tinctory

Black Springtime

2012-02-07T20:25:00.000Z

It's easy to forget what naturally follows fruition: the ripe seeds need to spend time buried alive in the dark before the shoots find the light again.

The first months felt very dark. Objectively everything was well. Anna is beautiful and thriving and we are all healthy. But subjectively it's been a dark time.

If my hands were free I'd like to acknowledge the dark beginnings and would be dyeing with the deepest colours - indigo, logwood, walnut. There would be mourning necklaces and I'd call them the Black Springtime.

I am still much needed and it's likely to take many more months before I can sew or dye.

Thank you for the kind comments on the last post and for your emails. I'm sorry for not replying earlier but want you to know that I read and appreciated them.

A

2011-10-21T12:10:00.000+01:00

The labour didn't quite go to plan but my little Anna was born safe and sound by an emergency caesarean last Saturday morning. We are all well now, back home and learning something new every day. She's asleep on my arm as I type...

So I'm now officially on a maternity break. Thank you to everyone who sent me good wishes!

Walking through October

2011-10-13T21:57:00.003+01:00

I'm taking things easy, walking, looking at October's colours... and waiting.

Nebula: Sowing Stars

2011-10-10T18:26:00.002+01:00

In hard-to-imagine distances in the universe there are clouds where the seeds of stars are sown.

This is probably the last piece in the series and it looks at things coming to fruition in the sky rather than on the Earth. It's made from a very dark blue piece of silk I've been saving from the days when my indigo vat was at its best. There's a band of dense smocking where the glittering stars hatch. More of them are sprinkled further along the triangle of the night sky. The chain is divided irregularly by large vintage beads in faceted black glass. They are of different sizes and form a sort of constellation around the neck.

This nebula can be observed tonight just over the northern horizon.

In August

2011-10-09T17:13:00.000+01:00

In August the colours of the landscape change. In August summer has reached its zenith and begins to bend towards autumn. The rowan trees stand out clearly against the blue sky with their bright, ripening berries...

As I wrote about here, this necklace is made from one of only two pieces of silk dyed with this year's harvest of my fresh indigo leaves. So it's fair to say it's one-of-a-kind. It's very densely pleated and smocked. I also made the copper leaves that are part of the clasp - sawed them out of the sheet, shaped them, patinated and partly polished the metal and gave it burnished edges that shine. The glass berry beads are quite old, I think they were in a bead box at home when I was a child. The berries swing and sway on the necklace as you move.

I'm very nearly keeping this one too. But two is too many so here it is.

The Gentle Colours of Dusk

2011-10-08T21:23:00.000+01:00

Yesterday evening I took my favourite walk in nearby streets of big houses and their quiet, forbidden gardens. The atmosphere was changing the ordinary: lights of the traffic were a string of jewels, the wet tarmac a gold thread. A kestrel flew into the twilight. Then at night we were woken up by an owl calling from a tree just outside the window. Sometimes this city is strangely romantic and alive.

October Thistle

2011-10-07T19:19:00.000+01:00

One more thistle got caught in the October webs. This one is extra downy and tinged with an autumn glow on the back.

Rain and cold wind have arrived here and I can't wait to fit into my favourite cosy cold-weather clothes again... Hope you have a good weekend. I'd like to show you the finished Rowan necklace at some point.

Vanitas

2011-10-06T14:31:00.000+01:00

Vanitas is a genre of still life painting that depicts symbolic objects such as overripe fruit or fading flowers as a reminder of the ephemeral nature of life.

The beautiful paradox of these paintings is that contrary to their message about the futility of earthly pleasure the objects are often painted with a clear delight in their appearance.

I made this necklace to look like something out of such a still life. Heavy with juicy, dark red garnets it's formed from pleated layers of organza - one layer dyed with yellow cosmos and the other with elderberries. Where the orange shows through the dark purple it gives the material the look of iridescent shot silk. The eldeberry colour is likely to fade to brown as it ages continuing the theme of transience.

This idea has been hatching for over a year and then it came together quite quickly during one day and a night when the baby's kicks kept me awake. Sorry to say I'm not letting go of this one so it won't be for sale but I'd like to make something similar again.

Woad

2011-10-04T18:02:00.000+01:00

...and then I did the same with my mini crop of about 10 woad leaves.

A barely-there blue. But blue it is. Sometimes I wondered if the plant was woad at all and I guess this is proof.

Anatomy of a Necklace

2011-10-02T21:53:00.000+01:00

* a memory of a childhood train journey, seeing rowan trees against the blue sky and becoming aware of the colours of August, the freedom of summer holidays nearly over...

* rowan leaves and berries picked up on a walk, a different country, a different life, the same shift of seasons

* one of two pieces of silk dyed with this year's indigo harvest to make the precious sky,
the leaves still green,
for years I've been wondering how berry like the orange-red beads are - their moment has come,
leaves sawn out of copper,
that old idea I had about the double chain

*the heart of the matter: a rediscovered joy in making things in this self-indulgent, slow way

An Evening Song

2011-09-29T16:56:00.000+01:00

Scored for birds and fading light.

--------------

I'm now 38 weeks pregnant. Every day I wonder if it's the baby's Birthday but it could be weeks away still.

I'd like to continue here for a while longer but wanted to say if you suddenly find the shop closed and maybe have an unsent order or unanswered message please bear with me, it may take a few days but will get done (helpers will be instructed if needed).

Windborne

2011-09-28T14:11:00.000+01:00

Quiet and high on a hill, it's a place where the grass is tall and flaxen. Or sometimes grazed short by sheep and interspersed with thistles. But always, always a little blonde. The sheep leave white strands of their coat and the wind carries them like downy seeds...

*****

The crisp organza silk for this necklace was dyed with eucalyptus leaves. There's a gentle raw edge running through the middle of it like a path, glass (grass?) seeds glint from inside the pleats and a golden tassel of them is caught on the dark chain.

The wind is blowning this way.

A Little Blue

2011-09-26T17:34:00.000+01:00

It was time to harvest the Japanese indigo. The cold summer didn't suit the plants and they grew straggly and spindly with fewer and smaller leaves - compared to last year's abundance.

I processed the fresh leaves like last year, with the cold water method (details and references are in last year's post). The dye was murkier green and looked less strong. However, I compensated by dyeing much less fabric and it came out a very nice turquoise blue.

I love how fresh this dye smells and feels to the touch. Kneading the chopped leaves by hand is strenuous but refreshing at the same time.

Seed Pod

2011-09-25T20:59:00.000+01:00

A softly lined vessel.
A single purpose:
to protect the future and deliver it into the world.
A gateway, a bridge from one time to the next.

