Furniture with quilted padding is very comforting to me, I think it has something to do with the plushiness. Katie Thompson‘s furniture is stuffed full of cozy associations, taking objects like suitcases, crates and tubs and turning them into nice places to sit down. I really want one of these seats!

Sticking to the comforting vibe, this bed is a place I really want to be right now. I’ve always felt like my spiritual home is amongst trees in a rain forest, an escape from the clattering people in the city (even though I think skyscrapers are a bit tree-like.) This lovely photo was taken by Ditte Isager.

It’s quite tempting to say with confidence that people dressed much better a few decades ago, but it’s all a matter of taste and understanding that casual outfits probably weren’t documented so readily. I do love what this man is wearing though; I just wonder if the photographer had asked for his permission before taking the photo or if the questioning look on the man’s face says otherwise… This photo was originally posted on Tumblr by Street Etiquette.

Lately I have been loving old china patterns, particularly blue and white china, so when I found Yee Sookyung’s work I felt instantly connected to it. I am kind of a clumsy person and there have been more than a few occasions in my life when I have smashed something special to me (not necessarily valuable) and I have wondered if gluing it back together would devalue the object in my memory, if it’d just be so ugly that I’d have to dispose of it. I really love these “china trash” objects because it proves that you can make beauty out of broken things that have meaning, so they sort of assume a whole new meaning and memory.

Bonus content

It’s been a bit of a light content week because I’ve been busy but I just wanted to wack this stuff on the end of the post because a new post seems wasteful (why? I don’t know!)

Today is Nick’s birthday and I made him this card. Happy birthday Nick! I love you.

In other news

My second Redrawn post is up at Dangerously Luxe and this week I’ve redrawn two Marc Jacobs looks. They are bright and fun and look pretty fabulous on plus sized bodies!

Boots and flowers totally go together, yes?! I am sensing a strange urgency to acquire a pair of stompy black boots and put fake flowers all over them. Reminds me of this post on Outsapop, I’m loving all the foot accessories!

HELLO floral sunnies, get on my face. Janz & Cooper‘s online shop is still under construction, and I have a feeling I wouldn’t be able to afford these anyway, but I looooove them so much.

Camille Roman’s Le Tour De Force label is full of stunning pieces with clever and intricate fabric manipulation, and her latest headpieces are gorgeous. I like this piece because it performs dual functions as a mask and fascinator. Perfect for the Spring Racing season in Melbourne when you drink a bit too much and need some kind of disguise to get you home unrecognised…

The fabulous Marcia, as photographed by Advanced Style, is a perfect style role model. I need swathes of purple and big sunnies and head wraps like stat! That purple is beyond royal, my eyes enjoy it very much. :D

Men might feel that they miss out on opportunities to fance, so here is a handy dandy pro tip: bow ties. One of my friends called Spencer wears bow ties and shiny shoes and I think he’s the fancest dude out there. I don’t think he’d be into this darker edged bow tie styling, but other masculine dressers might be! It’s by Robot and Brucling.

Amanda Hughen‘s work really moves me. If you are familiar with my style and my fascination with line and form, you might have some idea why. I love the layers of colour, line and form and the movement around the surface. I find her approach really inspiring. I’ve been meaning to buy some different coloured inks for a while and now I’m going to see if I can find some drafting film to experiment with too.

When Linda Boucher posted this photo to her Tumblr and announced that she had Moleskine cahier notebooks for sale in her shop with the most adorable illustrations on the covers I immediately bought the hell out of the top notebook! I don’t want to use it, I just want to frame it.

History can seem a little sanitised to me so when I came across this photograph I was thrilled to see badass women causing trouble in 1928! I love their hairstyles… I have never been able to set my hair in curls properly, yet women back in the day seemed to pull it off perfectly everyday. Or at least in photos… This one is from Twisted Vintage.

Susie Bubble is adorable. Even though I don’t care much for straight sized fashion, I do follow her blog because she puts together really incredible outfits that speak more to style than slavish trend following. I really appreciate her approach to mixing up pattern, texture, proportion and colour – particularly in this outfit!

