Le Petit Cadeau

February Flower Making Workshop

Thank you, thank you to the fabulous 5 who made up last Saturday's flower making workshop. It was wonderful to meet you (or see you again), and you all made the day quite fun and special.

Here's a peek at the lovliness that was made -

Annette - Being a veteran of two (now three) workshops, Annette was looking to expand her flower making repertoire. Instead of making a rose, she tackled a tiger lily - with stunning results.

She also made a sweet pansy that I somewhat inadequately captured for posterity - it really is more lovely in person. I have a feeling velvet is a little problematic to photograph (at least for me).

DeAnna - Why didn't I think to photograph anything of DeAnna's? I totally spaced taking photos of the wild and wonderful petals she made. She had the goal of making a rose that was completely outrageous and "not real" looking (which is truly harder than it seems). I do believe she would have succeeded with the black petals accented with yellow and white she was working on. Hopefully I can get a photo of the finished product some time in the future.

Lynsey - Subtle airbrush work and hand-painted accents make this rose whimsically dramatic. The blush of pink on the inner petals is such a nice combination with the stronger pink edges and the white and pink outer petals - soft and pretty, yet bold.

Such a super sweet rose bud! Again, with some very nice airbrushing.

Mignon - This rose is unusual in that it looks more real in person than in photos - crazy! Mignon applied soft whispers of yellow on her rose petals and then did some amazing hand-painting on the edges - so subtle and soft and beautiful.

Mignon's second rose demonstrates such versatility and daring. The mixture of fabrics moves this flower into fantasy territory - a very different look and feeling from the first, but every bit as pretty.

Shelly - This rose is so classically feminine and elegant. Shelly started with pink silk and airbrushed a lovely darker pink blush on the inner petals - then she addes some hand-painted accents which added further interest.

And, another velvet flower that my photo failed to really capture. In "real life" it is a dramatic purple and happens to look fantastic paired with Shelly's pretty magenta hair.

Sending out another "Thank You" to all who attended this latest workshop. I always enjoy seeing what beautuful flowers everyone makes.

A Pink Moment

The idea of pink leaves appealed to me, so I dyed some velvet in three shades of pink and pressed out some leaves and tiny flowers. Not a ton this time, as I'm not sure how long the fascination with pink leaves will last.

The hot pink leaves are a bit of a novelty. I may end up liking them, but I may have a "What was I thinking!?!" moment. The jury is still out...

Luckily my leaf and flower cutting obsession is waning a bit, and I'm eager to move on to other things.

October Flower Workshop

A giant "Thank You!" to everyone who attended Saturday's workshop. It was really great to meet you - or see you again. The flowers that emerged were/are spectacular.

In alphabetical order -

First up, Annette -

Inspired by a peony, Annette took her flower into true fantasy territory by mixing fabrics and choosing an unconventional color palette. Very lush, very lovely.

DeAnna -

UGH! I didn't get any photos of the flowers D made. My camera died before the end of the day. Sooo unfortunate because DeAnna whipped up some fantastical green and black roses.

Julia -

This rose is so delicate and exquisite. Julia did a great job with the airbrush to create subtle gradations in color. I love the feminity of this flower. She also created a very sweet bud to go with her rose. Unfortunately, my camera chose to die the very moment I was photographing it.

Kirsten -

Kirsten dove right in and made this lovely rose in record time. Unbelievable. She's fearless with her color and with her fabric choices - as you can see in her second rose pictured below. I love the spirit of experimentation that both of these roses exhibit.

Monique -

Monique chose to go with a pale vintage look for this peony. Delicate subtle airbrush work really adds to the overall lovliness of this flower.

I love that this flower is sooo different than the peony. For the rose pictured above, Monique decided to go in a darker more experimental direction - with great results. She created a flower that is both dramatic and charming.

Tricia -

This certainly has a "wow factor" - bold and dynamic. I adore the over-the-top fantasy quality of this flower - and how far Tricia pushed the stylization of the petals. I'm always in awe of her creations.

Again, thank you all who attended the workshop. I hope you are as inspired as I am now to make more flowers!

Fall Leaves

I may be jumping the gun a tad, but I'm beginning to sense Fall approaching - which sent me off in a different direction color wise. I'm not naturally drawn to fall colors, but for whatever reason, I decided to experiment a little with them. I've noticed when making leaves, a bit of color variation goes a long way in terms visual interest, so I randomly applied color to some velvet - and then got down to making some leaves...

Stacks of them.

Again, I find mindless repetitive work deeply comforting. I know it drives some people crazy, but I seem to take to it like a fish to water. This skill high tolerance for repetitive tasks served me very well when I made plants for museum dioramas. I have cut leaves for days, have painted veins on leaves for days, etc. and somehow I came out on the other end relatively sane.

