You could spy his house from the bus stop. He would arrive last since he could see the bus coming down the street from his window.  He didn’t need to get there early.

But, after school when the bus let us off in the same place, the last stop before turning and heading out of our neighborhood, then, he’d hang around. With his little group, teasing, frightening, terrorizing the younger kids.

The knotted ball in my stomach urged me to jump off the bus and  sprint home the minute the bus stopped. His house was the other way, he wouldn’t follow. Not too far, anyway.

But no, you can’t run away, you can’t show your fear. Don’t let him bother you. Ignore him.    

Afterwards, I couldn’t remember if he was in the group of boys who, one spring, decided to collect and burn caterpillars.  This was my first effort in wildlife conservation.  A group of us girls (it was almost always the girls against the boys back then) was intent on saving the caterpillars, and fought back. 

We quickly lined shoe boxes with leaves, then we scurried, picking up all the caterpillars we could and housing them in their comfortable new homes. 

I still recall the smell of burning bugs, feeling worried about the suffering insects, thinking we’d never be able to save as many as they killed. And we probably didn’t, but we did save some. We felt that we had done something to counteract the brutality of our world.

I definitely remember when he stopped bothering me. It was after school one day, when the bus let us off at our stop. It had rolled over something in the road, a log, a rock, it could have been anything. But as we got off the bus that day, we saw that the wheels had rolled over Billy Greenstreet’s dog and it lay dead under the bus. A sickening wave came over me as I looked at the dog (I had a dog too after all!) and then I saw Billy. His mouth open, tears already streaming, face red, he wailed all the way back to his house.

My point of view flipped that day.   

He probably kept on teasing, but I saw him differently.He was a child who loved his dog, just like I was. We all loved our pets. This incident sparked a turnaround and magically, he was no longer the other; we were the same.

 I heard something just this week, on a TED talk by Andrew Stanton “The Clues to a Great Story”.  He was quoting the children’s TV host Mr. Rogers, who apparently carried in his wallet a quote from a social worker that read:

“Frankly, there isn’t anyone you couldn’t learn to love once you’ve heard their story.” 

So, here’s to Billy Greenstreet, who went from neighborhood bully, to boy who loved his dog, in a flash.

Groups of young masked children stroll through the streets, some armed, some wearing hats or wigs, many with painted faces. A colorfully dressed man is strapped to a pole and displayed high above the children. Once back at their camp, the children eat cakes, run and skip and dance to music. Finally they watch as the man is burnt at the stake, marking the end of the feasting.

What kind of strange ceremony is this?  It’s a Carnaval celebration!

While everyone knows about the famous Carnaval festivals and parades in places such as Rio de Janeiro, New Orleans, Venice and Nice, among others, I wanted to tell you how it is celebrated in cities and towns in France. While towns have different community festivities and parades according to the region, the children celebrate at school.

French school children from kindergarten to high school go to school in costume for Mardi Gras. Depending on the dates of winter break, sometimes the celebration is actually on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday, Mardi Gras,  other years it is held the week before.

For middle and high school students, it’s a day of classes, with the added fun of wearing a disguise.  They can participate in the costume competition, wearing a costume they have created themselves.

In kindergarten and elementary school, children and their teachers dress up for the day, part of which is devoted to Mardi Gras festivities.

In 2004, my daughter was dressed as the horse-headed man in Jean Cocteau’s Le Testament d’Orphée.

At my kids’ school, it was the youngest ones, those in kindergarten (Ecole Maternelle) who paraded through the neighborhood and since lots of parents were needed to accompany so many young children, I volunteered every year that my kids were in kindergarten. (Ecole Maternelle is open to children aged 2-6, so kids spend two or three years there.)

The youngsters enjoyed getting out of the classroom to wear their costumes in the streets and being admired by any onlookers that happen to be about.

In 2005, my son Achilles was disguised as….Achilles!

Once back at school, the kindergartners were joined by the elementary school pupils for a party in the courtyard with music, dancing, food and general merriment.

It all ended just before the lunch break with the burning of Monsieur Carnaval who is placed in the center of the courtyard and burnt at the stake, marking the end of the feasting, for the following day was Ash Wednesday, the beginning of Lent.

I’ve been getting more botanical inspiration these days and I’ve got some lovely leafy fabric accessories all ready for the Christmas fair next week! If you’re in or near Lyon, please come by!  I’ll be with 9 other artists at the LCL bank, 18 rue de la République, December 12-20 (weekdays).

Here is what I’ve been preparing for you:

Silk and satin holly leaves, brooch or hair clip.

Fabric rings in cotton and silk.

Blue begonia leaves headband.

Fig leaves, another headband.

Maple leaf with ladybugs: hair comb.

Red maple leaf, hair clip or brooch, your choice!

Satin leaf with moth headband.

I’ve used some fun insect beads and charms, like spiders, ladybugs, dragonflies.

For the moment, these leafy goodies aren’t in the shop. If you won’t be in Lyon, and you see something you like, send me a message and I’ll make one just for you.

I opened a book today and out fell a leaf, one I had put  between the pages of the book to flatten it.  That was a couple of weeks ago, and I forgot about it. In the meantime the leaf had turned brown, and was now dried and crumbly. 

Do you remember collecting leaves as a child and seeing them dry up become brittle and go to pieces in your hand? But, yes, you can preserve fall leaves.

You’re probably familiar with the popular methods for preserving fall leaves.  Wax paper pressing was my favorite when I was little.  Or soaking in glycerin solution for several days.  You can cover your leaves in découpage glue or parrafin wax, or dry them in a microwave and then coat them with acrylic craft spray.

The idea is the same with each method:  to render these ephemeral leaves permanent, to make them last.

Instead of preserving real leaves, I prefer to make fabric leaves.  Why? Same as above, to make nature’s fleeting beauties into something enduring, turn them into a keepsakes even.

While this isn’t a tutorial, I hope it inspires you to make some textile leaves of your own.

I’ll tell (and show) you where I get my fabrics, how I make the leaves and give you some ideas of what you can use them for. 

• Fabrics – If you are a seamstress, you certainly have a large collection of scraps and remnants.  You can begin there.  But what I absolutely love to do, and you will too if you love fabric, is go to one of the neighboring upholsterer or interior decorator and see if they have any scraps or old sample books they would like to get rid of.  Chances are good that they will.

 Some shops sell the remnants at reasonable prices, some give away bags of pieces they were going to throw away. The pages from the sample catalogs are very inspiring with a small  square of fabric in all the available colors! Upholstery fabrics often have varied textures, rough, flocked, open weave, velvety soft, making enchanting leaves.

• Leaves – I make my patterns from real leaves, drawing around the contours, or just free-hand drawing.  I’ve included some oak leaf patterns as well as maple leaf patterns to get you started, on my freebie page.  I cut them from the fabric then again from a backing fabric to add sturdiness.  I usually use felt, but you can use burlap, stiff linen or cotton, or another upholstery fabric if you want both sides of your leaf to be beautiful. 

With the two fabrics pinned together, I stitch around the contour in a long zig-zag stitch and then again in a short close zig-zag stitch, pins removed. Trim any unraveled fabric threads close to the edge.  I free stitch the veins using a straight stitch, and then stitch again close to the first veins in a different color. But you could use a decorative stitch for the veins too.

If you’d like a stem for your leaves, slip a string, cord or narrow braid between the fabric and the backing of  your leaf before beginning to stitch around the edge.  

I like to add some fauna, by sewing on a tiny moth or butterfly, as if it’s resting there. I’ve included a pattern for a butterfly on the template. Assemble it as you do the leaves, and sew on a bead, button, piece of cord or pipe cleaner for the body.  Or sculpt a body in clay or fimo.

• Uses – What are you going to do with your pile of colorful fabric leaves?  The most obvious use is for home decoration:  decorate your holiday table, use them in a centerpiece, hang them as a garland, incorporate them into a wreath, make individual hanging ornaments. And you can use them as gift tags as well. 

Don’t forget wearable art. Sew on a clasp for a brooch. To wear them in your hair, just attach a clip, barrette, or hair comb to the back.  Sew your leaves onto a scarf, cape or poncho. Add ribbon to either end of your leaf and tie it around your bun.

I’m sure you’ll come up with even more ideas!

Are you ready to begin your collection of permanent fabric leaves that will never fade, dry out, turn brown or crumble in your hand?

I wonder if many people have lucky objects, a lucky charm that goes everywhere with them to turn events in their favor, avert danger or just for general protection. Like the lucky rabbit’s foot.

Even if you don’t have a good luck charm, I’m sure you’re delighted when you find a four-leaf clover, or when you get the longer part of the wishbone, or when a ladybug lands on you.  I’ll take any luck that comes my way!

I’ve made some silk ladybug soft sculptures and of course I did a little research on why they are considered lucky.

According to one legend, in the Middle Ages in Europe, crops were being destroyed by insects. After praying to the Virgin for help, the farmers saw the beetles devour the pests and thus save their crops.  The beetles came to be known as our lady’s birds or ladybirds, (changed to ladybugs in the US) the red wing-casings representing Mary’s cloak and the spots her joys and sorrows.

 In the Coccinellidae family, these beetles can found all over the world. And they are are lucky in many cultures. 

For the Japanese, the luckiest are those with seven spots.

In French folklore, if a ladybird beetle landed on you, whatever ailment you had would fly away as the insect flew away. 

If you hold a  Ladybird  in your hand while making a wish,  the direction towards which it flies away  shows where your luck will come from!

How about you, what is your lucky charm?

