Pocketful of Borders: Pussy Cat, where have you been?

Posted on October 8, 2010 by Salley Mavor

from “Pocketful of Posies”

Update: This post was written in 2010, so the events and dates mentioned are long past.
Over the next few weeks, I’ll be showing pictures I took this past summer. They will show the process of adding borders to the original illustrations from my book Pocketful of Posies. All of the originals are currently on display in Falmouth, Mass. until Oct. 31st, 2010 and then they’ll move to the Boston area for the rest of the year. See the traveling exhibit schedule with future locations on this page. This is the illustration for the rhyme Pussy cat, pussy cat, where have you been? The original was made at 90%, so it was enlarged just a little for the book. I don’t know why, but some characters and designs are easier for me to make on a smaller scale. Since I’m aiming for the work to be reproduced, it can be blown up to the necessary size, as long as the proportions are correct. I picked out an orange upholstery fabric for the back ground and some lavender felt for the border. I then blanket stitched around the border pieces with variegated pima cotton. The bottom corners were chain stitched with the date and my initials, while the top corners had doodles. The corners need warming up, so I outlined the edge with some golden wool crewel yarn. I added some loopy chain stitching to the side pieces… and sewed it all together. To see a closeup of the cat, see this post. To see other posts in the Pocketful of Borders series, click here.

Autographed copies of the book are available in my Etsy Shop here.

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Doll Collection: small wooden folk dolls

Posted on October 6, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This set of standing wooden folk dolls are a mystery to me. I found them in a box of other miscellaneous stuff, while cleaning out my parents’ house. They are small, about 2″ tall and would make fun cake decorations. Helen, a fellow blogger (here) who knows a lot about souvenir dolls, thinks they may be Hungarian or Polish because of the red boots and dark hair.

Since Helen pointed out the red boots, I’ve been flooded with memories of seeing Hungarian dance performances as a child. Besides wearing eye-catching red boots, the dancers’ costumes had full puffy petticoats under their skirts. I also remember seeing the women’s long braids flying out as they twirled. My parents were avid international folk dancers and would bring us to watch and participate in folk dance events. I don’t remember seeing these dolls as a child, but their red boots triggered a memory.

Eight Cousins bookstore & more wee folk centerpiece

Posted on October 4, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Carol Chittenden from Eight Cousins bookstore asked me to come in and sign another box of books. She sold out of the copies of Pocketful of Posies I signed last week, so I was more than happy to sign some more. To order autographed copies call Eight Cousins at (508) 548-5548. Judy Richardson and I went by this morning after our dance aerobics class at the Rec center. 19 years ago, Judy and I celebrated the publication of our book, The Way Home. Read about the making of our book on earlier posts starting here. We gathered in the back room at Eight Cousins.

: Carol Chittenden, Judy Richardson and Salley

I signed a book for Judy’s relatives, a family with a boy and twin girls.

Out front, my book was in good company, next to a card board display of David Wiesner’s new book, Art and Max. David and I were both illustration majors at RISD, class of ’78. He was quiet and serious, but had a bold, determined side. I remember a mural he painted on the wall in the house he shared with some friends of mine. It was a huge copy of one of Henri Rouseau’s fantasy jungle scenes. I saw David at a RISD reunion a few years ago and was happy to see that he was still as kind and friendly as he’s used to be.

In the recent post about my book release party at Highfield Hall (see here), I said that I hadn’t taken any pictures of the wee folk centerpiece. Well, Carol from Eight Cousins was thinking clearly enough to take some, so here are her photos of the me setting up refreshments in the dining room.

Bike path: Pokeweed

Posted on October 3, 2010 by Salley Mavor

This time of year, pokeweed are all along the bike path calling out for attention with their bright pink stems and deep purple berries. They are like 60’s fashion models in lime green dresses and hot pink tights, with bead jewelry to match.

Indians used the pokeweed berry juices for staining feathers, arrowshafts and garments. The plant’s roots and berries are regarded as poisonous when eaten by humans, but Indians and early American settlers used the root in poultices and remedies for skin diseases and rheumatism.

Wee Folk centerpiece

Posted on September 30, 2010 by Salley Mavor

In the last post, I mentioned making a centerpiece for the Pocketful of Posies book release party at Highfield. Since I forgot to take pictures of the finished setup, here are some shots taken during the construction phase. Many of the dolls were models for projects in my how-to book Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects and were unearthed for this event.

I arranged driftwood and logs that the wee folk could sit on and climb up. Old, dried up bayberry bushes, with their compact spread of small branches make good wee folk scale trees.

I drilled holes in the wood for small screw eyes, which served as anchors for the dolls. I felt like a prison guard, shackling their tiny ankles and tying their waists to the screw eyes with wire. But, it was to protect them from easy escape into the hands of big folk.

One vertical log needed a rope ladder, so I gathered some possible materials; jute rope and twine, old fishing line, a woven wooden slat place mat .

I selected the fatter jute rope and pulled out a wooden slat from the place mat. To make the rungs, I fed broken off wood sections through the rope and lashed them in place with an improvised knot. I wished we had learned knot tying in girl scouts. You never can tell when you’ll need outdoor survival skills!

Here’s Jack climbing up the finished rope ladder. See Jack climbing the bean stalk here.

Here are some characters from Felt Wee Folk.

Princess from “Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects”

Jester from “Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects”

Hansel & Gretel and the Witch from “Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects”

And a grandpa with his grandchildren. It sure was fun playing with these dolls again and bringing them on a short outing to my exhibit at Highfield.

