Picture Frame update

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My husband Rob has been spending several weeks in his basement workshop making picture frames this summer. He has made frames for my fabric relief artwork for 30 years and this is the biggest job yet. The frames will look like this, cherry wood, shadow box style with glass.

He is making 51 frames for my Pocketful of Posies exhibit this September and has made good progress. I thought I’d show you how far he’s come!

He first cuts the lengths from cherry boards.

Then he rips the pieces on the table saw to get an L shape.

Then he cuts 45 degree angles and glues the corners together. 

He cuts 1/4 inch thick slats that will be placed inside the frame to keep the glass separate from the artwork.

This a special design that Rob figured out years ago to solve the problem of how to display  and protect my relief artwork.

For extra strength in the corners, he cuts across the corners and adds slivers of wood.

Here he is wiping off excess glue.

He calculated that cutting and gluing the corners takes 1/2 hours per frame, so just that step took about 25 hours for all the frames. 

Now the corners need to be trimmed and sanded. I’ll show the final steps when they’re all done. Thanks, Honey!

Pocketful of Borders: Jack and Jill

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detail from “Pocketful of Posies” 2010

I’ve just finished adding a border to the double page illustration for Jack and Jill, which is part of my upcoming book, Pocketful of Posies. For those of you who are new to this blog, I am preparing 51 illustrations for framing, so that they can be displayed in a traveling show.

The artwork was previously mounted on foam core board for photography purposes. Now, it will be dressed up and given a new border and background. I stretched upholstery fabric and picked out felt colors that complimented and contrasted with the blue and green scene.

I looked through my basket of Watercolour pima cotton threads from the Caron Collection.

And used bright blue and variegated light pastel thread for the blanket stitch edging along the felt border pieces.

I then chain stitched my initials and the date on the bottom corner pieces with variegated embroidery floss. I’m enjoying the mindless doodling of the chain stitching.

The outside blanket stitch and the embroidery floss curls pick up colors from the illustration.

Then the border pieces are sewn to the inside artwork and onto the stretched back ground.

Now, it is ready for framing!

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

trip to Penikese Island

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My husband and I took a day trip down to the Penikese Island School a few weeks ago. The school’s boat was out of service, so we volunteered to ferry some of the school’s teachers and visitors from the Mass. Dept. of Education in our boat. From Woods Hole, it took about 45 minutes to motor down Buzzard’s Bay along the chain of Elizabeth Islands to the very end, where the private island of Penikese lies.

Penikese Island School is a therapeutic boarding school for struggling teenage boys, located on this tiny island that also serves as a bird sanctuary.

The school is modeled after 19th century family farm living and the main house has no electricity and a large supply of kerosene lamps…

a vegetable garden…

and chickens.

Their environment is simple and natural, without the distractions of modern society and media.

We headed back that afternoon full of admiration for the dedicated and visionary staff at the school. It’s a truly remarkable place.

Close-ups (shells)

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This is a series of shell images, starting with a fabric scallop pin, which I made in the late 70’s. See the story about my pins in earlier posts here.

shellpinWM

The scale and natural delicacy of shells make them suitable props for my little dolls. Here’s a 2″ mermaid photographed on the beach.

mermaidWM

This is an appliqued felt purse from the 90’s, which is like the ones featured in my how-to book, Felt Wee Folk: Enchanting Projects.

shellpurseWM

Shells make good sleeping places, too. This is a detail from an illustration in Wee Willie Winkie, from the page which reads, “Are the children in their beds?”.

WWWshellbedwM

Here is a detail from “Mary, Mary, quite contrary, how does your garden grow?”, which is included in my picture book, Pocketful of Posies; A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes.  

marymaryWM

This is from “the old woman stands at the tub, tub, tub” verse, which is also in Pocketful of Posies. Her washing tub is made from a “boat” shell that is commonly found on our local beaches.

PFOPshelltubWM

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

Green bird dress

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Recently, I took a break from sewing felt borders and made some children’s clothes for friends. This green bird dress is made with the same Burda pattern as Alex’s dress. The fabric is Gypsy Song by Susan Winget for Benartex. This time, I remembered to add on seams when cutting out the pattern. Last time I used this European pattern, I neglected to read about this difference and ended up with a much smaller dress than intended.

I used a green checked fabric for the collar and pockets. It was fun to play with my sewing machine, which hardly ever comes out of storage. I used a decorative leaf stitch around the collar.

It didn’t show up well enough, so I ripped it out and replaced it with a yellow scalloped stitch.

I found some bird buttons in my button box.

This dress might be too big now, but it should fit my little friend for a while. I hope she calls it her green bird dress.

