York Clothes Swap Spectacular! 27th January 2013

As part of York's Residents Festival Weekend, Now and Then Events are bringing back the very popular York Clothes Swap on 27th January 2013.  The event will take place in the De Grey Ballroom. 

But this will be no ordinary clothes swap - this is a Clothes Swap Spectacular, because they'll also be live music, cupcakes/teas/coffees, pampering, bunting workshop, luxury raffle and eco fashion/organic stalls! 

It is FREE entry for those with York Resident's cards which includes getting involved with the clothes swap and the bunting workshop. For those without a card it is only £3 entry.  Plus, if you've got any token left over any of our previous clothes swap, they'll still be accepted.  All profits made will go straight to SNAPPY - so please do come along, have some fun and help us raise money for a brilliant local children's charity!
 
If you've wondering how the clothes swap works then let me explain.  If you've got some lovely clothes that you find no longer wear, then bring them along, and we'll value them and then give you tokens for how much they're worth.  So, if you bring some designer clothes, you'll get more tokens than clothes you've bought on the high street.  All you need to do then is spend you're tokens on clothes brought in by someone else.

It's a great way to get rid of clothes you no longer want to wear - and update your wardrobe at the same time. 

If you want more details then check out the Facebook event page below:-

York's Clothes Swap

So go on, add yourself to the list of people going - you know it's going to be a great event!

Britain Does Vintage Does Vintage Weddings!

Hello and welcome to the up-cycled Britain Does Vintage blog!  We're no longer just Yorkshire Does Vintage, so it's very exciting to relaunch the blog in the year with a new name!  Hope you all love the new look to the blog.

This year we're venturing into new frontiers by doing a Vintage Wedding Fair with the wonderful people at the Wedding Affair. Our first Vintage Wedding event takes place on 26th January 2013 at Ripon Cathedral.

This really is going to be a spectacular event if you're planning a wedding this year and you want to add a vintage touch to it.  We've got over 70 Exhibitors of the finest wedding suppliers, both tradition and vintage, that the UK has to offer.  They'll be two professional catwalk shows, live singing by Phil lyons and The New Vintage Band, hen party workshops, gorgeous tearoom, entertainment, bridal competitions and stunning bridal gift bags (while stocks last).

You get all this for the small charge of £2 - which is a charity admission with all the funds going to Ripon Cathedral.  Everyone from brides, hen parties, grooms and family welcome!


So, what better way to re-launch this blog than to look at weddings through the ages, to give you some inspiration for your big day.

In the 1930s the bride didn't always wear white.  This photo on the left from 1932 the bride wore a floral patterned dress and she wore a turban rather than a veil.  The bridesmaid wore a matching turban and they had two little flower girls in matching pretty white dresses.  The bouquets are lovely and it's a nice touch that the flower girls have smaller matching bouquets.

The photo on the right is a mid-late 1930s wedding and it's a more traditional one where the bride's in a white dress, but she has a beautiful bouquets of lilies and a that wonderful veil is finished off with a headband that looks like a crown!  The groom has on a very smart suit with white gloves in hand.

Into the 1940s during the war years.  The bouquets for this 1944 wedding on the right are a bit smaller than the ones from the 1930s, but the bride still has a very traditional white dress on - which touches the ground.  She must have saved up a lot of ration coupons for her and her bridesmaids dresses!  The young bridesmaids dress is simple, but is very stylish for the time with a collar and the sleeves.  A lovely style for any young bridesmaid.  As for the little boy doesn't look that happy to be dressed up - still he looks very cute in his white outfit!

The dresses at this late 1950s wedding in the photo on the left are beautiful!  The brides dress is very demur, but it's the little bridesmaid's who steal the show with their matching dresses and flower headbands.

Finally on to the late 1960s.  Still very traditional with a white dress, but the style is very different from the 1940s and 1950s one.  The veil is smaller and so is the bouquet.  The groom's suit look a bit ill fitting though!  That little flower girl is very sweet, her bouquet has a mixture of ribbons and flowers.

Of course you don't have to have a complete vintage wedding, but you can take touches of things from the past and mix the vintage with modern to create the perfect wedding.  