Who is Maria Sibylla Merian anyway, you ask?

Well, she was a 17^th century scientific illustrator, born in Frankfurt in 1647, who painted beautiful and accurate pictures of insects and plants. 

What’s so special about that, you say?  I’ll give you  5 reasons why this  lady was extraordinary.

An Early Start Let’s begin with insects.  Back in the 17^th century, insects had an even worse reputation than they do now.  They were associated with the devil, and thought to arise from inanimate matter, like dust or mud. Well, Maria, at the tender age of thirteen, began painting insects and plants directly from her own collection, encouraged by her step-father, Jacob Marrel, a still-life painter and engraver.  She observed her own caterpillars change into beautiful butterflies and moths, and thus she was one of the world’s first entomologists, observing, then educating people about the process of metamorphosis through her images.

Publishing and Earning Her Own Money  In 1665, Maria Sibylla married Marrell’s pupil, Johann Andreas Graff, and they had two daughters. They moved to Nuremburg in 1667 where Maria Sibylla continued painting, created designs for embroidery and also gave drawing lessons to daughters of wealthy families. Her activities helped her family financially and gave her access to fine gardens owned by these rich families.   She collaborated with her husband on publishing her first two books: New Book of Flowers (1675-80) and Caterpillars, Their Wondrous Transformation and Peculiar Nourishment from Flowers (1679-83).  In 1685, She left her husband, moved to Amsterdam, supporting her and her daughters by selling her paintings, and in 1699, undertook a voyage to Suriname, the Dutch Colony in South America.

Voyage to Suriname  Familiar with  many of the natural history collections owned by the wealthy elites of Amsterdam, Maria Sibylla yearned to learn the secrets of insects’ metamorphoses by observing  living creatures instead of inanimate specimens . The city of Amsterdam sponsored a journey to  Suriname for Maria Sibylla and her younger daughter, Dorothea. Purely scientific expeditions were unusual at this time and for a woman to undertake such a voyage was even more exceptional. The two women spent two years in the South America “a hot and humid land where swarms of insects are there for the capture”.  She used direct observation to capture them in watercolors and engravings, studying, collecting, recording everything about the exotic plants and animals they encountered in her journals. She discovered many animal and plant species as yet unknown to Europeans.

An Original Way of Depicting Insects The two women returned to Amsterdam in 1701 and published the first edition of Metamorphosis of the Insects of Suriname in 1705. Sixty full-page engraved plates with text on the facing pages. They also issued a deluxe edition hand-colored by the author and her daughters. As you can see in the images here, the artist depicts the full life-cycle of each species on its particular food plant in a single image, and she was one of the first scientific illustrators to do so.

Recognized by some, Ignored by Others. Linneaus (the father of modern zoological classification) cited her work in his research, but her work was not considered important by 19^th century British naturalists who doubted the scientific reliability of work by a woman. Not surprising somehow, right? Well, here’s a good one: in 1669, the Italian biologist Marcello Malpighi published a work in which he described his discovery of the metamorphosis of silkworms into moths. Apparently he hadn’t heard of Maria Sibylla who had documented this phenomenon nearly 10 years earlier in her journal when she was thirteen!

Today this independent and adventurous  lady is recognized  as one of the world’s most talented scientific illustrators and one of the world’s first entomologists. Her life is an absolute inspiration to me!

Collections:

National Museum of Women in the Arts, Washington, DC

The British Museum, London

Department of Special Collections, Memorial Library, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Academy of Sciences, St Petersburg

There are 95 watercolours by Merian in the Royal Collection, bought in 1755   by George III, when he was Prince of Wales.

A huge thank you to Stacey from BelleMaisonArt for allowing me to post her images to illustrate this post. Please go check out her shop if you’d like to purchase a print. She has 10 prints from  the “Metamorphosis Insectorum Surinamensium” published in 1705.

If you’d like to learn more:

Chrysalis: Maria Sibylla Merian and the Secrets of Metamorphosis by Kim Todd  (Amazon UK / Amazon US)

My new collection of hair accessories is Alice in Wonderland meets Maria Sibylla Merian, the 17th century botantical artist who carefully observed insects directly and documented their lifecycles. Her drawings and engravings are still collected today!

A mixture of fantasy and authenticity.

In other words, you can wear these accessories in your hair for your very important tea party, but also as you go about your daily activities, even if you’re not an entomologist!

Adorn your locks with flora and fauna, mix and match, tiny or over-sized butterflies, moths, dragonflies, leaves in satin, velvet, moire, lace, silk.

Check out the collection and tell me what you think! Any specific butterfly you’d love to wear in your hair?

ps.  there’s a code for free shipping in my next newsletter, coming out tomorrow, Tuesday July 23, 2013.  Subscribe below!

Having recently participated in a Fashion and Accessory Salon here in Lyon, I’m still a bit excited and exhilarated.  I had a great time.  But apparently this wasn’t the case for everyone.

The salon organizers  held a get-together for the exhibitors on the evening of the second day of the three-day event, a typical aperitif in the French style (they do those so well) with beautiful and tasty canapés, pitchers of Sangria, water and juice catered by The Rolling Cantine, a local food truck.  Conversation was lively for these exhibitors who had just spent two days on their feet. And they seemed to fall into two groups: those who had made lots of sales and those who hadn’t. It didn’t help that the number of visitors was down this year compared to previous years.

This was my first time participating in this salon, and I must admit,  I hoped for more sales.  However, I consider it to have been a success in terms of other goals:

1. I got lots of subscribers for my new French language monthly newsletter.  I already publish a newsletter in English, but this leaves out many French speakers who don’t read English, or who are just more comfortable in French.  Now, I have the challenge of writing in what is for me a foreign language!

2. A few shops are interested in carrying my work.  I have to get my winter line in tip top shape to present to these local shops this summer.

3. Lots of new product ideas: Japanese good luck beetles and dragonflies in silk, insects for hat decoration in a partnership with a hat designer, and hair accessories, to name a few.

So, I still came away with some value, even if it wasn’t in the form of tons of sales and I hope the other exhibitors reached their non-sales goals.

What goals do you set for a craft fair or salon?

]]> http://blueterracotta.com/handmade/id-dart-lyon-fashion-accessory-salon-2013/feed/ 1 http://blueterracotta.com/handmade/id-dart-preparation-part-2/ http://blueterracotta.com/handmade/id-dart-preparation-part-2/#respond Tue, 21 May 2013 08:12:34 +0000 http://blueterracotta.com/?p=1595 It’s now three days from the show and I’m nearly finished with the preparations I began writing about in this post. On my fantasy forest theme, […]]]>

It’s now three days from the show and I’m nearly finished with the preparations I began writing about in this post.

On my fantasy forest theme, I’ve been collecting and painting branches for a few weeks.  The branches of different sizes also allow me to display my creatures on varoius levels, making it visually more interesting and less confusing for prospective customers.

Level 1: On the table will be one or more branches for the cicadas and small baskets for hair clips and rings.

Level 2: Vases filled with branches as a support for butterflies and moths. I was able to try out my vases at a pop up show in Paris a couple of weeks ago.  I had only a table and a backdrop, rather than a booth with walls, so the branches in the vases became a second level.  Hanging from the branches, the butterflies swayed slightly with the air currents.

Level 3: Larger branches attached to the walls, allowing me to spread out my creatures even more.

The goal is to make a booth that is visually attractive and coherent without being overcrowed with stuff. I’m hoping that my colorful forest and gently swaying butterflies will make visitors want to come in, get a closer look and possibly even take something home!

A customer recently ordered a cicada brooch from me, telling me how beautiful she thinks these insects are, and how excited she is that the 17-year cicadas are about to emerge in her part of the world. Some folks like cicadas and some don’t. There aren’t any here in the city where I live, but  I really enjoy making them. I guess I’m compensating, because I love them!  While making some for an upcoming show, I got the urge to put them in a little scene, for fun. Just a reminder to step out of the crowd once in a while!

If you have a friend who would enjoy this, please share!

I’ve been selected to participate in the local salon ID d’Art, (mode et accessoires) taking place here in Lyon, May 24 through 26.  It was very exciting when I got the news! But then the tasks of coming up with a theme & props, deciding what to take, and actually making everything quickly overwhelmed me. So after making a list of products to take, from best-sellers to new ideas, to some lower-priced items, I began working through the piles of sewing, but also making the props to highlight my nature theme.

As you can tell from the name, I use orange (or brownish-orange) and blue for my business, so I’ve decided to stick with those colors.  I checked out a lot of display ideas on the internet, ready-made displays for all types of products, and also DIY ideas, but I really want to have an original style, so I’m going to use branches of different sizes.

Some branches will be standing in terracotta vases or pots.

Others will be directly on the table for the cicadas and beetles to climb on.

Two or three other larger branches will be in the corners of the booth for some larger insects and creatures to rest on.

I found the branches in the park the days after heavy winds, before the gardeners cleaned up. After sanding, I put on a coat of primer, and then two coats of acrylic paint.  As for the terracotta pots, I’m still looking for inexpensive unfinished pots, that is if I don’t end up making my own!

I love natural history museum displays and you can see the desert locusts photographed in London (photo above) which inspired my branches for the cicadas. This is only part 1, I have a lot of painting, sewing and sculpting to do. And figure out how to get the cicadas to stay on the branches! Come back in a couple of weeks to see how it’s going.

I hope you’ve had a wonderful weekend, a long weekend in some places!

With the end of winter taking a good long time to arrive in the Northern hemisphere, I can’t help yearning for more color, especially the green of the leaves that  will cover the trees, yes, even in the city.

