Friday, December 1, 2017

Dorothy's Tea Party, Christmas 1905

It is probably too much to wish that the Library of Congress would notify me every time they post a new tea-related image, wouldn't it? At any rate, since I've been in "vintage Christmas" mode this week, I was delighted to find an image there that I don't believe I've seen before, this one from 1905 titled "Dorothy's Tea Party." Look at the scale of that tree in proportion to the woman and the little girl, who I'm assuming is Dorothy. Wow!

This was one of those stereographic prints, and I still haven't quite captured the art of letting my eyes relax enough that the two images combine into one, but maybe some of you can. 

And speaking of trees and teas, I've been busy trying to gather all of my teapot and teacup ornaments on one tree this year. I bought a 6-1/2-foot white tree at Walmart the other night ($39 lighted, and I like it!) after finally admitting I've outgrown the little pink feather tree I've used for many years. This new tree is almost full, and I've still got a few ornaments left to round up this year, so it's no pitiful wonder I could never get all of the tea-themed ornaments on my pink tree. Do you have your Christmas tree up yet? This may be the first year I actually started working on mine before December 1!

7 comments:

  1. What a fun photo to have discovered!

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  2. Wow, that's a big tree in the photo! And a fun tea party. I think your tea ornaments will look beautiful on a white tree, am looking forward to pictures. Mine will stay on a small tree again this year, and I'm actually going to put up another 3 foot tree on a table rather than a full sized tree. Space is the issue - right now my sewing machine is where the tree usually goes, and I don't want to move it. My children all came at Thanksgiving but 2 of them can't be here at Christmas this year, so I think a smaller tree will be fine for now. Picking which of my many ornaments are the most special will be the hardest part!

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  3. That was fascinating--thanks for sharing!! I did a quick search on Wikipedia and came up with this instruction for "Freeviewing" such an image (and found it worked quite spectacularly with no ill effect!):

    The cross-eyed viewing method swaps the left and right eye images so that they will be correctly seen cross-eyed, the left eye viewing the image on the right and vice versa. The fused three-dimensional image appears to be smaller and closer than the actual images, so that large objects and scenes appear miniaturized. This method is usually easier for freeviewing novices. As an aid to fusion, a fingertip can be placed just below the division between the two images, then slowly brought straight toward the viewer's eyes, keeping the eyes directed at the fingertip; at a certain distance, a fused three-dimensional image should seem to be hovering just above the finger. Alternatively, a piece of paper with a small opening cut into it can be used in a similar manner; when correctly positioned between the image pair and the viewer's eyes, it will seem to frame a small three-dimensional image.

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  4. just lovely......you never know when you will see another tea ornament just calling your name! can't wait to see your new tree - sounds pretty!

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  5. That's a great photo, and that is one impressively-decorated tree! I hope little Dorothy appreciated her new tea set. I received a Blue Willow china tea set as a little girl (sometime in the 1950's) and I loved it and had many tea parties with my sisters. And I still have it!
    --from Vernona in DC

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  6. Wow that is a neat photo. Cross your eyes and look at it. That’s how I was able to see the 3D affect.
    No, we do not have our tree yet. I like to wait until December to decorate.

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  7. I finished decorating my main-real tree today. Now thinking about a small fake tree for the tea ornaments. A friend just bought a nice tree at Joann's Fabric store and I am tempted to get one for the tea things. Your post is tempting me further.

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