Like so many wonderful images on Tumblr, this has been orphaned. I can’t tell you where this beautiful building is, but I would very much like to claim it as my own club house. The detailing looks distinctly Art Nouveau, a period in art and design I love.

Another orphaned image this time, I can’t wait to have a go at making my own fruit ice blocks! I might go have a hunt on ebay for some freezer moulds. We always used to make ice blocks as kids but never any this fancy or delicious looking. Oh wait – I just had a thought! What if I could find an ice block mould in the shape of the crystal knuckle duster up there? AMAZE.

I am loving all the shoulder accessories I’ve seen in the last few years, but this is the most incredible one I’ve seen so far! Imagine how fabulous this would look with a really super fancy floor length formal gown… I just don’t think people would know what to think if I ever wore such a thing out in Brisbane! This wonderful piece is by gTIE and you can see more photos on OutsaPop.

No real insightful commentary on this hot nail job by WAH Nails of London but I’m gonna give it a go, that’s for sure.

Another Tumblr find… the embroidery of ¡no confíes en los artístas! on flickr this time. I love embroidery and want to play with it a bit more. The stitches are so small and perfect on this!!!

Adding to my collection of dream gardens is one of my favourite things. This little one room treehouse would sit perfectly in my dream mountain house. Perhaps I could use it as my studio? Oooh good idea Natalie, but chuck a comfy chair in there for reading too. This photo was taken by turnintosomething.

It’s a fancy deer. I have no words. (Ganked from Jessica’s Tumblr.)

I have no idea what to call this spectacular cane thing but I want one. Seeing as I grew up in the ’80s and my parents had furniture from ’70s I saw a lot of this kind of thing in bedheads and tables and chairs so it’s little wonder I have a fondness for the style. This is from a studio reno on Design*Sponge – check out the kitchen, it’s pretty cute.

Ban.do’s Black Label is gorgeous but the photography they’ve done for these ornately special headpieces is something else! I am very envious of this model’s incredible mane of hair, and also because she gets to wear these beautiful fancy things.

Crumpets are the best and I’m sad that as we move into summer I can no longer fully enjoy the warmth and comfort of this delicious carby meal. (But I will still probably try and eat crumpets in summer anyway!) I have never tried to make crumpets from scratch but these look so good with the raspberry curd that I might give it a go one day.

It’s almost a rule that I include a garden type thing in the Fance, and this week you get a tiny little adorable elephant pulling a tiny garden on a trike. Naturally, Elsa Mora is the creator of such an endearing object! See more of these tiny terrariums on her blog.

I’m sure I’ve posted the lovely work of Vessels and Wares before but when I saw this adorable cake stand I knew I had to include it in this week’s fance. I love how you can thread your own ribbon through the holes in the stand and match it to your cake decoration!

With the benefit of lots of time distancing me from this era, I can look at this photo and do a little air punch because it’s a pretty rad sight. But in reality, were these women just sideshow spectacles? I can’t find any info on this photograph through Tin Eye so I’m going to recognise the potentially problematic past while still admiring these fabulous women.

Slang from Chaos is one of my new favourite blogs because it’s just a barrage of awesome looking images. This awesome looking image in particular is fabulous because I love old packaging, especially on potions and lotions!

Let’s not tarnish this incredible moment with words. All you need to know is that Ginger Williams created this, for you.

fancy |ˈfansē|

adjective ( -cier , -ciest )
1. elaborate in structure or decoration : the furniture was very fancy | a fancy computerized system.
• designed to impress : converted fishing boats with fancy new names.
• (esp. of foodstuffs) of high quality : fancy molasses.
• (of flowers) of two or more colors.
• (of an animal) bred to develop particular points of appearance : fancy goldfish.
2. archaic (of a drawing, painting, or sculpture) created from the imagination rather than from life.

