I don’t know why it took me so long to get into Instagram but now that I am, it has opened up this entire world of creativity, collectors and artists.  I get such a kick when I find a ribbon without documentation and now know enough to take a stab at the epoque and ribbon maker. It has been a wonderful journey of discovery – and yet there is so much that I don’t know and I can’t wait to learn and grow. Isn’t that what makes life interesting?

I discovered this weeks Les Petits Bonheurs muse, Brenda Colling, on a particularly dreamy textile voyage on instagram, her incredible range and diversity of antique textiles is truly inspiring. I couldn’t help feeling a kinship with Brenda, someone who cherishes craftmanship, design & colour.

I think for people like Brenda and I – it is not just the warp and weft that draws us in but the whispers of stories woven into these threads, stories of a tribe, be it the tenturiers of Burkina Faso or passementiers of Saint Etienne. The essence of these people is to be found amongst the fibers and by holding them in our hands, we can be a part of it – even for just a moment.

Brenda is not simply a collector and dealer of antique textiles, she is an accomplished artist who creates beautiful paper sculptural work and I am so happy that she allowed us a glimpse into her world, her creativity and collection.

Enjoy!

 “Whether the tradition is 50 or 500 years ago, these textiles have stories to tell, silently woven, appliquéd or embroidered into the fibers.”

“To begin my history, I will start with my grandmother, pictured below, with some samples of her work.

She was an expert needlewoman (English smocking), and my mentor.  Every year, right after Christmas she would begin making smocked dresses for her granddaughters. There were many of us.  It would take the year to complete them.  She would sit in her rocking chair sewing, and I would sit in another rocking chair, watching and absorbing her techniques. I have cherished these pieces, as they represent the beginnings of my collection. Dowry textiles still existed when I was a child.  My mother had a trunk full of handmade quilts when she married. We used them daily, until they disintegrated.  Later, when I  Ieft home, she bought handmade Mennonite quilts for my use.

Acquiring vintage textiles was a random activity when I began.  Friends would give me their old lace collections. Others would scour their attics for textiles untouched in decades.   From there, becoming a textile artist was a natural development.  There was an abundance of scrap material, and clothing that could be cut and recycled into art.”

“Pictured below is one of my favourite sources for fabric.  It is the Garage Antique Market in New York City, which closed a few months ago.  Many of the vendors can now be found at an outdoor market nearby.  As you noticed, my collecting interests are diverse.  The indigos from Burkina Faso are a perennial favourite.  There is a worldwide passion for indigo, that never abates.  African indigos are a sizable part of my holdings. I would love to share more pictures, but they would take up a lot of space.  Occasionally, there is a piece that I don’t want to part with, such as the Dida weavings.  The tradition has disappeared, and the pieces are quite rare.”

“Occasionally, there is a piece that I don’t want to part with, such as the Dida weavings.  The tradition has disappeared, and the pieces are quite rare.”

“The first magnificent textiles I saw were Ching Dynasty robes on exhibition at the Royal Ontario Museum. They were truly breathtaking for their opulence of embroidery and colours.  Below is a garment I purchased much later.  Though not an imperial piece, it does have exquisite gold couching, in the dragons, buddhist symbols and ideograms. My interests have evolved since then.  The textiles and adornment from Africa inspire me most.”

This wonderful fabric “is Adire from Nigeria.  The design is created using a cassava resist paste.  This tradition still exists, though it is diminishing.”

“African textiles continue to be my main interest today.  The vitality of design never ceases to inspire me.”

Pictured here is an antique Hausa robe.

“It is made of hand woven cotton strips.  They are sewn together, by hand.  The embroidery is done in wild silk.”

Above is my piece exhibited in a doll show.   Antique African fabrics and beads are combined in this doll headdress.

 

Above – Photograph of Brenda Colling, wrapped in one of her designs.

 

“Pictured above is a corner of my studio.  Some of my treasures are stored in these baskets. I have a live/work studio.  The front room is where i work and store materials. But the whole apartment is full on occasion:  if I am doing 30’ draperies for example. I am happiest when I am working on a project.  This could anywhere in my home where there light and space are suitable.”

 This is the bodice detail of an indigo dress from Palestine.  A favorite of Brenda Colling

“I have many collections:  African indigo, aso oke, strip weaving, kuba, Miao. There are many pieces that I am willing to share.  Many can be seen on my blog, brendacolling.wordpress.com or website,  www.brendacolling.com

Every piece that I acquire is something that I love and cherish. When I go out sourcing, it is with an open mind.  One never knows what will be out there.

Below is an embroidered, batik Miao apron.  Another beauty in Brendas collection.

A selection of images from Claires beautiful Paris instagram gallery

 “I have walked through many lives, some of them my own.”

This line from the poet Stanley Kunitz resonates for me each time I reach into one of my collections.

I grew up in San Francisco. I studied art history and design at the University of California in Berkeley and traveled a lot in my younger days. My father worked for an airline and family members were allowed to travel anywhere on the world-wide routes on a stand-by basis. I went around the world at least twice, stopping in Europe, India, Nepal, Japan, Hong Kong and China. I lived in Paris for 17 years and during that time traveled to Guatemala, Columbia, Mexico, Turkey,  Tunisia, Morocco, Afghanistan, Egypt and the French Antilles. My accumulations reflect those interests…textiles, books, antiques, postcards, ephemera, songs, vases, ceramics, plants, yarn…

My husband and I have made our home in the San Francisco Bay Area for the past 28 years now.  Together we have raised five children in a blended family. They are now all grown, and my husband and I are retired. We spend time in Paris at least once or twice a year.”

Ruth: When are you happiest?

“I am an artist and a maker. I am happiest when I work with my hands, be it drawing, collage, knitting, gardening, cooking, floristry, sewing. I have several art tables and this is part of my favorite one. It is in the kitchen, my favorite room in the house. Like Maira Kalman who I greatly admire, I feel life is better with snacks. I love a cup of tea nearby.”

“Here are the front and back of a cover for a classical music mix I just made for a very close friend of mine.”

Ruth: Do you have a favorite source for your materials?

“Art magazines, museum publications and promotional materials for art exhibits are probably my favorites. Friends and family have also given me interesting paper and even vintage ephemera. Corey Amaro has kindly gifted me French material from her Tongue in Cheek brocante. I love the vintage treasures you sent me recently!”

Ruth: Do you have other collections you would be willing to share?

“From a month-long trip to Afghanistan in the ’70’s before the Soviet war in 1979 and long before the present one began in 2001, I have some much treasured objects. They are eloquent of the beautiful places I visited and the deeply hospitable people I crossed paths with. I cannot pick these up without great sadness over these devastating decades of war. These small intricately worked purses are from the ancient covered market that once existed in Mazar-I-Sharif, none more than 4 inches in length by 3 inches in width. Have I saved these items from destruction? It is a minor comfort to think so.”

