with me in that moment the lovely seller said she would keep it for me. I fell in love with it as soon as I saw it, how could I not! It was designed in the year 1907 and the motif is indeed as jugend and arts & crafts as it gets! This piece was meant as a guest towel, and the gorgeous jugend motif covers both ends. I actually even noticed, while googling for this article, that a piece just like this one is actually kept in the Tampere Museum :-)

designer: Aili Rancken
model: Fantasia
number: 253
produced: 1907-1974

The second piece cought my eye on Sunday morning when I went to pay for and pick up the previous piece, partly due to its gorgeous shade of blue. This also makes me think that this tablecloth was probably produced in the 1950 decade, since until then white damasks were the most common, but the motif started to be produced already in the year 1930 and its peacocks are a clear reminiscent of the edwardian orientalism. 

model: Riikinkukko (peacock)
number: 633
produced: 1930-1953?