This necklace takes the shape of a dry seedpod. It's made from organza silk dyed with eucalyptus leaves and iron. There are clusters of shiny 'seeds' between the pleats. There's a raw edge and organic tendrils. An adjustable chain.

It's here. And there are also two new thistles alongside it.

Grapes

2011-09-23T14:05:00.000+01:00

Dyestuffs from the freezer are having to make way for meals that I'm gradually making and storing for the busy days ahead. There was a bag of elderberries collected a year ago. It seemed a shame not to use it so I coooked up the whole lot and dyed some silk, as dark as it would go. It turned the seasonal colour of crushed grapes.

As a typical berry dye it's sensitive to pH and changes to almost red in acids and bluish grey in alkalis (and back again - the little swatches were dipped completely in baking soda first and half in vinegar later).

The colour will suit another piece for the new series... if I still have time to make it.

Colours of Dry

2011-09-21T17:28:00.000+01:00

I've been dyeing with autumn's tannins. From the top they were hawthorn berries, alder cones and acorns (both on two different silks). The lightest fabrics were steam-printed with eucalyptus leaves. They all give beautiful greys and blacks when modified with iron.

Some of them are becoming pieces in the fruition series.

Yellow Cosmos

2011-09-19T15:50:00.000+01:00

First dye from this year's balcony garden.

They took a bit of coaxing to grow but in the end the plants yielded about three handfuls of bright yellow flowers. I've been collecting them throughout the summer and storing them in the freezer. After a bit of simmering and soaking I got a lovely orange/gold on alum-mordanted silk (the darker one is organza).

Went Beachcombing

2011-09-15T20:00:00.000+01:00

...and brought home two spiral shells.

One is light and medium blue and the other a hard-to-describe stone grey, brown with some amber and purple. Both are organic, sea-worn, regularly irregular. They'll be in the shop later.

Colour Theory

2011-09-11T10:15:00.000+01:00

...red, yellow and blue.

*****PS the Wings are now live. Have a good Sunday!

Under the Wings

2011-09-09T15:33:00.000+01:00

The image of spread wings has been associated with protection for thousands of years. Powerful and majestic like an ancient god extending his protection over the ruling dynasty or enveloping and soothing like a mother's arms, harking back to a hen spreading her wings over the chicks.

If we were under the protection of such magic wings what would they look like? Would they glow with colour and glimmer with mystical gems? This collection is my interpretation of the old symbol.

The silk was dyed earlier in the summer before the indigo vat collapse but apart from the blue I can't tell you which plants I used. I went with the flow and didn't keep notes. The colours turned out very autumnal. These necklaces are also the first to have the tiny T signature tags attached to the clasp at the back.

Their photos follow and more details can be seen in the shop. They will become available on Sunday.

More Ice Flowers

2011-09-06T20:45:00.000+01:00

These were dyed right after the first batch, which was some two months ago. Let's see if I still remember what the plants were... There were more lobelias. Then a mixture of purple vetch and rose petals (those gave the Pollockian pattern at the top). A sprinkling of almost black clematis flowers. And definitely bright red poppy petals gathered in a meadow in the park, fallen after a rain. The poppies are the darkest strip on the left.

Poppies especially seem to have dyeing potential. Look at Sonia's great poppy colours here.

Tiny Ts

2011-08-31T19:26:00.003+01:00

So far, not much came of my plan to learn metalsmithing but I did practice a bit with the piercing saw and made these little tags to go on some new jewellery. Sawed, filed, hammered, drilled, stamped with a tiny T for tinctory, oxidized and brushed!

Apples and Pears

2011-08-29T18:50:00.002+01:00

...and plums. Here it's the season of baking crumble and that mellow time of year when there's fruit in the orchards and the green hedgerows are dotted with red hawthorn berries. I'm again thinking about the 'fruition' series I mentioned a long time ago and from which only the thistle got made so far. But first there are some new necklaces almost finished that only need photographing when the light is right.

The Star Within

2011-08-27T18:44:00.002+01:00

Once again the leaves and the season are beginning to turn. I'm back here for the last spell before the baby arrives.

Maybe I shouldn't have spoken lightly of the tales about how pregnancy affects indigo vats because my vat's now been ailing for weeks and I've lost all ability to tell what's wrong with it. Out in the dye garden the Japanese indigo is not exactly thriving and the woad is woeful. Perhaps they sense my preoccupation with another kind of growing. Only the dear potted hydrangea is flourishing and changing colour every time I look.

Thank you for your comments since the last post!

This Week's

2011-07-08T17:04:00.002+01:00

This week's update of a few fresh feathers has just flown to the shop. There a new size, even tinier than the small one, and it comes on a 17" chain.

I'm dyeing but it's small skeins of very soft yarn. I'm thinking more and more of the cold October and suddenly have an irresistible urge to knit miniature hats and booties...

Ice Flowers

2011-07-04T19:33:00.002+01:00

I thought I was growing them for a bit of easy colour but not for dyeing. And then I remembered India Flint's ice-flowers recipe from Eco Colour...

The darkest lobelias went into the freezer for a day and then were wrapped in silk mordanted in alum. My favourite results were from a bundle where the fabric was dry, the only moisture provided by the melting flowers.

It made an interesting repeating pattern, a sort of abstract floral print. It was intense purple until I decided to soak it in a bath of alum as a post-mordant. Then some of the colour floated away and the rest took on a greenish tinge.

I gather that all the pinks and purples are chemically anthocyanins. There's a good chapter about them in Dominique Cardon's Natural Dyes. Not the most stable of dyes but very interesting to play with. I stuck a dyed piece on the window to see just how light-sensitive it is.

There are a couple more bundles on the go. To be continued...

Red Shell

2011-07-01T20:55:00.002+01:00

A new spiral shell with red stripes. Madder over hawthorn berries. With a delicate little pearl and a sea spray of opalescent beads. Washed out on the beach right here.

Have a good weekend. I'll be continuing some summer adventures in dyeing with flowers. More on that next week.

Tricolour

2011-06-29T21:38:00.004+01:00

There's something iconic about these colours together. You can also spot them in this photo I took last year at a demonstraton of medieval dyeing. Madder, indigo, weld. Only my yellow here is coreopsis over cherry leaves which I didn't expect to be yellow at all.

Red

2011-06-27T17:34:00.002+01:00

How many reds in a weathered red brick wall?

I've been working more with madder. My previous dyeing with it resulted in light pink or salmon, depending on the pH. As with indigo, getting a deeper colour seems to be a matter of using more dyestuff than I thought.