“”More currently I have been collecting small vases…from brocante, thrift stores, sidewalk sales, gifts, potters’ studios. I love flowers and have done arrangements for a number of weddings of friends and acquaintances. I started out looking for small containers to put the less than perfect or broken flowers in. At this point, I have a growing population of small vases and here are just some of them.”

Ruth: Is there anything you cannot part with?

“Well, eventually one parts with everything and at this stage of my life, I try to be more modest in my collecting. I have many things from France, both old and new. Here is one thing I have always really enjoyed: My “Plan de Paris A Vol d’Oiseau” dated 1959. It is a 5ft by 8ft map of the kind that used to hang in the Paris subways. I can see every street and building. Life before GPS. Here is a small corner of my map.”

  

Les Petits Bonheurs series is back for 2015 and appropriately this weeks artist, Christine Kelly of ‘Gentlework‘, is someone who I discovered thanks to Johanna Flanagan of The Pale Rook who I interviewed in November. What a wonderful gift it has been to meet so many wonderful makers, you are truly inspiring me.

I completly lost track of time the morning I stumbled into Christines blog, each image more beautiful than the next. Her handstitched treasures whisper to you, they soothe and comfort.

One image in particular touched me deeply, a photograph of antique jewel boxes inside which, Christine has hand stitched words of hope, “let go”; “have hope”, “courage dear heart”. She describes making “a collection of tiny tokens, to be called upon in times of need, slipped into a pocket, closing fingers around them, a comfort“.

I feel Christines work on a very personal level, it moves and nourishes me and right now, with events of recent days her work and stitched words have taken on a special importance.

I am so grateful to Christine for opening up her creative process and home here for Les Petits Bonheurs and know that you will enjoy discovering her work.

“I’ve always loved vintage textiles and I suppose I’ve been collecting for about 20 years or so. I use them because I prefer them to ‘new’ fabrics. I like the fact that they have a narrative, they are often soft or faded from years of washing and handling or there may be a stain, a mend or a tear which hints at their former use. The use of these materials in my work, especially in more personal pieces, means that their story and my story become intertwined.”

“I can get very attached to little scraps of fabric, even little plain pieces that may not seem very precious. I can’t remember the first piece of vintage textile that I fell in love with, and I get new favourites all the time, but one piece in particular is a small piece of broderie anglaise lace picked up at a Paris flea market, it’s old and hand worked with tiny pintucks along the bottom. It’s humble and stained and nothing special, but it has a little mend on it and it’s those tiny stitches that melt my heart….thinking how much it must have meant to someone for them to mend it with such care. I’ve used it in a piece of work, but it’s one I’m going to keep…”

“I pick up vintage pieces from all sorts of places, but mainly local antique fairs, some of the stall holders know me now! I don’t buy online much as I like to see and handle things.

When I buy vintage materials I don’t buy expensive or precious items, or anything too perfect. I’m often more attracted to something that’s a bit tatty or worn, also that way I don’t feel bad about cutting them up and re-using them.”

“My work is characterised by it’s subtle colour palette and that’s what I’m drawn to when looking for materials to use. I like the gentle variations in tone that vintage linens and lace provide and exploit this in my work by patching together differing shades. I also like to use old mending threads to embroider with rather than modern embroidery silks as I prefer their soft and subtle colours. I especially look for interesting edges or details on textiles or bits of embroidery and lace with motifs that I can cut out and use for appliqué. I don’t set out to look for materials with a particular project in mind, rather I like things to just find me….”

“In my workroom I’m surrounded by the materials I use and new acquisitions are kept out on display for some time before they are used, to be considered and to provoke thought. Seeing materials side by side often inspires me and happy accidents can happen through a combination of untidiness and serendipity.”

“My favourite place to be is at my desk in my workroom, surrounded by all the things that inspire me and looking out onto trees, fields, sky and birds. I’m at my happiest when quietly hand stitching, listening to the radio or gentle music. In the past I worked predominantly with machine embroidery but now, stitching by hand has taken over. I find hand stitching more tactile and immediate, it also fits well with the vintage materials I use which have often been handled and hand stitched themselves over many hours, many years ago. The other thing about stitching by hand is that it can be very calming and meditative. I find stitching a great comfort in times of stress and some of the work I’ve made has been in direct response to difficult times in my life.”

Do you have an absolute favourite material that you love working with?

 “I love using vintage buttons, especially really tiny mother of pearl ones that are quite hard to come by, but some of my favourite items to use have been some vintage bone buttons and some beautiful buff coloured heavy French linen, which is lovely to stitch into.”

What is your background and how did you find your way as a textile artist?

 “I don’t have a formal education in textiles, I’ve taught myself and learned along the way over the years. I can’t remember a time when I wasn’t making things. I used to regret not having studied art or textiles, feeling that it put me at a disadvantage, but I don’t anymore. A lot of my work is very personal and draws on my experience of life and I don’t think I’d be making the work I do now without having been on a personal and creative journey.”

“I’d always shoehorned my creativity around work but in 2005, myself and my husband took a ‘year out’ from full time work to concentrate on our creative selves, after the sale of a home and a business and a long period of stress. It was during this year, and having this time to devote to my art that marked a turning point in the work I was making, when lots of different elements came together, my ideas and experience, the vintage fabrics and ephemera I’d been collecting for so long and all of the creative skills I’d learned over the years. We rented a house in a rural location, the first time I’d experienced living in the countryside, something which was to have a profound effect on my work and my creative process. The house was called Trevethoe House and inspired a piece of work of the same name.”

Who inspires you?

“Like most creative people, inspiration comes from everything and everywhere. The influence of nature is something that permeates a lot of my work. I live just next to woods and fields where I walk my dog each day and it’s often when I’m out walking that ideas come to me.”

“There is also a connection for me between the peace and calm of experiencing nature and the contemplative aspect of slow hand stitching, the two seem to go hand in hand and this is reflected in my work. Inspiration often comes from the vintage textiles I find (a little detail may spark off an idea of where I want a piece of work to go) but mostly my work stems from personal experiences and my inner landscape, thoughts and emotional states. You asked whether I get creative block, and the answer is I don’t really. Quite the opposite, in terms of ideas I have a backlog of things I’m longing to make. Of course, sometimes, it’s harder to work at something than at other times, if you don’t feel so great or things aren’t really flowing or working out as you had planned them in your head. At times like this I try to just go with it and if all else fails, have a break, do something else and come back to it.”

