An Abundance of Tree Inspiration

When Caroline chose trees as the theme for September's challenge I was thrilled! I have been in awe of trees for a very long time. I have taken countless photos and have used trees as inspiration in my jewelry and fiber art for several years.
It wasn't until I sat down to make some jewelry for the challenge that I realized just how many items I had already created using trees/leaves as inspiration.
After completing the tree challenge I wanted to do another blog post so I could share the numerous pieces that I have created over the past 8-10 years with trees as my inspiration.
As you will see trees can be depicted in any medium. They lend themselves to hand stitching, machine stitching, creating leaves from copper, creating trees from wire, stamping in clay, stamping on fabric...The opportunity to use trees as inspiration in your art is endless!
                                            A few pieces of jewelry using leaves-

Brass Etched Leaf, Agate & Acorn Necklace

                      

Hand Forged Copper Leaf & African Turquoise Necklace

Rustic Raku Leaf With Tibetan Agate & Glass Beads

And a beaded cabochon that looks as though you are peaking through hanging limbs at a misty pond.

Bead Embroidered Jasper Necklace Hanging From An Antler

You can etch copper with trees and encase in resin.

Etched Copper In Metal Bezel With Resin

                                     Trees can be embroidered by hand and beaded.

Detail Of Crazy Quilt

Fiber Collage With Ribbon/Embroidered/Beaded Tree

Felted Fiber Collage With Beaded Tree

Photo Printed On Fabric With Multiple Layers of Embroidery & Beads

Trees can be machine embroidered and embellished with jewelry type elements. These are close-ups of art quilts with trees as the central element.

"Keeper of the Woods' Art Quilt

"Can't See the Forest for the Trees' Art Quilt

                              You can use rubber leaf stamps to print on fabric or paper.
                              I used the same hand-carved stamp for both of these pieces.

"Spring Revival" Art Quilt

"Central Park Player" Mixed Media Collage

Or you can actually use leaves to paint and print onto fabrics. After I printed with the leaf I encased the painted leaf between fabric and tuille then edge-stitched it.  I attached the leaf on the printed fabric to create more dimension.

Fiber/Mixed Media Mini Quilt

And again, I used a real leaf in a mixed media collage below.

"Be Who You Are" Mixed Media Collage

Leaves can be used as a resist for sun printing with setacolor paints as in the photos below. The first photo also has leaves stenciled on the fabric. And the second photo has a screenprinted dandelion.

Dyed, Sun Printed, Stenciled, Screen Printed

Dyed, Sun Printed, Screen Printed, Machine Embroidered & Beaded

These trees were screenprinted onto hand dyed silk with discharge dyes and are just waiting for me to do something with them!

Dyed Dupioni Silk Screen Printed With Discharge Dyes

Dyed Dupioni Silk Screen Printed with Discharge Dyes

Leaves can be used to impress into clay. The one below is raku.

Elephant Ear Leaf Plate

The ones below were rubbed with oxides then high fired glazes applied on stoneware.

Hosta Leaf Plate

Hydrangea Leaf Plate

Maple Leaf Plate With Leaf Handles (I forgot what leaves I used?)

Believe it or not, there are still other ways I have used trees.  I mentioned all the photos I've taken- well, they could possibly be a whole series of blog posts by themselves so I will stop here.

Hopefully, you will be inspired by trees in ways you had never considered before. Maybe we will revisit the tree theme here again in the future. If you didn't get a chance to see all the participant's tree inspired pieces please do so. They were fabulous!

Looking forward to October's component of the month-sugar skulls.

When Inspiration Strikes...

When inspiration strikes, it apparently happens all at once!

Haiti, Bead Cruise 2015

I've been in a creative drought for quite some time but apparently with Bead Cruise 2016 creeping up on me, the inspiration faerie has decided to return.

