Picture with strap on purse

Here's one of the silk bags with the strap attached.  My Etsy listings for the clutches indicate which colour the strap on each listed bag is - black (like this one), navy, gold, or beige.  The cross body style, as pictured here, measure about 46" (117cm) long.

Plants, Flowers, Colour

Recently we've planted a bunch of new things in the garden, some herbs, vegetables, and flowers.  One that I was looking at last season was false indigo (Baptisia).  I just added a small one to the garden last week.  It can, apparently, be used as a dye plant, like 'true' indigo, though does not produce as good a blue colour.  I will have to wait until the plant is a bunch bigger, at least 2-3 growing seasons I think, before it's big enough to try it. It's got buds on it so once the flowers come out I'll share a picture.  I've also got rhubarb, beets (not a dye plant, but maybe a good stain?), red onions, and possibly other things that might make good dyes or stains.

Also, I'm going to be changing the layout of the blog shortly, so if you notice anything that isn't working properly, let me know?  Thanks!

OOAK preparations

It's less than 3 weeks until the One of a Kind Show starts in Toronto, and I'm getting nervous and excited.  If you're in town, visit me at booth # O-28.  Meanwhile, here's a little peek at the things I have been working on lately. 

 

Etsy Treasuries & Colour Trends

It's been quite a while since I made any Etsy treasuries (collections of items based on a theme of the maker's choosing), so over the past couple of days I have made a whole bunch of them.  I based them on the Spring and Fall 2013 Pantone colour trends. 

SPRING
African Violet
Poppy Red
Nectarine
Lemon Zest
Tender Shoots
Emerald
Grayed Jade
Dusk Blue
Monaco Blue
Linen
Tidal Foam
Alloy
Sunflower
Vibrant Orange

FALL
Mykonos Blue
Linden Green
Acai
Samba
Koi
Deep Lichen Green
Vivacious
Turbulence
Carafe
Beaujolais

Fabric swatches 11-20 of 30

Swatches 2

11-20 of my 30 Spoonflower swatches!  8 by 8 inches each, on quilting weight cotton, my own designs. 

Insects

As you can tell, there's no shortage of cool things at the ROM!  Love the colours and patterns! 

Coming later in the week, pictures from the Royal Botanical Gardens.  :)

weevils

dragonflies

butterflies

birdwing butterflies

various, including wasps, weevils, latern bugs, millipede

Birds

Sparrows

These are so lovely.   A little disturbing perhaps, but lovely too.  Have a look at the specimen labels, they're aged, the handwriting is beautiful... I noticed one date in particular - 1928! 

Sparrows, label closeup

Tanagers

Look at the colours!  I think there might be a future piece of work inspired by these... 

Tanagers, label closeup

Royal Ontario Museum - more!

murex snails

I learned a bit about natural dyes in college, so when I discovered these murex snails in a display drawer at the museum, I thought was pretty neat! 

Source: traditionsmexico.phanfare.com via Stevanie on Pinterest

mineral pigments

mineral pigments

 Mineral pigments like these have been used on ceramics, in paints, cosmetics, etc. 

Colour

I was taking the train downtown yesterday, and after a while realised that a woman nearby was painting her nails.  The colour was an odd, but rather pretty, sea foamy blue.

Source: minimoderns.bigcartel.com via Christopher on Pinterest

Source: naba.org via Vicki on Pinterest

Source: stylemepretty.com via Emilia on Pinterest

Source: tumblr.com via Chic on Pinterest

Source: franklyesoteric.tumblr.com via Allison on Pinterest

Yellow Flowers

Just a couple of flower snapshots from my recent holiday. Enjoy!

Hello January

Hi everyone, I hope you've all enjoyed your holidays. I've been busy with seasonal celebration, and also taking some time to update my Etsy shops with some newly posted and renewed items.

I've also got a couple of show applications in the works and things of that nature that will keep me occupied for a while.

And on top of that, trying to choose a colour to repaint my room. My room is petite, and the quality of light is not ideal so choosing a colour that is warm and fun, but also cozy and relaxing is tricky.

Weekend

Happy weekend to you! 

I was browsing through Chapters for a while yesterday.  One of the books I ended up buying is Rainforest, which is a collection of photographs by nature photographer Thomas Marent.  Lots of colour, texture, pattern, and amazing plants and animals.  I already had another of his books, Butterfly, which given my love of butterflies likely comes as no surprise. 

Tea Staining

I'm preparing for some new work, so yesterday I tea stained some silks.  Many of my colours are bright/dark commercially dyed ones so the tea staining isn't obvious, it just gives a subtle effect to the colour.  I like how some of the colours bleed in the hot tea soak.  This isn't always what you want though so if you're trying this out, you might want to only stain one colour or like colours at a time, otherwise you can end up with (for example) red blotches on green silk.