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Saturday, January 31st, 2009
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9:34 pm
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It has been four years since Laura's passing. It was too cold to drive to Piqua to visit her grave. Figured a visit to a place we used to take walks might be nice. It was too cold for that, as well. Snapped this photo near that place today.
Thanks to those of you that remembered.
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| Monday, July 28th, 2008
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11:30 am
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I have not posted anything here for a while. Not that things haven't been going on, but there hasn't been much to update. We went down and fixed up Laura's grave over the weekend, as her birthday was Friday. It was looking a little neglected, since heavy gas prices have prevented frequent trips (it is about a 200 mile drive south of here, in Ohio). I figured I'd share a photo with everyone:
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| Friday, October 13th, 2006
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12:20 pm - Pale Court update
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After Laura passed, I had the task of going through all of her belongings, some of which included a few giant boxes of unfinished garments. A fellow designer and friend of Laura's, Kambriel had been in touch with me, and offered to take the items, and complete them. Now, they are all done and available for purchase. This is from Kambriel:
Happy Friday the 13th to you all!
After a year and a half, all of Laura's unfinished designs are finally completed and many have now been made available! After the fashion show we did in tribute for her earlier this year in New Orleans, several of these outfits were photographed in the UK for an upcoming memorial feature in Gothic Beauty magazine ~ a publication in which Laura had wanted to showcase her work. Now that these other important parts of the memorial have been completed, the final step is to offer these last remaining designs of Laura's Pale Court new homes so that her work and vision can be enjoyed by as many people as possible ~ some of whom may have ordered from "The Pale Court" in the past and well know and love her work, and others who may have never had the chance to do so before her untimely passing. I sincerely hope you will enjoy looking through these unique offerings and be sure to check out the upcoming issue of Gothic Beauty for the photographic memorial as well!
Link to The Pale Court items
I want to punctuate this by adding that Kambriel sort of understates just how much work went into this. Many of these items were in very, very unfinished states. Some of them had small design errors, and were likely set aside by Laura in frustration, with the intention of coming back to them later. Some of these items were barely cut out. Looking at these photos... I'm totally astounded that Kambriel was able to actually complete all of them in a little over a year. It is completely amazing.
Please buy them. Kambriel is selling them at extremely reasonable prices, and there is a great deal of care and love put into all of them. And they are the last remains of Laura's works, barring a few items I have still. The money for these is going entirely to pay for Kambriel's photographic tribute to Laura, that will be featured in the next issue of Gothic Beauty magazine. There was great expense, as it was shot in England. It is a tribute Laura would have absolutely loved.
I also want to point out the Pale Court items Kambriel featured at Convergence XII in New Orleans last year. You can see some photos from that here:
Kambriel's Pale Court tribute at CXII
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| Thursday, September 21st, 2006
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3:30 pm - Finally...
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I have finally updated Laura's website:
The Pale Court
It has been sitting there with my terrible and quickly designed layout for way, way too long. I have been slowly working on these updates for quite a while, and due to some other exciting news that I don't want to announce just yet, I felt spurred on to get it finished and put up.
There are likely a lot of things that need fixed, and it will certainly continue to be updated. But, it is a vast improvement to what was there. If anyone can think of anything I should add, feel free to let me know.
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(2 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, July 3rd, 2006
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10:13 pm
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| Friday, June 30th, 2006
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12:40 pm
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I just got word from Laura's mother that Laura's stone was set today. This is such great news. I may have to run down there this weekend sometime.
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(3 comments | comment on this)
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| Wednesday, May 31st, 2006
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11:03 am
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The irises we planted last year have bloomed, and interestingly enough, the pansies are still thriving with life, surviving the winter.
I have some other things to post, including photos from Kambriel's Pale Court tribute that took place in New Orleans in April, which I will try to post in the next week or so. In the meantime, I just wanted to share this photo of the flowers on Laura's grave.
Also, the stone is in production and hopefully should be up by her birthday, depending upon how long the etching takes to finish.