If you want some more inspiration well, you'll have to join us on the 26th January at Ripon Cathedral!

Christmas Projects

Hope you're all enjoyed Christmas.  Did anyone get any vintage gifts from you friends and family?  I've had a bit of a break from updating this blog - I've been very busy over Christmas with various vintage inspired projects round my flat.

The first thing I did was make a string of festive hearts Christmas bunting out of last year's Christmas cards.  This was so easy and possibly the most effective Christmas decoration I've ever made.  I created a heart shaped template and used it to draw round the fronts of the cards, cut them out, put some holes in using a hole puncher and then stung them up with some garden twine.  It's a great way to recycle all your old Christmas cards - so if you want to do this for next year, save a few cards that you like best from this year.

I used the money I got for Christmas to buy myself a vintage cupboard for my kitchen.  I'm not too sure how old it is - it's either 1940s or very early 1950s, but when cleaning it out I found a George VI stamp in the bottom, so I'd date it from the 1940s.  I lined all the shelves with brown paper and I'm now using it to store my sheets and towels.  To make them smell nice I've hung up a few handmade lavender bags and now I get a lovely smell every time I open the door!

Also in the kitchen I spent part of Boxing Day removing the 1980s lino off the floor to get back to the original 1950s green floor tiles.  You can see the floor on the photo on the left with the cupboard.  It's in quite good condition after being covered up for thirty years!

By far my biggest Christmas project this year has been up-cycling my mantelpiece.  I'm not sure how old the fireplace is, but it was here when I bought the flat.  It's probably from the 1990s, but being pine, it didn't match any of the dark furniture I've got in the front room.  I didn't fancy stripping it back and re-varnishing it and was thinking about buying a new one.  Then at Harrogate Does Vintage in November we had the furniture up-cycling workshops given by Vintage Rose, who were selling some amazing chalked based paint that you could paint on to anything without stripping.

I liked a colour called Grand Cru and when I asked if it would look like the colour chart they said they weren't sure because no one had been brave enough to buy that colour yet!  Well I like a challenge so bought some.

I was a bit worried when the first coat went on and it was bright pink!  It took three coats (in some places four coats), until I got it dark enough and then I left it to dry over night.

After a couple of days I waxed it with beeswax to make it wipe proof and here's on the left is the final result!  It's now beautiful and it looks like it's made out of rosewood.  In fact the thing I like about it best is it's the exact colour I wanted and it goes so well in the room that it looks like it was always that colour.

If you want to have a go at up-cycling some of your furniture in the same way, then look out for Vintage Rose when they're at our fairs, or visit them at their shops in Selby and Leeds.

If you've been missing our vintage fairs (I know I'm having Britain Does Vintage withdrawal symptoms!), then don't forget we're back on 26th January at Ripon Cathedral for our first vintage wedding fair!  It's all very exciting!  More details soon.

Meet the Stallholders - John Chamberlain Art & Illustration

John Chamberlain at York Does Vintage in March 2012

Time to meet another one of stallholders.  We like to offer a range of stalls at our events, including artists and one who we've had at our York fairs is the artist and illustrator John Chamberlain.  This year John  has been at York Does Vintage and also our sister fair Yorkshire Best. 

1. At our events what do you have on your stall?
 I have a range of screenprints, original drawings and paintings as well as the chance to get your portrait made in the John Chamberlain style.

Marc Bolan. Ink, acrylic and pastel pencil on watercolour paper.

2. When did you decide you wanted to be an artist?
There wasn’t a ‘Damascene’ moment where I decided to become an artist but simply a series of fortunate events I have stumbled into up to the present time of writing.  My North Norfolk ‘grandpop’ was always highly skilled at making wooden toys, chocolate, jam, bread, ships in bottles and light bulbs as well as having writing, drawing and storytelling skills. I think I would like to be similar to him, simply making and doing things with no interruptions to the process.

I have a degree in Illustration from Edinburgh College of Art and I suppose the influence of my art school years is undeniable. It was an incredibly tumultuous and difficult three years but definitely worth it and I would say to any younger person thinking of pursuing their creative passions to do it.

