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.

Workshop Scedule Finalized

Woo-hoo! The 2012 Workshop schedule has been finalized! Check out the Workshop page for more info.

2012 Workshops

I'm excited to announce next year's workshops - one of which is actually scheduled! For the full low-down, please visit my Workshops page. Also, new for this year is a move into the current century registration-wise. No more checks in the mail, just click a button and register online - super easy and secure.

The fun begins January 14, 2012 with Millinery Flower Workshop - English Garden. All skill levels are welcome, and it features techniques that you can employ to add an extra touch of "life" to your flowers.

Several people in my last workshop suggested a "studio day" - a time for in-depth Q&A's, tool demo's, hands-on practice, etc. It sounded like a great idea to me, so it is part of the 2012 schedule. I have to say I'm pretty psyched about it. I really like going into detail (geeking out) ;-) about different techniques, etc.

With the exception of Studio Day, I've tried to come up with workshops that would be interesting and informative for both beginners and more experienced flower makers. I'll definitely be posting more once DeAnna and I have the 2012  schedule finalized.

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!

October Fantasy Flower Workshop

A spot has opened up in the Fantasy Flower Workshop that I am teaching in October.

If you are interested - hurry, hurry and send me an email so that we can make the proper arrangements to secure the last place for you. As always, the workshop will be taught at DeAnna's millinery studio in San Francisco. More details are available on my "Workshops" page - and, of course, if you email me, I can answer any further questions you may have.

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...

5/18/11 Fascinator Workshop

I'm psyched to take this workshop. DeAnna is going to teach how to turn all those flowers we've been making into wearable headpieces. One reason I'm looking forward to this class is that I like to learn "the official" way of doing something. Then if I get a hankering to sport my innovative pants, I feel more free to experiment and come up with my own ways of doing things.

I also don't feel like I have a natural knack for making something that looks good on someone's head - I'm looking forward to picking up some tips and developing skills in that area.

I'm not sure how many spaces are available (if any), but if you are interested, I would encourage you to send DeAnna an email for more info. Hurry before it's too late!

May Flower Workshop

The above image is the first shot from my i-pod, produced whilst trying to familiarize myself with the camera function - not a very auspicious beginning as far as documentation goes. Yes, the touch screen is v. sensitive... I had to laugh at myself fumbling around with one of the most user-friendly electronic devices on the planet.

My apologies for the less than stellar photos. I now know that my camera does indeed take better photos than my i-pod does.

Bad photos aside, some really wonderful flowers were made in last Saturday's workshop. Here are a few random production pics -

As you will see later, these petals made a really charming flower. I love the way Tricia distressed the silk and painted her flower in such an abstract manner.

More petals...

Though the flowers were the stars of the show, there were leaves made - some really nice ones, I might add.

As always, I throughly enjoyed how everyone produced something totally unique. Everyone started with the same fabric and the same pattern - and the results were all so completely different. So - without further ado, here are the flowers...

This rose made by Annette is gorgeous! The way she tipped the edges of her petals with a vibrant plum-y purple produced a really dramatic flower. (I wish I had gotten a better photo! I could actually say that about every flower in this post.)

Donna's rose turned out so sweet and pretty, and it really had a nice vintage feel to it. It is not completely apparent in the photo, but she did some really lovely color blending (pink & yellow) with the airbrush which produced a variety of subtle blushes - from yellow to orange to pink.

It is such a shame I didn't get a better photo of this rose made by Katie. She also did some excellent airbrush work with a very natural-looking, thoughtfully placed yellow, and then she really coaxed some dynamically graceful movement from her petals.

Suzanne took her flower in a different direction shape-wise producing such a different look and feel - which I love. It has a clean elegance to it, and the color is so rich.

This is the completed flower made from the petals mentioned above. Tricia has such a strong sense of design and her craftsmanship is impeccable - truly inspiring...

Yolanda's varied hand painting technique produced a perfectly beautiful rose. I love the way she left some of the fabric white and applied such a strong red/pink color with bold strokes - very dramatic.

Thank you, thank you to all who attended the flower & foliage workshop!

March Millinery Flower Workshop

Thank you, thank you, thank you to everyone who participated in the March Millinery Flower Workshop! It was so great to meet you all and see your fabulous creations take shape.

 

Pictured above are some of the wonderful flowers that were made in this past Saturday's workshop.

It really was a kick in the pants and I was/am sooo inspired by what people made. It really is no bull when teachers say they learn from their students. I find it endlessly fascinating to watch how people approach a project. I also love to see other peoples' aesthetic sensibilities in action.

I tend to default to a "realistic" style when I make flowers - probably because of my background in museum work - so I was thrilled when Dana and Teri took off in their own creative directions. These flowers are so beautiful - I'm disappointed that I didn't get better photos (still working on that pesky documentation thing).

Dana mixed fabrics in a way I have never thought of, which I find very inspiring and I can't wait to start experimenting. This rose is so chic - just like Dana.

I can't say enough good things about the colors in this flower. (apologies for the bad photo) I love the way Teri used a more abstract palette and designed her flower to look more stylized.

Katie and Beth created more traditional but equally lovely roses. Beth was truly the stealth flower maker - She made her second flower so quickly I didn't even get a picture of it. Here is her first one, which has a very "grand dame" air about it - dramatic and showy -

Katie has a knack for the "realistic" style. This rose has some really pretty movement in it's petals - all the more admirable since it's made of velvet - silk is easier to shape. Love the subtle color fade in the middle.

DeAnna and Heather - How fabulous are you and your roses? Check these out -

What great color variation!

I can't wait to put into practice what I learned - I look forward to mixing fabric in bolder ways, choosing more unconventional colors, and coaxing more movement from my petals (getting those puppies to flamenco ranther than waltz).

And so, as promised - Here is the first flower I ever made (besides those high-falutin' museum ones) - I never finished it because I wasn't satisfied and I quickly moved on...

Told ya you would laugh, Dana.

March Flower Making Workshop Full

A big, giant, heart-felt "Thank You" to all who have expressed interest in my Millinery Flower Workshop coming up in March. I'm happy to report the workshop is full. For those of you who are unable to take the first workshop, the October workshop would be a good substitute as it will cover some of the same information and fundamental techniques. And, though it is called Fantasy Flower Workshop with an emphasis imaginary creations, if your fantasy flower is "real" looking, I'll be more than happy to accomodate your specific vision.

Again, thank you - I look forward to meeting you all and making some lovely, fabulous flowers...