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| Wednesday, May 3rd, 2006
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10:39 am
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Just a quick update to let everyone know, Laura's headstone has been paid off. Thanks to everyone who helped, and thanks again so much for the support over the past year and a half. It has been tough, and it still is, but I'm glad the headstone will be in place soon. There is more going on, and I will post that later when I have more time.
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| Thursday, February 2nd, 2006
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1:03 pm
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Hadst thou liv’d in days of old,
O what wonders had been told
Of thy lively countenance,
And thy humid eyes that dance
In the midst of their own brightness;
In the very fane of lightness.
Over which thine eyebrows, leaning,
Picture out each lovely meaning:
In a dainty bend they lie,
Like to streaks across the sky,
Or the feathers from a crow,
Fallen on a bed of snow.
Of thy dark hair that extends
Into many graceful bends:
As the leaves of Hellebore
Turn to whence they sprung before.
And behind each ample curl
Peeps the richness of a pearl.
Downward too flows many a tress
With a glossy waviness;
Full, and round like globes that rise
From the censer to the skies
Through sunny air. Add too, the sweetness
Of thy honied voice; the neatness
Of thine ankle lightly turn’d:
With those beauties, scarce discern’d,
Kept with such sweet privacy,
That they seldom meet the eye
Of the little loves that fly
Round about with eager pry.
Saving when, with freshening lave,
Thou dipp’st them in the taintless wave;
Like twin water lillies, born
In the coolness of the morn.
O, if thou hadst breathed then,
Now the Muses had been ten.
Couldst thou wish for lineage higher
Than twin sister of Thalia?
At least for ever, evermore,
Will I call the Graces four.
-Keats
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| Monday, August 22nd, 2005
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7:01 pm
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I got Laura a small angel statue as a marker for her birthday, so she does have something of a marker until I get all the money rounded up for her headstone. I have paid a substantial amount on the stone, but still owe ~$1500 on it. It is a very nice stone, but I don't have any pictures of it. I do have a sketch I am going to try to scan and post. It is a very nice stone, though. I am very pleased with the selection.
Thanks again to everyone for all the help. I have no words to ever express how grateful I am for all of the support. Again, I apologize for slow email responses. Sometimes it is hard to keep up with everything, but I do appreciate all the gestures and kind thoughts.
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(10 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, July 25th, 2005
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1:18 am
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| Friday, July 22nd, 2005
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4:24 pm
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I have a photo and a diagram to post that will show exactly what Laura's headstone will look like, but I am at work right now and unable to post them. I will try to get them up this weekend. I have reserved it and made a down payment (thanks again to everyone who has helped!!). There is still quite a bit of money to pay on it, so I will need to raise about another $1000-$1500, unless my family's contributions turn out to be a little higher than I expected. I still have a few of Laura's things I want to put up to sell, dresses she made and such. I will do that shortly.
Anything short I come up can be paid off later, but the sooner I pay for the stone, the sooner it will be out. Her mother went and paid for the foundation, so that will be laid soon. After that, when I finish paying off the stone, they will be able to finish the stone, and take it out there without having to wait for the foundation, which is good. Had we not done that, we probably would not have been able to get the stone out there until spring.
Laura's birthday is Monday, so it will be a busy weekend for me. I intend to go down there on Monday and visit her family and such.
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(comment on this)
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| Friday, July 15th, 2005
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6:55 pm
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I am going to Piqua tomorrow to look at the headstones and try to solidify prices, and details. I'll try to make an update on everything as soon as I can.
I hope all of you are well.
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(1 comment | comment on this)
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| Thursday, June 30th, 2005
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1:22 pm
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First, thanks you so much to everyone that helped. There were a few really large contributions, and because of the word spreading all over, there have been a lot of small contributions, which add up really quickly.
I was asked this earlier:
"Do you have a figure that you're trying to reach? Or are you getting a headstone based on how much you can garner?"
This is a good question. Her mother and sister went and checked out some stones and prices a few days ago. Here is the info I have:
We have a limit of 26" width, most of the stones are 20" as a result, but we can make it as high as we want.
We are looking to get something with a nice vase on it, so we can plant some sort of flowers there. Not sure how much extra that costs.
