About Salley Mavor

I make 3-dimensional fabric relief pictures that are photographed and used to illustrate children’s books. I sew together different materials to create fanciful scenes in relief, much like a miniature stage set, with figures imposed on an embellished fabric background. My work is decorative and detailed, full of patterns from nature and found objects, all sewn together by hand with a needle and thread.

Polly tours San Francisco

Posted on April 7, 2012 by Salley Mavor

We walked along the waterfront, where Polly gazed at the Golden Gate Bridge in the distance.

These amazing purple blue flowers were growing around the marina.

After climbing Telegraph Hill, we went inside Coit Tower and were drawn into the WPA Depression-era murals, which depict California’s economic and political life.

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Polly goes to Chinatown

Posted on April 5, 2012 by Salley Mavor

Polly came along on our visit to San Fransisco’s Chinatown yesterday.

I bought her a souvenir parasol.

Polly goes to Portland

Posted on April 3, 2012 by Salley Mavor

Polly Doll has been traveling with us. I made her last week, the day before we left for the west coast. On Saturday, we went to the Portland Art Museum and saw some impressionist paintings.

My sister Anne helped me take pictures of Polly at the museum.

Here she is, on a moss and fungi covered Oregon rock. We’re ready to explore San Fransisco tomorrow!

Gossamer talk

Posted on April 2, 2012 by Salley Mavor

Yesterday’s talk at Gossamer in Portland, OR was really enjoyable. We set up chairs in every available spot, amongst the wool roving, felt and yarn. The shop was full to capacity and Rose (above) was tickled pink to have so many people in her shop. I met the nicest people and several blog followers came, including Kristin Shields (below). Thank you to everyone who helped behind the scenes, including my sister Anne, her husband Dennis, and my husband Rob. We went out to a fabulous Peruvian restaurant afterwards! I’m off to San Fransisco tomorrow and will talk to illustration students at the Academy of Art University this week. Too bad that the presentation isn’t open to the public, or else I would have announced it. I’ll try to post something from S.F. later in the week.

Posies show going to North Carolina!

Posted on March 28, 2012 by Salley Mavor

detail from "There was a Crooked Man" from "Pocketful of Posies"

I’m excited to announce that the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit will be going to the foothills of the Blue Ridge Mountains next year! 25 original fabric relief illustrations from the book will be exhibited from January 11 to February 23rd, 2013 at the Foothills Arts Council in Elkin, North Carolina.

My goal was to have the “Posies” artwork travel to the west coast and the south, so I’m thrilled to add this show and the one in Fresno, CA. (see announcement here)

Portland, OR reminder

Posted on March 26, 2012 by Salley Mavor

This is a reminder for those of you in the Portland, Oregon area, who plan on coming to my illustrated talk, Once Upon a Thread. I’ll be at Gossamer on Sunday, April 1st at 3:00 pm. I recommend getting there early, as space is limited. I plan to be there by 2:00 pm to mingle and chat. It will be wonderful to meet my blog friends!

Inspiration– Molas #2

Posted on March 22, 2012 by Salley Mavor

Last year, in a fit of organizing, I matted and framed a pile of my molas. They are from my mother’s collection and I’ve come to love and admire their meticulous and bold designs. A while ago, I wrote a post about other molas in my collection here. The black framed molas are now crowding the walls of our downstairs powder room. With no windows and damaging sunlight, it’s a good place to hang textiles. There isn’t a tub or shower, so humidity isn’t a problem, either.

Right now, the walls of the “Mola” room are white, but I plan on painting them a richer color to better compliment the frames. I could go wild, with borders and patterns, but right now I don’t have the time. It just feels good to have them all displayed together.

Baby Banner (Eliza Jane)

Posted on March 15, 2012 by Salley Mavor

My cousin John and his wife Mariana had a baby girl on March 1st, so I had to drop everything and make a baby banner for Eliza Jane. I took photos along the way, which give an idea of my process. It’s like the wedding banners I’ve been making for a few years. You can see all of them here.

I first made a simple pattern, with her name, birth date and weight written out. Then I cut out a smaller felt square and bent wire to form the letters and numbers.

I wrapped the wire with 2 strands of variegated embroidery floss, hiding the knots behind the curled ends. In this case, wire had to overlap to make the Z. I tried making the fancier lower case script Z, but it was hard to read, so I went with the simpler zigzag style. Below you can see how I made an orange stripe with another thread on top of the embroidery floss in JANE.

I like using variegated thread to edge the felt.

I made a narrow panel for a sheep button and some leaf beads.

Glass leaf beads and a chain stitched vine fill the space between the words.

I’ve had this ceramic sheep button for about 30 years. It’s so satisfying to put it to use in just the right place.

I braided some Greek leather that I bought at a bead show and made a strap to hang the banner. Working with the leather reminded me of making gimp projects at camp. Remember gimp? What a weird material!

Welcome to the world Eliza Jane!

To keep up with new posts, subscribe to this blog (top right column on the home page). If you’d like to see more frequent photos tracking the projects in my studio, please follow me on Facebook and/or Instagram.

Turkey (people)

Posted on March 11, 2012 by Salley Mavor

I’m still combing through pictures from last fall’s trip to Turkey and put together this collection of shots with people in them. From shop keepers, to waiters, to our boat crew, we came away with a very positive impression of the people we met and found their playfulness and humor disarming.

Melissa Sweet wins Golden Kite!

Posted on March 8, 2012 by Salley Mavor

Congratulations to Melissa Sweet for winning the 2012 SCBWI Golden Kite award for picture book! Balloons Over Broadway is the wonderfully told and illustrated story of puppeteer Tony Sarg, the creative force behind Macy’s Thanksgiving parade. I had never heard of Mr. Sarg and haven’t seen the parade in New York, even on TV. The idea of watching TV during a family holiday was unthinkable while I was growing up. But, Melissa’s book has given me a new appreciation for the parade and the artistry behind it.

I love how Melissa combines watercolor paintings with collage and 3 dimensional objects. It’s encouraging to see sculptural illustration recognized this way. Melissa and I met years ago at a conference and I was struck by her unbounded creativity and willingness to experiment with all kinds of materials in her artwork. We’ve been in contact more recently, when I asked if I could use these images in my slide talk about the joys and challenges of 3 dimensional illustration. It turns out that we have the same publisher (Houghton Mifflin) and that both of our books were photographed by Rick Kyle of 5000K.

Reading and looking at the pictures in Balloons Over Broadway is a delightful experience. I’m so excited for you, Melissa!