A Fabric Collage Book: Babies, Buggies and Black Velvet

Good morning and happy Saturday! I'm sorry that I've neglected this blog for awhile, but time seems to have gotten away from me.

I had mentioned in an earlier post that one of my art endeavors was to be featured in the Winter issue of Sew Somerset, and it hit newsstands on December first. It was an honor to be featured, and the really funny part is that the article that appeared behind mine was by a gal that I knew when I lived down in Florida. Things can't get much more coincidental than that!

Below are some photos that I had taken of my book before I sent it off to Somerset. I am sharing them with you since the publishers took their own photos, and mine are a little different. I hope you enjoy seeing them as much as I enjoyed working on the book, which was probably one of my "busiest" projects. I fashioned it after an old Victorian photo album, and the inspiration came from my growing collection of Victorian photos depicting babies in their beautiful buggies. I imagined what they might have been thinking when the photos were taken so many years ago, and this project was born.

Almost all of the items used were vintage. 

The cover is black velvet,

vintage laces,

a hankie,

brooch,

and crinkled seam binding...

A button and lace binding...

The inside front cover 

and first page with

doilies and burnout velvet...

This is one of my favorite old photos,

and you have seen me use it before...

Use of a frog closure...

Silk, lace, and old buttons...

Doesn't she look like she is

watching something?

Pretty old sheet music...

More lace, buttons, silk,

and copies of the backs of

cabinet cards...

What was this beautiful baby thinking

about?

The last page and the inside of the back cover.

I used the fringe because there was fringe

on this baby's buggy...

Instructions for making this book are in Sew Somerset! 

I hope that you have a great weekend, and thanks for

stopping by!

Some collage pieces...

Hello friends! I hope that you are having a great weekend.

I've been going through some things up in the studio, and came across a few collage pieces that I'd forgotten about. I had submitted them to Somerset Studio for publication in the July/August, 2012 issue, and they were actually printed! Since I didn't have a blog at that time, I thought I'd share them with you now. Here are a few pictures, along with a scan of the page that they appeared on.

Below is a picture of the three pieces. The theme for

that issue was "A Somerset Summer". Of course,

for me, Summer usually means happy days spent

in the garden...



And here are some shots of each individual piece...

Below is a  scan of the page that they appeared on.

It didn't scan too well, so you might have

to click on it for a better view...



They were fun to do! I'm hoping that a creative phase will come my way soon. Thanks for visiting!

Inspiration, Part 3...

Greetings from The Perch! I hope that you're enjoying your weekend.

Here is the last part of my "quest for inspiration". Sometimes it helps me to look at some of my old creations and say "I can make more of these". My spirits were lifted this morning when Glenda from Recycled Relatives (see my post of a few days ago on tintypes) emailed me and asked me if I sell any of my work. I have not sold any so far mainly because I don't think that anything that I create is all that special, and even most of my family members don't "get" my art (if you want to call it art). But she loves old photos (obviously!) as much as I do and she was happy when in a previous email I mentioned that I use only copies of these photos in my art. We both share the same feeling that when these beauties are gone, they are gone, and there are no more. If a picture that has survived for more than 100 years is going to die, it will not be at my hand, even for the sake of art. I do believe that artists have the right to their own special brand of creativity, but I personally can't see ruining an original old photo for the sake of putting a witch's hat on it, or giving it a mustache. Even if the photo is not in great shape to begin with. Enough of my humble and worthless opinions!

The photos below were taken of some pieces that I had sent to Sew Somerset, and were published in the Summer, 2011 issue along with an article that they asked me to write about them. Since I did not have a blog back then, I will share them now. They were done in a set, and about 8" by 10" each.

And here are some scans of the article as it appeared. (I can't tell if the scans will view very well.)

I actually submitted these as theme pieces to Somerset Studio, and they later asked me if they could put them in Sew Somerset instead, along with the article, so of course I said "yes". 

Thank you again for spending some time with me. Have a great day!