Faery's Adventures in Wonderland & Giveaway!

Well, well, well... Hello, my friends!

After a good month of my hinting at it, here's the post we'd all been waiting for... Faery's first giveaway! :D

When I was first asked by Candlemark & Gleam to review the wonderful (Re)Visions: Alice, I was convinced from the first that I'd love the experience... What I couldn't foresee is how absorbing and wonderfully inspiring it's been for me in the last couple of months.

Wonderland

(Re)Visions: Alice is the first in their (Re)Visions series, aiming to reinterpret classical works of fantasy and science fiction. In this case, aside from including Lewis Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland as an introduction, they've gotten 4 wonderful modern authors (Kaye Chazan, Amanda Ching, Hilary Thomas and C. A. Young) to write a story based on his work, each of them preserving their unique perspective and writing style.

I've been surprised by how different and just how interesting each story has been to read. There's something very special and strangely liberating about Carroll's nonsense literature, because it allows your imagination to run wild, and it takes away the impulse to make sense of things, and I get the feeling that these authors have enjoyed that quite a lot... ;)

Golden Afternoon

Some of the stories are set in Wonderland, some of them are not, some of them seem to be happening in a time not unlike the present, and some others do not at all... And yet, there's always this golden thread that brings them all together: in some cases, the nonsense of Carroll's world is what prevails, in some others it's the mere fantasy and extravagance of the situations the characters have to deal with, and in others it may be the 'Something's Off' feeling I always get when reading Alice.

I've loved each and every one of the stories, but if I had to pick only one to keep forever, it would be Kaye Chazan's  "What Aelister Found Here". Here's where what I just said about the 'Something's Off' feeling applies. And in what a way! This feeling is made explicit, and depth and texture are added to it in order to weave the fabric of this unexpected and enthralling story. The characters are very well defined in their mysterious-ness, and breath catches in our throats more often than not at the end of each scene. It's the sort of story we immediately want to re-read as soon as we've finished it so as to catch the hidden clues we might've missed relating to the slowly unveiled secret it all converges towards... *-*

Paint'em Red!

"House of Cards" by Amanda Ching I've also found deeply enthralling, in particular by how real it felt. She's laid a plausible foundation to the world of Wonderland, a background story that tries to explain away some of the insanity in this underground world, and somehow manages to humanize some of the characters.

In Hilary Thomas' "Knave", I couldn't help but laughing out loud at some of the situations, and especially at the characters' newly-invented roles and personalities. To think that Wonderland could host a gangsta war! Again, such a strong and unexpected story. :D

Falling down the Rabbit-Hole

And finally, with "The World in a Thimble" by C. A. Young, we're asked as readers to accompany the main character in his journey in and out of Wonderland, a rite of passage he experiences overnight, and thanks to which he finally gets to define himself and live his life under his own terms.

All in all, an amazingly inspiring read, wouldn't you agree? Speaking of which, when I said I got inspired by it I wasn't generally speaking, in fact, I have tangible proof! ;)

Oh dear!

See the 'Curiouser and curiouser'-looking images here and there around this post? Well, these are some of the Digital Printing designs I did as part of a Textile Design project for school, and they were inspired, of course, by these magical stories that have been camping freely in my head for the past couple of months.

Which leaves us with only one little thing to discuss... a certain GIVEAWAY, which may or may not allow you to read for yourselves what I've been rambling about for a whole post. ;)

Two of you have now the chance to win a digital copy of this amazing book including all four stories and Lewis Carroll's original masterpiece!

All you have to do is leave your name and e-mail as a comment below, and tell me of your favourite scene, character or anecdote relating to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland.
You might also want to follow me (you can do so via Facebook, Google (left), Twitter or Bloglovin') and Candlemark & Gleam (via Twitter and Facebook) for more giveaways, great stories and interesting posts! ;)

I'll pick the 2 best answers the 20th of December and forward your e-mail addresses to Candlemark & Gleam so you receive your copies in time for Christmas. :)

And last but not least, I'd like to thank Kate over at Candlemark for her patience, and for making this cool giveaway possible. A huge round of applause for her, if you please! ;)

I hope you all have a lovely end of week, and don't forget to comment below to be part of the giveaway!


UPDATE: I'm extending the giveaway's deadline for a few days, seeing that it's already Dec 27th and there are no participants as of yet... :) Rules change now, and the 2 winners will be the 2 first ones to apply!


 


[All content & photos are by me unless specified otherwise. I'm happy if you decide to copy and keep them in your computer as reference, or post them in your blog or anywhere you want. But you MUST put my name or a link to the blog somewhere, saying where you took them from. Not putting anything is in my opinion almost as bad as saying you took them yourself.]

Dandelions blowing in the wind

Hey guys!

I'M FREEE!

Sorry, I really needed to get that out of my chest... ;) It's not that I haven't enjoyed my 1st year of Fashion Design (I really really have!!), it's just that after a week of non-sleeping, I'm kind of very very happy to be on holidays at last! :D

I know my blogging duties would ask me to post the rest of the Madrid photos or other posts that should come first, but I just can't help myself, so instead I'll show you one of my school projects... :)

For our Printing Process subject, we were asked to use a research we'd already done for the Introduction to Colour and Materials & Technology classes, which means we basically had already chosen our colour palettes, main theme, and general mood for the project. We had imagined our very own little world, that we then had to translate onto fabric using different techniques like screen or transfer printing, but also hand painting onto the fabric, stitching...

Here are only a few of the samples I handed in. We were asked to experiment, and at least make 10 of them... although I ended up with only 9 because my sewing machine ate the 10th one whole... :( (R.I.P., my darling).

My main source of inspiration and starting point was the Regency Era, with its Empire fashion and Jane Austen novels (yes, I'm a big fan!! :D). I started my research by focusing on how the fashion was historically, but then it slowly drifted towards a more magical and surreal and romantic world, which I guess is my own fairytale-like version/vision of the period... :)

I'll post pics of the rest of the project when I can, I'd love to have you see the other part as well: the illustration, the colour palette, the textile composition...

To present the samples, we were asked to produce a 'Book', and I say 'Book' because it was meant to be original and surprising, and to be also somewhat coherent with the project. As you can see in the 1st pic, I decided to play with the whole book-that-isn't-a-book-but-that-is-actually-a-book idea, so I went to the Encants flea-market here in Barcelona and looked for the thickest and biggest book I could find. I came across this beautifully old and tattered copy of an Illustrated Geography Encyclopaedia and cut out the little windows to put the fabrics inside. I was thinking of those fake books that are always super thick and huge, and in which people keep their money or secret papers or whatever... :)

These songs, aside from being my all-time favourites, go very well with the mood of the project, so feel free to listen to them... ;)

She Floats & Carousel by Vanessa Carlton (my favourite singer/songwriter! www.vanessacarlton.com)

Apple Blossom by Esperanza Spalding (Barack Obama's... ;) she's so talented I almost cried when I listened to her live)

Alright dears, so I hope you have a wonderful Sunday!! I hope you enjoyed this little trip down the textile design lane... ;)

[All content & photos are by me unless specified otherwise. I'm happy if you decide to copy and keep them in your computer as reference, or post them in your blog or anywhere you want. But you MUST put my name or a link to the blog somewhere, saying where you took them from. Not putting anything is in my opinion almost as bad as saying you took them yourself.]