Anyway, as far as the dye experiment went, I'm pretty satisfied. I ended up getting some good color variation. I think the next time I dye randomly, I'll try applying colors in smaller patches so that there will be even more of a range on each leaf.

Gardenias

Don't know why exactly, but I got the urge to make a small army of gardenias.

I have a vague impressionistic vision of a floating gardenia head piece - don't have a clear idea of how to pull it off. I suspect the finished product will morph into something quite different from my initial idea.

I had a great time making these little guys. I have a high tolerance for mindless-repetitive-assembly-line type work. There is something very satisfying about plugging into music or an audio book and just cranking out multiples of whatever it is that needs to be made... Plus, I enjoy the visual impact of a whole group of same-ness.

Floral Fascinator

Last month I took DeAnna's Millinery Bouquet Workshop, and this is what I made -

For the workshop we had to bring flowers that we had made, and then we learned how to assemble them into a fascinator, headband, or other headpiece. It was tons of fun - I learned a lot, got inspired, and it was great to see several familiar faces and meet a new one. Absolutely love taking classes...

Katie (who has taken two of my flower making workshops) brought in some California poppies that she made at home. They were sooo lovely - she absolutely nailed the color. (Wish I had gotten a picture, but I was in student mode and didn't think to bring my camera.) It got me to thinking about how much I'd like to make poppies - and about how fabulous a wild flower headpiece would be.

Some more pics of le petit chapeau avec la grande fleur -

The tiny hat part is made of straw on which I attached a large silk flower, a small velvet flower, and some (horse hair?) trim. DeAnna provided all the materials except for the flowers. We got to choose from an abundant and well curated selection of trims, different materials to make the hat bases, findings, etc. It was such a treat to "shop" in her studio.

Here's a detail shot of the velvet flower. I have found black flowers to be stubbornly unphotogenic, but really pretty fabulous in person.

One of these days, I may splash out for a proper model. Until then, the foam skull will have to do...

Experiments in Applying Color

I've been making silk roses lately - and experimenting with the methods of color application. Usually I use an airbrush, but I've been wanting some bolder results. So, I dug out a regular old brush and started painting.

 

I've also been experimenting with leaf making - using some wonderful molds reproduced from vintage millinery molds. They're such a joy to work with. I can't wait to start adding leaves to my flowers. So far, no leaves have actually been attached to flowers as I have a kind of a weird creative quirk - It is really difficult for me to dive wholeheartedly into production unless I have everything needed for a project on hand. As soon as the findings for various headpieces arrive, then (hopefully) I'll be able to produce a finished piece.

Silk is so much fun to work with. It accepts color easily and is very responsive to heat. I'm on the fence, though, as to what I feel about the flowers I've made. To me, they look a little too much like your run-of-the-mill fake flower that can be bought in a craft store. Maybe I'll feel differently when they're made into headpieces...

Just for comparison - a flower done with an airbrush. Definitely much less dramatic...

A Bit of Pretty

During the next few days I'll be listing some of my cotton rose accessories in my shop. I've also kinda, sorta opened a BigCartel shop. I'm hoping to expand it in the near future. It's kind of bare bones now, but I wanted to test the waters a bit before taking the plunge.

I have so many bits and pieces of flowers floating about the house right now. I have my fingers crossed they'll somehow start to coalesce into actual wearable pieces...

The Afghan So Far...

A few weeks ago, I took up crochet to fill in the sort of weird limbo time that I experience between quitting work and eating dinner/hardcore disc watching.

Well, it hasn't worked out quite that smoothly - Longer daylight hours = longer working hours = less weird limbo time. I actually really like the longer daylight hours, but it means I have had to work the crochet time in to an alternate chunk of time.

 

My big discovery - crochet as a sleeping aid/farewell-to-the-day ritual. Instead of reading before going to sleep, I listen to a book on tape and crochet for a bit before turning out the light. Getting drowsy while actually doing something is a very strange sensation. 

But I'm making progress - and I'm determined to finish this project. I told myself I couldn't move on to any other "fun" projects until this one was finished. There are so many colors and textures I want to work with, so I'm eager to move on - why-oh-why is my attention span so short?

Bridal Headgear

No, not the ugly orthodontic kind - more millinery flowers. I'm still obsessed with making flowers. I have so many ideas and want to try different materials and techniques....

I have developed a preference for rough, crumpled cotton blooms that look like they've spent more than a few years packed away in the attic, but just to mix it up a little, I decided to re-visit silk. The look is much more refined, a bit more formal, more classically bridal.

I attached three small silk roses to a silk satin ribbon to make a headband - Dainty and sweet - I hope not too sweet.

I attached this large rose to a comb - simple pretty adornment. Now I just need to rustle up some models....