Abundance Encore!

When I saw the Spring 2010 Haute Couture show by John Paul Gaultier, I was stunned. Evidently, he was inspired by the movie Avatar as well as Montezuma's Mexico --


And even though his show includes lots of other styles of dresses, I was struck in particular by his interpretation of that lush, abundance that is the tropics.

Having just steeped myself in foliage and leaves for my last bjp, I was overjoyed with delight to see another artist's interpretation. And to hear that Avatar inspired him too -- well that was just too many coincidences in one week!


OK. These dresses may not be practical and, even if i had thousand of dollars to spend on them, I may not ever choose to buy them. But, OH, to study them!!! Click to enlarge and pour over all of their details from the fabric manipulation, to the beading, to the headdresses, to the accessories!

The woven ribbon strips of this dress are amazing and the hat with its anthurium bent over the eyebrow is my fave.


And check out the dyeing and the pleating of the silk -- and the use of frond-shapes and fans to asymetrically offset the shoulder and the hip...

And for you bead lovers out there...this number is completely beaded from head to toe! The fringes, the use of beetle shells (they're probably sequins made to look like the use of beetle casings but still!!) -- wonderful!

Oh! And this one! Notice how the leaf fronds are appliqued to the organza skirt...


and the fronds coming off the one shoulder...and the boots...and the leather-woven bodice...I just love this one!

This one has an amazing tunic (click to enlarge) and the cutwork and applique on this one-- swoon--it looks like embroidery from far away but it's not...and the purse!! How cool is that?

All of it is absolutely, wonderfully abundant!!

Who Dropped Their Feed Dogs?

Who...who...who...who.....?

OK. You all have probably been dropping your feed dogs for years now...with all of the machine embroidery that's being done these days.

I never really thought I would have a use for it without a lot of practice until Susan Levi-Goerlich came and gave a lecture/presentation to our Embroiderers' Guild last September.


Susan paints landscapes and scenarios completely with her sewing machine and thread and her work is very cool.


She demonstrated what it would be like to make our own version of machine embroidery.


It struck me as a great technique to try with other things, not wanting to give up the old hand embroidered method completely. Since I wanted to make some grass on the bottom of my current bead journal piece, and hand-embroidering it would take too long, I thought I'd give this technique a try. So I dropped my feed dogs and held on for the ride...

It was a little tricky at first so I used a scrap cloth...I made lots of mistakes and had bunches of knotted thread until I began to get the hang of it.


You actually work upside down so that the front of the work is face down on the faceplate of your machine.


I did most of my grass that way. I tried flipping it over to the front and found that the interleaving paper that I use to back my beadwork was enough of a stabilizer that the fabric did not pucker. That gave me the option of finishing the grass from the front. Yea!


Anyway, this was a quick way of getting a background of grass on my piece. Now it's ready to be embellished.

Oh, and that bunny that you see??


He's covering up a big, blobby knot of thread where I goofed.

Thanks Bunny... thanks for taking one for the team...

Bitty Butterflies

I've been playing with butterflies.


I wanted to make a few dimensional butterflies for my latest bead journal piece, inspired by the butterflies I saw at the butterfly farm.

I have stitched stumpwork butterflies using wire and buttonhole/long and short stitch but that would have taken more time than I was willing to spend. Plus, I wanted them to be representational but not necessarily perfectly realistic.


Rather than stitch them all by hand, I traced the patterns onto water soluble stabilizer, layering fabric on either side. I then sewed around them on my machine with a tiny stitch...dunked them in water and left them to dry.


I tried using lace but I'm not sure it worked for this small of a butterfly...these are only about 0.5" or 1 cm...pretty bitty. I do think the lace would be beautiful on a much larger butterfly so I'll have to try that later.


I also wanted to try the look of the black thread versus white thread. I liked how the stabilizer gave the pieces a little dimension if you shaped them before they dry.


Note: Many thanks to the cute little model-mouse that I used to showcase the blue butterfly in the first picture -- it was made by Charlotte Lyons...and I bought it from her last Valentine's day.

Inspired by the Moon

As the moon shone over the skies of Paris last night, Giorgio Armani was presenting a celestial Spring Haute Couture Fashion Show...inspired by the moon.

Can you believe it?  With all the discussion we've had about the moon this month, it's fascinating to me to see this artist's interpretation of its many faces.

The backdrop for the runway was a silver crescent against misty clouds and a reflective runway...

So it looks as if you were watching the moon over a deep, dark sky reflected over the sea.

And as the models walked down the reflected light of the runway, their own garments were reflected in the celestial light.

Everything that was selected...from the diaphanous materials of opalescent organza,

To the liquid-night lame

To the clair de lune sequins and crystals...

To the colors that spoke of the shades of night...