Two red feathers - big and small - will be in the shop in a moment.

Poetry and Silk - an Opportunity

2011-06-23T14:06:00.004+01:00

The poem necklaces above were on display at Purlesque in Liverpool as part of my collaboration with Rebecca, a project we called Fathoming.

*the Locker with echos of the sea, a honeycomb band and a love letter inside
*the Reminder in 'shades of wheat' and with broken pieces of sealing wax
*the mysterious compass of the Token overseen by the pearly 'milk moon'

They've now come back to me and will be listed in the shop today. As you can see they are just like new but I'm offering them with a substantial discount nevertheless - an opportunity for you to own them at a more affordable price and for them to find who they really belong to.

Today Rebecca is the guest blogger at Scottish Poetry Library. She writes about Fathoming as well as her more recent projects and collaborations.

Big and Small

2011-06-21T14:13:00.002+01:00

The latest flock of feathers is flying to the shop today. This time there are also three mini feathers on a shorter, delicate chain. Especially for those who prefer smaller jewellery.

I'm always dyeing those cool greens and blues these days. Maybe because it's been a typical June here - cool with showers. I'm glad it's not hot, though, because my summer clothes no longer fit. I live in maternity jeans, loose shirts and cardigans.

Early

2011-06-17T21:12:00.002+01:00

There's a forest of ferns outside my window that always glows in the magic midsummer morning half-light. It puts me in a good mood when I wake up early.

It's been a busy and quite productive week. One of those good times when the colours blend serendipitously and the stiching is smooth. I need to take the weekend off but there will be an update next week.

Midnight

2011-06-13T16:47:00.002+01:00

A new 'Fishing for Stars' necklace. This one is very dark blue indeed. It spent many nights in the indigo vat until it acquired the midnight hue. It's smocked in dark greens with bright clear and yellow stars rocking and glittering on the waves of silk.

Find it right here.

Midsummer Time

2011-06-11T16:30:00.002+01:00

New timekeeper necklaces infused with the light of midsummer nights.

Three variations on blue, green and purple. Indigo, goldenrod and logwood. I like that with my way of dyeing you can take the same dyes and not get the same result twice.

They'll be here in a tick.

Feather and Sprig

2011-06-09T12:14:00.002+01:00

For a while I've been sending out jewellery in these new boxes stamped with little feathers and sprigs. They are made from recycled and waste material. If you don't use them to store your necklaces they can be handy for so many other things. I keep sewing pins, loose beads or scrap silver in similar boxes that I bought things in.

*****
I'm trying to contact Helene who wrote to me yesterday with a question. Unfortunately, my email replies keep bouncing. Helene, if you're reading this, please write again.

Garden in June

2011-06-06T16:56:00.002+01:00

The indigo plants are a little taller every day. One madder is thriving, the other not so much. Yellow cosmos finally coming up.
Only the weld failed completely. I couldn't get a single seed to germinate, outdoors or in, not in soil, not on a paper towel, neither buried deeper nor sprinkled on top. Have you successfully grown weld from seed? What's the secret?

I've also grown some thistles. The one on the left is taken but the other two are here.

New

2011-06-01T16:41:00.002+01:00

Thank you so much for your congratulations and encouraging words, especially all you, experienced mums! It's a slightly scary step to the unknown but we can't wait to see who this new person is. Only four months left of the old life...

But there's still time and so above are some new offerings of the Rara Avis variety. They'll be listed shortly.

I was reading in Jenny Balfour-Paul's Indigo about the belief in some cultures that pregnancy could interfere with successful indigo vat preparation and dyeing. She reports that

in Bhutan it was thought that if a pregnant woman dyed yarn in an indigo vat the baby in her womb would 'steal' the colour from the dye pot.

I've done a lot of indigo-ing lately and haven't noticed any colour theft. Is the little one going to have a passion for blue, I wonder.

What the Future Holds

2011-05-29T14:03:00.001+01:00

I don't tend to write personal stuff here but would like to say this: I'm halfway through pregnancy. Unless my baby has other ideas I'll be closing the shop probably some time in September. I'd like to come back eventually but hard to say when as I've never done this before. So this summer will be the last for tinctory, at least for a while.

Making...

2011-05-24T13:09:00.004+01:00

An interesting website about historical pleatwork embroidery. Via Medieval Silkwork (here's Machtel's beautiful smocked apron).

I also like Jude's dyeing 'what if' here.

Published

2011-05-20T16:26:00.002+01:00

A few months ago I was interviewed by the Lohas magazine based in Shanghai, China. The article has now been published in the May issue. They did such a great work creating beautiful layouts from my photos. And they generously sent me a copy!

Another recent tinctory press appearance is here, in the Coco Eco digital magazine (page 39, EditorLoves).

Many thanks to both editors for featuring me.

The Indoor Fermentation Vat

2011-05-18T09:20:00.003+01:00

This is my indoor indigo fermentation vat. It lives in my room in a tall glass pasta jar with a screw cap. Thanks to the firmly closed top it doesn't smell unless you open it (and then not unless you stand over it).

After the year I've had this vat I'm still far from understanding it completely but it's given me many lovely blues nevertheless. I'm going to write down some observations in the hope that they may be useful to someone. I don't feel I know enough to give instructions but hope that my experience may inspire others to experiment in their own way.

As I understand it, a fermentation vat has two main elements the dyer can control - something to fuel the fermentation (bran, madder but it can be chopped dates, syrup or other sugary things) and a source of alkalinity (soda ash or wood ash lye etc.) which is necessary to dissolve the reduced indigo but also keeps the fermentation in check. The two elements have to be in balance. Too much fermentation and the vat goes sour spoiling the dye. Too much alkalinity and the fermentation stops and the dye doesn't work either.

My vat was set up with water, ground madder root, wheat bran, soda ash and powdered natural indigo.

When the vat is healthy the smell is quite sharp and ammonia-like. When it smells sweet-ish or 'flat' I add soda ash. At its best the liquid seems sort of thick and heavy, no blue bits float in it when I rub it between the fingers and bubbles slowly rise to the surface when I dip the fabric. If the liquid appears 'thin' and it doesn't dye well, I add some wheat bran boiled in water and let it ferment (adding soda ash as required so that the fermentation doesn't 'run away') until it appears right (that can take a week). Even at its best this vat never had the typical 'flower' (foam) on the surface and never looked entirely green. It can sometimes have the coppery sheen and be a little green around the edge of the jar.

I find that even indoors the temperature here is too low for the vat to work without additional warming. When I want to dye I close the vat in an improvised haybox (a cardboard box insulated with old towels) together with a freshly filled hot water bottle. The bottle keeps it warm for about 12 hours. When I'm not using it I leave it at room temperature.

