Author: denise

I have done beadwork for over 25 years and got so interested in jewelry design that I took two metalwork classes at Arrowmont School of Arts & Crafts in Gatlinburg, Tennessee from wonderful teachers Deborah Lynn Gold and Marjorie Simon. I can't choose a favorite medium. I love sculptural work and adore forming and fabricating metals, but three-dimensional beadwork is more colorful. I sew a lot! Lately I've been making lots of purses and wallets as well as upcycling used clothing into new items. Lately I've gone back to sewing and refashioning cast-off clothing–mostly men's shirts, into girls' clothing. I also enjoy making handbags and wallets. They are really fun to put together–like a puzzle.

Valentine’s Day

I’ve been reminiscing about Valentine’s Day. You might think that I’m getting mushy and romantic, but I’m not. Valentine’s Day was a benchmark for me from an early age as the day when we had to have our peas planted. I got so sentimental that I looked up the old guidelines on Google. This is what I found.

Mother Earth News’s article on organic growing in a changing climate.

It makes a lot of sense, using natural guidelines to determine when the environment is right for planting. We planted cabbage and lettuce when the oak leaves were the size of a squirrel’s ear. The article is a little different than how I learned but close enough.

I don’t know why I torture myself this way every year. I don’t even have a garden anymore. Haven’t had one in years. But I still dream about what beautiful vegetables I could grow, how I should hurry and get them out.

Sigh.

Hat Collaboration

My friend, Eiko, is a wonderful weaver. She has only been a weaver for about 3 years I think but has absolutely fallen in love with it. Her fabrics are beautiful. She designs some of her own patterns and often uses bamboo and linen threads in fabrics that are subtle and elegant.

I have fallen in love with hat-making. I don’t say millinery because I don’t think I’m good enough to qualify for that moniker yet, milliner. I love the cutting, shaping, decorating–everything. Where else can you use almost any kind of fiber, natural- or man-made material in a project? And I love sculptural arts. My beadwork was often sculptural.

Morning Glories necklace

Eiko had a table-runner that she couldn’t sell. It wasn’t long enough to be a scarf and no-one seems to use table runners anymore (except me). She admired my hats in the shop in which we sell and wondered if we could collaborate. Yes!

In Japan all women wear hats, Eiko says. When she visits her mother she comes back to Tennessee amazed at all the hats she owns. I have to wonder if the wearing of hats is why Japanese women have such wonderful skin.

So she gave me the table runner to work with. It was very supple and drapey. Quite a challenge for a hat maker. I had to stiffen it a lot.

It turned out okay. I think I could have done better if I’d had a little more time. Eiko had a hand-woven ribbon with which she will replace the blue band. I’ll use it on another hat. 

The fabric is linen with a wonderful woven-in slub style pattern.

I learned a lot on this hat. I will do much better on the next one. Thanks, Eiko!

Stumbled on color

When I grow weary of all the political turmoil on Facebook or bored with my choices in websites I often go to StumbleUpon.com for semi-mindless surfing (do people call it surfing anymore?) and endless entertainment. I like StumbleUpon because I can set my preferences and always get something that interests me. If not, I hit the Stumble button again.  I find all kinds of things that I never knew existed. Like this:
Psychology of Color [Infographic]

Courtesy of Painters of Louisville

And if color psychology isn’t your cup of tea, try this for a calming therapy!

Panorama of the Salt Flats at night. Aaaaaahhhh…that’s what I’m talking about!