I used to hate the color green, I had a real aversion to it. Maybe it was the sickening avocado green of our kitchen, or the forest green in my crayola box that went unused because I found it dark and depressing. When I was a kid, I just knew that green was my least favorite color. I avoided it every time.

So I was surprised when I started to find green attractive after so long. I’ve begun noticing leaf green, spring green, lime green, refreshing and harkening the return of spring, the colors of new leaves and certain insects. I even find olive green soothing. I suppose I’ve been affected by the modern association of green with the natural world, protecting the environment, and my love of insects, many of them green. Historically, before the Romantic period, green was a chemically unstable color, dyes which were made from green vegetation (they did not mix blue and yellow at the time) were difficult to fix, green colors were the first to fade. Green symbolized change, luck and also its opposite, misfortune. Since then, though, it has become symbolic of freshness, cleanliness and health.

And since clothing and its colors affect not only how we perceive others as we interact with them but also our own moods as we wear different clothes and colors, I’m trying to add some of this newly loved green to my outifts in the form of scarves, gloves, hair accessories too. And a few green accents around the house can’t hurt either.

So here are my Mood lifting tweaks for everyday:

Get more of a color you love into your life, at home and wherever you go:

• Wear brightly colored accessories: scarves, brooches, cuffs, gloves, earrings, barrettes, neckties to instantly lift your mood.
• Change your home ‘accessories’, cloth napkins, pillows, towels, tablecloths, in spring colors and bring spring inside even before the flowers have bloomed.
• And most important, don’t wait for a special occasion, brighten up each day and make it a habit!

I’d love to know what your favorite colors are! How do you incorporate them into your life? Do you drench your home in them or are they accents? Do you wear them to accessorize, or as the main color of your outfit? Please leave a comment below!

And if you know someone who’d like this, please share!

I wanted to share a few photos from the Top Drawer Trade Show in London, where we had a fun time meeting shop owners and also other makers! I’m still following up with some shop owners…this seems to be the hardest part!

I’ll be in London exhibiting at the Top Drawer Trade Show  January 13-15! I’m so excited to be participating.  If you’d like to feature some of my fabric creatures in your shop, please come by and see them!  New for spring: soft sculpture snails, dragonflies for the wall, butterfly necklaces! I’ll see you at stand W34.

Here’s a tutorial to help you create a brooch (or a few!) to give this holiday season, or any time.  It’s easy, quick (5 basic steps), and fun! So, get out your bag of fabric scraps, mix, match, choose and get started.

If you didn’t get the template in your e-mail, it’s here:

http://blueterracotta.com/download-page/

Supplies: You’ll need a pretty fabric for the front of your butterfly and another for the backing.  Thread can be matching or contrasting.  Then a slightly darker fabric for the body, a tiny piece, 1.5 x about 1.5 or 2 inches. Embroidery floss for the antennae plus one metal brooch clasp for each brooch, available at a jewelry supply store or craft shop.

I use sturdy upholstery fabric a lot, and for this project I chose one with silvery threads in it, shiny for the holidays! But you can use a softer fabric like silk, as long as you use a backing fabric that’s a little stiffer; it will hold its shape better and last longer.

• Step 1 Cut two upperwing pieces and two underwing pieces, one in each fabric.

You’ve got four pieces.  Don’t forget to clip the underwing pieces to the top of the line drawn on the pattern, to make it look like two separate wings:

• Step 2  Pin and then stitch main fabric to backing and stitch veins.

I use a lot of pins to sew around the curves without messing up.  I stitch once around, close to the edge using a wide zigzag stitch on a long stitch length, then continue around with the same width stitch, but closer together (shorten your stitch length). Practice on a scrap to see how you like it; this really depends on the finished look you want.

This is the first stitching. Then I stitched around twice more using the shorter stitch to get the dark blue outline I wanted.

For the veins, you can do them freehand, or you can mark them on the back and follow with the machine. You can also embroider them. I use the paper pattern and mark the veins with pins and follow the pins, like a connect-the-dots, connecting the point at which the pin enters the fabric. But I don’t know how Mother Nature gets those veins so symmetrical!

I take the pins out as I go, starting with the middle vein as a reference; I left them in here to illustrate!

• Step 3 Sew upperwings and underwings together.

You can pin the  wings together using the wing placement guide on the template. I straight-stitch along the bottom zigzag stitch to attach.

And here’s a view from the back so far:

• Step 4  Make and attach the body.

Butterfly bodies can be made from many different materials: pipecleaners, wire, cord, cord wrapped in fabric, anything really that might look like a body.

Especially for smaller bodies like this one, you can also roll fabric up to make a body.  I cut a piece of upholstery fabric (but you could also use linen, silk, cotton, etc) 1.5 inches (about 4 cm) wide: that will be the length of your body.  I cut it about 2 inches (about 5 cm) long, to have plenty to roll, but I ended up cutting off most of it, as my fabric was thick. Give yourself some extra to get the body thickness you like.

Roll to desired thickness and pin.

When it’s as fat as you want it, cut off the excess and slip stitch the edge.

Then, using the same thread, begin to wrap your thread around the body, not so tight as to flatten it, but to give it a realistic look. Wrap a few times, then take a stitch in the underside, then again several times.

I pull a bit tighter to mark a separation between the head and the thorax. Also, a few stitches at the end so it doesn’t come apart. Some loose fabric threads are fine, as some butterflies are a bit furry anyway.

Next, attach the body to the wings. Using the same color thread, I stitched from the back up through one side of the body, wrapped the thread around the body and stitched back down underneath on the other side, to the backing.  Near the tail, in the middle, near the head.

• Step 5 Details – Antennae and clasp

Using embroidery floss, I stiched the antennae, starting inside the rolled fabric. I stiched through two of the inside layers, but if your fabric might fray, you can go through all layers well away from the edge. Leave the thread out the length you want the first antennae, then stitch a few times into the head. Finally, cut the second antennae to the same length as the first.

I make knots only at the very ends of the antennae.

Almost finished! Just sew a brooch clasp onto the back, in the center, under one wing, however you think it would look best!

And there you have it, a butterfly to give or to keep!

Let me know in the comments below if this was useful. Are you going to make some butterflies?

This spider aims to please, so even if you thought you didn’t like spiders, look again!

Her long linen legs are graceful. Her rounded abdomen is in beautiful black and gold kimono silk, with upholstery fabric underneath.

She has four bead eyes, the better to see you with, my dear!

She’ll hang in your living room, stand on a table, and keep you company at teatime. And she won’t frighten you away!

Available here.

After making a few small beetles, I couldn’t figure out how to present them. Wire legs or soft legs? As soft sculptures? Too big to be brooches or to go on a necklace.

I had been playing around with the idea of framed textile butterflies, to offer some artwork for your walls, you know, the blank ones that you don’t know what to do with.  And then I finally found some wooden frames, new ones at BHV and vintage ones at the second hand shop in town. The beetles are making it into the frames before the butterflies, because I just love these little scarabs and I have to get them out into the world!

I finally made the legs from yarn and faux leather. Antennae in faux leather cord. Stitched everything to a burlap background, and fitted the base back into the frame, minus the glass. This beetle jumps out from the background, like a relief.

In the shop soon, along with some others.

Creams and massages. Flattering necklines. And accessories, of course. Scarves and neckwarmers when it’s cool, jewelry in warm weather. And what about wearable textile art?  Treat your neck to a small piece of sculpture!

Furry, sheer, light, textured, colorful, contrasting, silky. Chunky chains and beads. So many different butterflies to wear around your neck.

I know lots of people who don’t like insects, they are creepy, annoying, they bite, etc.  However, once you take a closer look, you can’t deny their intricate beauty. My favorites are beetles, and I was having a look at John Galliano’s spring collection 2004 for Christian Dior the other day on YouTube. If you’ve seen videos of this Egyptian-themed show, you’ll remember the amazing and often outrageous clothes, the models’ backward-bending poses, and even the masks. Many of the outfits had scarab accessories, hanging down from the ears, pinned the the chest, as belts, grouped together on necklaces. I was so inspired that I just had to make some fabric scarabs, for the only thing that rivals my love of insects is my fascination with ancient Egyptian art. Shiny vintage fabrics, faceted bead eyes, with legs drawn in marker, at least for now, in the sketchbook phase. I’d love to know: Which insects are your favorites? Leave a comment below.

 Fabric: scraps, sample pages, vintage. Antique lace. Baskets, books, buttons, boxes. Ribbon and cord. Cards and the kids’ drawings. These are just some of the things that I collect, accumulate, can’t part with.  Some stuff is stored neatly away, some of it is on shelves, some in messy piles for all to see, or step around. What is clutter for my husband is comforting to me.  So, feeling guilty, (“Am I taking up more than my fair share of space in our apartment?”)  I try nonetheless to defend my stuff,   telling the family that I need fabric and supplies for my business, and well, I can’t throw this or that away, because you never know when we might need it…

Naturally I was  happy to discover Megan Auman’s new site StuffDoesMatter.com and her interview with Grace Bonney on Design Sponge.  Megan defends the value of material things that are important to us, saying that the things we love are part of how we experience the world.  My collections are a way of sorting out and understanding my world, getting a “hold on it” so to speak. Of course, my husband just sees chaos, but it all depends on your point of view.