Pocketful of Borders: In spring

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detail from "In Spring" Pocketful of Posies 2010

The pressure is mounting to get these borders finished by September for the Pocketful of Posies show. I’ve completed four in the past week, including this one of a seasons rhyme, which begins “In spring I look gay decked in comely array”. 

 

It took several tries to get the background fabric and border colors right. I can’t explain why one shade or pattern works better, but it helps to compare and narrow it down until you’re satisfied. 

 

I chose a bright red floss for my initials and the date embroidery on the bottom corners. The photo doesn’t show the subtle variegation in the red thread. I have my eye out for variegated thread to purchase and find myself reaching for it first. It adds a complexity that mirrors nature better than solid colors. 

 

I had just finished writing the post about lettering and was inspired to add some words to this one. So, instead of doodling along the border, I wrote out the names of the seasons on the four side sections. 

 

Sometimes I write on the felt with a pencil and then embroider over it, but it can show through and look messy. For the seasons, I wrote out the words on a piece of paper to get the spacing and then eye balled the stitching. 

 

I made sure there were some doodles in the corners and sewed it all together. 

 

This piece is relatively shallow compared to the other illustrations from the book. To get an idea of scale, the birds are under 1 inch long. 

 

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

Inspiration: wild flowers on bike path

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Sunday was another beautiful morning on the bike path to Woods Hole. All around me there were people setting up traffic cones and water stations for the triathlon. I managed to take a few pictures before the race started at 7:30. I’ve just been informed by a reader that the invasive knapweed below is a neuro-toxin and should not be handled!

Young Queen Anne’s Lace looks like an umbrella forced inside out by the wind.

And then later, the flower forms into a properly domed umbrella.

Pocketful of Borders: Hey, Diddle, Diddle!

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board book version

The next border  to finish up for Pocketful of Posies: A Traveling Exhibit  is the illustration for the rhyme, “Hey, Diddle, Diddle!”. The new book includes all of the rhymes from my board book series, but they are represented by new illustrations. I really liked compressing the scene into one image, instead of stringing out the action over several pages. Most of  the main characters from “Hey, Diddle, Diddle!” are similar to the ones in my board book version, with the exception of the cat, which is made in a different style. The plate is made from polymer clay and the spoon is a doll house miniature.   

detail from " Pocketful of Posies" Houghton Mifflin 2010

cat from "Pocketful of Posies"

The new book, Pocketful of Posies: A Treasury of Nursery Rhymes includes many cats made in my new Halloween costume style. The head is a wooden bead, with face painting and a felt hood with ears attached. The cat’s paws and chest are whitened with acrylic paint. The fiddle is felt, with a thread-wrapped wire neck and bow. The illustration’s existing brown border was wide enough to cut in a wavy pattern, so I didn’t add another felt border. After several tries with different colors, I chose a blue pima cotton for the blanket stitched edging.   

   

I then embroidered my initials and the date with some variegated dark purple raw silk thread. It called out for embellishment, so I started doodling along the border with light blue raw silk thread.  

  

The light blue line lacked contrast, so I outlined it with a single strand of orange embroidery floss.   

  

For the corners, I added  spirals and unintentionally doodled a pattern in the Celtic style.  After outlining a few sections, I decided that the orange floss attracted too much attention, so I ripped it all out. That’s what is so great about stitching, you can change your mind mid stream. Borders, like any kind of framing, should compliment the artwork, not compete.  

  

I thought that a little height and firmness would perk up the border, so I added 32 gauge florist’s wire to the outside edge.  

  

I then covered the wire with 2-ply orange/red variegated embroidery floss.  

  

At this point, I was glad that I’d removed the orange outline around the doodles and saved the color for the outside edge, which defined the border against the upholstery fabric background.  

  

I bent the wavy wire so that it lifted up the outside edge.  

  

Here is the finished “Hey, Diddle, Diddle!” piece, ready to frame for the traveling exhibit of original art.  

 

My husband, Rob, has been making shadow box style frames in the basement. He’s doing a beautiful job and the 51 cherry wood frames are about half way done. We are both making progress toward the Sept. deadline for the first show in Falmouth.

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

Wee Folk: Pearl & Urchin

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I took Pearl and Urchin out for a climb up a beech tree. They patiently waited and stayed still as I took their picture. We were all quiet as I played with my camera, adjusting the aperture and speed settings.

I suppose you could call Pearl and Urchin “retired”, a term used in the collecting business for sold out. They were the models for a Ltd. Edition and there are 25 other pairs out in the world. After a few years spent sealed in a plastic bag, I thought they could use some fresh air.