My exhibit entitled Curiouser & Curiouser, sponsored by Takoma Park Arts & Humanities, runs through June 15.
There are four large glass cases filled with everything from jewelry, to textile work, to clothing explorations. Hard to photograph through the glass… but I hope you get the idea.
7500 Maple Avenue, Takoma Park, MD, 20912. Also please visit the senior show of the Einstein High School arts magnet program in the Atrium Gallery.
Some of the work is for sale at So Charmed, other pieces are from my personal collection. If you visit, send an email inquiry regarding purchase.
We forgot to get photos of the petite artiste herself (resplendent in a PUT A BIRD ON IT taxidermy-festooned vintage 1930’s hat that Isabella Blow is coveting from fashionista heaven), but never fear. Yours truly was interviewed by a nice young man from Takoma Cable Television! Not sure when that will be available for local viewing. And available, and available… I’m sure this will be at least partially, if not fully mortifying.
Big loving thanks to friends and family who came by for the opening and a special huge hug to Molly for her amazing skills at setting up the cases while Mom was just pretty much freaking out.
So I get a call the other evening from a vintage shop owner who knows me well and she says: I got this really odd coat in and I think it has your name on it. I take such calls seriously. Went in the next day and scored the above-pictured divine asymmetrical muslin garment by Ivan Grundahl. For $20. Perfect fit.
At home I did some research and found out that Grundahl is a major veteran designer from Denmark, whose work is coveted by avant garde fashionistas the world over.
Here are a bunch of photos I found online… his collections are consistent over several years… neutral colors, lots of black, romantic, gothy, asymmetrical, lots of tulle, often shown with clunky gun-boots. Swoon.
Here is the lovely back of my Grundahl coat. I’m going to guess that it is a few years old, came from a ready-to-wear collection, and likely sold for about $400+ new. SCORE!
Did I say something about no longer doing custom work? LIAR LIAR PANTS ON FIRE. Pictured in this post, a custom mixed media necklace commissioned by a group of lovely midwestern ladies for a mutual friend who is beautiful forever. Happy Birthday, Amy.
Vintage silk sari fiber from India, wire, glass beads, vintage rhinestone chain and buttons. Hand forged clasp.
And a gorgeous vintage chandelier crystal focal. More of these pretty necklaces might just be available at So Charmed soon and large lucious photos are available for viewing on flickr.
Those of you who follow my ramblings on Facebook and my pins on Pinterest, know that I’ve taken a sewing detour of late and have been making the prettiest little dresses using Jody Pearl’s Piece of Cake frock and tunic pattern. Pictured above is my favorite cake to-date worn by me, and featuring a crushed velvet top and yardsale damask (art deco) skirt. Not to mention vintage French faux-fur trim… it is quite the confection! You can see the rest of the cakes in progress and finished/worn over on flickr.
Meanwhile, I spend an inordinate amount of time scouring the world (real life AND virtual) for textiles; a recent post highlighted an obsession with Japanese prints and I’ve been haunting my local thrifts for curtains and bedspreads! This post will highlight fabrics found on Spoonflower; an incredible web site that allows anyone to design and upload/sell their own textiles. And there is truly GORGEOUS stuff to be had.
One of the coolest things about the cake dresses is pairing the fabrics so I’m going to upload these images in order of possible pairings. I love odd color combos and on Spoonflower I seem to fall in love with some very macabre, outre textiles!
First pairing of flies and skulls. Second is a pair by the same artist and I actually like the similarity of color with the difference in imagery… busses and telephone wires.
Above, an odd rococo pairing with squids ‘n roses (like guns ‘n roses only better)! Apologies for not linking all the swatches, they are easy to find by searching Spoonflower and ARE linked over on my Pinterest Craft Board.
Cities (Tokyo) and wolves… I LOVE this pair.
Bones! Scary Forests! The mind reels with possibility. Spoonflower, btw, is print on demand. They offer eight fabric choices and you can obtain a swatchbook for just a dollar, which I’ve done. The fabrics are pricey (but I think it’s worth it to support the designers), starting at $16.20 per yard for quilting weight Kona cotton and going up to $34.20 per yard for silk crepe de chine, which I will NOT be ordering. For the cake dresses I recommend either the Kona, or (and especially) the linen-cotton blend which will be similar to the Japanese fabrics I’ve used and work really well to hold pleats, giving the frock nice fit/form.
Hey local peeps! In what can only be described as a truly rare event in my life, I’ll be making a public appearance at the lovely boutique Art & Soul, in downtown Washington, DC, for their April Girls Night Out event, this Thursday 4/5, 6-9 pm.
My jewelry will be for sale at the shop, including three sets of bangle stacks. Pictured above, Cake Bangle Stack, which features vintage rhinestones and millinery in a sugary confection.
Should you prefer your jewelry spicy rather than sweet, don’t miss out on Bombay Bangle Stack, pictured above and below.