Is there anything that you can not imagine parting with?

“There are lots of things that are special to me but they are just things at the end of the day. I would struggle to part with some of my work, though. Stitching a piece of work by hand over many hours results in a real connection to the piece you are working on, often making a piece very difficult or impossible to part with (or to put a price on). Also, much of my work is inspired by my feelings and experiences, like a journal really, they contain a part of me, so it would be very hard to let them go.”

I find your work so moving, especially the hope tokens in antique boxes and the fabric tokens where you have woven beautiful comforting words on inside. I understand that you create these not for sale but as personal talismans – could you talk about these pieces and their meaning for you?

“The use of stitched text plays quite a big role in my work. I keep a little notebook of words, phrases and quotes that are meaningful to me. I’m interested in the power of words, to comfort and inspire and remind us of things which are important. This is something I’ve explored in the form of portable little fabric tokens to act as reminders and tiny boxed stitcheries that can be kept in a pocket and looked at in times of need. I’ve made these pieces for myself over time in response to various emotional states, the act of making them is reassuring in itself and then you have them as a keepsake. I’d been reluctant to share personal items like this on my blog in the past, but when I did, particularly in the case of the fabric tokens, the response was overwhelming. I think people really connected with them, after all we all have difficult feelings to deal with from time to time, I just tend to deal with mine through stitch.”

How do you sell your work?

“I sell my work mainly at fairs, exhibitions and at workshops I teach and occasionally to people who contact me directly. Generally, I prefer not to work to commission, which people find unusual. I have tried in the past but I find it stressful and it makes me feel constrained, and this takes some of the enjoyment out of creating and means I can’t really put my heart into it. My work means so much to me that I wouldn’t be happy to sell a piece that didn’t have my heart and soul in it.”

Please visit her wonderful blog here  to view more of her work.

Oh the wonders of Instagram, one day you scroll down through your feed, fall down a wonderful rabbit hole of inspiration and come out the other end buzzing with the discovery of exciting talent. This is what happened when I discovered the work of Danish mixed media artist, Tina Jensen who creates under the name, Tiny Bear Studios

Tina loves to work with “everything worn and faded – vintage lace, rusty bits and pieces, vintage photo albums, old stuff with a history.”   I love how she combines all her finds, transforming the smallest, torn and discarded morsels of old textiles to create something that will be treasured and loved once more. I wanted to find out more about what how she brings her creations together and of course take a snoop in her studio to see what treasures it holds – the stacks of old books, albums and layers of antique textiles do not disappoint – I want to reach out and leaf through the books, touch the soft, timeworn stacks of lace… dive in with me and meet Tina!

When did you start collecting?

“I’m not quite sure when it all started actually. I´ve always had a passion for the old and worn stuff and have spent lots of time at the flea markets. I´m drawn to the faded old worn look and to all things old. Vintage lace, old photos, old buttons and sewing suppliers, worn old paper, old books – you get the idea. I started buying these things thinking they could be used for something, not knowing what exactly. I just thought it was too pretty to be thrown out. Now I use all my finds in my creations and love the idea of giving old stuff a new life in a new way.”

What was the first piece of history that made your heart sing?

“Small pieces of worn vintage lace – I loved the look. That was my first passion. Shortly after I started finding beautiful old worn books and couldn´t let them go. Old photo albums with faded photos inside too.

Is there anything that you can not imagine parting with, a piece of jewellery, a painting, a photograph?

“Old photos from my own family – I need to keep them and some vintage textile pieces too. I´m having a hard time using stuff from my own family, but everything I find at fleas I use.”

What do you look for when you are sourcing materials? Do you have a colour scheme in mind or is it random and it comes together back in the atelier?

“I look for old faded stuff. I fall for the stuff that no one wants. Books that are torn, fabric and lace with rusty marks, everything faded, worn and miserable – that´s for me. I don´t look for a specific color theme, but always ends up with dusty faded colors. There´s no bright colors in my studio.”

How long do you ‘live’ with your finds before you start working with them?

“I buy the stuff when I see it, to make sure it’s going to be mine. Sometimes I know what I want to do with it and I start creating very shortly after bringing it home, but as often I have it for a very long time in my studio. I don´t always know what it’s for – it’s kind of difficult to explain, but I don’t go hunting for stuff for specific creations. I hunt for that special look/feel and later on I know what i’m going to use it for.”

Where do you do your making?

“I have a tiny little room in our apartment that I use for my studio. I have all my supplies gathered here on open shelves. It inspires me to see all my stuff and that´s how new creations are born.”

Who inspires you?

“I do have a few artists I have found online whose work inspires me, but most of my inspiration comes from the stuff I have in my studio and definitely from visiting flea markets, which I do almost every weekend during summer time.”

Do you listen to music when you work or do you prefer the quiet?

“Sometimes I listen to music and sometimes I prefer the quiet. Depending on what I´m working on.”

Do you ever get creative block?

“It’s very rare that I get a creative block, but when it happens I take a break for a few days, go out on walks and then start organizing my studio. Going through stuff – cleaning out. And then the inspiration comes back. This would be my best advice. Don’t force it, let the mind flow and it will come back again.”

Where is your favourite place for sourcing materials?

“Flea markets – definitely”

Where are you happiest?

“I’m happiest when I can get some creative time in my studio”

Do you sell in any other way that on etsy/your blog? How has e-commerce and social media changed the way you do business ; the human experience of salons/markets vs. the International global marketplace of Etsy.

“I’m doing a Christmas Craft Fair here in Denmark once a year. I would love to do more, but we don’t have many options here. I would love to find a little gallery who would display my work.
Social media has changed my creative life. Being able to connect with mind liked people from all over the world and being able to sell my creations all over the world too – I wouldn’t change that for anything. That´s such a big part of my creative life.”

What is your favourite corner in your house?

“My work table in my studio”

Do you have any collections you would like to share – vignette photographs?

“I’m not a collector as such, but have only collections of what I use in my creations”

You can visit Tinas beautiful blog to find out more about her world and her etsy shop is filled with wonders

Merci Tina!

One of my most dog eared, overflowing with post-its, favourite creative books is Rejuvenating Jewels: New Designs from Vintage Treasures by Jeweler Amy Hanna. Its pages are filled with sumptious images, the most unexpected items are transformed into beautiful heirloom jewellery.  I have followed Amy over the years, admiring from a distance her wonderful way of combining old with new; her fantastic sense of colour and her love for the hunt, be it rummaging through flea markets or antique stores, it’s always an adventure to see one of her pieces coming together.

So I reached out to Amy, one of my jewelery making heroes and she generously agreed to share her creative process and her love of the hunt for Les Petits Bonheurs. I hope you enjoy discovering more about Amy as much as I have!

