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The Natural Philospher's Room for slider
July 24, 2018

The What, Where, Why, When and How of Fantasy Decorating

What is Fantasy Decorating?

It is the transformation of your personal space into a style that you relate to and enjoy, more than the common, ordinary styles that are the usual fare of everyday life. No matter what variety of fantasy fiction you favor, you are part of a large group of people who are interested in fictional worlds, full of mystery, magic and adventure! No matter what “flavor you savor”, this group of people is almost a separate personality type. Call us Nerds or Geeks, we are artistic, creative people, and our interests mean a lot to us. This website is dedicated to the idea of adding fantasy to your real world decorating and realism to your fantasy style.READ MORE

By Judy Major
our fake, faux and fantasy butterfly
July 24, 2018

The Difference Between Fake, Faux and Fantasy

At first glance, “fake,” “faux,” and “fantasy” might seem like different words for the same thing. However, they are really quite different.

To us, fake means something mass produced, maybe using artificial materials and which may or may not look real. Fake implies a certain cheapness of production. Examples would be fake wood furniture where the surface peels off after a while, or fake stone where the design is repetitious and you can see the seams. Or laminate butcher block counter tops the picture wears off as the surface wears away. We think even real plastic is preferable to fake anything and that is saying something. We usually avoid plastic like the plague.

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By Judy Major
A few cauldron sizes
May 26, 2018

So… what about that number 2 Pewter Cauldron in Harry Potter?

So… what about that number 2 Pewter Cauldron that J. K. Rowling specifies that the students at Hogwarts buy for their classes?
Are you shopping for a cauldron? Cauldrons have been sold by numbered sizes for many years in a system that is both orderly and practical. From tiny enough for incense to large enough to feed a crowd, cauldrons come in every size imaginable and that size is determined by capacity, the width and height and weight.READ MORE

By Judy Major
Macbeth's Double Trouble Weird Sister Witches
June 30, 2018

Double Double Toil & Trouble

If there’s one Halloween chant most everyone knows its “Double, double, toil and trouble…” But do you know its origins? We are guessing that many of you recognize the name of the band “The Weird Sisters” from the movie “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire.” (We are linking to the Toil & Trouble video there, not the Weird Sisters, btw.) And some of you may recognize that J. K. Rowling was making a reference to the Weird Sisters in Shakespeare’s  “Macbeth.”READ MORE

By Judy Major
Medieval Dragons Illustration
January 13, 2018

A Thunder of Dragons – Creatures of Myth and Magic

Imagine a creature with the body of a huge scaly lizard, the reflexes and attitude of a cat and a mind as keen and clever as any man’s. This is the magical reputation of dragons.

Dragons are the stuff of legend and inhabit the myths of cultures all over the world. They show up in Medieval fairy tales and other more ancient writings and in the latest installments of popular culture. They show up in many fandoms and even have fans of their own. They are part of the traditions of countries from the most far of the Far East and the most western edge of Western  society. The interesting thing is that the legends are very consistent from one story and culture to the next. It is almost as if there is some sort of ancestral memory of dragons. So what do these myths and legends say?READ MORE

By Judy Major
PlagueFourThievesDancingSkeletons-WEB
July 24, 2018

The Vinegar of the Four Thieves-Clean House, Dress a Salad & Save the World from the Plague in Your Spare Time

The Legend
The story of the Vinegar of the Four Thieves is interwoven with the Black Plague and the history of Medieval Europe. The cities of Europe were ravaged by repeating waves of plague from 1348 until the late nineteen century peaking in the late fourteen century. It is estimated that 30% to 60% of the population of Europe died because of it. The people living through those times had no idea what caused the plague, nor what to do to stop it. They only had a vaguest idea of it being caused by “bad airs.” READ MORE

By Judy Major
March 25, 2018

Yard Sale Signage: Make it Easier for Treasure Hunters!

Ah, Spring and Yard Sale Season is upon us.

As you all know by now making up-cycled, recycled, reclaimed, re-purposed and reinvented creations means that we need to keep a good selection of the raw materials on hand. And as we have said before yard sales, flea markets, estate sales and junk shops are our favorite places to hunt for the trash that we turn into treasure.READ MORE

By Judy Major
methods of divination
May 20, 2018

Methods of Divination

Mankind has invented hundreds of divination methods: ways of seeing into the future or foretelling the future. The following list is a combination of the most well known, the least well known, and some that just sound very strange…..

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By Judy Major
June 17, 2018

Herbal Mixtures Part 1

 

One of our main tenets here at FANtasy Decorating is that our world should reflect our interests and that the pieces of our world look their part. Furnishings should be both useful and ornamental.

An example is our interest in herbs and their uses. Herbal medicine is a skill set that we admire and we think it’s time has come again.READ MORE

By Judy Major