Some other objects remind me of my connection to my family. Like the pair of small brass vases that my grandfather made. They spent years on the shelf over the sink at my grandparents’ house,  then my mom had them in her home for a few years, and finally gave them to me. My grandfather had wanted to be a cartoonist, but certain circumstances in his life made it a dream that just didn’t come true. He always encouraged me to keep drawing, and when I was in high school, I intended to become a cartoonist or an illustrator. I don’t know if I got my love of art from pop, or what else he created  in his workshop besides those vases, but whenever I see them today, on my shelf over the sink, I remember him bringing “artist” into the realm of possible paths early in my life.

What about you?  What stuff in your life has the most meaning?

I found a beautiful piece of tapestry upholstery fabric, really just a 14″ x 14″ square page from a sample book at the interior designer’s down the street. I made some big dramatic moths as ornaments to hang on the wall, or on the mantel.

For the photo shoot, I taped him on, but he has a loop on the back for hanging on the wall.  These have sold, but I’ll be making more soon.

white brocade spider

tea time with a spider from Laura Jacquemond on Vimeo.

We all know the nursery rhyme in which Miss Muffet can’t finish her meal because of a surprise visit from a spider. But why are we so afraid of spiders? Is it those long legs (eight of them!), the crawling around, the web? I’ve been trying to be kinder to insects and arachnids, letting daddy long legs live in certain corners, and putting the others out the window, instead of freaking out or (heavens no!) squashing them.
I began this spider project by asking, “What if you loved insects and spiders as much as you love puppies?” “What would make them irresistible?”

While I was working on the spiders and making the video, I came across a passage in Joseph Campbell’s Primitive Mythology on this very subject. According to Freud, the arachnid as a fear-releasing sign, “whether in the nursery rhyme of Miss Muffet or in the labyrinths of modern life” comes from “an unconscious association with the phallic mother”. Anyway, that’s Freud’s point of view.

I believe we can learn to like spiders and appreciate their beauty…but I do admit that the very big ones with long pointed legs that we find in the bathtub sometimes still send me into a frenzy and I get my husband to put them outside! I’m working on it.

Lycaenidae, the world’s second largest family of butterflies. Easy-to-love for their bright colors. I’m especially attracted to the ones with the graphic and bold (or delicate) black outlines and veins. I want to honor them, magnify them to draw your attention to them. Let their beauty become a part of yours. Wear one or more. Let them flit around your room. Watch them swing from a ribbon from your lamp or chair, while they wait to adorn your outfit.

Tara Gentile, who is coaching a group of business owners (yes, I’m in the group!), inspired us to clarify the big picture for our businesses. I’m trying to set down in words my why…the why behind the creation of my images. Where do all the insects, birds and other creatures come from, or why do they appear?

When I was in college studying art, I was fascinated with non-western art: I studied the art of the Ivory Coast, the art of Zimbabwe, the stories of the Yorubas, ancient Egyptian art, Minoan art, Native American art; I was in love with the Minoan snake goddess, the Egyptian ushabtis and scarabs, Peruvian textile art.

I spent as much time as possible visiting my favorite museums: the Louvre during my year in Paris, trips to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts and to the Met when I lived in Massachusetts, the Smithsonian when I was in my native Maryland.

Although the large scale sculptures were impressive, the small amulets, figurines and everyday objects held the most fascination for me. I could study them for hours, amazed at how the artists or artisans incorporated these beautiful images, which embodied so much meaning for their culture, into seemingly banal objects, tools, utensils or decorative items. Which meant that the people were daily surrounded by the images and symbols that held spiritual and cultural importance. These images supported what they believed, and helped them through difficult times, or through the passage from one life stage to the next.

Each time I left a museum, I would wish I could touch some of the objects, hold them in my hand, feel their weight and texture, have them with me, contemplate their meaning. No, I didn’t ever want to steal anything. It was a longing for meaningful objects in my life. And this led me to create my own. I began to work on smaller sculptures, amulets and figurines in ceramic.

Today I work in ceramic and textile. I believe that people need ritual and myths in their lives, to get from one stage to the next, to deal with difficulties, to find their place or identity.

“It has always been the prime function of mythology and rite to supply the symbols that carry the human spirit forward, in counteraction to those other constant human fantasies that tend to tie it back.” Joseph Campbell (The Hero with a Thousand Faces)

“…there is something in these initiatory images so necessary to the psyche that if they are not supplied from without, through myth and ritual, they will have to be announced, again, through dream, from within…” Joseph Campbell (The Hero with a Thousand Faces)

According to Campbell, in the absence of the medicine-man, the witch-doctor and the shaman, we have psychoanalysts.

Or perhaps the artist.

I aim to help people find objects that hold importance for them, a symbol they need at a certain time in their lives. My creatures come from nature, inspired by myth, story and folklore. You can connect to one that is right for you. You can grasp it, wear it, contemplate it, incorporate it into your personal ritual, let it remind you of your strength, your connection to something bigger, your power, your wisdom, your resiliency in the face of difficulty and change.

What images do you surround yourself with?  I believe it matters.

Big, bold very-long-tailed Saturniid moth in vintage wool and satin.  Only a few available in these colors, as the satin is from a sample catalog.

I was excited to send eight small woolen owls to La Casa das Portas in Tavira, Portugal last week! These owls will be for sale in this lovely shop, which of course I haven’t visited myself (but I would love to!).

These owls are especially warm, made from mostly vintage wools, perfect for the upcoming long winter nights. They’ll keep you company while snuggle on the sofa with a good book on a cold gray day.

If you’re going to be in sunny Tavira, stop by and visit the shop! If not, these owls are for sale in my shop, made to order.

Here we are for another merry-go-round post: eleven women blog about one topic, each from her own point of view. This month, a tutorial.

Here’s a quick and easy tutorial to make a business card holder from faux leather scraps. It looks like an owl, but you could make changes for a different animal. This eye-catching holder will grab people’s attention as you hand them a business card.

Why an owl? Well, I make animal art, so it goes well with my theme. If your business has anything to do with animals, this is perfect. Are you a pet groomer, birdwatcher, dog walker, zoo keeper, animal trainer, lion tamer? Use the pattern as is, or alter it for an animal closer to your line of work or lifestyle.

I’ve prepared a PDF tutorial with a pattern that you can download.

In this post, I’ll just give you the basic instructions. If you’re interested, go on over to my freebie page and download the instructions and pattern.

So, let’s get started!

Materials:

I used fake leather scraps which I buy online in the form of sample catalogs. Here’s a great source for fake leather pieces:

StarofSupplies

If you have fabric scraps in your sewing basket, you can cut some of the features from those. I’ve used fabric for the wings in this tutorial and the ‘ear’ linings.

I used felt to face the upper body section. It covers the back of the ‘ear’ tufts and gives a clean finish to the back of your holder.

Here’s what you need to cut:

From there, in just five easy sewing steps, you’ll have your card holder. (Instructions are beneath the corresponding photo)

1. Sew the eyes, pupils, beak and wings onto the front above the fold line using a zig zag or straight stitch.

2. Line the ‘ear’ tufts placing a fabric piece against a fake leather piece, wrong sides together. Stitch around the edges with a zig zag stitch. Do this for both tufts.

3. Fold the tufts in half towards the side marked ‘outside’. This side will be on the outside of the owl’s head. Stitch in place.

Then, attach the tufts to the top of the head. I placed them about 1/4 inch from the outside edges and they extend about 7/8 inch at the top of the head.

This is what they look like from the front.

4. Sew on the felt facing to the back of the head, stitching across the top about 1/8 inch from the edge.

5. Fold the card  holder crosswise on foldline and stitch up the sides about 1/8 inch from side edge.

Reinforce the top edges as they will get a lot of wear and tear as you put your cards in and take them out.

And there you have your owl business card holder with your cards snug inside!

If you’d like to see and try more amazing tutorials, check out the other members’ posts!

We are from different time zones, so don’t forget to come back if the post isn’t up yet.

Monika at Red2White

Ruth at Birdland Creations

Kim at Vilt a la Kim

Sara at Crafts of Texture

Mariana at Florcita

Agathe at Le Bar du Vent

Mitsy at ArtMind

Jen at Painted Fish Studio

Samantha at Vintage is for Lovers

Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles

I’ve been back from the US for nearly a month, but I haven’t had time to post! So much to do in the fall.

Well, I brought back lots of lovely vintage wools and I’ve begun creating with them. My favorite is this copper underwing moth, made from an unfinished skirt that I bought for the beauty of the nubby wool. The underwings are in a luscious brown silk. Underwings are usually drab on top, to help them blend in with their surroundings. They have bright wings underneath, that they can flash at predators, I suppose to startle them, or to indicate that they are not good to eat. This one can be worn as a brooch, and hung by a cord in your home when you’re not wearing it!

I had a lot of fun making these, and have sold some already! I have to try and make one for myself too, this time.

I also got a new camera and I’m having so much fun photographing my new pieces (and re-photographing the old ones)! Camille has been a good sport and agreed to model.

It’s time for the merry-go-round topic of the month, which eleven women discuss, each from her own point of view. This month the question is “Do you take a holiday from your craft or art?”

I’m in the US visiting my sister and her family this summer holiday. Being away from home and the studio forces us to take a break, at least from regular creating. But the change of surroundings, the hot weather, the family activities and time outdoors create a relaxed frame of mind, allowing inspiration to bubble up. To keep track of ideas, I draw in my sketchpad using wax crayons and markers to make it more colorful and fun! My pad is full of beetles, moths, butterflies and exotic fish.