“I started collecting when I was a child. I have always had a fascination with history.” Amy Hanna

What was the first piece of textile that made your heart sing?

“When I was a little girl the house I lived in was built on top of a lot that use to have one of the oldest houses in town on it. The contents of the house are actually kept in our town museum. I use to dig around in the yard to try to find some kind of piece from the original home. One day I was so excited to find a piece of broken china you would have thought I had found a pot of gold. I guess I was always an old soul. While traveling I think Paris really blew my mind with all the attention to detail, the colors, the casual perfection of imperfection.

I fell in love with the grey beauty of it.”

Is there anything that you can not imagine parting with?

“There are a few pieces of jewelry that I can’t imagine parting with. One being my Great Grandmother’s rhinestone brooch of a crown that I treasure not because it is so valuable and beautiful but because I loved her so much. Whenever I see it, it reminds me of her long long hair that she always wore up in a bun and her warm sweet smile. I also treasure a small cameo of a man and a women that is actually a tiny music box.”

Can you talk to us a little about your creative process: how long do you live with your found treasures before you start working with them?

“Sometimes I find myself keeping certain pieces and then one day I feel like it is ok to let it go. There are a few pieces that I wish I would have kept.

One that comes to mind is a vintage French hand painted portrait of a white haired lady that was painted on to Mother of pearl. I sold the piece a very long time ago but her face was so dreamy I still think of her. But I can’t have everything and I want the pieces that I create to be loved as much as I Ioved putting them together and using unusual special things is what makes them treasured.”

What do you look for when you are sourcing materials?

“I look for things that strike up curiosity in me. For example where did this come from, what was it used for how can I make the piece hold something or will it add humor.

I love dingy, sparkly, delicate, industrial, velvet, religious, souvenirs, mementos and playful things.

Although I am very excited to find a very old locket containing photos of a special someone inside it also makes me sad to think someone meant so much to someone at one time and somewhere this special memento got left to the world but how wonderful that someone else can appreciate and enjoy the captured moment in time.”

Do you listen to music while you work or do you prefer to create without distractions?

“Funny but I am usually in silence when I work. I like to be open to hearing my mind talk to me. When I do listen to music for some reason I find myself listening to the Cure, their music makes my mind dance around with crazy ideas which makes me more creative.”

Where is your favourite place for sourcing materials?

“I try to pick up interesting pieces from all over the place. I love to hunt for things while traveling to different countries, flea markets are the best.”

“I’m always excited to find a good antique store and I love to support other etsy shops as well. There are so many interesting things you can find on line.”

How and where do you sell your finished creations?

“I have had my things in upscale boutiques and I sell on etsy. I also sell while teaching classes. It sometimes blows my mind to think that I have sold pieces that I have made to people around the world.”

“I feel very blessed to have been given such wonderful opportunities to teach classes and sell my pieces. I never take that for-granted it is a true gift to be able to share your passion with other women. ”

You can read more about Amys work and inspiration on her wonderful blog

And see more of her beautiful jewels in her Etsy Shop

]]> http://lepetitcoquin.ie/admin/les-petits-bonheurs-amy-hanna-rejuvenated-jewels/feed/ 0 http://lepetitcoquin.ie/admin/les-petits-bonheurs-lucie-tales/ http://lepetitcoquin.ie/admin/les-petits-bonheurs-lucie-tales/#comments Thu, 04 Dec 2014 11:19:14 +0000 http://lepetitcoquin.ie/admin/?p=8532

“Once upon a time a little girl was crying and as her tears fell they turned into precious stones.?”

Welcome to the wonderful world of Lucie Tales, where French jeweller Lucie, weaves wondrous tales through her jewelery creations from found objects.  I love how she describes the “highly emotional experience” of discovering these found treasures and how she is drawn to the link between “past and present, between craftsmanship and the story of an era”. I also adore how she disagrees with collecting for the sake of collecting, but to strive to transform and make these old things live and be loved again.

Her pieces are so unique, she majestically transforms the old and “used, tumbled by the sea, painted, rusted, scratched” into contemporary jewellery and yet always retains the beautiful soul of the piece, a “trace from their previous lives”.

An upcycled aluminum and antique rhinestones necklace

When did you start collecting?

“I might say it started as a little girl. I couldn’t return home without something I had picked up along the way to school : a nice pebble, a beautiful leaf or seed. Pebbles were the most cherished treasures and my mother was careful emptying my pockets before putting my clothes in the washing machine.”

“I don’t consider myself as a true collector. When I go to the flea market I don’t look for something special to complete my collections. My purchases are spontaneous and made on the spot, I don’t track down a particular item, I love hasard. And the worth of an object is so subjective! I remember the day I found a box full of new old stock brass eyelets, it was like I struck gold!!! I saw all the possibilities, the variations it would enable me to design.

For me, collections are kind of dead things, objects lined up in a show case are crying to get out. I don’t like objects sitting on a shelf without any use. They seem dead, abandoned and forgotten, they have lost their worth. I think my taste for repurposing comes from there, I want to give things a second life, rescue them from death.”

Is there anything that you can not imagine parting with?

“I think that stories, tales are what make my heart sing. My mother used to tell me about the gorgeous treasures her grand-mother Blanche had stored in trunks in the attic where my mother as a child would play. Clothes, feathers, hats, gloves, exquisite laces, jewelry, beaded accessories, ivory and silver handles… These trunks have disappeared in a bonfire in 1950s made by an unscrupulous stepdaughter for which all these things were a heap of rubbish. All that escaped are some Bon Marché and Galeries Lafayette 1920s catalogues that I still have. From time to time I sell extra supplies from my flea market visits, but these 1920s catalogues I will never part from.”

On her creative process:

“The elements I bring back from flea markets can sit for several months or even years in my studio before they find their place in a jewelry composition. When I’m in love with something, I have to look at it often, to feast over it and even if I try I can’t do anything with it because I’m overwhelmed by its beauty. So I admire it until I come full of it, then I can play and work with it. Or sometimes I decide to include it in a piece that I will keep for myself but then it always end that during the process I come to terms with it and then I can sell it.

One important thing for me is to avoid making something which would have the look of a vintage jewelry. I don’t make fakes or vintage style jewelry. It must have and show a contemporary twist.  I often transform a finding or hammer a part or add an element entirely made from scratch or add some contemporary artisan made parts for balance .

I store my supplies in small storage boxes on the wall but I usually work elbows deep in them all over my table and trays. I always work on different projects at the same time. Some assemblages are waiting on a tray because they’re not ”right” yet. The process is a continuous one, I may complete a piece while walking on the beach or having my coffee, or best of times, daydreaming.”