“Posies” book party at Highfield

Posted on September 27, 2010 by Salley Mavor

Yesterday’s “coming out” party at Highfield for Pocketful of Posies was a big success! My husband Rob took pictures, as it was too hard to talk, sign books and photograph the event. I was so busy and involved with setting up the refreshments, that I forgot to take pictures of the cookies or my centerpiece, which was a tangle of driftwood covered with wee folk dolls. I took pictures during its construction in my studio, so I’ll write the next post about putting the scene together. Here I am, sitting at the desk, signing books. People kept coming, so I didn’t get a chance to walk around and show off my fancy Ojai pants, which were bought during my trip last spring (see Ojai posts here and here).

All 51 original illustrations from the book are on display at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, Mass. until Oct. 31st. Then half (25 pieces) of the collection will travel to the Danforth Museum in Framingham, Mass. from Nov. 13th – Jan. 6th. To see updates on the traveling show schedule, visit the Pocketful of Posies Traveling Exhibit page.

Eight Cousins Bookstore had a table set up and they gave away posters to the first 50 customers. I was touched by the number of men who told me how much they enjoyed the illustrations. My artwork involves so much “women’s work” with a needle and thread, that I’m especially pleased when men are impressed.

There was a constant line for signing books, which has never happened before in almost 20 years of illustrating books! So, this is a welcome change, as I’m usually sitting alone in a corner of a book store, twiddling my thumbs, wondering if the drive was worth the gas money.

So many friends came, including my neighbors Sheila and Joy. There were some guests who mentioned visiting this blog!

The piece this woman is photographing, “Molly my sister and I”, was taken down after the party. It will be sent to the Original Art Show at the Society of Illustrators in New York City. Original Art 2010 is a juried exhibit of children’s book illustration published in 2010 and will run from Oct. 21- Nov. 24.

Pocketful of Borders: Jack Sprat & My son John

Posted on September 25, 2010 by Salley Mavor

All of the borders from Pocketful of Posies are finished and the artwork is hung at Highfield for the first leg of the tour. The book release party will be held at Highfield Hall in Falmouth, MA on Sunday, Sept. 26, from 4 to 6pm. I hope to see some of you there!

I still have some photos which show the border making process for a few more illustrations. This one incorporates two different rhymes, Jack Sprat (who ate no fat) and Deedle, deedle dumpling, my son John (who went to bed with his trousers on).

The gray of the driftwood house is too monochromatic for me, so I added a favorite color combination of orange and blue to the figures and props. I used cool colors on the felt border, allowing the warmer browns and oranges to pop out visually. Jack Sprat and his wife are holding doll house utensils.

I embroidered the border pieces with variegated thread.

The driftwood beams and floor boards are sewn onto the felt background through tiny drilled holes. No dreaded glue! Now that I think of it, I did use some glue on the furniture.

But sewed son John’s bed in place.

I can remember really liking the process of building the house, which was so different from sewing. There was sawing, sanding, drilling, carving and whittling. Sawdust mingled with threads on the floor.

Jack Sprat from "Pocketful of Posies" 2010

Note: See other posts from the Pocketful of Borders series here.

Dolls from Istanbul

Posted on September 22, 2010 by Salley Mavor

A family I know from Woods Hole went on a trip to Turkey this summer. Deb sent me this series of photos of a doll shop in Istanbul. Here is her daughter Celeste standing alongside the amazing display of felt dolls. Among the conservatively dressed female figures, I can see some whirling dervish dancers in white as well as some pretty wild-looking felt caps.

Please Note: Mara from Ankara, Turkey just wrote a comment and said, “These are actually made in Central Asia — in Uzbekhistan, if I remember correctly — but they are sold quite widely in Turkey”.

There are dressed up rabbits, mothers with babies hanging on, and moustached short squat men. Thanks for sharing these, Deb!

Close-ups (cottages)

Posted on September 20, 2010 by Salley Mavor

I’m a hopeless homebody and have been putting cottages and other cozy shelters in my artwork forever. This first yellow house is from the back cover of the first edition of Mary Had a Little Lamb. The board book version shows a portion of the picture that doesn’t include the house.

This one from You and Me: Poems of Friendship has a ribbon porch roof decorated with tatting.

I used cloth-covered wire to make the gingerbread edging along the roof line in this cottage from The Hollyhock Wall. Looking more closely, there is a lot of cloth wrapped wire in this scene: tree branches, hollyhock stems wicker furniture and straw hats. The dolls are about 1 1/4″ tall.

This is the Russian grandfather’s house from Peter and the Wolf. See the whole illustration in an earlier story about the CD here.

This quintessential thatched cottage is from the rhyme, “One, two, three, four, Mary’s at the cottage door”, which is in my new book, Pocketful of Posies. Find out about the book and the traveling exhibit of original artwork here. Also, see the whole double page spread in another post here.

Note: See other posts in the Close-ups series archive here.

nursery rhyme cookies

Posted on September 17, 2010 by Salley Mavor

My friend Terry and I made nursery rhymes themed cookies ahead of time for the Pocketful of Posies book release party on Sept. 26th at Highfield. We had a fun time picking shapes that would go with the book from our collections of cookie cutters. Terry is always game for anything to do with cooking or sewing. We’ve worked on many projects together including the Woods Hole Village Quilt, which I wrote about here.

We made sugar cookies…

and gingerbread cookies.

This tree cookie cutter was from my grandmother’s kitchen stuff. It looks like some of the embroidered felt trees in the book.

from Jack & Jill in “Pocketful of Posies”

I especially liked decorating the little houses with squiggles which reminded me of the embroidered doodles on the felt borders I’ve been making for the past few months. We had a lot of cookies to cover with icing, so I squirted quickly and loosely, not worrying about perfection.