THE ART TRAIL IS HAPPENING!

This year I am taking part in the 2nd Ilfracombe Art Trail, we are not doing an open house this year though. I am at The Space and I will have my daughter who is an artist and published author with me on Sunday but Saturday I will be mostly on my own, there are a number of artists exhibiting as The Space is large so plenty of room.

I am not ready at all as my work room has been having a makeover and the ceiling had to be replaced as the roof above was leaking so that got fixed first, I ended up with a large hole in the corner of the ceiling and it has been on-going for over a month now and everything has had to come out so the studio is full with stuff so no Tai Chi either...!!! The weather has been too cold and windy to train in the park so I will be so glad to see it all finished and everything back in the workroom again.

I will be taking some of the pendants I made for the Art Bead Scene challenges with me as well as some of the Impressions collection of pendants also maybe some hand dyed silk Kumihimo necklaces and some gorgeous vintage silk scarves I made along with some of my art cards of my own paintings.

 Love to get comments if you have a minute, thank you.

~Jackie~
 

 

ANOTHER ORGANIC NEKLACE!

Well I am back in the organic mood again, I have recently made another necklace for the Portland Gallery.

I found a wonderful carved wood bead and bought several of them as the website was closing down, that was the inspiration for this necklace as the carving had holes in it I thought what a good idea it would be to suspend some thin leather through them and add beads, well that took almost a full afternoonm they kept making their way out of the centre hole instead of the ones at the side   ...!!! I did get them through the holes eventually as you will see in the picture below, although I was terribly tempted to give up!

I wanted to use some more of the lovely Labradorite as theses beads are quite heavy I use them spareingly. I added some coconut heishi and several of the fair trade hand made beads, all lightweight beads and to bring out the splash of colour in the lovely little cloisonné Ladybird I used one of my polymer beads. I used hand dyed silk and a hand made clasp to finish, I hope you like it!

I love to get your comments and always read them, thank you.
~Jackie~ 

KUMIHIMO BRAID NECKLACE!

I am enjoying my Kumihimo braiding very much. I am using hand dyed silk threads at present that I buy from Lorraine as I want fine braids it seems perfect. If you read my prevous post you will know I don't like the pre-made ends that you have to glue in position, so have worked on a way to secure my hand made Polymer ends without using any glue.

The necklace in the picture below has lovely warm shades in the braid with tiny freshwater pearls. I made endcaps of autumn leaves and one for one of the ind drops the other two are green Tourmaline and the three waterfall strands are a mixture of freshwater pearls glass beads and Tourmaline and a couple of gold plated beads as well.

Lorraine has a lovely blog you may like to visit its called http://colourcomplements.com/ she also has an Etsy shop here https://www.etsy.com/shop/colourcomplements?ref=l2-shopheader-name

I will put some more of these necklaces up soon, I hope you have enjoyed taking a look most of these are available but not on the web site as they are a new collection.

Your comments are very much appreciated thank you.

~Jackie~

 

ORIENTAL INSPIRATION!

Perhaps this is a slight deviation from my organic trend in this necklace or maybe its not really.

The beautiful old Chinese pendant was the inspiration, I have been wanting to use it for quite a while, I love the colours green and lavender its so fresh! I believe it is Jade and depicts two fish with a water lily and lily pads, or should I say Lotus flower anyway it is lovely and unusual. The beads I chose are smooth amethyst a bit organic and its finished with a hand dyed silk ribbon of exactly the right colour there is a little sterling silver S clasp under the ribbon so you don't need to undo the ribbon to fasten it! 

It is not easy to get a sharp close up picture of the focal but I have put one up anyway. 

I am offering it here to my blog readers first then it will go on the web site and Facebook next week.

Thank you your comments are really appreciated
~Jackie~

VINTAGE KIMONO SILK

I love vintage and antique fabrics especially the exquisite silk kimono panels and kimono and jackets (Haori) I collect. I have only been a collector of these beautiful fabrics for a relatively short time just a few  years and learning all the time.
My daughter has caught the collecting bug to a lesser extent and has several lovely silk Haori's and a pretty cotton Yukata she wears in the summer. It has been fun wearing these to the theatre and they are always admired and we enjoy telling people about them and how well they were looked after which is why they are still in such wonderful condition and perfectly wearable, I often wonder who owned them and what stories they could tell...!!!

From some of the silk and one of the wool panels I have made scarves for my daughter, sister and friends I think I should start doing something with some of the panels again this year as it is a shame for such beautiful fabric to lie unseen on a cupboard shelf when it could be worn and admired.

The Orchid kimono below is rather unusual and pretty and the haori is gorgeous the embroidery is silver and gold roses and foliage. The three silk panels I think are very beautiful.