Event planning/decorating school - 5-month update
bonbonnieres
Almost 4 months have passed since my last recap and boy, was this time busy with more learning, decorating, Christmas happenings and more! First, I have to mention all the many ways we continued to make bonbonnieres. We used metal sheets (that I cut out by hand and decorated with gold leafing), wood slice (that I treated with decoupage), tulle and ribbon (for a kind of "candy wreath") and even paper (for my greatest delight!)
baptism martyrika
In Greece, almost all baptisms are of the Orthodox faith which requires an additional small element to be given out for the attendees to wear, to testify that they saw the small child being baptized.
(This small element is called MARTYRIKO; comes from the verb μαρτυρω (martyro) which means testify. The practice holds from the old days where proof was needed for those that weren't there.)
Our teacher only said: "Use whatever you want and surprise me with your creations!" (The only requirement is that the martyriko has to have a cross on it.) These are my "martyrika".
Between all four of us students and though we had made several items each, we did not have the same martyriko - which just shows how diverse this small element can be (much like the bonbonnieres!).
Bonbonnieres and martyrika are just two elements that parents and Godparents are called to think of when it comes to an Orthodox baptism. There are more details that make up the whole picture, most importantly what I call "the baptism treasure box". In order for us to learn all the ways, we can decorate these boxes we went through "all" the techniques and practiced them on a wooden square to get the feel of them.
techniques sample
We've learned to use gesso, acrylic paints, decoupage glue, stencils, crackle paste, aging with wax, vinegar, antique pastes and patinas, drybrush, pittorico, reliefe, image transfer and more. We ended up with a nice little assortment of samples which I assembled on a binder-ring and added a couple of ribbons just for the fun (and pretty) of it!
pinwheel themed baptism box
And now ... we were ready to take on the task of selecting a theme for our baptism. I decided to "baptize" a boy whose name would be Jason (in Greek: Ιασων) and my theme would be pinwheels. My colors ended up being sea blue, tan/brown/craft, white and gold.
A "real" baptism box would cost too much just for us to "play" with so we practiced on miniature boxes (35*25*15cm or 14*10*6 inches). My boxes were gesso-ed, painted with acrylic paint and dry brushed with complementing colors. The name was part stenciled and part free-hand painted, then accented with reliefe. Paper pinwheels, ribbons, and felt clouds were my embellishments.
The bigger box is to hold the towels for the baby, its new clothes, hat, shoes, and cross while the smaller box is to hold a soap, a little towel (for the priest), and glass bottle for the olive oil.
baptism ladoset
baptism lambada
The next big thing is the "lambada". This is a bigger candle that is hollow inside to be lighter to carry around during the ceremony. I color-died a couple meters of gauze just lightly to match my primary colors and wrapped around the column of the candle and used ribbons to secure the pinwheel.
baptism accessories
The set is now completed with an invite, sweety-treat box, memory album, bonbonniere, three candles (needed for the ceremony), martyriko and a toy pinwheel, all hand-crafted and decorated in the pinwheel theme.
And that concludes our lessons until this point. We already started something new that's colorful and soooo much fun - but you'll have to wait until the next update to read about it!
Thanks for visiting and I hope you'll come back soon!
Your very own fairy,
Tünde