During the year I've added about 25 g of indigo two or three times. I think my initial mistake was to use far too little - that's why everything came out looking pale.

The shape of the jar is perfect for dyeing my small silk pieces which can be suspended without touching the sediment on the bottom. I usually soak the fabric in water for at least an hour and then dip it in the vat overnight. Let the vat rest and the fabric oxidise during the day, followed by another dip the next night etc.

Here's a record of the deepening colour on a piece of cotton. I've added to it since here. Not much fabric is left and I still haven't reached the typical indigo blue-black that I'd love to see.

Do you have a fermentation vat? Are you going to try? Please let me know in the comments.

The Dye Jars Are Singing

2011-05-16T13:05:00.002+01:00

Here at tinctory a long list of custom orders is being made for the most patient and understanding people (some of whom have been waiting for a long time). There are future thistles with bathing caps on soaking in strong tea in a former honey jar. There are bundles of silk in several shades of blue being mordanted. They await yellow and purple overdyeing. Other bundles in a variety of colours have just come out of indigo. The vat looks tired so I'm cooking it a nourishing meal of bran. After that I'm preparing more thistles because the dyeing is so hit and miss (only one of the two in the photo came out right).

I'm sorry to say I'm not taking any more custom requests for now. After I've finished the list I'd like to make a few things for the shop (feathers, shells, semicircle necklaces...) and then take the time to play and experiment with something new.

Last Week

2011-05-02T11:46:00.002+01:00

A bench in a rustling sea of reeds, the silver sea of grass, the silver sea of the sky, folded hands, folded wings in the mud.

Something for Easter

2011-04-22T22:23:00.002+01:00

Just a little dyeing sample made with dandelion flowers. Quite similar in method and result to last year's try with forsythia except this time I postmordanted with alum which seems to brighten yellows.

The warm, evening air coming through the window as I type smells of pollen, cut grass and a rain shower earlier... I confess to never liking Spring much, it always seemed a bit too bright and loud. But as I grow older, every year I appreciate it a little better.

Have a lovely week, I won't be around for a few days and the next posting day for orders is Saturday 30th.

Pocketful of Sea

2011-04-18T21:19:00.003+01:00

When I come home from combing the beach my pockets are lined with sand, crushed shells and soaked with saltwater. I wish I could also carry home in them some sea air, the sound of the waves and the colours of the ocean...

This necklace is something that might just work for that purpose. It's a small pocket of shiny silk, dyed blue and green and smocked in a wavy pattern in three colours. It closes by drawing the indigo blue silk cord and sliding the green glass bead to hold it closed. The ends of the string are finished with small pearls and a 'sea spray' of little beads sparkles along the chain.

One of a kind and rather special. Right here.