verb ( -cies, -cied ) [ trans. ]
1. feel a desire or liking for : do you fancy a drink?
• find sexually attractive : he saw a woman he fancied.
• ( fancy oneself) informal have an unduly high opinion of oneself, or of one’s ability in a particular area : he fancied himself an amateur psychologist.
2. [with clause ] imagine; think : he fancied he could smell the perfume of roses.
• [in imperative ] used to express one’s surprise at something : fancy meeting all those television actors!

noun ( pl. -cies)
1. a feeling of liking or attraction, typically one that is superficial or transient : this does not mean that the law should change with every passing fancy.
2. the faculty of imagination : my research assistant is prone to flights of fancy.
• a thing that one supposes or imagines, typically an unfounded or tentative belief or idea; notion or whim : scientific fads and fancies.
3. (in sixteenth and seventeenth cent. music) a composition for keyboard or strings in free or variation form.

Fancy is a good word. You might have noticed that I use it a lot. Almost every Friday for a while now I’ve been sharing pictures of things that typify my personal version of fanciness; these pixel illustrated forms delight my imagination and demonstrate my aesthetic. I shortened the name from “Fanciful Friday” to “Friday Fance” along the way, probably because I’m Australian and we apparently have a tendency to shorten words (and add “o” to the ends of other words) and since that time the idea of “fance” has been percolating inside of me. People have asked me what it means, and until now I’ve never actually tried to describe it; typically I mumble something about self-expression and imagination, so now I will try to capture exactly what I mean when I talk about fanciness, or fance.

If you refer to the definitions of fancy, you’ll find that it can be a way to refer to stuff created from the imagination. I think imagination isn’t given enough credit. The notions of play and imagining are so tied with childhood that adults who give in to flights of fancy are seen as foolish or irresponsible. That makes me really sad, because the way I see it creativity and progress are linked with imagination, and to dismiss it seems a bit silly.

To fancy something is to be attracted to a thing or a person, or to be human and feel connected. It’s a pleasurable thing, maybe even a little hedonistic at times, and to be deprived of such feelings of attraction, kinship and bond would be a sad thing indeed; an inhuman thing, certainly. I don’t mean to say that wanting material things is human, no, I mean… we all have these touchstones that speak to certain comforting things, and most of us certainly derive pleasure and meaning from connecting with kindred spirits. To fancy is to desire is to be human. To fancy is to teeter on the edge of having and not having, and the not having can be sad, even painful – very much the counterbalancing human experience.

One of my favourite uses for fance is to apply it to very visual things – the ornate, elaborate, overblown and intemperate. I am quite obviously drawn to hedonism and enjoyment of life, you might be noting at this stage, but fanciness need not strictly apply to extravagant things. A fancy thing need only be just a little bit better than average, and the mark of betterness is most personal indeed!

So I guess a thing’s fance can speak to quality, desire and creativity, all self-adjudicated of course, but even though it sounds like a fairly flippant and whimsical idea, for me it strikes right at the heart of what being human is about. My life is very, very short and my fascinations might be inappreciable to most, but to make meaning from the things I see, appreciate and imagine is important because I am a creator of stuff (pictures, words, and things) that become artifacts that are passed around and accepted and rejected. Other people think about these artifacts I send out into the world, perhaps they even discuss them, and if these ideas or things suit the fancy of a person they will send them on. Things that appeal to us, with any degree of fance, are things that get explored, discussed, dissected, elaborated and acted upon.

No one idea of fance is the true idea of fance. We all have vastly different experiences and memories and aesthetics and fascinations. Sometimes the fance that speaks to me doesn’t really speak to anyone else and that’s ok too. There are so many ideas and things in the world that they can’t all inspire creativity in everyone, so we humans play an important role acting as filters as well as processors of thought. Fance is flexible and very married to your identity – to me it’s more about self-awareness and not so much concerned with fad or trend. Admittedly, it’s hard not to buy into faddish things in Western society because escaping trend cycles and advertising and word of mouth is nigh on impossible. The most important part about fance, for me, is finding my own version of delightful, thoughtful and inspiring rather than plugging directly into the newest in-vogue thing. Recording the stuff I come across that appeals to me is a helpful, enjoyable activity that enables my imagination and my creative practice. I highly recommend it!