Details &...

 1845 Girls Fan Front Dress

Here we are at the end of another week...heck the end of another month! Time is zooming by. Just imagine the time spent hand stitching this little girls dress from the mid 1840's. The minuscule gauged gathers on the fan front bodice, piped seams and microscopic braid trim shown above. Note the darn to the bottom of the picture.  This is one of my favorite little gowns.

The fabric is beautiful~ so dainty and feminine. The above picture is the strap across the shoulder

White soutache braid & dainty whitework edging borders the trim on the bodice and all tiers of the skirt. 

I have been working on the model for this year's ornament kit for those of you who have asked about it~ here is a little peek ;)

 It's super cute so far....what can I say have I ever offered an ornament kit I'm not super jazzed about? I dont think so! It is going to be really fun for you to stitch, and is so dainty~ it will fit in the palm of your hand. Keep your eyes peeled Ill be sharing more about it soon!

Making it 'So'....

  It just Popped in There....

This vision....

So I Gathered.....

And Made it So....

I took my own advise and just DID IT. I have NO IDEA what is going on the outside of this casket...but the inside is done and that makes me happy!

My favorite colour very pale blush pink silk interior....

I hand stamped the dusky blue endpapers myself in silver

I designed the interior configuration after one of my 17th c favorites at the Dallas Museum of Art

Used my favorite antique cut glass scent bottle...

Theres nothing like finishing an interior to get you jazzed about what to put on the outside...and no, they dont need to match~ just DO IT already ;)

Look at these Bunns!

Ready To Get Dressed!

  I spent some time carving a set of my turned bunn feet into these fluted cuties for a lil somethin I been tinkering on. They are drying now after a quick dip in 24k gold....well, it wasnt a dip. I wish it was that easy. Gilding with real gold is quite tedious actually. What have you been working on?  It feels great to finally  be getting my mojo back!

 

Catching up

A Fun Paint... 

 I am still catching up after being sick, but getting there. Now that this frame has been delivered I can share it ~ it was super fun to paint and I think you will be able to tell why. My customer ordered a frame for his wife for her birthday, and simply said she liked turtles, sea otters and octopuses (is that the plural? I have no idea). I do love the challenge of designing for this tiny narrow area to paint on. Its a really happy frame and has made me anxious for summer!

 The painting technique I practice is from the early 19th century and is done in water colours. I first draw my design or parts of it, on the wood with a steel tip pen, then all is painted with watercolurs. Several coats of watercolours....on this frame some areas have nearly 20 coats of paint. I have to be very careful to have paint to water ratio just perfect so that the new coat of paint does not take off the layers beneath it.

 

 I very much enjoyed painting the octopuses, these are the first I have ever drawn and painted. There are three, and I wanted to portray how they change to camouflage themselves, 

So the fellow in the center is starting to change to blue. I really love how he came out. I used titanium white for the suckers on the tentacles which really made them PoP!

The otters are cute 'as all get out ' as my Grandmother would say~ so playful

I had to include one with an urchin on their tummy~

With as much time that we spend at our frames, they should be pretty and make us smile~ dont you think? I sure do~