  Vintage burnishers tools on my new soldering table

“Having worked several years in open space offices, it is very important for me to have my own space, I need to be in my bubble, completely isolated from the outer world. In the different flats we have rented, I always had a room of my own for my different creative urges. When we bought our house, I invested a small part of the library that we parted with an antique reclaimed wooden panel, it is situated in the heart of the house and felt like a cocoon. But it is rather small and moreover it is dark. We’re renovating slowly our 1920s house and there was a kind of office separated from the house very damp and containing a disused water tank in its wall. When I received from my father, my grand-parents’ inheritance, we decided to make my dream studio come true and transformed this damp room into an airy atelier overlooking the garden. That what we’ve been working on for more than a year now. First the design and then the heavy work.”

“Just the other day, we were fitting the last missing piece of the jigsaw : an antique metallic atelier door with glass panels. Most of my furniture in my atelier is vintage. Except the metallic storage boxes. Most of my tools are vintage too! Reclaiming, repurposing is a way of life for me and has always been. As a teenager and long before it was trending, I was scouring flea markets and second-hand shops to dress myself and buy some furniture. Not for lack of money, even if it does matter, but because I’ve never seen the point in buying something new, something soul-less that everybody can have, when I can dig some treasures of much better quality both in material and craft to which I give a new life.”

On inspiration:

“I graduated in Arts studies and definitely, my imagination is built on all the works of art I’ve seen and studied. Then I’ve worked in a Contemporary Art Center so I had the opportunity to work with several talented artists, and the chance to have a glimpse of their own world. .

I’m living in a world of images, from what I access via the Internet to my everyday environment. I’m lucky to live in a beautiful and varied area, my everyday walks lead me on the sea shore and Loire estuary. I live in an industrial town which is also an harbour. I really have a thing for industrial buildings and devices.

My father was a botanist and designed his own garden and I did design my own small garden as well which is a source of everyday inspiration. All this is my soul food.

Concerning jewellery I admire Renaissance and Art Nouveau jewellery, English Victorian jewelry, Tribal jewellery and Modern Jewellery and most of all the work of Alexander Calder in which the structure is everything.”

 Earrings with tiny vintage matte glass seed beads and glass daggers

Do you listen to music when you work or do you prefer quiet?

“I usually work in silence so I can stay tuned with my inner self. I listen to music when I’m packaging my orders, then I need to keep a certain rhythm so I found music is helping a lot in order to be fast and efficient.”

Do you ever get creative block?

“Each time it happens, it is always difficult to deal with my frustration. I’ve found that the best way is to let it go. So I start working on something else, taking pictures of the finished pieces or list an item in my Etsy shop. Some other time, I need to get out of the atelier, go for a walk, go to see beautiful things, visit an exhibition, go to the movies or when I’ve a creative block because I’m tired, the best way is to have a rest, reading but still in the atelier so when I look up and see the work in progress I realize that I see it differently and I can go on. This is my favorite corner in my house!”

Blue drop earrings with artisan porcelain drops,  brass ring vintage brass hoops

I love reading about your vide grenier finds on your blog and then seeing how you transform them, where is your favourite place  for sourcing materials?

“I have some favorite dealers online but I prefer to scour flea markets and vide-greniers in my local area. The wonderful pleasure of the hunt, to discover a box full of knick-knacks pêle-mêle and at the bottom finding a full card of Victorian buttons!”

Where are you happiest?

“In my new atelier of course, I still can’t realize it’s there! It’’s not ready yet, I still have to find the right place for all my stuff, to make this new place really mine. I’ve planned a cosy corner where to I want to put my sofa where I read, but it need times to hang my frames and mirrors. This new place is a dream, it overlooks my little garden, with big windows offering some new points of view. And the amount of light is mesmerizing!

It’s situation with its own door over the garden will allow me to receive visitors and customers more easily. Before, I did receive visitors in the kitchen and display my jewelry over the mantelpiece, not very professional.”

If you weren’t creating jewellery what might you be doing?

“Something, that’s for sure, I’m definitely a maker! Before jewelry, I had a go at sewing and the last recent years I’m always knitting something”

Antique pewter rank button

You can visit Lucies website, read about her process on her blog and buy her beautiful jewellery on etsy.

This weeks muse, Johanna Flanagan of The Pale Rook is a very special textile artist whose work I discovered via Mister Finch. He shared a delicious photograph of one of Johannas unique doll creations.

Ever since I have been utterly hypnotised by her exquisite, magical, soulful creatures – truly unlike anything you have ever seen and I really wanted to share her work and story here.

Enjoy discovering the world of The Pale Rook!

Self Portrait

The first piece of textile that made her heart soar….

“The first piece of fabric that I remember being fascinated by was a small, woven indigo bag, no bigger than a coin purse that my aunt gave me to hold one day at an auction house. I couldn’t have been more than four or maybe five years old. I traced the threads with my fingers, trying to follow a single one up and down and over and under the warp. I wasn’t happy just to use it or look at it, I wanted to know how it had become what it was. I held it all the way home in the car and I remember someone laughing at me for staring so hard at that little blue bag. I remember that same fascination with threads and patterns throughout my childhood. I would stare at the swirls and dashes on my duvet cover and matching curtains, working out the pattern repeat. Lace socks and tights were a whole world of twists and tucks and spaces that could hold my attention for hours. I don’t remember being attracted to the colours and patterns as such, it was always the story behind the cloth. I needed to work out how it had been constructed. When I was seven I found a ball of dark red yarn and worked out a way to loop and hook it around my fingers to make chains. It turns out what I was actually doing was crochet, but it took another twenty years for me to realise it. I covered the house and garden in crochet chains until I ran out of yarn, again it wasn’t the end result that I was interested in, I just wanted to keep transforming the yarn into something else.”

On parting with her creations:

“I find it easier to part with my work than a lot of people expect, because I am still more attached to the process of making the work than the work itself. Again, it’s the construction, the creation of something from nothing that fascinates me rather than having something to keep.   I own just a few pieces of my work and all of them were firsts of some kind of another. There are very few things I could not imagine being parted from. I almost always wear a silver ankh necklace that I was given for my nineteenth birthday. I couldn’t imagine ever parting with that. It’s battered and scratched but it’s so precious to me. In fact, most of things I could not let go of are pieces of jewellery that have a connection to someone important to me.   I love my home made quilts, because each one has been made from old clothes and fabrics that have their own story. Apart from these though, I don’t think there is anything I couldn’t part with for the right reason at the right time. That said, I do hold on to fabrics and threads for a very long time, some have been on my shelves for close to twenty years, but there are none that I could never part with, just some that will not be parted with until absolutely the right project comes to mind.”