Carlos Slim, Mexican Tycoon . Ink on freepost envelope.

3: How would describe your style of art?
Narrative art inspired by magic realism.

4. Who are your major influences?
It depends on the commission or the project but at the time of writing I am interested in the writing and illustration of the late Mervyn Peake. Otherwise a canter along Cecil Court in London, with the bookshops, poster and art print shops is always inspiring. At one end of Cecil Court, there is a shop that sells prints and posters of Picasso and Matisse and opposite there is a framers that sells rare engravings of Hogarth and Rowlandson.

The Duchess. Fine line pen and graphite pencil on sketchbook paper.

5. If someone wanted a portrait do you do commissions? 
Please do send me your ideas, questions, queries or general enthusing via email or otherwise. In short, commissions are always welcome in order to ‘put bread on the table!’
Over the last year there has been such an unexpected raft of commissions, opportunities and queries, from making storyboards for a York based Film Company to being artist in residence at the York Theatre Royal to creating theatre posters and pamphlets for various York based theatre companies.

6. Have you done any exhibitions and where can people see your art work?
I have done countless art shows but currently I have some screenprints in the Lotte Inch gallery, York. The interest this gallery has shown has galvanised me into rediscovering printmaking and given me fresh impetus to persist in making things.

Uxorious Chet. Screenprint on tea stained paper for the Lotte Inch Gallery, York.

7. What projects are you currently working on?
There are numerous but one of the most important ones is collaboration with a Scottish storyteller and dancer currently residing in the capital of France on a children’s book set alternately in York and Paris.
My hobby time is spent meeting up with a Hertfordshire computer genius living in Leeds. We have a music project underway and are composing and consolidating a music E.P. under the name of ‘B.T.D.’ or ‘Beat the Devil.’ For this I am creating a lush raft of album art.
(www.facebook.com/officialbeatthedevil)

A Christmas Carol. Promotional poster for Nightshade Productions.

8. Where would you like to be in five year’s time?
In an ambitious art workshop shed adjoined to a Georgian terrace building with drawing room piano.

If you're interested in John's work and would like to find out more, then follow the links below:-

www.johnchamberlainishere.com

www.johnchamberlainishere.wordpress.com

www.johnchamberlainishere.bigcartel.com

twitter.com/inkchamberlain

https://www.facebook.com/pages/John-Chamberlain-Art-and-Illustration/155732564500386

Did You Enjoy York Does Vintage at Christmas?

Christmas Is Finally Here!

We certainly made sure Christmas started in style at York Does Vintage on Sunday 2nd December 2012.  From the feedback we got we know you all enjoyed it!  Lots happy people went home with some truly lovely gifts for their friends and family. 

We had an amazing 1400 people through the door and through the day we had queues forming of people.  So a big thanks to our fabulous flyerers, who despite the cold did a sterling job walking round York to let people know about the fair.

Apart from all the shopping, there was plenty of other things to do.  As always we had our tearoom run by Yorkshire Teas.  There were plenty of Christmas treats for sale, including Christmas cupcakes and mince pies.  I sampled one of the mince pies - the first one I've had this year!  And very nice it was too.

Entertainment on the day was provided by Phil Lyons, who sang some vintage style big band tunes, and threw a few seasonal ones in there too.  In fact we had a couple of comments back from customers who said he was so good that at first they didn't realise he was a live singer and thought it was a CD on.  One customer even asked him for his autograph!

We had three craft workshops on the day.  Granny's Sewing Box ran the bunting workshop.  If you're wondering how they made all this lovely bunting in the photo on the left, then I can let you in on a little secret - it was cut out and glued on.  The bunting was then left to dry on a radiator.  It's so easy to do anyone can try it at home.  Go on, give it a go!

Capricorn Creations were doing jewellery making demonstrations throughout the day.  Look at these lovely rings on the right that people had a go at making!  We also had some beautiful cake making demonstrations from Cakes by No More Tiers.  These Christmas cupcakes in the photo on the left were so cute! 