They can emboss a photo of her onto the stone, which I really want, for $200+.
On the back side, I want to have a poem etched, and on the front, her full name (Laura Frances, she was named after both of her grandmothers), plus the dates. 40 letters come with the monument, then it is $2.50 per additional letter. This is where the cost could rise significantly, I think.
Her mother found a good black/mixed marble stone. It is a streaked marble, and I think it has some deep red in it. The stone is about $1100.
The foundation the cemetary lays and that is $125.
I guess a good estimate for cost will be some where just above $1500. Honestly, this is much cheaper than I expected. So far, I have raised a few hundred from all of you (thanks, thanks, thanks!). My family will likely contribute a few hundred, and Laura's mother can probably contribute a few hundred. After that, depending upon how much we raise here, my father and I will probably plunk down the rest, somehow. I may have to sell my soul or something. Right now, I have about $300 in hand.
Should we raise excess here, we can get a larger stone, which I would like. Laura's mother did find one that is 3 foot hight, and really nice. We will see. I'm going to probably get a day off of work here sometime soon and drive down there and check it out too, just to see the actual stones. If I do, I'll take photos.
I'll keep everyone up-to-date on the progress here, or on The Pale Court, Laura's website.
PS. Benson has most generously offered to donate whatever is made off of this auction to Laura's headstone. The gown he is offering is most exquisite.
Thanks again, Benson!
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(6 comments | comment on this)
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| Monday, June 27th, 2005
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1:44 pm
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| Tuesday, April 19th, 2005
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10:36 pm
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Here are some of the dresses Laura had on her site when she closed it:
http://www.thepalecourt.com/dresses
She has a whole book of stuff I need to scan, but that could be a few weeks before I can get back to my father's house to use his good scanner. My scanner is... meh.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Thursday, March 31st, 2005
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12:42 pm
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I spent some time scanning the photos from Laura's personal photo album. I need to recrop some of them, but I retouched them all. I posted them here:
http://www.thepalecourt.com/Laura
Or, you should be able to go here:
http://www.kodakgallery.com/I.jsp?c=12c4vo8x.2ver5wkt&x=0&y=cafs71
... and order prints if you want them. Let me know if the kodak link doesn't work and I can send a share to you directly. Just send me your email address. If you know a better online printer that allows me to share publically, let me know and I can upload the photos there too.
I'm going to try finish scanning her art and sketches this weekend, and then I will try to scan all the photos of her finished dresses. That will be a monster task, since there are many, many photos.
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(14 comments | comment on this)
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| Saturday, March 26th, 2005
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2:41 pm
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 I received the picture I requested from Laura's mother today. This is a picture from when she was still a baby. Her mother had it on display at Laura's funeral, and when I saw it broke my heart. Her features are so distinct, and they reflected strongly even so young. Those bright eyes and her genuine smile are the things that stick with me the most.
I miss her so much. If I can manage to remain distracted for a while, my heart doesn't ache so much. A friend asked me last week, "About how often do you think about her"? My reply was something like, "It would be easier to measure how often I am not thinking about her". I've been working all sorts of things to preserve her memory, and pay tribute to her. Most of it will probably not come to fruition for some time, but I work on it when I can.
I'm going to scan all the photos of her soon for everyone that wanted some of them. I will post high resolution in case you want to print them. I wanted to share this one because it is just so precious. Talking about Laura, and everything that happened, doesn't overwhelm me with sadness. But seeing pictures like this one just make me squirm in my gut, and serve to remind me just how much I miss her.
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(4 comments | comment on this)
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| Sunday, March 20th, 2005
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1:42 pm
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| Saturday, March 19th, 2005
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10:34 am
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I posted some of Laura's artwork:
http://www.thepalecourt.com/artwork/
There is clearly a lot more, which I will add later. I need to scan a lot of stuff, and much of it is too large for a normal size scanner. I will likely need to take it somewhere to have it scanned. This is all stuff she already had scanned sitting on the harddrive. I will be posting galleries like this with her sketches, and photos of her. It might take a while though.
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