On her creative process:

“I honestly can’t remember the last time I went out specifically to buy threads or fabrics, they tend to just show up in charity shops or markets or other peoples’ attics. The base of my work is usually very plain cotton, linen and silk. I do buy unused calico and white thread from regular fabric stores but the rest all just turn up in one way or another or have been given to me.   When I do come across fabrics and threads at markets or in charity shops I only buy very specific things. I have a deep aversion to all things synthetic. The texture of polyester and nylon really bothers me, and I find that the colours just don’t have the same quality as natural fibres.   I’m very sensitive to the feel of fabric and yarn on my skin and I just can’t stand sewing unnatural fabrics so I only usually work with natural fibres and dyes. I am particularly drawn to fabrics and trims from the 18th Century and the 1930s, although the 18th Century ones are pretty much impossible to get hold of! Most of my textile supplies are from the 1880s to the 1930s. I think what fascinates me now is what fascinated me as a child – the process of construction, how each thread weaves or wraps around another, and I love to look at the back of the work, where you can see the knots and tucks and all the signs that this was really made by a human being who lived in another time and place.”

“My colour palette tends to come from the colours I can make from plants, nuts and berries – greens, oranges, pinks and browns with the odd sky blue. Very occasionally I get a real hankering for red silk. I don’t know where it comes from or what triggers it, but I swing from natural, muted colours to scarlet every so often.”

“My alpaca fleece comes from my friend’s farm in Sigdal in Norway. She has a flock of around fifty animals, all of them have names and I even have my own little alpaca god daughter called Caroline, she’s black with little white toes. I love knowing where the fleece has come from and that the animals are so well taken care of.”

“The same applies to my dyes. I love to know what part of the forest they came from or what tree they fell off of. Each dye batch is different so the result can be unpredictable. That’s a really important part of my process though as I am so so precise with so much of my work, I need an element of it that I don’t have full control over. My favourite dye is nettle. There are so many beautiful shades of green and nettles from different parts of the forest have different shades. Some are almost blue while others are warm and golden. I love that once I have dipped a doll in the dye bath, the dye takes over some of the design decisions for me.”

On inspiration…

I find that I am most inspired by the forest – the colours, changes, textures, sounds. I’m always collecting nuts and leaves and twigs and things and they tend to build up to a colour and texture palette that will then appear in a doll.   I am happiest when I’m near trees and water. I never feel alone in a forest, there is always so much life around. I used to be terrified of snakes and then just a few months ago, I was walking along a trail with my greyhound and this huge long black snake crossed the path in front of me, right in front of my feet. She was so languid and beautiful and so much a part of the place that I completely lost my life long fear of snakes. I’m using black silk a lot more in my work now and I think it’s probably because of seeing that snake in the woods.

In the studio:

“My studio wall is covered in bits of fabric, fleece, yarn, twigs, lichen and moss rather than images. I rarely plan a colour or texture palette, they tend to evolve as I sew. The fact that the dolls are characters who develop as they are made is a real motivator to keep working on them until they are finished. Just the slightest change in the shape of a doll’s nose or hands can alter her whole look, which then changes the colours and textures I’m drawn to for the rest of her. One of the things I love about hand sewing is how slow and steady it can be, you have so much time to get to know the piece you’re working on that you can steadily work out where it wants to go.   It’s usually only when a piece of work is finished that I can follow the thread back to what inspired it in the first place.”

On her creative process:

“I tend to become completely engrossed in a piece then there is usually a day or two after it’s finished when I decide that there is no way at all that this one is going to be sold, then very quickly it stops being mine and it comes time for it to move on to somewhere else. I love that once my work goes to it’s new home, it begins a whole new story that has nothing whatsoever to do with me. There is always a moment when I wrap the work in tissue before packing it to send it off to it’s new home where I think about how much work and time and dedication has been put into making it, but by that point it really doesn’t feel like it belongs to me anymore.”

On her favourite places…

“My favourite place in the house is usually the staircase. I tend to plonk myself down on the stairs when I need to think. I’ve always been a fan of in-between places that are neither one place or the other. I kind of feel the same way about airports. I also love museums. I work with Glasgow’s museums as a costume designer and textile tutor. All of my work with the museums has to connect with something within their collections, the costumes are maybe a recreation of an outfit in a painting or a replica of a piece in the collection, once I even had the unbelievable privilege of working directly from five thousand year old Egyptian artefacts from the British Museum! I felt like Indiana Jones, although I had a massive security guard with me the whole time, just in case. I teach museum visitors the techniques that have been used to create some of the textile pieces within the collections – embroidery, sewing, toy making, and it is incredibly rewarding. The visitors don’t just view at a piece in the collection – they leave the museum knowing how to make it themselves. It gives them a direct connection to the piece and the people who made it. Every time I go to work at the museums I have to pinch myself. I suppose a museum is an in-between place too.”

“I am incredibly lucky to have a dedicated work room. It’s tiny but has lots of cupboards and a window looking out on to the garden. In the past my work space has sometimes been nothing more than a box, a note book, or a chair or a corner. As long as it is kept specifically and solely for the purpose of making your work, then I think it can do the job just as well as anywhere else. I prefer to work in small places with lots of shelves and drawers to keep things in. I don’t think my desk has ever been tidy, it’s buried in about 10 centimetres of fabric, thread, fleece and who knows what else. I have to keep other artist’s work to a minimum on my walls as it just takes over my thinking and without knowing it I end up absorbing it and copying it, but I do have a couple of pieces of work that have been given to me and a few antique postcards. There are stacks of seashells and jars of acorns and all sorts of bits that I’ve picked up. It’s hard to tell if my desk looks the way it does because of the work I make on it or if its’ the other way around.   Sometimes I’ll see a bit of something sitting on top of a piece of something else and decide that it needs to become a bird or a doll or a fish.  ”

“I am very fussy about the music I play in my little studio, I love listening to movie soundtracks, my two favourites are Labyrinth and Twin Peaks. Kate Bush, David Bowie, The Cocteau Twins, Anthony and Johnsons all get played regularly too. I get a bit lost in what I’m doing if I don’t have music playing and have a habit of losing track of time, then realising that it’s two hours after I said I’d be somewhere else. If things ever start to feel stale or dull, I listen to some Amanda Palmer or Har Mar Superstar to wake me up a bit.”