Left: Chunky tropical necklace  Right: Batik factory, St. Kitts

It seems that with the need to have some tropical accessories, I suddenly found myself inspired again! It all started with that big, chunky polymer focal from ArtyBecca. It reminded me of my trip to St. Kitts last year and the beautiful batik factory. Thanks to my recent studio upgrade, I was able to easily locate lots of beads that would coordinate nicely. 

Left: Driftwood necklace  Right: Bermuda

Back in July, I took a trip to Bermuda with my husband to celebrate our anniversary.  As I was going through my bead collection I came upon this strand of painted driftwood from Nature Scavenger and they reminded me of the gorgeous beaches in Bermuda.  Turns out, they matched perfectly with some wood chain I had from Priscilla Beads.  A little wire and some waxed linen and BOOM, another tropical necklace complete!

Wood and bone necklace

The final of the cruise-inspired pieces came about on its own.  As I was sorting through my collection choosing beads for the other necklaces, I pulled some of these beads out and made a pile. After playing around and moving beads here and there, the full necklace came together.

Beach Treasure Necklace

I'm very excited about this necklace!  Back in November when I was attending the bead retreat with Jenny and Sue, I found this green sea pebble while beachcombing.   Jenny took it home with her and then set it in a fabulous copper bezel.  I paired it with some prehnite nuggets, czech glass and a drilled river stone.

Purple and green bowlerite pendant

It isn't just simple, beaded jewelry inspiration that is back!  I've also been working on bead embroidery again!  One of the promises I made to myself this year was to buy less beads and use more of what I already have.  I selected this bowlerite (bowling ball) cabochon by David Rowland and used all beads I had in my stash.  In fact, the silver and large purple beads came from the 2015 Bead Cruise goody bags!

As soon as I finished this pendant, I started selecting cabochons and beads for my next several projects.

Greenman Pendant/Brooch

This is my most recently finished piece.  The polymer cabochon is from Jenny.  I sewed a pinback with attached bail on to the back to make it a more versatile piece.  

Seashell pendant in progress

Here's what I'm currently working on.  This is my first time using a real shell (found on a prior cruise) in my bead embroidery.  I'm hoping to put shell or coral fringe around the outside as I've never done that before.  Lots of learning going on!

Now I just need to get myself back in the ceramic studio and start making beads again.  Baby steps.

Have you been struck by the inspiration faerie recently?

Crafty Cruising

Earlier this month, I went on a 7-night Caribbean cruise with Colin.  I knew I wanted to create during our "at sea" days and evenings after leaving the ports.  Originally, I intended to pack my chainmaille supplies but then I thought the pliers could be an issue. So I packed two other things; an adult coloring book and a bead embroidery project.

Cabochon glued to backing

I selected a glass cabochon by SueBeads that reminded me of a tide pool and glued it to some dyed Stiff Stuff (from Bead My Love).

Great Stirrup Cay, Bahamas.  Norwegian Spirit in the background.

I gathered up an assortment of seed beads that were inspired by the colors of Caribbean waters.

Base row of galvanized seed beads

I fell in love with these galvanized seed beads at the bead retreat last month so I came home with an assortment of them, including these fabulous blue ones.

Even-count peyote bezel

And thanks to Jenny and Meg, they taught me peyote bezel at the retreat.  I loved how those little 15's  matched some of the speckles in the cabochon.

Adding visual interest and playing off the bubble-design

Each night, I sat on our balcony and added a little more to the design.  It was a nice way to wind down in the evening.

Final row consisting of size 8 and 6 seeds.

This is where my design ended on the cruise.  I realized I hadn't packed any glue or leather for backing material.

Travel-size coloring book

Once I could no longer work on the bead embroidery, I pulled out my travel-size coloring book.  I picked this up last minute at Barnes & Noble before we left.

Completed pages

These are just a few of the pages I worked on between the cruise and my flights.  These were so much fun, I can see why adult coloring books are trendy right now!

Costa Maya, Mexico

I had a great time on the cruise and it was so nice to have projects to work on.  I don't think I'll ever travel again without a craft to take with me!

Happy Beading!

