Ethan & Allison WedBlog

Victorian Style Guide

Here's our style guide for our wedding.
Victorian Style Guide

An Update

So obviously we haven't been updating this blog very much. We've been pretty busy. A lot has been happening as all you probably know:) The date that we're considering is February 29th. Our biggest problem right now is we can't seem to find a place. We've found a lot of really nice places that are out of our price range, but nothing we can seriously consider. It's been hard, Allison has come down with a cold and I've picked up a sour throat and February is coming up fast so we need to reserve the date at some location real soon. Today I think we're going to take it easy and try to get over being sick, and start again new.

This thanksgiving weekend we went to the Dickens Fair with Allison's Mom and Tiana. We did this to get some ideas for the wedding. It helped me a lot. If you don't know, Allison and I decided on a Victorian Style wedding. Not a Theamed Wedding, we didn't want to force everyone to dress up in Victorian Garb. But we like the style of the time period and thought it'd be nice to reflect that style in our wedding. The trip the the Dickens Far helped me visualize the style a lot more.

We found a lot more then we expected to. I was able to pick up a Jacket, Vest, and a Tie in the Victorian style. Now all I need is the shirt and pants. But I should be able to find those anywhere, they havent changed much. Allison picked up a Corset and found someone who will hopefully be able to help us make the rest of her dress. They sell a lot of clothing there, but not a lot of wedding stuff.

With my next post I'll publish a style guide to give all of you, dear readers, an idea of the style of wedding we're going for.

If you look closely at the picture of the ring that I gave Allison, you’ll notice something different about the band. It has a wood grain texture to it. The style of metal smithing that crates this look is called Mokume Gane. Mokume Gane roughly translates to “wood eye metal”. The technique was invented by Denbei Shoami in the 17th century. He came up with the technique in the making of samurai swards. The basic idea is that you lay different types of metal on top of one another. And then you fold the metals into one another. Each metal has it’s own strength. When you fold them together they’re able to use each other’s strengths to create a new unique type of metal. The strength of steel with the lightness of aluminum for example. But the result is a wood grain look to the metal.

The metal must be folded into one another, if you try and combine the metals by melting the metals together, due to extreme differences in melting temperatures one metal will always dominate and possibly destroy the other metal but if you fold them together, they’re able to barrow from each others strengths while still retaining their own unique individuality. At least this is the idea behind the samurai swards.

When I read about how this style of metalwork I thought it was all to perfect for an engagement ring. The idea that two metals folded together to barrow from each others strengths but yet still retaining their own unique individuality was too perfect for an analogy for the bonding of two people. Allison and I definitely have our own strengths and our own weaknesses hopefully together we can be stronger.

I first heard of this technique in a graphic novel called “Battle Angel Alita” In it, the main character has two swards welded to her elbows, the swards are the toughest in the post-apocalyptic land. This is due to the Mokume Gane technique. I assumed that the author made up this technique to give an interesting flair to the characters weaponry. It wasn’t until I came across a knife in a knife shop made in this technique that I realized it was real. My first thought was, that I wished they made jewelry in this technique because I had no use of a knife and I loved the way it looked. When I decided to buy Allison a ring I looked up this style and came across James Binnion’s web page.

Luckly Mr. Binnion lived in Oakland and I was able to visit his shop and talk to him in person. We worked together to design a ring that would be perfect for Allison. I was the last person to order a ring from him in Oakland, he has now moved to Washington. So if I’m to get a matching pair for myself, I’ll have to travel to Washington (Devin I may be hitting you up for a place to stay).

We did it. We’re finally engaged…to each other:)
Yes that’s right. On October 31st 2003 I asked Allison to marry me, and she said yes. Now it’s time to plan the wedding. That’s why I created this blog. Right now we don’t know a lot. We haven’t decided on a date, style, or anything other then the idea of getting married.

If you’d like to see the ring, just look at our website: www.packthecat.com