On working through creative block:

“The only solution I have for creative block is to keep a space and keep showing up. Even if you end up sitting in your chair screwing up crappy drawings and tearing your hair out, keep showing up. I used to get crippling creative block, which, in my experience is usually the result of two things – focusing too much on what other people are doing and achieving, or worrying too much about other peoples expectations of you. I find that creative block has little to do with a lack of ideas and more to do with too much noise and clutter in your head.   The great thing about craft is that if you’re blocked creatively, you can spend your time learning something practical and technical.   Get online, find a tutorial on youtube or where ever and just show up and do something. Get into the habit of showing up and eventually you’ll realise that you’re doing it for yourself and the ideas that need to come to you will.   It might take weeks, months or even years, but if you continue to set aside time and space for yourself, you tend to find out what you need.

I don’t suffer from creative block so much anymore, but I do sometimes feel like I’m bored with what I’m doing . I find the solution to that is to either do some grunt work – cut out some fabric, mix some dye, card some wool OR to completely step out of your field of interest entirely and do something you’ve never done before. I took up playing the ukulele last year and it was changed my whole life for the better! I used to think it was a little hobby that had nothing to do with my textile work, but it’s become a really important part of how I work now. If sewing is driving me mad, or I’m not sure what direction to take it in next, I just go play my uke for a couple of hours and it all just seems to work itself out.”

On creating and selling online:

“I had a real fear of putting my work online to begin with. The internet can be brutal and I didn’t expect to have such a warm response. The textile artist Mr Finch shared just a few images of my work and suddenly I had thousands of people, literally thousands of people following what I do and contacting me. I could never have reached that number of people just ten years ago when I graduated from Art School.”

“I think the danger for a lot of artists is that the aim of social media is to keep you using their service. The more you use it, the more you’re rewarded with “likes”, a greater “reach” and more “shares” and some people get caught up in achieving that as an end in itself. Some fall into the trap of making work specifically to get a reaction on social media, which can be damaging and reductive. I think there needs to be a balance between being savvy enough to know how to get noticed and to create work that would be precious to you regardless of who gets to see it.”

“When I think about when I graduated, I would have had no idea how to start a shop online or how to reach a worldwide audience.   Websites like Facebook and Etsy have been able to take out the middle man, take out the large commissions and connect artists directly with their buyers.”

“I’ve also met some incredible artists that I would have missed completely if I wasn’t part of an online community, because this time last year I didn’t even know that art dolls were a genre. The big wide world of the internet has given me a way of indulging in my own little world of threads and scraps and twigs and stitches because it’s connected me with people who appreciate what I do.”

Please discover the wonderful world of The Pale Rook on Etsy and read more about Johannas beautiful work on her blog.

This week I am really very excited to introduce a very special artist, someone who has inspired me immensely since I took the plunge into creating with textiles.

I don’t think I have ever seen an image of Emmas work, home and art that I haven’t loved and desired. Everything that Emma puts her hand to is incredibly beautiful and personal, delicate and feminine, she combines found objects, antique lace, vintage sequins and lace to make something very contemporary and utterly gorgeous to behold. My husband surprised me with one of her necklaces for my birthday and I have worn it ever since for any occasion where I want to feel special. Literally I attempt to put on a different necklace but always revert to her piece, it is a love affair!

When I started this series I always wanted to ask Emma to participate. I was fascinated to find out how she started working with textiles, how she went about creating her collections (was it the lace that found Emma or Emma who sought out a specific lace?), what inspired her, how did she manage to make so much beauty (in her home and work) with two young children (I’m still struggling) and was she actually human because seriously how can one woman be this talented (okay so I didn’t ask this question specifically but really!).

All I can say is that when Emma responded and said she would love to participate – I think I might have squealed and perhaps even performed a little happy dance around the living room – but of course I did.

Emma has shared some really wonderful insights and snapshots into her life, her inspiration and her creative business and even glimpses into her jewellery sketchbooks. I hope you love discovering more about Emma as much as I did.

On the first piece of textile that made her heart sing:

 “As a kid, I used to keep in my pocket my grannys embroidered  handkerchief or my grandpas traditional “mouchoir a carreaux”  but my first real textile love was the Dries Van Noten embroidered scarf from the 1998-99 collection” (see photograph above)

On her creative process:

“I use the pieces I have found quite quickly, just after 2 weeks, if I am not in a middle of a big order. I am very free, I will choose anything I think is unusual and interesting and I am not tight to a theme. I get help sometimes for embroidery when I have got lots of orders. For the past few month, I have been working with an art director, Audrey Bozetto and it is so refreshing…I use to be a stylist so it handy for photography. I know some amazing photographers too such as Kristin Perers. “

“Each season, it will be something different, from Hmong textiles to Bauhaus paintings… This season it was the exuberance of the Great Gatsby meet the craft and face paint of the tribes (Jimmy Nelson photography)”

“It changes…the mantel piece in the living room, black and white display with jet bead vintage necklaces, lots of silver mirrors and sequins vintage ribbons…”

 On her Spring Summer 2015 collection:

“My theme was dance: Lil buck, ballet and opera costume, Chanel iridescent embroidery and Rochas spring-summer 2014 collection (the brocade fabric and feather shoes)”

Lil Buck

I am a little obsessed with Emmas weavings – if anyone is reading – this is on my Christmas wishlist – pretty pretty please!

On juggling a successful creative business & motherhood:

“For the moment, it is easy because the school is five minutes from home and food markets as well.  My work is very relaxed, I know the buyers of the shops that I have stocked for 10 years, I am never late and always so thankful so keeping a good relationship is my motto. My kids are very independent so they play and create next to my desk. We have time together from 4pm to 8pm time to play, to cook, be together…”

“I love the idea to be free from belongings… But from travelling around I have accumulated pieces like paintings, books or fabrics and I treasure them.”

Some of Emmas favourite treasures including a vintage linen sake bag from Kyoto

Interior » Kristin Perers | Photographer – Interior, Still life, Food, Fashion & Portraits

I urge you to check out Emmas beautiful jewellery on her website and for daily inspiration you can follow her instagram here.

It was a happy day when I stumbled across Silk & Willow via the ever talented Irish event stylists, Pearl & Godiva.

To say that I am a ribbon fan would be an understatement, my life revolves around ribbons, antique and vintage. No matter how small the morsel, their threads always wind themselves into my being.

So you can image what a wonder it was to discover the world of Shellie Pomeroy, who left behind the hectic pace of a career in publishing to raise her daughters. This change in pace and circumstance, led to Shellie setting up Silk & Willow, where she creates unique, natural, sustainable and very luxurious ribbons.

Shellie describes her process as ” My foundation is based on century old dyeing techniques, with a little bit of unconventional “breaking the rules.” The materials I dye are slow crafted by hand, and while my colors are sometimes subtle, each one tells a story”.

I reached out to Shellie to find out more about her beautiful work and she very generously responded to share photographs of a typical day and wonderful insights into her creative world .

