easter tableau

EASTER has always been associated with sweet spring pastel confections. I wanted to create a somewhat non-traditional scene that evoked that sweet memory of Easter. When I was a kid, I liked nothing better than waking up to a cellophane-wrapped Easter basket filled with all sorts of candy and toys. There's something about peering through cellophane that is much like peering into the window of a candy store. No wonder so many foods are packaged this way.

THIS YEAR'S TREE started by making crushed velvet bird ornaments with my friend Devin and took several last-minute turns to become an entire table-scape—including the crepe paper garland-wrapped trees that look for-all-the-world like fancy cakes swarmed with butterflies, dragonflies and whirlygig flowers—all trimmed with pastel-colored "candy" eggs. The place settings were pieced together from the random collection of china and tableware I have collected over the years. Strict formality is not my style, but I do like a pleasing palette along with whimsical touches such as cups with egg-shaped saucers and a "chicken foot" egg cup.

SPRING DAYS are longer and the sun is brighter making the pastel riot of flowers like roses, azaleas and tulips all-the-more appealing. All sorts of flowering trees reintroduce themselves each spring all over again. Here in the American South, the early arrival of spring has been especially vibrant because the nights have stayed somewhat cool and there has been plenty of rain along with the sunshine. The pale pink roses seen floating in glass orbs are from the a pale pink climbing rose my mother had in her yard. I took countless spring bouquets of flowers to her from this bush—the only plant I have transplanted from my childhood home. It has grown quite large as a potted rose and promises dozens of blushing-pink blooms this year.

THE SACCHARINE SWEET sanctity of the season is a celebration of spring's fertility and rebirth no matter whether it represents a resurrection or just a new beginning. It's all good when the days are warm and there is new life in evidence everywhere. Please pass me the marzipan eggs—I'll certainly toast to that!

CONICAL CONFECTIONS | (Top) I wrapped this trinity of paperboard cones with crepe paper garland from the former Backporch Friends (Cody Foster and Co.) with hot-glued wooden butterflies, dragonflies and whirlygig flowers attached to them (butterflies and dragonflies from the defunct Martha Stewart Catalog, flowers from a local antique store). I trimmed them with glittered pastel styrofoam eggs pulled from a small wreath sold this season at Target. The trees were inspired by my online stylist friend Elizabeth Demos and her use of crepe paper garland here. The three glass orbs are a past purchase from Pottery Barn and are filled with the pale pink roses snipped from my mother's old-fashioned climbing rose bush I have transplanted to Atlanta from my childhood home.

SWEET TABLEAU | (2nd from top) Using his stainless steel table, this tableau was photographed at Devin's condominium in Atlanta. Everything looked great against the mottled gray neutral of the concrete walls. The teal fiberglass school chairs were found at a thrift store in Birmingham, Alabama many years ago. The "chicken foot" egg cup is from  BIA Cordon Bleu, Inc. in Galt, California and available here. Read "Place at the Table" below for more descriptions.

BLUE VELVET | (3rd from top) These birds were made from the velvet bird kit from the defunct Martha Stewart catalog by using rubber stamps and an iron to emboss velvet backed by interfacing and gluing two sides together. Sewing a seed bead on for the eye was the finishing touch. Some scraps of robin's-egg-blue velvet were used aside from the colors that came with the kit.

PLACE AT THE TABLE | (4th from top) The place setting consisted of a charger by Isaac Mizrahi for Target, a dinner plate in the "Sculpted" pattern by Calvin Klein, egg-shaped saucers and cups with an exterior matte glaze from the Nigella Lawson collection. The ceramic tea pot/cup was designed by Michael Graves for Target. The gold and teal-striped glasses are vintage items found at an antique store. The cake pedestal and is Martha Stewart Collection at Macys. Candleholders are Martha Stewart Everyday from Kmart. Flatware is casually placed in these photos and the pattern is "Treble Clef" by Gourmet Settings.The curled unfinished handle ends resemble the unfurling frond of a fiddlehead fern has always been one of my favorite stainless patterns because of it's handmade appeal.

SWEET ENDING | (Above, bottom and left) Marzipan Easter eggs are from Biermann Marzipan in Hawthorne, New Jersey. Pastel shot glasses are from Devin's private collection. The beautiful antique Westmoreland "robin on nest" candy dish is a cherished gift from my friend Julia Carpenter from her mother's collection.

©2011 DARRYL MOLAND
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED 
Collecting and styling by Darryl Moland

song of (her) life

A bird does not sing because it has an answer. 
It sings because it has a song.
                                                —Chinese Proverb

I'M   F A S C I N A T E D  with birds. This spring, I hung three bird feeders in a dying tree to bring some life to it. They bring a myriad of birds to dine just outside my dining room window.

I'M   N O T   S U R E  whether it was when crows weirdly gathered on my mother's hospital room window ledge while she was on her deathbed, but ever since then I've been especially aware of birds whenever I see them. I've always loved their happy nature and it's obvious they have an uncanny sense of their surroundings in possessing a profound sense of the natural order of things.

T H E Y   B R I N G  a cheerful song to anyone who takes the time to listen. My mother gave our family the song of her life. In doing so, she gave us all an authentic sense of ourselves. My sister and I were at her bedside when she died. I was holding mother's left hand and my sister held her right hand. It was a heart-wrenching, but profound experience watching her take her last breath—the woman who was there for both of us for our first breath. I've never felt such a desperate loss and uplifting sense of peace at the same time, but I did that day (July 10, 2005). I felt as if my world had been turned inside-out and upside-down. I'll always remember my mother telling me when she knew something I thought she didn't. She would say, "A little bird told me so." I believed it. Now I know—birds must be protectors of the soul.

M E S S E N G E R S  of love and harbingers of good things to come, glass birds have become a universal symbol of happiness and joy when placed on the decorated tree. Few glassblowing studios make them well because they are one of the more difficult ornaments to make. You'll find them with actual feathers for tails, but in Germany, their tails were originally made from bundles of spun glass. Both types have their own charm. More often than not, they are attached to springed clips so you can position them atop branches of the tree, rather than hanging below. This makes them very useful in composing a beautiful tree.

C O N V I N C E D  they are our protectors, I think birds can foretell things to come—both good and bad. Imagine if you always had a bird's-eye view of life. No matter which they bring, they always give us joyful songs of life. Even though we don't know a word they are saying, we understand them to be wise creatures, indeed.

A N D  T O  T H E  women who raised me—my mother and my sister (shorty momma)—I know you're out there—I love you both with all of my heart and soul.

HAPPY HARBINGERS | These three bird ornaments were bought as a boxed set, from Michael's Stores, Inc. (above, right). They are attached to a dead stem from the tree which I hung bird feeders this spring (left), which decorate the tree just outside my dining room window.

©2009 DARRYL MOLAND | ALL RIGHTS RESERVED

collecting, photography and styling by Darryl Moland