And as I can’t seem to stay away from sewing for long, I’m working on some small animal plushies made from vintage patterns with my nine-year-old niece. Lots of skills for her to learn: reading a pattern, cutting, marking, stuffing firmly, finishing a project. We’ve made a bear cub, a donkey and a giraffe so far.

We all need breaks from regular activities, even if we love what we do. Perhaps especially if we love what we do, and want to continue loving it. While we may not be constantly making art, artists are always, to quote Anne Lamott, “taking in everything that comes along, seeing it as grist for the mill.” She was talking about writers, but I think it applies to all creatives.
Have a great holiday wherever you are, and soak in all that you can!

Here are my favorite summer books (very inspiring):

Bird by Bird Anne Lamott
A Whole New Mind Daniel H. Pink
Wicked Bugs Amy Stewart
An Inordinate Fondness for Beetles Arthur Evans and Charles Bellamy

Find out what the other merry-go-round members are doing on their holiday. We’re in several time zones, so check back if the post you’re looking for isn’t up yet.

Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Mitsy at ArtMind
Jen at Painted Fish Studio
Samantha at Vintage is for Lovers
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles

Here’s the finished video! Sebastien came over and worked on it; I watched, took some notes, but I don’t have the technical know-how to do the editing myself. I watched a master craftsman at work. He was amazingly precise, leaving no detail untended. He asked me at every step what I preferred, from the dissolves to the fonts, the colors, the timing. A huge THANK YOU to Sebastien at Green Goes Productions. If you’re an artist in or near Lyon, he’d be happy to work with you on your next video. You can contact him at greengoesprod@gmail.com.

Here’s the second part of my making a video series. Part 1 is here. This is my first stop-action video, but as I work on it, I’m getting ideas for more!

We filmed one morning this past week. Unfortunately, I don’t have any photos of us filming since I was using my camera and the kids were at school.

I taped a large sheet of white Canson paper to the floor for the background. The tripod was positioned about chest high with the camera pointed downward. From the floor, I moved the ‘moveable’ parts slightly while Sebastien shot the photos and helped guide me by telling me what it looked like.
This is how we shot the first two sections of the ‘video story’.

The third section was shot vertically against a mantelpiece, still using the tripod.

Those are the dry facts.

This is how it really went:

We worked barefoot so as not to step on and crush any creatures, various scissors and props scattered on the floor. The caterpillar kept falling over, and so had to be anchored with fake clay behind him. In fact we kept everything secured with tape or clay. Sebastien was convinced that the stunt butterfly was smaller than the butterfly who played the lead, although I assured him they were made from the same pattern.

My daughter Camille, who modeled for the second section, had to lie on the floor under the tripod and gradually move her body out of the picture. All the ‘extras’ got to be in the video at the end, even though most of the video featured our leading lady, blue butterfly. The sun was fairly cooperative, but as I look back over the photos today, I realize how much the sun changes in three hours. Anyway, it was such a fun morning, like playing with dolls again: flashback to childhood in a good way!

I’ve added some photos of the extras who had a small role in the video, and will be on sale soon in my shop!

It’s time for this month’s merry-go-round post, where eleven women write about one topic.

This month, we’re taking inspiration from last month’s photos. I was inspired by Kim’s photo of the aquilegia flower in her garden.

Some pink silk, upholstery fabric for the leaves, and wire stems. I looked at some illustrations of the flower to see how the leaves are shaped, and made a prototype from linen. And I came up with two silk flowers.

I even kept the pattern, so I can make more! Just in case you didn’t click on Kim’s photo above, here it is:

Don’t forget to check the other merry-go-round members’ posts. We’re in different time zones, so please check back if a post isn’t up yet!

Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Mitsy at ArtMind
Jen at Painted Fish Studio
Samantha at Vintage is for Lovers
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles

Everyone is telling her story these days. I love reading stories, and I love when others share theirs. I’ve decided to let my products, hem…I mean creatures, tell their story. What better way than in a video?

I was inspired by Megan Auman’s video challenge. By the time I found out about it, it was too late to enter, but she gives advice and detailed tutorials to get makers making videos about their work. I hope you are inspired too!

These are my steps so far:

• My actor friend introduced me to an AV student willing to work with me.
• We corresponded about our ideas for a stop-action video.
• We met to see where, how and when we’d shoot: in my sunny living room with my camera, with his tripod and editing skills.
• We set a tentative date to edit. This is where I’ll learn from him so that I can make more videos on my own.
• I’ve spent a week so far making props: caterpillars, leaves, butterflies…

I’m including a few preview photos. Can you guess what the story is?

Here we are for this month’s merry-go-round post: eleven women who write about one topic, each from her own perspective.

This time we are writing about a photo that affects us in some way.

I really love looking at this photo, a sunflower, taken by Emi at f2images. Its colors calm me. Its tiny details intrigue me. The texture makes me want to run my fingers over it. The aged aspect of the photo attracts me. Even though this flower is not at the height of its beauty, its beauty still shines through. A little faded, a little withered.

Decay fascinates no less than flowering beauty.

Don’t forget to check out the other members’ photos. We are in different time zones, so if their post isn’t up yet, please come back a little later!

Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Mitsy at ArtMind
Jen at Painted Fish Studio
Samantha at Vintage is for Lovers
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles

I’ve been working hard all week to finish my new mosaic tiles and get them ready for sale. Natural History is the theme, as always! Butterflies, moths, dragonflies, fish and foxes to be more precise. Available in my etsy shop today. Perfect for your mosaic creations!

I’ll put them on my French shop as soon as I’ve translated the descriptions…always the most difficult part!

A trip to the thrift shop today didn’t turn up a kettle. I need one now that I let my vintage copper kettle burn, with not enough water in it. I consoled myself with a trip to another thrift shop, a block away from our apartment: Emmaüs, where I found this vintage table runner with beautiful lace trim. When I saw it, I knew it was perfect for…something!

The pale yellow fabric will most likely become moth wings. There’s enough lace to use some for a creature to add to my menagerie, and some to print on clay.

For now it’s draped over the chair, while I let the ideas come.

Here we are with the Merry go round group, eleven women who take a look at one topic, seeing it in her own way. This month it’s time management or how we juggle our time.

Time management is one of the hardest aspects of working at home. It’s just too easy to get overwhelmed by the many tasks, familial, business, creating, etc. that need doing and freeze. Or to get lost in an activity and realize that the whole day has slipped by leaving some essential things unaccomplished. So much to do, the clock is ticking and the to do list seems to be getting longer, instead of shorter.

I suppose everyone sees time differently. I see the day as an opportunity to make something, and spend some time with my family. But for me, the term “time management” pulls up the image of something needing to be rounded up, lassoed, and tamed.

Can something so elusive as time be “managed”? Well, at least we have to try.

Before telling you what works for me as far as time management goes, I’ll tell you about the two problems I have; you may have the same ones.

The first is that I love to daydream, scheme and plan. I need time to just mull ideas over, draw diagrams, sketch, etc. I must schedule it in, give it a ‘slot’, lest it take over, preventing me from actually creating and producing anything.

The other is my feeling of panic when anything unexpected comes up, throwing off my carefully planned schedule. This week, we lost internet service for a couple of days, and I had to spend some time on the phone with technicians. On Tuesday, I actually calculated, with tears in my eyes, how much production time I had lost. Am I obsessed?

So here’s what I do to keep on track and feel productive and inspired, not overwhelmed:

• Consider fixed activities: daily (meals and laundry for example), weekly (part-time job at eight hours per week, shopping, taking my son to soccer), yearly (vacation in the US), and even once-in-a-while activities, (housework is in this category for me!)

• Working around those fixed activities, schedule different types of business or creative work each week: production, marketing, photography, writing descriptions, accounting, classes or coaching sessions.

• I highlight priorities, those which absolutely must get done by a certain time, in my day planner. Yes, I still use old fashioned pen and ink on paper for my schedule.

• Write my priority ‘to-dos’ in the evening for the next day. In the morning, I know what I must get done that day.

• Block out interruptions that can throw me off track: I don’t answer the phone when I’m working unless it’s my kids or hubby; turn off the computer; ignore housework (I’m getting real good at this one!)

• Allow enough time for dreaming, drawing, getting inspiration, like the artist’s date in Julia Cameron’s The Artist’s Way. There’s nothing like watching a film on Saturday night with the kids while coloring and sketching, going to one of my favorite museums in the afternoon, every so often, or spending a few weeks in the USA to get some fresh ideas and inspiration.

• Don’t work at night, after dinner (we eat around 8:30pm here), except in exceptional circumstances, like writing this blog post!

• I try not to kick myself too hard if I don’t get everything done. I just move it over to the next day and highlight it!

I don’t know if I’ve “tamed” time and I hope it hasn’t “tamed” me instead. At any rate, I am creating stuff, getting it out in the world and having fun along the way.

Don’t forget to check out what the other members of the group have to say, and maybe pick up some tips yourself! We’re managing our time in different time zones, so if their post isn’t up yet, please check back later!

Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Mitsy at ArtMind
Jen at Painted Fish Studio
Samantha at Vintage is for Lovers
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles

Twenty-four white cotton and linen ghost moths (hepialus humuli) are on their way to Toronto. A week of almost non-stop sewing, white threads clinging to my clothes and covering the floor. And then I packed them up and shipped them off. For a window display in June.

These wonderful prints by Rebekah Leigh inspired me to add one to the wall above my sewing machine table. I bought the Singer sewing machine on the turquoise background (it’s available on pink, white or peach backgrounds too). Whenever I see it, it will remind me of my first sewing machine, a Singer, that my dad gave me.

