Linen embroidered cuff...

Inspiration struck last night...

Don't you just love it when that happens, and you can actually claw together the time to act upon it???

This is what I concocted in between catching up on my Master Chef reruns for the week...

It's made from pure vintage linen, using linen thread for the stitching...

I'll be putting on Etsy in the next few days...

It was a very productive night, for both myself and those hard working chefs....

I'm on a roll...

I'm really enjoying (read becoming OC as in OCD) making my fibre cuffs....


They entertain me, they're portable, and they make the most of my precious bits of lace and linen.


Here's another-y that will go up on my Etsy site in the next few days...

Lace has been blanket stitched onto pure new wool...


Haphazard is my middle name, by the way...

I made the tassels from silk thread...

Laying the cuff flat out...

And the reverse side- It's lined with a vintage sari, and you can see the golden threads from the sari showing through the material.

Fibre wearable art...

I think it is my Hellenic heritage that makes me want to obsessively stitch and embroider, and thrown into that mix is the requirement for those stitches to be a little haphazard and folk-y...

I guess I just don't trust perfect handmade things.

And my stuff is no exception...

This fibre cuff has a base material of pure wool...

The base is overlaid with pieces of vintage lace and sari material...

then overlaid again with pure new wool - all blanket stitched...

The lining is from a vintage sari...

And lastly - it has a hook and loop closure.

Fibre beads...

I have just listed all my fibre beads on Etsy...


They have been sitting on my jewellery bench, glaring at my inaction, for far too long...


So - here they all are in their respective batches...


There are an assortment of linen, denim and sari beads wrapped or sewn down to fasten in white cotton, waxed linen, graduated fibre, metallic fibre.

Ponderings on Pressure...

I have always loved creating and making things...


And have gone at my own pace, discovering and experiencing new techniques, falling in love with them and becoming obsessive compulsive in my experimentation of the ideas and the creations that come from them...


The hardest part about trying to make a living doing this is  knowing I am skirting around the dangers to creative process... trying to stay true...


I have done many things in my life- theatre arts teacher, costume designer, clothing designer, scientific writer, receptionist, life coach, facilitator and trainer in business skills, instructional designer, mum... 


But now I am a full time carer to my father, who has a nasty disease called Dementia with Lewy Bodies - similar to the double whammy of Alzheimers and Parkinsons.  


He is in a steady decline, and has been for a while.  I can't leave him alone.  At all.  My life with him is documented in my blog "My Forgetting is Better than my Remembering" - one of my father's little sayings... It's an interesting time, to say the least...


But now- I can't make a living out of any of the skills I had before.


I have to make a living from doing something from home...


So here I am, bombarding the blog pages and feeds with my wares and creations, listing them like crazy on Etsy, and beating the feet around gift  shops looking for stockists on the days Dad is in respite...


And feeling just a bit overwhelmed by it all....


Often...

Fibre Jewellery

I've really got into fibre jewellery lately...

Here's another cuff I have been working on.   I love combining lace and old vintage materials.

The jewellery just seems to emerge by itself, and the trick is to just let it happen.

I'm listing some of them on my Etsy store as I make them...

The vintage material the cuff is sitting on is the bedspread my mother was given as a wedding present from her mother, back in the mid 1950s.

It's threadbare in parts, and other parts are pristine.

It is earmarked for a few projects, including some bunting, tea cosies and whatever else evolves over time.

Leather lariats...

My leather lariats are complete and now ready to move on to another another life.

They are listed on my Etsy pages...

The red one  features freshwater pearls, ornate red cinnabar, coral, polished gemstones (moss agate)...

pearl shell beads and tibetan silver charms.

The blue one uses freshwater pearls, howlite turquoise, polished gemstones (green agate), black cinnabar, lava stone, 

pearl shell and tibetan silver charms.

Fibre cuff with vintage lace and sari...

I just finished this cuff today...

It's now on my Etsy pages.

It is made with vintage lace ...

trim from a 1960s scarf and a vintage Indian sari...

silk threads made into tassels...

and lined with the 1960s scarf that the trim came from...

Alien Garden tea cosy...

I have just listed my Alien Garden tea cosy on my Etsy Store...

 Think Mardis Gras...

Very fluffy...

Over the top colourful...

With a floppy alien flower on the top...

This is an original design, and a one off....

Fabric jewellery..

Here's one of the fibre cuffs I have been working on recently.

It's made using a 1960s scarf, vintage lace and backed with an antique sari.

I have just put it up in my Etsy store.

New stuff to show you...

I've been a bit quiet lately...

Well- online only...

In reality I have been head-down bum-up trying to get some work done for my new startup business.

Here's a snippet of some of the productions which I have just listed in my Etsy Store...  

All are a combination of vintage blankets...

hand dyed laces and linens...

hand felted wools...

all stitched together...

and then lined....

All are available through my Etsy store, or are made to order.