Blue Shell

2011-04-15T11:51:00.002+01:00

Blue from indigo and deep purple from logwood.
A tapered spiral, a stairwell for the imagination.
A small pearl marks the vanishing point on the horizon and opalescent beads attached to the chain are drops of seawater.
Delicate silk echoes fragile layers of calcium.
Found while beachcombing on the shore of a dream.
~~~~~

Oyster

2011-04-14T10:53:00.002+01:00

This necklace is an exploration of textures and was constructed after the characteristics of an oyster shell: the seaworn, rippled front and the enexpected shiny surfaces on the inside.

The silk was dyed a muted sea green with indigo and tannin and pleated in two directions. Then I smocked it on the reverse with many rows of stiching, each stitch holding a small pearly white bead. The effect is of rich, almost baroque intricacy.

The edges are hemmed on the beaded side with a matching thread and the necklace could be worn with either side up. Display the riches or keep them secret in the gently curved vessel of the shell.

The tides have left it right here.

And today the sea has brought another find: a strandline bracelet with double strands.

Sea Whispers

2011-04-13T18:09:00.003+01:00

Lately I've been missing my favourite place on the coast which made me want to return to these sea things. You may remember the sea series from last year.

The shell on the left and the 'Fishing for Stars' necklace at the bottom were custom orders but the rest are available and I will introduce them one by one, starting today with the Sea Whispers earrings.

Have you ever put a shell to your ear and heard the sea whisper inside?

These long earrings are organic in shape and nature, related to white-crested waves, shells and laughing seagulls floating on an updraft. They are dyed with indigo to the colour of the North sea, smocked along the edge and embellished with pearly white beads. They are very light and swing freely on dark silver chains.

You can catch them in your net here.

Speaking of Gardening...

2011-04-11T11:14:00.003+01:00

I've been asked about them by several people and knowing they can be hard to find I'm offering eleven packs of Japanese indigo seeds saved from my balcony plants last year.

The packets are made from brown paper and labelled 'Japanese indigo 2010'. Each contains over 60 plump, ripe seeds, hand-picked, winnowed and dried to prolong their life. The seeds will be wrapped in another piece of paper inside for protection. They are in the shop for £1.50 a packet which covers the postage.

If you're in the US you should visit Dustin of Creative by Nature who was also offering to share her indigo seeds.
***Edit: please read Dustin's comments below this post.***

In the UK I bought the seeds from this website last year and they seem to have some available now as well as potted indigo plants.

Leena of the wonderful blog Riihivilla listed some European and US suppliers in this post.

New Year in the Garden

2011-04-10T16:52:00.002+01:00

The weather has been so warm and sunny it feels like summer. Everything's green and blooming. Lilacs in the second week of April?

I've prepared the balcony garden and have even been seduced by this warm spell into sowing the seeds now. This year I'm sowing straight into the outside containers and I'm growing woad, yellow cosmos and weld. Just one or two plants of each. It may not be enough for dyeing but I simply want to see what they look like when they grow. This is all gathering of experience for a real dye garden one day.

My madder survived the winter. It failed to thrive last year, probably because I had to keep it in a sun-less spot. This year I've reserved a prime location for it.

Oh and the woad seeds (on the left in the picture) are the most beautiful inky purple black colour.

Next week I'll show you the latest in the sea series. Shells and seaweed.

A Little List

2011-04-07T13:08:00.005+01:00

New today in the shop:
* two timekeepers
* one feathery thistle
* one wild feather necklace

Happy Thursday and thanks for looking.

Found Fiber and Flowers

2011-04-06T21:50:00.002+01:00

I picked these up on a walk. The longer piece of fiber is from a leaf that probably lay on the pavement all winter and was naturally 'retted' which separated the strands. They are extremely strong and impossible to tear by hand. I think it may be New Zealand Flax, a ubiquitous garden plant around here.

The flowers had all fallen. I like the pinks with the browning edges. The magnolia buds have a strange, touching, dead weight to them.

There'll be three or four new jewels tomorrow.

Blues and Greens and a Brown

2011-04-04T11:27:00.002+01:00

Firstly, some fresh feathers. In springtime blues and greens. With a brown one for the earth that takes care of the growing.

The blues are indigo and the green was made by overdyeing with last summer's goldenrod (stored in the freezer). I like the smell of cooking goldenrod. Somehow it even smells yellow. For the green pendant I tried post-mordanting with alum (as well as pre-mordanting) and it made a big difference to the brightness of the yellow. The amber highlights are either tea or my homegrown coreopsis (also collected last year and stored frozen).

In the spirit of renewal I'm resetting the count of the Rara Avis catalogue back to I. prefaced by N for 'new'. Things were getting lost in the forest of the higher Roman numerals and this way we satisfy the scientific/museum rigorousness while simplifying the numbers somewhat.

All will be here shortly.

Still Life with Threads

2011-04-03T21:08:00.002+01:00

Hello? Hello!
April rain is drumming on the window and a stray blogger misses her old journal.
Apologies for the downtime and thank you for all comments that you kindly left during the long pause.

Despite the silence there has been steady activity in the tinctory workshop. I've been (and still am) keeping busy with a string of custom requests as well as finishing a bunch of other things which will be shown here soon.

I'm also learning new metalworking techniques. It's that exciting time at the beginning of learning something when the rules and limits of the new craft are not yet clear in your mind. Things seem possible which probably aren't but in taking some unlikely paths you just might make a chance discovery. My notebook is filling with ideas of fabric married to metal...

A Wisp, a Husk, a Thistle

2011-02-01T17:30:00.003Z

Quiet, brittle things,
ghosts of previous seasons,
bleached and blackened by winter,
forgotten bearers of memories.

*****
The thistle is planned to be one of a series of designs to do with fruit and seeds. I imagine dry seedpods but also decadent pomegranates out of a Baroque vanitas. We'll see how it all goes...

Three Things on a Saturday

2011-01-29T08:21:00.004Z

* I took some new photos of the Fathoming necklaces and updated their listings.

* Several shells & feathers pieces have been added to the shop.

* And finally, the winds of Spring are blowing through the shop and sweeping up last year's leaves. A few things are now on sale.

***
Happy Saturday, I'm off to make a birthday cake for M.

Prelude

2011-01-27T09:39:00.002Z

And so the blog lay forgotten in the old year...

Now the snow has melted and I find myself back in the murky, brown, grey and astonishingly green English winter. From January onwards it seems like a long prelude to Spring. Never mind the frost, the crocus buds are out and the birds are singing every night.
*
I started the year with two custom pieces: a pair of dusky blue earrings and a poetry necklace with a text chosen by the lady who commissioned it.

Now I'm working on some custom feathers and one or two things to be listed in the shop soon.

I've also been quite absorbed in this:

Can I learn to play at 33? My fingers feel like they are slowly waking up.

Thank you for your comments since the last post including the New Year wishes - a happy 2011 to you too!

Snow

2010-12-20T10:07:00.002Z

Like a lot of Europe now this country is snowed in and frozen over. The air is crisp, the light pearl coloured and the ground crunches and glitters like crushed glass.
The roads I've followed so often are erased, old paths are forged anew with some approximation. The snow turns the well-known into unfamiliar, the mundane into an adventure, city walkers into explorers and pioneers.

Remembering the Garden

2010-12-12T21:55:00.002Z

While looking for something I came across this mosaic and realised I never posted it it here. The balcony is quite bare right now apart from a few dying fern fronds and all that green of early summer seems very far away...

I'm leaving for the holidays soon. I'll be online just not able to send orders until the New Year (reservations are taken, though).