Rebekah is from Bristol, UK and she has lots of wonderful prints in her shop at the moment, notably some birds that are very tempting too!

You can also stop by her blog to see what she’s up to.

Meanwhile, I’ve already chosen my next purchase: these lovely spools of thread!

Have you ever had someone ask for one of your business cards and have to wait while you fish around in the bottom of your purse for one? I had mine in an envelope, but of course it was worn and eventually split, spilling my cards out. Unprofessional and embarrassing.

Then I thought it would be great to have them in a holder that looked like the products I sell. Anytime I give out a card, people get a little ‘preview’ of my work.

I had wanted to try some new materials on my new sewing machine, so I bought some fake leather catalogues from starofsupplies. The pages are small, about 10″ x 7″, and there were between 20 and 30 pages in each. I got two catalogues and began making some prototypes of business card holders.

I created the owl first, since the shape lends itself easily to the card format. I lined it with felt, but I guess I didn’t need to. A pretty fabric might work though.

Moths and butterflies were trickier as I didn’t want a simple appliqué. The holder is starting to take the shape of a moth, but it’s still mostly just on the surface (appliqué!) so I’m still working on these.

Next up is a ladybug!

In the meantime, I’d love to know how you carry your business cards.

Here we are for this month’s merry-go-round topic, wherein eleven women take a look at the chosen topic, each one from her own personal angle. Up this month: an artist that inspires us.

For me, it’s definitely ancient and non-western art which has affected my work the most. I admire the sense of order and the technical mastery of the ancient Egyptians. I could gaze forever at the ivory masks from Benin. Ancient Peruvian textiles fascinate me. The Minoan snake goddess was my role model when I was at university! To name but a few. The sacred quality speaks to me, brought up in a society where rampant consumerism was the highest ideal for many.

But if I had to name an individual artist whose work has held my ongoing attention ever since I first saw his work, it has to be the Swedish artist, Claes Oldenburg. “Oh”, you might say, “the one who makes the giant soft sculptures of everyday objects?” That’s right! He was making my favorite pieces when I was a small girl, and I didn’t know who he was until I studied Art History. His objects are everyday, but what I find amazing is the way he forces us to look at them differently. He manipulates size and/or structure and we can’t help but smile in front of his work. I love the humor and the sheer fun of his pieces.

I remember seeing his giant typewriter eraser at the National Gallery in D.C.; for me it was the only way to make such an object interesting…make it huge!

My favorites of his soft sculptures are the bathtub and the fan. He takes away the outer structure and the object seems to be melting on the spot. Of course he had to devise an inner structure of an armature and padding for the fan (so that it isn’t just a pile of black vinyl), almost like a human skeleton. So what if it sags a bit; so do humans sometimes. I think as he ‘takes out’ the hard structure, he adds a bit of human softness and vulnerability.

I read recently that his first wife, Pat Muschinski, sewed many of his soft sculptures. I had never wondered how they were made, but it doesn’t surprise me, a woman can make amazing things with a sewing machine.

Don’t forget to read about the other merry-go-round members’ inspiring artists! We are in different time zones, so if their post isn’t up yet, check back a little later.

Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Mitsy at ArtMind
Jen at Painted Fish Studio
Samantha at Vintage is for Lovers
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles

I’ve been thinking about my grandmother a lot lately; I’m the age she was when I was born, when we met. She had a huge influence on my life, and though I didn’t recognize it as a child or teen, she was a great role model. She didn’t have much formal education, she didn’t work outside the home or have her own small business and she wasn’t an artist. But she raised two families, her own two children, and then my sister and me when my mom (her daughter) and dad decided to move their family in with her.

She never preached or told us what to do, but she set an example that is still with me today, and guides my daily activities.

1. Get Up Early
She got up early each day and had some time to herself, to read something inspirational and perhaps meditate. By the time she woke us up for school, she was ready to begin her work for the day, and she made us anything we wanted for breakfast.

2. Live in the Present
I never knew her to complain or dwell on the past, even after her husband died. She was a person who truly lived in the moment.

3. Be Thankful for What You Have
Just as she didn’t dwell on the past, she didn’t yearn for some unattainable future or tons of possessions. She was grateful for simple things like having a home and food to eat, her family near her, and special occasions to share with them.

4. Family is Important
She came from a large family, and kept in touch with her siblings, especially her sisters. She and her sister Lilian talked each night before going to bed to get the news of the day. She always took the time to talk to us and spend time with us.

5. Persevere and Work Hard
She worked each day on the daily chores according to her own daily, weekly and seasonal schedule. She kept things running smoothly, and gave us a clean orderly home. She never took a sick day, never shirked, never faltered.

6. Allow Yourself a Break
Although she worked hard, she allowed herself a short break each afternoon to watch her favorite soap opera, and perhaps take a snooze. But then, she was back at work!

7. Bake Cakes Often
We always had homemade cakes. She would bake one for every occasion, and even if there was no occasion at all. Wednesday was trash collection day and my cousin joked that cakes baked on that day were ‘trash day cakes’, for lack of a better event.

8. Help Others Whenever You Can
She was helpful to neighbors, gave money to the church, and couldn’t resist feeding stray animals. Her kindness went a long way.

9. Stay Active
My grandmother couldn’t drive, so she went everywhere on foot; walking was her main form of exercise. She also did yard work and generally was on her feet and active all day long.

10. Make Do and Mend
I suppose everyone who lived through the Depression and World War II learned to repair things because of the circumstances, but I wonder why so many people who had grandmothers who mended everything became adults who embrace the throwaway society. I’m glad we’re moving back towards a society in which people appreciate the value of handmade, and want their possessions to last.

Speaking of handmade, these buttons from Laura Walker reminded me so strongly of the button cards my grandmother had, that I was inspired to write this post. Check out her beautiful nostalgic buttons.

Upholstery fabric sample squares drying in the sun. I removed the content labels by soaking them in warm water. I now have thirty odd squares to use in my creations…

So here we are, the last Friday of the month for a topic for the Merry-go-Round group! Our top five (or ten) tools. I can’t narrow it down to just five, and I work in different media, so I’ve divided my tools into two lists: sewing and ceramics/mosaics. Let me tell you about them.

Top five sewing tools:
1. Sewing machine
2. scissors
3. embroidery scissors
4. tape measure in inches
5. pin cushions

My sewing machine is my most important tool, or piece of equipment. I use it almost everyday, and it feels like an extension of my body. I started sewing when I was about eight, by hand. When I was thirteen, my father bought me a brand new Singer sewing machine, and it was one of the most memorable events of my childhood. I went from sewing small items like dolls’ clothes to making clothes, pillows, and other crafts for myself and others. I left it in the States when I came to France, and I have been using a small Elna machine. This morning, my new Bernina was delivered, and I’ll have fun getting used to it, and learning how it works!

Sewing goes smoother with a good pair of scissors that I sharpen myself on a sharpening stone my brother-in-law gave me. Embroidery scissors for tiny work, pretty ones in the shape of a bird, a gift from my husband. A tape measure in inches, even though the metric system is used in Europe. It’s the same one I’ve been using since I was eight!

And finally, indispensable pincushions. I love ones that look like fruit! At the moment I use a half-pear and an apple, made by my friend, Swee of Swiedebie.

Top Five ceramic/mosaic tools:
1. kiln
2. clay tools
3. stamps
4. tile cutters
5. tweezers

As for working with clay, my kiln is the tool or piece of equipment that is the most useful, saving time and giving me more freedom to fire whatever and whenever I like.

Before having one, I had to fire my pieces away from home, in someone else’s kiln, so I had to wait for their schedule and stick to the dimensions of their kiln. Also, as dry ceramic pieces are extremely fragile, carrying them to another place was stressful. That’s what led me to work in a small size and in separate pieces. When I sculpted a lady, I’d make four arms and four legs in case any got broken. In fact, none ever did, and I have lots of extra ceramic arms sitting on my shelves!

I’ve had my clay tools since I was in art school, most of them bought at the university store and a few that I found left behind by a graduating student in the ceramic studio. I carve my own ceramic stamps to press into the wet clay, and I have quite a large collection.

Finally, my tile clippers and a pair of tweezers allow me to be very precise in placing my tesserae for my mosaics.

Old or new, each tool has a story, which gives it special value for me.

And now, don’t forget to go find out about the tools of the other members of the merry-go-round! We’re in different time zones, so check back if her post isn’t up yet!

Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Mitsy at ArtMind
Samantha at Vintage is for Lovers
Bethany at Dirksen Dabbles
Jen at Painted Fish Studio

I found this wine label so whimsical and appealing when my husband brought it home from the grocery store, just for Valentine’s Day, or so I thought. But apparently this wine is omnipresent in shops in February, so I suppose he picked it from a huge display of Saint Amour wines without thinking of February 14th. He simply said “it’s a perfectly good Beaujolais”.

Originally, Saint Amour was a Roman soldier who escaped death in Switzerland, converted to Christianity and founded a monastery. He was later canonized as St Amour. The feast day is August 9th.

The wine is from the north of the Beaujolais region, which is not too far north of Lyon, where we live. So, anyway we’ll be drinking an appropriately-named wine on Valentine’s Day (evening), intentionally or not.

I walk by this interior design shop quite often. It’s got a beautiful window display with interesting objects, chairs, clocks, and the most gorgeous fabrics, usually in sample books, or small pieces. As January is sale time in France, I decided to go in one day last week and see if there were any remnants of those lovely fabrics lying around. Turns out there were. There were some remnants, but also several books of fabric samples of discontinued fabrics. Each fabric has samples in many colors, and the pages are about 16 x 16 inches square. Large enough to make several brooches! The smaller swatches are only about 3 x 3 inches square, but I can see some smaller insect brooches already.