“Silk & Willow has grown from a passion for the tactile experience and desire to create. My inspiration comes from found materials, antiques, textiles, and nature. “

“Aside from textiles, I have an obsession with wood in it’s rawest form. I collect antique hand carved bowls and cutting boards that I will never part with. I also have a secret stash of wooden spools that are so textured & unique, that I just keep for myself.”

“My dearest treasures are the wooden pieces my daughters have made: a hand carved bowl and wooden stools (see photo). You will see these items in many of my photos.”

“The alchemy of natural dyes is much like making a cake; proper measurements, technique, and time are necessary for accurate results. While dyeing with plants doesn’t always produce predictable results, every color created is a gift of nature and alive with character. The process of plant dyeing silk ribbon takes time and patience to produce consistency. I approach this with enthusiasm, as I feel much of our lives are rushed with the need for instant results.

Using plant materials to dye fabric is a tradition that dates back to antiquity. Forging for material and cooking out the color is a gratifying process. I even find joy in the varying smells that now come from my kitchen. Some like a sweet cup of brewed tea, and others, a muddy earthiness that remind me of walking on wet moss barefoot in the woods. An array of sensory responses brought straight to my kitchen!”

 

I am so happy to start off this new series on creative collectors with an interview with wonderful artist and jewellery maker, Kathleen Craig of ALTaeR.

I was drawn to her beautiful etsy shop by an image of one of her textile cuffs, I just love the way she reworks antique textiles, found objects, antique notions & jewellery elements to make something utterly unique and contemporary.

I yearned to ask Kathleen about her craft, her inspirations, to take a peak into her cherished collection and understand what made her choose to work with found treasures over new materials – so dive in with me to her creative world!

On collecting:

“As a child, I always loved the beautifully colored and intricate religious pictures that were in Sunday School books and projects- and we were given a cross when we “graduated”…there was something very special to me about wearing this symbol of love and protection. I also had a very early passion for velvet and all things “shiny” and lush!

My passion for collecting religious pieces and icons took a different turn when I purchased a huge collection from a nun’s estate in the Midwest about 14 years ago. I had boxes and boxes of -what was to me- a hauntingly physical representation of the spiritual world of a woman who had given her life to helping others. I was drawn to making these items into something that would continue her essence and history.

Combined with that, I have always adored and collected vintage and antique textiles; this has early roots for me in that for as long as I can remember, I had an almost physical reaction to beautiful fabrics and textiles…..for example, as a child, we had the most beautiful couch in our living room (the one only for formal events!) that was teal blue and olive green in a sort of complex almost paisley pattern. I loved that material! Probably why teal blue is my favorite color and paisley one of my most revered patterns.

I guess you could say I was always collecting!”

“When I was in school, I took many years of French – and we had a family friend who was from France. When he found out I was learning his language and the history of his country, he gave me several souvenirs and items from France- at the time I was overjoyed by the gifts and his generosity!”

Q. Is there anything that you can not imagine parting with, a piece of jewellery, a painting, a photograph?:

“Tough Question! I think most of us who love antique and vintage items have some special pieces that we cannot imagine being without! I would say all of the above and too many to detail!”

On what she looks for while treasure hunting:

“I am always looking for materials and found objects to work with and have an antique hardware store cabinet to put these in until they find their place in one of my pieces. Some materials I have had for decades! I look for complex textures, a feeling of history; sometimes a connectedness to something I have that needs a complementary element …..once the heart of a piece begins to be created it seems to have it’s own color scheme or theme and I am just the tool to it’s completion.”

On her creative process:

“For the majority of my pieces, I create the base of it long before it is physically put together…..when I go to sleep at night I think about what I am making or want to make, and I actually see myself putting it together – and when I do, there is always a sense that it has been made already. Other pieces begin with a special piece from my “stash” and it stays on my work table while I work around it….and somehow- with the magic of creation that all artists know- it begins to draw elements to it and finds it’s place as a necklace, a bracelet, a ring – or even in other art projects I do in furniture.”

Where Kathleen does her creating…

“I have an antique partners desk that has a huge workspace for me – and I am surrounded by relics and fabrics that give me a peaceful place to create. I have a project wall that I have hung several pieces in progress- but many times pieces are created from newly found objects that just have to come first! While I am working on layering necklaces right now, I also have a particular love for creating antique textile cuffs, and am working on a new mourning piece. I absolutely treasure the antique mourning textiles and the history (and quality) of the handwork.”

A delicious glimpse into her process …

On Inspiration…

“Inspiration at the moment is from music – I love instrumentals and my husband loaded a Chopin collection of Nocturnes that I really love in the background……inspiration in the past is hugely attributed to my mother – she is one of the most creative women I know, and has always re-purposed items and made them grander and more colorful!”

Her tips for dealing with creative block…

“I think balance is key to most of the issues we face as artists; too much of one element, one design, one place, one media can be stifling and unsettling….so I move on to something else and I am fortunate that I have been doing this long enough to know the fulcrum point will return. I will paint instead of work with jewelry, I will plant or work outside; anything that brings me into a different place or activity for awhile.”

On happiness…

“I am happiest when my husband and I are both creating – he is a writer and we are so content when we are both in that creative space – together.”

If you weren’t creating jewellery what might you be doing?

“I actually have another life I live in working with hospitals and helping them financially – but if I wasn’t doing that, I would probably focus on my furniture art.”

What is your favourite corner in your house?

“My workspace of course!”

Do you have any other collections you would like to share?

“I may offer my furniture art at some point – here are two examples of pieces I’ve created!”

Tips for other creatives:

Sourcing materials:

“I have several favourite places for sourcing materials that I am sure everyone is familiar with – Etsy (of course), Ebay, Ruby Lane – all the regulars….but I also peruse garage sales, thrift shops, consignment stores.”

Selling your work:

“I have tried several other venues; physical displays in other stores and galleries, but e-commerce (hands down) is the best way to get visibility to the entire world in sharing your art. I have had over 1,000 views in one day and that just isn’t possible in the standard brick and mortar retail world. Certainly there are the challenges of selling via photographs and words, but that makes us work harder at the display element of our craft.”

“My drive and motivation can best be back-dropped with the words of Lucille Clifton on my art cabinet:

“It Was a Dream”

in which my greater self

rose up before me

accusing me of my life

with her extra finger

whirling in a gyre of rage

at what my days had come to.

what,

i pleaded with her, could i do,

oh what could i have done?

and she twisted her wild hair

and sparked her wild eyes

and screamed as long as

i could hear her

This.  This.  This.

 

Please visit Kathleens etsy shop, ALTaeR to discover her wonderful creations