Fable on a Plate

2010-12-08T20:59:00.002Z

These are the biscuits I was making. This lot still needs a dusting of icing sugar. They are meant to be a present but it's hard not to eat them! I used quirky old animal molds (if any Czechs are reading they may well recognise them).

PS two new feathery things have just landed in the shop

On a Frosty Monday

2010-12-06T19:10:00.002Z

Happy Monday to you.

Today I'd like to say that:

* At the fair I was chuffed how many people understood the jewellery and connected with the organic-ness and the darkly romantic antique-ness of it. It was good to see.

* The shop has been updated with the wintry Timekeepers, herbal brooches, a blue feather and a new wild feather.

* This week (until 10 December) the Fathoming pieces are offered with a special discount.

* Now I'm off to bake some Christmas biscuits. It's a Czech recipe and is going to make the kitchen smell of cinnamon...

Thank you for visiting and all your comments!

Liber Herbarum

2010-12-02T18:00:00.002Z

I've been thinking that best of all I like to make things that don't resemble anything directly but rather make use of oblique influences and obscure allusions.

I'm calling this new series of brooches 'Liber Herbarum' or 'A Book of Herbs'. They make me think of things like:
* illustrations in old herbals where the plants are unrecognizable and seem otherworldly
* especially the Voynich manuscript
* alchemical illustrations
* the seed or egg shape - a vessel, an empty frame, a mirror
* thorns
* underground versus overground parts of plants
* an imaginary secret life of plants (when all is quiet at night do flowers talk to the stars?)

Each with their special healing property these magic herbs will be in the shop after the craft fair, on Monday the 6th.

****
I love the advent counting here.

Winter Plans

2010-11-24T10:34:00.003Z

These are my plans for the rest of the year:
On 5th December I've booked a table at a craft fair. It's my first time in years and the very first time showing textile jewellery. The next ten days are going to be extra busy making. Everything I finish (including the above trio of dark and moody timekeepers) I'm saving for the event. The shop will be closed on the 5th and afterwards I'll be adding all the new and unsold.

And then quite soon, on 13th December, I'm leaving for an annual winter visit to my hometown of a hundred spires. I'll be back around the New Year.

There's a list of ideas I wanted to try out (an oyster and seaweed amulet bag; a book of colour - a surprising palette from a single dyestuff; 'Fruition' - a dark series about fruit and seeds; mechanical wings - a falconer's bracelet...) but the time of 2010 is running out. These things will spill over to 2011.

A Shell

2010-11-22T12:43:00.002Z

This necklace was requested as a gift for someone who loves the sea and the little treasures you can find on the beach. It was to be based on a certain kind of shell sometimes called the staircase or ladder shell because of its intricate stairwell-like geometry. The spiralling shape is something I hadn't made before and it was an interesting challenge to recreate it in silk and silver.

The fabric is dyed with indigo and rather than overdyeing it after pleating I removed some of the blue from the tops of the pleats, imitating the action of the elements and making the shell sea worn.

M + E

2010-11-18T09:37:00.002Z

Many many thanks to all who wished me well and sent congratulations. Saturday was blue and gold, sunny and good. We held hands and took each other to be husband and wife.

The 'heart of the flower' was made for the day.

Dove and Bear

2010-11-08T21:40:00.003Z

Just a quick post to show you what's finished and will be in the shop soon. There are two Reminder necklaces and a few feathers - different kinds of green-blue, one dark brown 'bear' feather and one in dove-like colours. The weather is truly Novembery so apologies for the dark photos. I dare say the colours look better in real life.

I won't be around much for a week. We have visitors and there's a wedding to go to on Saturday - when I next talk to you I'll be married!

Back to the Sea

2010-11-04T13:18:00.002Z

Firstly, a leaf. I picked it up for its colours, played with it and later re-discovered it in a coat pocket. It dried like that and is now permanently pleated.

Secondly, my indigo vat is good and strong right now and the blue is tempting me to go back to the sea. I've been asked to make a necklace that takes the shape of a spiralling shell and I have one or two other sea-related ideas that I'd like to try as well. But to start with I'm adding two new strandline bracelets to the shop today.

This and That

2010-11-01T17:27:00.003Z

1. What I'm working on now: two Reminder necklaces, several feathers, something new... and also (not in the picture) a rather special custom order.

2. There's a new page where you can read all three of the Fathoming poems - The Locker, The Reminder and The Token.

3. I'm featured on maison.com and I'd like to thank Charlotte for her work in writing it.

4. I really like this. Also this leaf book and these stone books.

Penannular

2010-10-27T14:28:00.004+01:00

The latest piece to be added to the shop is my take on the penannular brooch. I've long been looking for a brooch design I could create from scratch including the pinning mechanism.

To fasten my version: push the pin through fabric and moving it side-to-side guide it up between the ends of the circle until it rests on top of it. The ends have raised edges which makes it quite secure without the need to turn the pin away from the gap as on the classic penannular.

The silk is dyed with autumn leaves and its colours are mirrored by the frosty star caught on the end of the 'branch'.

Dye Garden in October

2010-10-25T12:12:00.004+01:00

This morning the ground was white with frost for the first time. The balcony garden is slowly dying back but only a couple of weeks ago the amazingly prolific coreopsis was still in full bloom.

I've now dyed with the flowers alone (rather than over other colours as before) and with alum the results are similar to onion skins but yellower, especially on the heavier fabrics.

The indigo seeds have started to ripen and I brought the flowering stems inside to keep an eye on them. Some of the seeds fell on soil in another flowerpot and quickly sprouted! I'm collecting the seeds and drying them with the rice method described here. When they are ready for storing, I'm thinking of giving away a few packs - watch this space.

Fathoming

2010-10-23T10:16:00.003+01:00

Maybe I should begin with "once upon a time" because this is a story. A story of two people, perhaps lovers, separated by time and the sea. A story of messages - written with hope, awaited with hope, puzzled over, read and re-read. The story speaks to me because I too waited long years to be with my love, landlocked and relying on messages darting across the sea... Can you hope to fathom or sway another's heart when all you have are written words, so easily misplaced along the way or misunderstood?

The story of our protagonists is told in three parts - three poems written by Rebecca are set into three silk necklaces to be worn close to the heart. Each part of the triptych comes in a separate little book containing pages with the poem, a text about the project and a secret compartment. That opens to reveal an indigo sky and holds the necklace.

The first piece is called The Locker. In it a voice is heard, reminiscing and determined to call the other one home. Did the message reach the destination? Did the traveller wear the little bag around his neck for courage and read the letter inside at lonely moments?

I dyed the strip of fabric with the text using an adapted itajime shibori technique (you can see it in progress here) to create three floating 'sheets' of paper. The honeycomb steadying the wavy pleats around the bag and sparkling with sweet beads of honey is a reference to the 'map of bees' in the poem.

The second piece is called The Reminder and bridges the other two like the voice of a narrator. I dyed the silk in a colour that resembles faded pages of an old book or the 'shades of wheat' in the text. It is smocked with indigo-dyed thread representing the sea as it enfolds the land.

The red thread of the story, the 'blood-work' of the poem, is visible on the back of the necklace. The toggle is made with jasper stones as red as broken pieces of sealing wax.

The third piece is called The Token. It is a fragmented echo of the distant, absent voice. It is also a code and an astrolabe, a compass with his words replacing the North, South, East and West for the waiting companion. Orbiting the chain is a mother-of-pearl moon (moon being an important word in this poem).