I got two large books of samples, five sets of swatches and one large remnant for a very interesting price! These are fabrics that I couldn’t afford to buy as yardage.

My first project was an off-white satin ghost moth brooch, made from a sample combined with vintage trim.

It’s worth trying your local interior designers to have access to some gorgeous fabrics, even if only in small pieces. Imagine the things you could sew up! I would love to hear what you make with remnants and scraps in the comments.

They are on their way! I sent off my two latest beetle soft sculptures to California, where Stampington Magazines are based. More specifically, Stuffed Magazine. Stuffed, subtitled, The Crafting of Softies, features softies or soft sculptures as I like to call them, and includes articles on how to make them as well as a gallery of works. It is aimed at “veteran softie artists and new fans alike” and although I’ve never bought an issue and I doubt if they are available here in France, I’d love to see some of the imaginative ways artists work in 3-D with soft materials.

Well, wish me luck! I’d love to get published!

In the meantime, these beetles are available made-to-order in my shop.

I’ve never really made new year’s resolutions, or if so it would be a vague ‘do more yoga’ or ‘eat less sugar’. I am more likely to make plans (not resolutions) in the fall around my birthday. I figure that is the beginning of my year anyway. But here it is the end of January, the traditional time to make plans or changes or whatever you’d like to call them. With the beginning of the fiscal year, I must admit to having business projects for the new year.

And then I was asked to join this great group of bloggers who blog on a given subject on the last Friday of each month. Thanks Mitsy! This is going to be fun! The first post for 2011 has to do with resolutions and goals, but it’s more than that.

Based on Tonya Davidson’s Renew, Re-energize, Re-commit Planner for Change in 2011, we’ve all done an exercise to lead us to our three compass words for this year, words that will help to find ways to reach our goals instead of just vaguely stating them. These words are written down, which gives them a physical presence and so they are therefore more likely to lead to action.

I’ve come up with my three compass words for 2011, which should keep me on track to reach my goals and make some changes: organize, simplify and appreciate.

I intend to be more organized in all aspects of my business including making purchases, marketing, production, and accounting. Although I don’t want to live according to a strict schedule, I also don’t want to be all over the place, waiting until the end of the year to do my accounting, making only sporadic marketing efforts and buying supplies I don’t need.

This exercise got me thinking about other areas of my life besides my business.

As for simplifying, I mean sticking to the essentials, without excess. Buying only stuff I need, and even better, buying handmade, which benefits other artists. Eating only good food: fruit and vegetables bought locally and in season, fresh foods, cooking from scratch. Wearing only a few articles of clothing, made by myself or others, or perhaps second-hand.

I also intend to appreciate and show my appreciation to my family, and to enjoy these last few years having our teenagers home with us. We love to bake cakes or make crepes and eat them with a good episode of a favorite TV show in English. It’s great listening to them talk about their day in the evening at dinner time. A game of scrabble is always fun. A Sunday matinee. A trip to the US this summer. Lots of things to do and share before they grow up completely.

So, organize, simplify and appreciate, three words that I will write and post in our home to keep me on track to my goals.

Check out what the other members of the group have found. We’re all in different time zones, so check back if their posts aren’t up yet!

Monika at Red2White
Ruth at Birdland Creations
Kim at Vilt a la Kim
Sara at Crafts of Texture
Fabienne at Easterya Jewellery Creations
Mariana at Florcita
Agathe at Le Bar du Vent
Lily at Lily Pang Art and Design
Mitsy at ArtMind

One of my latest projects: small fabric cicada pillows or more like soft sculptures, since they have legs and eyes. When I say small, I mean compared to my 12″-13″ beetle pillows from last year. The cicada bodies measure 7″ long by 3.5″ wide. So of course they are much bigger than real cicadas! I’ve tried to render the daintiness and the elegance of real ones using shiny fabrics on top, remnants of sheer curtain fabric for the wings and glass beads for their eyes. Their larger-than-life size makes the beautiful details of these insects easier to see: the veins in the wings, the thin legs, the patterns on the body.

And as with all my insects, you can keep them around all year long, they won’t fly away!

Green Fabric Cicada

My newest fabric bird, a black swan, inspired by the sinuous birds painted on Minoan vases. Only one of these, at least with these wings, cut from a sample of discontinued upholstery fabric. I’ll make more in different fabrics. I’m thinking of paisley.

December 8 is the festival of lights (la fête des lumières) here in Lyon. The city was spared an outbreak of the plague in 1643, and the inhabitants of Lyon pay tribute to the Virgin Mary for her protection. About a week before, there are posters in the streets and metro stations thanking Mary: “Merci, Marie.” On the night of December 8, everyone puts small candles in colored or plain glass candle holders outside the windows. For four nights, there are light shows in town and the basilica of Fourvière is lit up with colored lights.

I have kept all the candle holders my children made in kindergarden and grade school for this special event. These are my favorite ones to display, along with a few I’ve painted myself and some plain ones.

The city is crowded with people going to see the light displays and this year, although it’s snowing in Paris, the weather is mild here. Fine for a nighttime walk. I prefer to stay at home, candles in the windows. I’ve lit a second batch of candles, and they’ll burn for a few hours more. Until next year.

The stark contrast of black and white, shadow and light, such an elegant combination. And lace: intricate, geometric, delicate design, like a spider’s web, (which may look delicate, but is apparently really strong). I never wear lace, but how I love working with it, making things from it.

Stenciling it onto fabric, white on black, reminded me of making paper snowflakes as a child. Black on white becomes the negative space of the snowflake.

I created these Christmas ornaments for a specific project, which didn’t, well…pan out, let’s say. You can read about it on Art Mind’s blog. However, working with lace and paint made me notice similar motifs in nature, insects to be exact. I can’t rival Mother Nature’s perfection, but I had fun trying.

Lace Moth Brooch

Lacy butterflies

The African Museum in Lyon, one of the city’s oldest museums, was founded in 1856.

It is also in my neighborhood. So I walk over there every so often on a weekday when it won’t be too crowded. I sometimes sketch, other times take photos. Enjoy the quiet. There are lots of museums in Lyon, but this is one of my two favorites because it features sculpture almost exclusively. I say sculpture, but many of the objects were functional objects used in everyday life. The others had a ritual or religious use and so were most certainly created for special occasions.

As I write this I realize that I don’t know exactly what the objects I photographed were used for. I was taken by them for their small size, sinuous shapes and subject matter: animals.

These are food for my creative process. It feeds my hunger for objects that are well-crafted, beautiful, and infused with meaning. Even if I don’t know the meaning or the purpose of the object. You can feel that significance emanating from each piece. It was created by expert hands, the hands of a person who cared about his materials and process. It was used by people of the same culture, who saw and touched it everyday or perhaps only once a year, who realized the value of it.

Animal sculptures, such as these tiny miniature bronzes are especially amazing as the artist suffused each with an individuality, a personality despite the small scale.

As I create my next piece weeks (or longer) after my visit, it may display a curve to the tail reminiscent of that of the tiny fish sculpture, or I may use a fabric whose texture reminds me of the texture of the bronze sculpture created by an expert artisan. These tiny bits of inspiration, sometimes forgotten for a long time, returned to, mixed with others, find their way into my pieces after they’ve become internalized or assimilated, and come together to create a unique look and feel.

African Bird Mosaic

Where does your inspiration come from?

Lately I’ve been observing the crows in the city. Although there are more pigeons, and they are all around really, from sidewalks to window ledges to rooftops, I prefer the all black carrion crows (corvus corone) which stay up in the heights of the trees, the rooftops, also coming down to the riverbanks and parks. They seem to thrive near human urban environments, but keep a safe distance from humans. These are the crows that fed on the bodies of the dead during the Great Plague as well as the battlefield dead and which were associated with death thereafter. Hunted, shot and despised.
So even today they keep to themselves.

Reading about them and watching them, I’ve come to admire these birds. They are social, living in groups, intelligent, long-lived, they mate for life and their glossy black plumage not only keeps them warm in the cold weather, but also makes them very elegant birds. They have a wide variety of calls for communication, and position their bodies to express fear, aggression or need.

In the Company of Crows and Ravens is a beautiful, informative and entertaining book on corvids. I’ve only just begun it, but I’m looking forward to learning more about corvids.

What kind of crows live near you? How do they interact with humans?

My first video, showing my favorite part of making a mosaic: grouting. This is where you get to see the results of your long hours of work, where all the pieces you’ve glued onto the support come together, so to speak, to form a coherent piece of work. Wiping off the excess grout allows you to discover a treasure underneath. My daughter Camille is behind the camera this time, and she did a great job shooting. Okay, I have a long way to go before I make a really great video, but it’s fun to learn!

 Memento Mori, a Latin phrase, translated as Remember you must die, or Remember your mortality.

Earlier this year, I saw a wonderful exhibit here in Lyon, once the capital of Gaul, under the Roman Empire. The title of the exhibit: Post Mortem, at the Musée Gallo Romain. It’s not about autopsies or forensic medicine, but the funerary rites of the ancient Romans. The exhibit takes the visitor through the steps from the death to the laying to rest of a citizen.