To the use of curves and circle shapes within the designs of the clothes themselves.

 

I love how the crystals are placed on this dress...it's not overdone...just enough like clusters of stars in a galaxy...

Every accessory...every button, earring and purse...was perfectly selected to pull the moon down to earth for just one night.

To me, it was an amazing artistic display...a true vision of what it means to be fully inspired in absolutely every way.  To take the moon, and all that is so very beautiful about it...its appearance, its changing luminescence and how the viewer feels and perceives the moon when it so beautifully speaks to us -- and to use all of that as your inspiration for your work.

To view his show, is a great lesson for all artists in how to completely honor your inspiration.

What a translater Giorgio Armani is...for if there is anyone that is fluent in the language of moon...it is him.

Butterfly Delight

It's a cold and rainy day today.  As I'm putting away all of the leaves from Abundance...I'm already thinking about finishing my next journal piece.

And I intend to include a few butterflies.  I'm not sure how just yet.  But I want to remember my trip to St. John, when I left the Disney Cruise for a few hours, camera in hand, alone (no one else wanted to go!), and set off to the Butterfly farm.  I had never been to a butterfly farm before and I was not disappointed.

I think my camera loved the butterflies as much as I did.  And though I could not capture the sensation of hundreds of butterflies flitting around me (I should have taken a video camera with me)...

I was able to capture the colors and the beauty once the butterflies had landed...

And I was struck by the colors and the designs of the butterflies themselves.  Like this one...I love this icy blue and I'm struck by the design on the body of this butterfly almost more than its wings...

And the palette of this entire picture makes my heart swoon...the taupe and ivory and cream of the butterfly -- and check out the coloring on this body -- plus the flower...wow.



And how is it that the butterflies are attracted to colors that look so nice in their pictures?

And so many times, they were attracted to colors that not only complemented their own...but matched them.

There were moths there too.  This is an owl moth that was just "born".  He's being held upside down by the butterfly lady so you can see how he looks like an owl...

And as I think about these butterflies and the delight you feel as you watch them flit and fly and land on your finger...

My thoughts keep returning to some of the imagery in Avatar.  I need to find some pics to share with you of that movie.  I tried searching for them to share...and that's how I got my virus.  I'll keep looking.

Have a delight filled day. 

The Day After...

The day after my very wonderful husband Jim turned 50 years old...
The day after my MIL flew in from Texas as a surprise for her son...
The day after Jim had a day off that I arranged with his boss as a surprise...
The day after we saw James Cameron's Avatar in 3-D, and
...it's the day after my computer got sick with a deadly virus and is now being sent to the hospital.

But, on the a more positive note, I finally had the time to sit down and read your comments about Abundance --

Thank you for all of the nice, supportive things that you said. You really know how to make a girl feel good!

And here's the answer to a few of your questions: The hand in the piece is not life size -- the entire piece is 5"x5" -- so the hand is probably half the size of a normal human hand. The background fabric is a batik and I did not stitch with any silk-covered purl threads -- though I would love to get my hands on some to play with...I also shoot my pictures with a Nikon D70s camera and yes, I did get a new macro lens for Christmas...

But let me tell you about my husband's birthday...

My husband Jim didn't want any big party or big trip for his 50th birthday -- just a nice meal at a good restaurant. Check. That was easy.

Jim loves to cook. He especially likes to cook for others and he would love to be a chef one day after he quits his day job. But I couldn't buy him a fancy present either. This year we decided to forego presents for each other because of the economy and I've learned enough to know that he wouldn't be happy if I broke the rule. Even if it was his 50th birthday!

Since I needed a present that didn't cost any money, I contacted all of our friends and family to send me a recipe to put into a Recipes for a Great Life book. It could be any kind of recipe at all...great family favorites or recipes for a good time...

And look what came in...

Dozens and dozens of great ideas. He was very very touched and can't wait to get cooking!  Here are just a few of many many good ones...

And then we went to the movies in the middle of the day to see Avatar. And I couldn't believe how beautiful the plants in the movie were...talk about abundance! And all of the plants had a bioluminescence that was visually stunning. I want to see the movie again just to see all of the plants...and James Cameron really did his homework by involving a plant physiologist to create the plant kingdom in his movie. The plants have all been classified and given Latin names. Everything was so green and beautiful and abundant. And the story was all about how we were stripping the resources of an alien planet because we had no more green on our own...just reinforcing the message I was already receiving when i stitched Abundance...amazing...

The movie was absolutely magnificent in it's cinematography. One of the most creative movies I've seen since the Lord of the Rings. And though the 3-D made me a little queasy -- it was phenomenal.

So, my friends, I'm soaking in all of our experiences yesterday, I'm praying for my computer's recovery and I'm beginning to dream of garden hats....

Thanks again for all the Abundance love. Until next time.