The words are set among the pleats in a pattern. The beads around the inner circle can be positioned to point in different directions and hopefully unlock the meaning of the cryptic message.

*****
PS Last night was a success and I'd like to thank everyone who came to say hello - it was nice meeting you! I'd also like to thank Rebecca for organising it so well.

From now on the necklaces are on display at Purlesque which I visited yesterday and it's just the kind of friendly independent shop I'd love to live near to and pop into for yarn and knitting advice. Do stop by if you get a chance!

Later today I'll be adding all three to my online shop here.

Fall Amulet Bag

2010-10-21T13:00:00.002+01:00

Born of the rustle of dry leaves, chestnuts buried by squirrels and autumn light streaming through the branches.

Following the necklace, I made this amulet bag also dyed with leaves.

Falling... fallen.

**
The shop will be closed tomorrow. I'm in Liverpool for the Fathoming event and taking a few things with me.

**
I love Pia Jane Bijkerk's photos for the 1010 project. Magic. Everyday fairytale.

Rara Avis, the Autumn Edition

2010-10-18T17:41:00.003+01:00

The timekeepers and these feathers are what the box of autumn was transformed into over the last several weeks. I think they are some of my finest naturally-dyed colours yet. I was so caught up in the mixing and blending that I can't tell you which piece went in which dye exactly. But I can give you a little list of the dyes used:
indigo (including home grown)
coreopsis (home grown)
madder
walnut
onion
logwood
hawthorn
goldenrod
tea

The feathers will be added to the shop randomly, a few at a time. If you'd like to reserve one, please drop me a line and I'll list it for you right away. As always, chains can be customised.

Thank you for reading and for all recent comments!

On the Way to Elsewhere

2010-10-17T22:24:00.002+01:00

Earlier than last year, the same park... the same flock?
Pretty autumn visitors.

Curiously, in the Middle Ages barnacle geese were believed by some to hatch from barnacles.

I have frequently seen, with my own eyes, more than a thousand of these small bodies of birds, hanging down on the sea-shore from one piece of timber, enclosed in their shells, and already formed.

Giraldus Cambrensis (1187), quoted in this interesting book on the subject of barnacles.

Fall

2010-10-16T16:45:00.003+01:00

A time of melancholy rainbows. A time when eyes re-learn to trace the bones of trees. A time of glittering early frost and stars in the early evenings.

*****

I've collected fallen leaves and steam-printed them on silk. Their colours were captured on the fabric (with the help of some alum in which the silk was mordanted). The print looked like a watercolour.

The necklace is available here.

Fathoming - Launch

2010-10-14T13:34:00.004+01:00

I'd like to invite you to the launch of the Fathoming project. It's hosted by Purlesque and The Bluecoat Hub in Liverpool on Friday 22 October, 7 to 9pm. Rebecca created a page for the event on Facebook where you can read more.

If you're in the area it would be great to see you there! As well as the three Fathoming necklaces I'll bring examples of my other jewellery so it's a rare chance to see it in person.

And then during the weekend after the real-life launch I'm going to introduce the Fathoming triptych in detail here on the blog and list the necklaces in the shop. There are currently three of each in existence. One set will be displayed at Purlesque until January and the other two are available.

Thanks for reading and hope to see you there on the 22nd or here the weekend after!

Timekeepers

2010-10-13T15:37:00.003+01:00

I picture these necklaces as wayward little clocks. The confusing number of hour markers play hide-and-seek between the pleats. The hands have left their place on the clock face and one of them serves as a toggle to close the chain. Instead of keeping track of time these finely tuned little instruments are designed to keep time still or treat it in the manner of time machines. If you let them they will make you slow down and look closely. Their special textures and colours may even take your thoughts back in time or whisk you off to an imagined future... Wear them well and use them wisely. Right here.

It's Time

2010-10-12T22:10:00.002+01:00

Time for a shop update! The bare shelves of my little shop will finally start filling up as of tomorrow.

I had really planned to do it last week but was delayed by a bad case of back pain. One of those when it's impossible to stand up for days. It's shocking how easily the distance between two ends of a room can become insurmountable. It is such a fine line...

Anyway, it is on the mend now and there are many new things to look forward to starting tomorrow.

Leaving the City

2010-10-04T12:33:00.002+01:00

On Saturday we left the city behind for the afternoon, took a walk and watched the steady progress of autumn in some wilder places. I found a bird of prey feather. On the way we stopped at a farm to pick apples and pears. Otherwise it was another studio weekend and the first fruits of it should be ripe soon.

A Box of Autumn

2010-10-01T22:43:00.002+01:00

A few things I brought home from the last trip: an old wooden box, vintage glass beads and leaves folded in my pockets.

I'm making a few more copies of the Fathoming necklaces because we are planning to display a set of them in a real-life location. Details to be announced.

While working on that I've left the pleated bundles from the last post soaking in a variety of dyes and now I have a box of delicious autumn colours.

Before and After

2010-09-27T21:26:00.001+01:00

I left home with ribbons and returned with pleated bundles. It was good, portable work to do while travelling and a first step towards a future shop update.

Fathoming Continued

2010-09-21T21:28:00.002+01:00

A mosaic of pictures from the making of the third necklace with Rebecca's poem. We've decided to title the project "Fathoming" not least because there is a strand of sea and nautical references throughout. That's partly why I was so determined to include indigo blue. This necklace also features a miniature honeycomb.

I'm going away for a few days but taking a bunch of colourful silk to pleat in spare moments. I'll be back on Monday.

Cards

2010-09-20T10:10:00.002+01:00

Colours of the Season I. and II. are now in the shop as cards!

There are two versions of each picture to choose from - dark (brighter parts emerge from a dark background and details and textures look smooth) and light (brighter overall with sharp contrast).

There's a picture in the listing where you can see the differences between the options. Both are a professional print.

The cards are blank inside and come with a white envelope.

Please note there's no extra postage for a third card or a card posted with a necklace but the system can't be set up that way. Any overcharge will be refunded.

***
How was your weekend? It was a busy, working one here. The indigo vat came into order and I've been making the necklace for the third poem. More on that next time.

Psst!

2010-09-17T19:54:00.004+01:00

If you look inside the current issue of Belle Armoire you may find there's an interview with me.

Yay! :)

Meanwhile

2010-09-16T19:11:00.002+01:00

The indigo hasn't reduced yet. Instead of dyeing I painted the spare room/studio. It was an exhausting task but much needed. I removed some unsightly wallpaper and replaced it with pale grey, almost white paint. In the afternoon the light is filtered through the chestnut tree and the room feels calm.

I also made this necklace as a birthday present. Incredibly, my younger sister turned 30!

To Be Continued

2010-09-07T17:48:00.003+01:00

A mosaic of what I'm working on. I have nearly finished two of the three necklaces for the collaboration with Rebecca. The third is waiting for a new batch of indigo to reduce (the old vat was too weak to give the colour I'm after).

These necklaces are finally taking shape after what seemed an endless struggle with technical difficulties. The degree of precision needed when placing the text on the fabric stretched even my love of fiddly detail at times. I hope they will be built of perseverance and the stronger for it.

By now I know the beautiful poems almost by heart and the vivid images in them are always with me as I sew or dye.
"My dreams are delft blue..."

Late Summer

2010-08-21T22:24:00.003+01:00

Late summer in England. The time when the intense palette of June and July is tempered. The colours mellow and fade as if bleached by the sun and grow a little rusty around the edges. The brights of flowers give way to a complex blend of reds and purples as berries begin to ripen. The first fallen leaves make a haunting rustling sound when the wind sweeps them along the pavements. There's a chill and a nostalgia in the air.

