As Time Goes By

Where has the year gone? It has been almost a year since my last post. A lot has happened since then! Lets see...

Last May, after 14 months of unemployment, my husband started working in Bessemer, Alabama as a foundry engineer. This was a difficult transition for us. I went to visit in August, and then again in November for our 24th wedding anniversary. We did something extra special. We drove to Destin, Florida to the Henderson Park Inn for a lovely weekend getaway. We had a beautiful room overlooking the water. When we arrived, it was late evening. Paul, having been landlocked for the last six months, just couldn't help himself. "Honey" he said. "I have to go to the beach, now!" Even though there was only a half moon, he went down to the water's edge for a late night walk. And yes, my husband came back with a pocket full of shells that he managed to find on the snow white sands in the dark!



Paul came home at Christmas, and of course, his "girls" were very glad to see him! And he was very glad to see his girls! (And even me!)




Last fall, my sister commissioned me to make her a felted handbag to be inspired by Georgia O'Keefe's iconic Poppy paintings. This was a dream project for me. The bag itself was knitted and fulled. Fulling is felting by way of shrinking in the washer. Remember when you accidentally shrunk your favorite wool sweater when it was put into the laundry hamper by mistake? This is a form a felting! The large poppy flower was made of wool roving, wool fibers before they are spun, felted with a barbed needle over a hat form. The petals were
then wet felted with an electric sander (covered in a plastic bag and well grounded!) for a firmer sculpted texture. The center of the flower had beaded fringe accented with Swarovski Crystals. The back of the bag featured a needle felted poppy garden "wool painting". The bag was lined in red silk with lots of pockets of course!






Another major felting project was a knitting tote that features my favorite flower, the iris.
This was also a knitted and fulled bag in two shades of green, with a garden of needle felted iris. The bag is lined in a purple batik print cotton.




I love knitting shawls. Especially lace. It is fascinating to watch the pattern of lace grow from the needles, transitioning from one row to the next. A friend of mine says that before a shawl is blocked it looks like "dryer lint". Afterword, the full effect of all those rows of pattern emerges into something wonderful!



No, I have not forgotten my brides. This year I have been exploring some new "old" techniques of manipulating ribbon that I read about in a reprint of a 1923 booklet about fashioning ribbon. I designed Roses, Pansies, Violets and Lilies to use in brooch, fascinator/headpiece and other jewelry design. I have enjoyed adding fabric elements into my jewelry design. Ombre Taffeta wired ribbon is a natural for these projects as it allows for natural looking shading with in the flowers.



















Last year, I was able to purchase some beautiful French silk tulle. I have been wanting to make silk tulle veils for a long time. Below are the first two of the new Silk line:





So, what's next? More veil designs with ribbon flowers. More silk tulle. New fascinators. Fulled handbags. And knitting. I am always, always knitting.

Everything Up Close Giveaway

I have been reviewed by the blogger Ilissa Huhta of Everything Up Close for her
Wedding Wishes Contest and Giveaway!

To the readers of my blog, one reader will have the opportunity to win a single tiered veil in white or ivory up to 40" in length, and another will win a headpiece identical to the one that was custom designed for the review. (the background of the photograph is blue). To participate, please go to my Etsy shop, http://www.etsy.com/shop/DamselflyStudio
and "heart" your favorite in the shop, then come back to the blog and make a note of it here. THEN...visit the blog Everything Up Close and follow the directions there for entering the contest. There are also opportunities for extra votes too! There are two prizes for this giveaway! One headpiece, and One veil! So you have two chances to win!
http://www.everythingupclose.com/

I appreciate reader comments on what they like, and suggestions on what they would like to see. I started designing my headpieces and jewelry to give brides more options than what they were seeing in the typical retail market. Brides come to Etsy to see something different, unusual and with the satisfaction of having a beautiful piece of art for their wedding day that is not a typical carbon copy of eveything else that they have seen in every magazine and bridal salon.

My passion for the last 10 years has been "Tomorrow's Heirlooms for Today's Brides. My goal is for every bride that I work with that she have an experience with me, whether it be in my home studio or online that have the best customer service that I can provide from my 25 years of experience, have jewelry, veil, and headpieces that will bring happy memories, and hopefully they are passed on to future generations.

To see more of my work, please visit my online catalog: http://www.damselflystudio.com/

Flowers that Bloom in the Spring...

Spring arrives slowly, and sometimes rather reluctantly in Erie. Last weekend, we had a beautiful spell of warm weather with temps that reached almost 80 degrees! This past weekend? Yup, its Erie. Snow flurries and sleet. A miserable 37 degrees was what the thermometer on my Jeep was reading as I was huddling into my heated seat on my way to an animal rescue farm to watch alpacas being shorn. What, you say? Alpaca shearing? How does this relate to bridal flowers? Not a darn thing. It was what I was doing this weekend with my knitting friends. Tromping around a barn, taking pictures of alpacas, avoiding stepping in unidentifiable poop, and watching the gorgeous fleece come off these charming animals. And dreaming what it must be like to spin and knit this fabulous fiber.




Back to the subject at hand. There is a new fascinator in the Etsy Shop. It has a unique feature, a Floral Coin Pearl Broach that can be removed from the center of the flower and worn after the wedding! I love making items that have a "double life". The fascinator also has a detachable French Net face veil. The headpiece can be worn on either side of one's face, or on top of the head. Cocque feathers give it a bit of charming whimsy, don't you think?






My latest adventure with flowers has been with my passion for wool and knitting. I have been interested in felting for years, thanks to my Minnesota friend, Avis, who introduced me to the idea that you can shrink knitted wool on purpose. I have been delving into books about knitting and felting flowers. Felting is an ancient craft, going back to Asia and Eastern Europe. Most likely shepherds picked up bits of stray wool left by their sheep and tucked them inside their moccasins and boots. When the wool matted down from the pressure of their feet, and moisture from becoming wet, it became wool. Of course, their feet would have stayed warmer because of the wool fibers in their footwear! Wool can be felted or "fulled" with water and soap over a mesh screen, or dry by poking it over and over with barbed needles. The barbed needles tangle the fibers together, forming a matted mess that one continually shapes as you harden with the continued poking. The goal of course is to poke the fibers with the sharp barbed needles, and not ones fingers!



The techniques are all fascinating, and after a lot of practice, the goal is to be able to just about "paint" with the many colors that wool roving is available in. Its amazing, and for a fiberholic such as I, it is addicting. So here we go with yet another fiber hobby. Then, there is knitted felt, as mentioned earlier, where a garment or item is knitted about 40% larger than what you want, then washed in the washer. The soapy water, combined with the agitation shrinks the wool in this "fulling" process. The fabric is very dense and durable. It makes great handbags! And afterwards, needle felting can be done on the surface to add decoration.



I have a large felted tote bag project in process at the moment. The tote bag is made and "fulled". I am now in the process of creating the flowers. I am not sure of what the final arrangement will be, as I am still so new in the designing of felted flowers, both in knitting and needle felting. I am also needle felting over some of my knitted fulled flowers to add more definition and detail to them. I will be adding more pictures soon as the project progresses!

This is my kind of gardening! Fiber style!