So, that's the end of our vintage fairs for this year.  We hope you've enjoyed the vintage experiences we've brought you in 2012 - and now it's on to 2013!  Keep an eye on our blog, Facebook page and Twitter to see what we've got planned for next year! 

York Does Vintage at Christmas!

Yes it's nearly here!  YORK DOES VINTAGE AT CHRISTMAS!!!  

We're back at the Merchant Adventurer's Hall on Sunday 2nd December where we can promise you all the things you love about our fairs, but with added extra Christmas sparkle!

We have forty vintage stalls. selling clothes, homeware, kitchenalia, and lots Christmas inspired items that will make perfect gifts for your friends and family.  As well as all of that we've got our regular York tearoom from the fab Yorkshire Teas, who will be selling Christmas treats and a special blend of Christmas tea.  We've got our Lindy hoppers from Pure Lindy back again giving dance workshop through out the day.  You can learn some new moves for the Christmas party!



This time we don't have just one craft workshop - we've got three!

Capricorn Creations are doing jewellery demos.  You can have a go at making a beautiful ring like the one in the photo on the right.  For a mere £1 it's the perfect party dress accessory or would make a great present for someone.

To book a place, email nowandthenevents@gmail.com. Sessions are at 11:00 - 11:45, 12:15 - 1:00, 1:30 - 2:15, 2:45 - 3:30 and 4:00 - 4:45

There's also a cake decorating workshop with Cakes by No More Tiers (York), and the wonderful Granny's Sewing Box, is doing a bunting workshop.  How good will your Christmas be with a vintage inspired decorated cake and home made bunting decorations?

The bar this time is provided by Perfection Beauty York.  Prices are as follows:-

Makeup - £5 + lashes £7
Hair - £5
File and Polish - £7
Eyebrow shape - £5
GELeration soak off gel polish application - £10
 
Perfect bit of pampering if you've got a Christmas party coming up soon.

And that's not all - there's a vintage style photo booth run by Vector-Photography.com, and live singing from Phil Lyons and the New Vintage Band.  You can see Phil in the photo on the left entertaining the shoppers at our last fair in York.  He'll no doubt be doing a few vintage Christmas tunes!

You get all of this for the entry fee of £1!  We're at the Merchant Adventurer's Hall from 10:30am to 5pm.  You could spend all day there because we've got Christmas covered!

Don't forget that it's York's St. Nicholas Fayre from Thursday onwards.  They'll be lots of things to do in town including a pop-up vintage shop at the Inkwell on Gillygate, on Friday 30th November to Saturday 1st December.  So you could have a whole weekend of vintage shopping!

Our First Ever Durham Does Vintage 24/11/2012

Yesterday we held our first ever Durham Does Vintage at Durham Town Hall.

I'd not been to Durham for years, and even though it was a very cold day it was fun walking round the very pretty streets with the boards promoting the fair.  We had loads of people coming up to ask us where the fair was.  Did you spot us?




The Town Hall is a very beautiful building and was a great backdrop for all the lovely things that were for sale.  It's always interesting with these fairs to see what our stallholders bring to sell.  Now the weather's turned colder the clothes stalls of full of Christmas jumper, coats and hats.

There were also lots of items that would be great for to wear to Christmas party.  Sophie our interns had fun trying on some things.  In the photo on the left she's modelling a fur hat from Vintage 18.  You won't get cold in one of those!

If you really wanted to make a splash at the Christmas party then an eye catching hat from Trica Stikans stall might just do the trick!  In the photo on the right, Sophie tried on this beautiful orange hat with feathers. 

And she also (in the photo on the left) tried on a stunning tiara made from up-cycled jewellery by lovely people from Pippy's Vintage.  Perfect for adding some Christmas sparkle to you party dress!

The tearoom at Durham was provided by Lavender Fields - who not only had the array of cakes on offer in the photo on the right, but also did some winter warmers such as soup and toasted tea treats.

We're now on the run up to our big Christmas event - York Does Vintage which is on Sunday 2nd December 2012.  It's going to be amazing!  So join us for some Christmas shopping and loads more at the Merchant Adventure's Hall from 10:30am.

York Does Vintage at Christmas!