All for Love

"For this was on seynt Volantynys day

Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make." 

"For this was Saint Valentine's Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate."

Geoffrey Chaucer, Parlement of Foules (1382)

These words, written by the English poet Geoffrey Chaucer in the closing years of the fourteenth century, are thought to be the first noted association of romantic, courtly love with February 14, St. Valentine's Day.  In those days ladies did needlework and a few knew how to write.  Ink, parchment and wax was expensive but we've come a long way baby!
Although quite a few of us know how to thread a needle and many of us know how to write we have not been able to merge the two, until now.

I love making fabric art postcards.  These are done in the style of crazy quilts, hand embroidered on a crazy patch of silk/cotton fabric combination, silk and antique, hand-dyed lace.  I have used hand-dyed pearl cotton and rayon threads for the stitching, Swarovski crystals, beads and found objects.  The cards can be written on (see back of card) using a gel pen or Sharpie.

Back of card

Pick one or two up today from my Etsy store at: http://www.etsy.com/shop/SilkRoadFabricArts and send to someone you know who loves both needlework and hand written notes and who doesn't these

days!

Enjoy!

In the Year of the Water Dragon

Happy Chinese New Year 

May good fortune greet you at every turn.

Peace and Great Happiness!

Spun Sugar

The months from November to April carry with them what my husband calls "statistically perfect days." I had one such day earlier this week.  There was no humidity, a gentle breeze blew across the lake and a mild 75 degrees lured me onto the back deck with squirt bottles of dye, five yards of white PFD fabric and lace soaking in a bucket of soda ash.  I strung a laundry line from the fence and hung the first yard of fabric across it.  Dyeing fabric is part science (I use PRO Chemical & Dye fiber reactive dyes), art and magic.   The color combinations of magenta, golden yellow, raspberry, emerald green, turquoise, baby blue, lemon yellow and amethyst are but just a few of the colors I used that day. It took most of the morning to get all the dyeing done and batched (this is when the magic occurs).  You can leave the batched fabric anywhere from two to twenty-four hours in their plastic bags.  I have left them for longer and there was no mildew when the bags were opened just glorious color.

Two days later, when I opened the bags and washed the fabric, I discovered that the color was not as intense as I first imagined, in fact it was quite the opposite.  I was not sure if I liked such soft color as I like my colors bold and bright, but I guess it grew on me and now it reminds me of spun sugar.  I'm thinking cotton candy, in soft pink, blue, green and yellow.

Enjoy!

Happy New Year 2012

Greeting, wishing each and everyone of you a creative and artistically successful 2012.

The Holidays were busy but I did find some time to work on a few small items, the cards and pendants. In early November I received my certification from Spotted Canary School (EK Success Brands) for Scrapbooking. This certification allows me to teach at Jo-Ann's Fabrics and Crafts store here in the city of Plantation.  The two cards in this photo "Waterfall Card" (left) and the "Slider Card" (the butterfly slides from side-to-side) are currently being offered as classes there.

The pendants were made using Ranger products and Gel du Soleil, a single part sunlight curing epoxy.  I like working with the epoxy as it magnifies the pendant's base, dries clear and acts as a glue for the crown and the dragon fly.  

Enjoy!

Mermaid's Treasure

This beautiful deep sea nymph sits atop an altered cigar box, amid just a few of her favorite things.  A Chinese lantern, coins, gears from a ship long forgotten, a bejeweled cross and shells which she painstakingly collected off the coast of Trinidad.  Jeweled sea anemone adorn the walls of her sanctuary, while fish and sea horses glide by.    

The box measures 7x7x2 inches, the clasp and hinges are the original hardware. Golden acrylic paints were used to paint the box and Golden's molding paste for the stenciled shells along the sides.  Sea weed and broken nets are interpreted by hand-dyed cheese cloth in turquoise and green which cling to the bottom and run along the sides.  It is then further embellished with Golden's gold mica and garnet flakes.  

The piece is signed and ready to be put in the mail today.

Enjoy!

Christmas Stockings

Christmas without stockings, I don’t think so!   These 4” by 6” fabric postcards can be framed, mailed, stood on an easel or placed on the refrigerator with magnets.

Each 4” by 6” postcard was machined appliqued using rayon thread and hand embroidered. The colors are dark blue, Christmas red, green, gold.  The backs are ecru color and stamped with the words “Post Card”. Each postcard was individually made with attention to detail.

Swarovski crystals gives that flash of starlight and adorn the snowflake and the lace.
This is the time of year when we remember friends and long to be with family. So write a short note on the back of one of these cards, or make one of your own (see blog post of July 8, 2011) add some postage and send to that someone letting them know that you're thinking of them at this the most wonderful time of the year.

Enjoy!

Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

Going Home

Greeting!

I am going home to Trinidad for a brief visit.  The last time I was there it was for my mother's funeral four years ago.  I am not certain that I will be able to post. It's not that I won't have computer power or that I will not have a lot to say, it's that I will be very busy visiting with my five year old nephew, Mark. He's taking me to see his new school and on a field trip to the post office. The last time I saw Mark he was two, so we have a lot of catching up to do.

I'll be back!