The six necklaces in this collection were dyed with Japanese indigo and dyer's coreopsis that I harvested from my balcony garden. The indigo leaves were used fresh as well as boiled to give a variety of colours while the coreopsis provided the touch of rust. The necklaces are all intricately smocked and beaded and several feature a small beaded toggle that closes their chain. As always, chain lengths can be altered on request.

The necklaces will be in the shop on Tuesday.
Thank you for reading and if you like please tell me what the current season is like where you are.

Colours of the Season

2010-08-20T19:08:00.003+01:00

The new necklaces are almost ready. The plan is to show them here on Sunday and add them to the shop some time next week.

With this series it was one of those times when things seem to make themselves. All I did was stitch and dye and it all came together and surprised me. At first it was about gardens real and imagined because of the home-grown origin of the dyeplants used. But then I started to notice how the colours match the season here - it ended up being all about late summer instead.

Thank you very much for the recent comments! Hope to see you here on Sunday.

Back from a Fairytale

2010-08-18T12:09:00.002+01:00

Last week I spent a few days with a dear friend in a place that felt like a fairytale. We saw houses covered in dragon scales and a medieval dyer stirring a weld dyepot over the fire. We walked on a bridge where people lock their hearts together and throw the key in the Rhine. She also introduced me to spinning on her beautiful vintage wheel. Needless to say now I wish I had one of my own.

Since coming home I've been getting back into the swing of making. I'm smocking the garden-dyed silk I prepared before and a small collection is emerging. Its colours are of late summer, drying grass and ripening blackberries. More on that next time.

Coreopsis

2010-08-06T10:37:00.003+01:00

The coreopsis tinctoria flowers in my dye garden have started to open. The buds are without number and even if I pick all the blooms (I'm freezing them for later use) there are a dozen new ones within a day.

The dye from them looks dark and strong but I've only used it for a bit of overdyeing so far so don't know exactly what colour they give on their own. I'm going on a short trip tomorrow and I'll dye a white piece of fabric when I'm back next week.

A while ago I was mentioned in this thoughtful post about reinventing craft. I really like Delia's take on it.

Thanks for reading and have a great weekend.

Polygonum Tinctorium Palette

2010-07-31T21:10:00.003+01:00

Three colours from my Japanese indigo:

blue - dyed with fresh leaves as described previously

yellow - the leaves from which blue was extracted were boiled and used in a hot dyebath on alum mordanted silk

green - the yellow was overdyed with more fresh leaves

Blue Nails

2010-07-27T15:07:00.003+01:00

Thank you everyone for the comments on the indigo post. I know that here on the blog it's been all about the blue dye for months as if all others have been forgotten. I admit studying the 'king of dyes' has become a passion and I wear my blue nails proudly...

A while ago I visited Art in Action and predictably the highlight of the event for me was the indigo dyeing demonstration. It was great talking to Suad Østergaard and dyeing a sample of oak silk fibers in her vat.

Despite that it's not all blue here. I've been collecting walnuts that are falling unripe from the tree outside and am waiting for goldenrod and my own coreopsis flowers to open.

I've been through a bit of a turbulent time lately but when I can I'm finishing the designs for the poems necklaces. I want to be absolutely 100% sure about them when I show you photos so with apologies I have to say not yet... In the meantime here are two new feathers. Making them is always a joy even on the darkest of days.

Harvest

2010-07-23T12:08:00.003+01:00

The indigo was beginning to flower so it was time to cut it. So far I've harvested about a third of the nine plants.

Yesterday I tried dyeing with the fresh leaves. The process is used by the master dyer, Sachio Yoshioka, and I've learnt about it from this book about his workshop. Dorothea Fischer has used it too and shows all the steps with photos on her website.

The leaves were finely chopped and kneaded in water with vinegar for quite some time. The liquid was strained, the leaves kneaded some more and strained again. It was interesting to feel the mass of leaves diminishing under my hands almost to nothing as the juice was gradually squeezed out of them.

The fabric is dyed in the resulting green liquid which smells pleasantly of freshly cut grass. This dye is used cold and is slightly acidic making it perfect for silk.

After about an hour of working the fabric in the dye it's become much bluer. Then it's time to rinse it in clean water and hang to dry.

The result is a fresh and bright turquoise blue, unlike any that ever comes out of the vat.

On the whole, Japanese indigo has been a very rewarding and easy dye plant to grow even in containers in a limited space. I'm glad it gave me the chance to dye with the fresh leaves which is more straightforward than reducing indigo in a vat and the colour is wonderful.

Box of Clouds

2010-07-05T09:21:00.006+01:00

I'm enjoying this summer so much. At half past ten one night the sky was indigo velvet. Then by day it presented us with incredible clouds.

Do you remember poems to silk? That's what I'm working on these days. I'm designing a box for them. A silk-lined box hidden in a book.

The Third Time

2010-07-01T18:49:00.001+01:00

Found today. This is the third jay feather I've ever found.

The Sea was Silver

2010-06-30T18:32:00.002+01:00

It was a very peaceful afternoon on the beach. The sun reached a certain point on its way to the horizon. Suddenly you could hear the silence. The sea was silver and the air was mother of pearl.

The light blue of indigo reminded me of that scene. I pleated the dyed fabric into quiet ripples, smocked it with a single calm line of beaded stitch and it became a small amulet bag. The top closes with a hook and a fishtail-shaped eye. Opalescent beads sparkle along the chain like drops of sea water. Made of a memory to contain memories inside it.

A Nest in the Clouds

2010-06-28T21:55:00.005+01:00

Above are a few photos from the weekend...

... and below a new feather. This one is a fairly dark indigo blue, similar to the necklace in the last post. Later this week I'll show you another special piece in the Sea series. Several more are in progress but I'm taking a break to concentrate on a different project first (more details soon if it goes well).

Have a good week and thanks for reading and for your comments!

Fishing for Stars

2010-06-25T15:23:00.003+01:00

Come to the seashore in the evening and you will see a man fishing for stars. With his hope as bait he lands them, counts his catch, then lets them go again.

The latest in the Sea series, this necklace is a crescent of inky indigo with crystalline glass beads for the stars.

A Walk and Two Feathers

2010-06-22T13:28:00.002+01:00

There's idyllic landscape in the heart of England that looks like a scene from a fairytale.

In other news, I've added two feathers to the shop: a light, sky blue one similar to No.VIII and one in rich emerald green (one of the best greens I've achieved using indigo).

Queen Anne's Lace

2010-06-20T18:14:00.006+01:00

Once again
green borders are embellished with lace.
The white flowers seem to float untethered.
Everything is light.
The dusk pours itself into dawn
before the dark can settle.

This little amulet bag holds some of the atmosphere of June when everything suddenly becomes green and you can almost see plants growing. After every short night the grass is taller, the paths more overgrown...

The bag is made from an unusual piece of organza silk. It's dyed green with red onion which is a happy accident and something of a mystery.

The fabric is pleated into lush blades of grass, smocked with green trellises and white flowerettes (the floating Queen Anne's Lace) and beaded with sparkling yellow beads. The dark chain closes with a hook at the front and on the chain there are small opalescent beads flying in and out of the grass like fireflies.

It's an eye-catching and whimsical creation suitable for containing talismans, mementos or simply a pinch of the magic Midsummer air.

I'm almost ready to let it go, it will in the shop later today.