Freeform Friday: a visit to Downton

Warning: this post may have you craving scones and high tea. You may have a compulsion to dress for dinner. However, for the rare few who have NOT watched PBS's Downton Abbey, there may be a few small spoilers. Beware. 

This is how the day began: tea with the Aunties. My friend Angela had made me an honorary aunt to her daughters Jordan and Ellie ( my students of 10 years...).  It was a sumptuous spread, only missing the Devon clotted cream*, sadly. 

Winterthur - HF Dupont's home from his birth in 1880 to his death in 1969. 

We headed off to Winterthur, historical house/museum in Wilmington DE. This house was the duPont family estate, founded in 1837 and made public by H.F. duPont in the 1950's. Tours are available of the house, still furnished in the duPont's style, and the museum hosts a large collection of decorative arts, dating from 1640-1860. The garden's  are also a showpiece, and seasonal tours are a must. 

Winterthur is currently hosting an exhibit of the costumes from PBS's Downton Abbey. The exhibit drew parallels between the two countries/lifestyles/families very well. A lovely thoughtful synthesis of history and pop culture. 

But really - its all about the dresses... I was excited to see things up close, and reading some of the details - so impressive. The costume department had 7 weeks to create all the fashions for a season. In many cases a dress was inspired by a piece of period accurate lace/beading/fabric and replicated to match from there. (So while this post isn't "art jewelry" per se - its personal adornment, bead embroidery, and so much inspiration!) Without further ado... 

Cora's dress - hard to imaging wearing it - it was SO ethereal. Amazing beaded front panel. 

Cora again. This long velvet duster was a dark olive and truly the thing I coveted most in the entire exhibit.  The center panel on the skirt is off center because they only had so much antique beaded motif to work with, so they designed it in regardless. 

Wearing this to dinner? I can see the need for a Lady's maid to do touch ups and mend loose beads. 

Just beadwork. Because it was so stunning. The black/white/silver piece on the left made me gasp out loud. No exaggeration. The top right dress was worn by Cousin Rose - flapper style sheet covered in bugle beads. The bottom purple number was worm by Matthew's mother if I remember correctly. 

Dame Maggie Smith as the Dowager Countess. Need I say more? 

Mary and Matthew's  attire from the fateful night - of their proposal. So bittersweet.  This dress was oddly unembellished, just multicolored seed beads at the ruffles edges and a pendant piece stitched on as a focal in the front.

Edith. Poor Edith. Details from her wedding gown. 

Sibyl, ever the fashion forward sister stunned the room when she appeared in this for dinner. It was pants! Harem pants of silk... but this embroidered bodice was more stunning to me. 

Lady Sibyl again - an embroidered velvet number styled after Parisian trends  of the 20's. 

If you are near Wilmington DE between now and January - I highly recommend this exhibit. It was a lovely fan moment to see the costumes yet it successfully transported me back in time. There were pieces on display from the employees as well, but as I was focused on embellishments... "Service" was accurately represented, in all their contrast. 

My mother taught my sisters and me to embroider in different decorative stitches when we were quite young. Its a skill we have all retained to varying degrees. That combined with my new love of seed beads... hmm. Ideas are brewing. I'll let them steep a while... ( puns intended)

*Cream tea:  The Devonshire (or Devon) method is to split the scone in two, cover each half with clotted cream, and then add strawberry jam on top. Traditionally it is important that the scones be warm (ideally, freshly baked), and that clotted (rather than whipped) cream and strawberry jam, rather than any other variety, are used. Butter is generally not included, and the tea should be served with milk.

Whatever your plans for the "weekend" - have a good one!
Jenny

*Cream tea: There are regional variations as to how a cream tea should preferably be eaten. The Devonshire (or Devon) method is to split the scone in two, cover each half with clotted cream, and then add strawberry jam on top. Traditionally it is important that the scones be warm (ideally, freshly baked), and that clotted (rather than whipped) cream and strawberry jam, rather than any other variety, are used. Butter is generally not included, and the tea should be served with milk.