 Walking through a Roman cemetery, or passing the grave markers by the side of the road, an ancient Roman could read the epitaphs extolling the virtues of the defunct and thus bring him or her back to the world of the living, even if only briefly. The ancient Romans did not believe in the possibility of a pleasant afterlife and death was considered the opposite of life, a cold gray place. Many epitaphs sent a message to passers-by, encouraging them to enjoy life, and reminding them that they too would someday join the ranks of the dead. As you are, I once was…as I am, so shall you be.

 The living would return to the grave of a family member once a year and share a meal at the grave site. Remembering. It will soon be time for us to remember too, with the autumn holidays such as Halloween, All Souls’ Day and the Mexican Day of the Dead.

 A bit depressing perhaps, but nonetheless useful to give a thought to one’s own mortality every so often. Thinking about the impermanence of life, we can enjoy each moment and let go of petty problems and fleeting issues.

Perhaps I should have called this post something else, like My Egyptian Paste Results, My Egyptain Paste Experiment, because this is me trying out Mitsy’s tutorial from back in April, entitled How to Make Egyptian Paste? By the way, Mitsy, of ArtMind, posts a wealth of tutorials and how to’s on her blog. I imagine her workspace divided into two sections: her studio on one side and a laboratory for experimentation, its documentation and its diffusion to everyone who wants to try new processes and media on the other!

I love ceramics and all things Egyptian, especially the lovely turquoise objects made from a self-glazing low-fire clay body. You know, the beads, small dishes and shabti dolls you see in museums. So here’s how it went for me:

I prepared some dishes I had made by putting a coat of bat wash on the inside bottom so that my objects wouldn’t stick.

I then prepared my first recipe: It’s Sylvia Hyman’s recipe, and it’s the first one Mitsy tries in her tutorial too. She has listed all the ingredients and amounts in her post. I was able to get everything from my ceramic supplier. The copper Carbonate was very expensive and only sold in large quantities, and Mitsy was nice enough to send me a small amount in the mail. Don’t forget to wear a mask, goggles and gloves since breathing in these ingredients is TOXIC.

I mixed my ingredients in a plastic bag, and then added water.

The resulting clay was a little too wet (too much water) but I let it set a bit on my work table and then worked it around in my hands to get it dry enough to shape but not so dry it would crack.

I made lots of beads and lined them up on a bat washed tray.

Some of the clay I rolled out into discs and printed with lace to get an interesting texture.

I cut a few crescent moons from the textured discs.

I loaded a second dish with beads and the moons and put a few beads on a wire from ceramic stilts.

This second recipe was easier to work with, kept its shape better but dried out faster, so I had to work faster.

Using a tiny cookie cutter, I cut out fish shapes and loaded them on to the two other dishes.

I fired to 980°C.

This is what I found this morning. Look at the blue, lovely and shiny.

However, the bat wash stuck where the bead was in contact with it.

The beads on the wire were completely stuck to the metal. I can’t get them off. But I do love the color and the way the glaze pooled at the bottom.

However, for the fish, the colors go from dark turquoise to a much lighter one. Perhaps I didn’t mix my dry ingredients thoroughly.

The second recipe (the fish) is slightly darker than the first (the moon). I added one extra gram (4 grams total) of copper carbonate to the mix, so I guess that made the difference.

I really enjoyed working with Egyptain paste from start to finish, and when I make more I think I’ll go with the second recipe, and stick to 3 gm copper carbonate. If I want to make beads, I’ll have to get the stilts with metal points for firing. The beads would have been pretty enough to use in a necklace!

I am delighted to be participating in the blog it forward Bee series along with fellow members of the Artisans Gallery Team. Check out yesterday’s post by Sharon of Knot Original on the team blog. And my post today will be followed by one from Kathi of Kathi Roussel, on her blog.

With much respect and admiration for ancient art, I present a post on bees in the ancient world, their importance to the ancients in so many aspects.

Beekeeping was widely practiced in the ancient world. Bees and beekeeping are often depicted in ancient artwork. But let’s begin with the discovery in 2007 of remnants of ancient honey combs, beeswax and intact hives, attesting to a 3,000 year old beekeeping industry in Northern Israel. The Bible refers to Israel as a “land of milk and honey” but no mention of honey bee cultivation. These findings show that there was a highly developed beekeeping industry in the Holy Land.

The ancient Egyptians are considered the first beekeepers in history. The bee and its products had an importance that was not only agricultural, but also nutritional, medicinal and ritualistic. Honey was more than just food, it was applied to wounds for its antiseptic properties and was believed to prevent miscarriages. Beeswax was used in mummification and in candle making. There was also a large demand for honey to be used as offerings to the gods. Ramses III made an offering of 21,000 jars of honey to Hapi, the Nile god. And when Re wept, his tears turned into a bee which “busied himself with the flowers of every plant, and so wax was made and also honey.”

The honey bee was the official symbol of Lower Egypt.

The bee and the sedge plant together represent the “Ruler of Upper and Lower Egypt”, the traditional epithet of Egyptian Kings used from 3100 BC onwards.

The primary religious figure for the Minoans of Crete was the Mother Goddess. She had numerous manifestations, one of which was a bee. The Queen Bee was especially important, for she was the leader and the ruler of the hive, adored by Bee priestesses.

Some exquisite gold jewelry survives from Knossos (Middle Minoan period, 1700-1550 BC) such as this pendant (above) depicting two bees on either side of a honeycomb.

Also, a sketch of an onyx gem (also above) depicting the goddess as a woman with the head and eyes of an insect.

Like the Minoans, the Greeks held the Bee sacred and featured it in their mythology.

Omphalos Stone at Delphi

There are too many examples of Bees in Greek mythology to go into here, but these are my favorites:

Apollo gave the gift of bees to Hermes, including three female Bee maidens, the three Fates. The Omphalos stone at Delphi, site of the most important oracle in the ancient world, resembles a beehive with crisscrossing rows of bee symbols.

Honey was the food of the gods. Infant Zeus was fed honey by his nurse Melissa (Greek for honey bee), a nymph who discovered and taught the use of honey.

Honey was regarded as an elixir, ensuring a long and healthy life and preserving the remains of the dead. The Greek mathematician, Pythagoras, who lived to nearly 100, said his long life was due to a steady diet of honey. The Greek sea god, Glaucus, was supposedly restored to life when buried in a jar of honey.

"Some say that unto bees a share is given of the Divine Intelligence." -Virgil

For the Romans, Bacchus, god of wine, discovered honey and taught beekeeping to humans. Virgil wrote a practical beekeeping thesis, describing the working of the beehive in great detail. Pliny the elder called honey the “sweat of the heavens” and the “saliva of the stars.” For the ancients, then, the bee was a link between humans and the divine.

My homage to the bee and to the ancient Egyptians is this bee hieroglyph brooch.

The bee was venerated for so long, but we have lost contact with the sacred qualities in nature, animals and each other, seeing everything as replaceable, in a throw-away society.

A Short History of the Honey Bee by E. Readicker-Henderson

We all have lots of supplies, and it’s not always easy to organize them, even with shelves, boxes, or whatever storage method you use. I have piles of fabric falling out of my closets, so I thought I’d make a few storage bags from fabric remnants. They are flexible and easy to fit into small spaces, or you can hang them in the closet or on hooks.

I used a vintage pattern and I explain my entire process complete with photos over at the Artisans Gallery Team blog.

A nice tangy mood this Monday. I was inspired by the Volkswagen Beetle which was my first car, mine was orange too!

Upper left: starrybluesky
Upper right: artwatercolor
Lower left: ikabags
Lower right: QuercusSilver

For more moodboards featuring the members of the European Street Team, go to fleur fatale’s blog. 

Bindu Wiles, who I heard about through Danielle LaPorte, has created a community online project beginning this coming Tuesday, June 8. It’s called 21.5.800.

For 21 days, 5 days of yoga per week and 800 words written per day.

The yoga part is taken care of, I do at least an hour a day, every day. Maya Fiennes‘s video kundalini courses are so addictive that I sometimes do more than an hour.

But I’ll have to make an effort for the writing. Aside from product descriptions and lists, I don’t have… take the time to write. Count me in, I’ll give it a go!

My owls, made from vintage linen bedding, are featured in an article in the Storque (on etsy) about eco-friendly items, and sellers who use recycled or repurposed materials and eco-friendly processes!

The question on Scoutie Girl is about art…is it a luxury? Not to me. And I don’t think to most people. Even if one can’t go to a concert or buy a CD, she can sing or beat out a rhythm; if I can’t afford to buy a piece of art, I can trade one of my pieces for something I love. I just made a great trade this week: I received my frog oven mitt in the mail a few days ago! Thank you Inger! Check out her shop, ingermaaike.

I think people are creative and artistic even if they can’t or don’t want to exchange money for a “work of art”. Perhaps it’s the difference between living and just existing. Most people choose to live.

The weather was so warm and sunny this past week that I found it hard to stay in, be good and work on anything for very long. So I took a walk and visited the local thrift shops. There are three within a short walk from our apartment. I was looking for some shelves but had no luck.

Instead, I got myself a new teapot, because you can never have too many of those! The plates are for my mosaics, of course. At another shop, I found some gorgeous vintage linen from the 1940s. It feels wonderful, crisp, starched, a tight weave. Printed on the side is “Toile Metis Lin” “Fleur Bleue”.

I’ll have to find a project for this fabric!

Je suis très contente d’être sur le Guide D’achat de Etsy French Handmade Team blogspot cette semaine! Merci Anny de AnnyMay au Canada, de m’avoir accueillie. Laissez-moi me présenter en français!

I am so happy to be on Etsy French handmade Team’s shopping guide this week! Thank you Anny!