Owner, Marjorie, also acquired the Everywhere You Go Bangle Stack, formerly listed over on my site, an elegant grouping to accompany you on adventures.
All of these boho gypsy-esque bangle stacks feature vintage sari silk ribbon from my collection along with an assemblage of curated beads, charms and other goodies. Hope to see some of you at Art & Soul!
Some supplies get used as quick as can be. I’d been visiting and longing for those vinyl record beads from Africa forever so once I got my hands on them, I had to use them immediately. The pink btw, is bright neon.
The vintage black buttons look like vinyl records to me, they are art deco and were purchased long ago. I have a tupperware container of buttons for each of about 8 colors. A sorting exercise when I was buying the buttons in bulk from ebay. It really does make them easier to use and was fun seeing each and every button in the large lots.
No idea where that little glass smiley bead came from, have also had that in the stash forever. So I wore these out last night to decide whether I could part with them. For now, I simply have to keep these. They really express how I feel about the world, in a way that I just can not describe.
To see these photos full size, visit my flickr page.
Having a far-away art friend is today’s version of a pen pal (which I’m old enough to also have had), only better! Manuela lives in Milan and we met on flickr — where she goes by the name Gigliotigre and/or PoppyPoppins. We were drawn to one another’s jewelry images; pictured above is Manu’s hand-knit plastic necklace, Knotting Lies.
Although we barely know one another, we decided to do a destash trade… destash being an invented word crafters use to describe the sharing of their overflow hoard of supplies. I was so excited to get Manu’s package, note the mustache tape! Inside was a little suitcase and inside that…
A crazy little mini-hoard! Here are some pix…
Manu also sent me a super sweet pair of earrings from her PoppyPoppins line, pictured below. Of course we both LOVE polka-dots.
Lastly, here is one more necklace creation of Manu’s, entitled Erasmus, “la tete Mundurucù” dedita all’ubriachezza molesta or The head hunter’s first victim.
Despite our language barriers — Manu’s English surpassing my Italian by a gazillion percent — we’ve become great friends. I’ve sent a package off to Italy and knowing their mail system as I do… I hope it arrives before Xmas! I can’t wait to see the extreme craziness that comes of this trade. And I hope to introduce you to a few more of my talented art-buds soon.
Depending upon how long you’ve been reading this blog, you may remember that in the spring of 2010, my family traveled to Paris to attend the opening of a major exhibition of work inspired by French poet Arthur Rimbaud — RimbaudMania. You know how some moments of your life are so surreal that you can hardly experience them? This is one such moment. In the very short video above, you can see several jewelry cases, one of which has two pieces of mine displayed. This was the first room of the exhibit, entitled Objects Fetisches.
Below is a much longer video, running about 9 minutes and the videographer is moving through the exhibit from end to beginning. My work gets focus at 8:07 or thereabouts. This video also shows the works of Picasso, Leger, Miro, Mapplethorpe, Patti Smith, and Cocteau, among others… also included in the exhibition. There was a gorgeous hardbound catalog of the exhibit published, and my pieces were later sent to the Rimbaud Museum in Charleville-Mézières, France, where they reside as part of the permanent collection. Here’s a link with lots of photos to my original post.
Having some fun with solder again today. These necklace focals are both made with thin sheets of micro glass, between which stuff is sandwiched, then soldered.
This is particularly fun, because you can see the lace from the other side of the charm. I used two little claw-foot findings to make loops for stringing chain. They were a beeeyatch to solder… I need one of those third hand thingees before I burn the bejeebus outta myself. The lace is tea stained and the flower is millinery, both very vintage.
This image shows you the flip side of the scissor charm. These are vintage tobacco tags from India, with the coolest graphics. I used a filigree broken in half for the top… one piece soldered to each side. Crafty!
I’m so excited to share this with you… a new necklace focal — printed images soldered between thin pieces of glass. Above is one side, below is the other. I added the little fleur de lis charm for fun and patina and sanded everything to a messy aged black.
Since giving up the resin process, I’ve been agonizing over not being able to play with text and images. Having had this entire soldering kit around the studio for several years, and having experimented with it a bit lately, I finally got inspired to go the full distance creating one of these sorts of picture things. The technique is nothing new. But I hope I’ll be bringing that So Charmed touch to the whole thing.
And here are some CRAZY tribal focals made with clay (polymer), wire, and dental teeth, which I believe are porcelain, but not sure. They didn’t melt in the oven… so I’m assuming they aren’t plastic! I have a few cards of these… they are used (I believe) for shade matching.
I have to say, these scare even me. They are so incredibly creepy. But I do love them and can’t wait use them in jewelry. Big hugs to Steph of Vladthebatsattic and Simona of HappyFallout for the clay inspiration. Visit their shops to see really great stuff made with actual fired clay… much better than my efforts!
Here’s the second Marie focal, with a vintage brass ribbon thingee soldered on. This is LOTS OF FUN to do.
The back of this second charm features an ancient guillotine illustration. Had to go there…
