Star's Fault

Down the Rabbit Hole ~

see bottom of post for photo attributions

 

On this all Hallows Evening is your imagination inspired?  Do the sights and smells of fall, the drifts of ruby leaves, dark, twisted branches of bare trees, or the fog of misty mornings and luminious moonlit nights delight your eye and stir your mind?

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Does your muse whisper seductively, drawing you to explore new pathways?  ... or give you permission to think magically, to seek out the etherial, things that, if we were only to confess it, bring a shiver to our spine?  I love dark, crusty, primitive..... broken things.

 

see bottom of post for photo attributions

 

And so this morning, espresso in hand and Binx sleeping beside me on the desk, I entered the incredible rabbit hole that is Flickr, searching for beautiful, rickly embellished, dark, fantastical images.

 

see bottom of post for photo attributions

 

What I found made me want to rush to the art nest, and work in tones of sepia, grey, ivory and black.  To use torn, tattered and broken things in my art.  To immerse myself in the creation of  items with beautiful deconstruction, ripped silk, crumpled velvet, mercury glass, dark wood, black tulle, old chains.  To light a big candle and fall headlong into the expression of richness and wonder. 

 

With nothing in particular in mind, and nothing whatsoever planned, I wonder...what will be my creation today?

 

Boo ~

 

 

Eileen

 

 

Mosaic #1

 

1. The Mad Hatter ~ Vintage, 2. bats about on halloween night, 3. Sweet Necklace from Heather, 4. Vintage Chicken Wire Crown, 5. Ray, 6. Dark Clouds and a Haunting Moon, 7. * Dark Aisle *, 8. * Broken Vows *, 9. TopHat006sepia, 10. wonderful day, 11. tea roses and skulls and stars, 12. EC1 - power plant clock, 13. Looking Glass Lux, 14. vintage 60s/70s oval mirror silver baroque syroco style painted carved large 18x33, 15. Melk Monastery: Downstairs, 16. baroque,dark,girl,gothic,photography,victorian-cc8218357ecc9496d3a41e4558224f63_h

 

Mosaic #2

 

1. old barn piano, 2. old organ from the orphanage, 3. Old Organ, 4. "an old broom knows every corner", 5. old_chair, 6. Old chairs, they're peacefully standing together, 7. Tables and Candeabra in the Painted Hall, 8. Paris opera house, 9. "The Rocking Horse Winner" - circa 1890 Cabinet Card, 10. Spirit (Sepia tone), 11. Halloween Cat, 12. Halloween Delight apron, 13. Halloween 2006, 14. Black Cat on Halloween, 15. Wyuka Flickr Walk - Happy Halloween - HDR and lots of other manipulation, 16. Extreme Primitive Halloween Cat Doll

 

Mosaic #3

 

1. Antique Time Spiral, 2. Untitled, 3. Spines, 4. Weapon of Mass Instruction, 5. graveyard, 6. Graveyard HDR re-shoot., 7. The Haunted Inn, 8. So Haunted, 9. ghost light, 10. henrik ibsen ~ ghosts, 11. Bartonville ghost, 12. Attention! Black cat crossing ..., 13. Crow (Australian Raven), 14. The Witch-Queen, 15. TopHat002sepia, 16. "The Beaux" Victorian Top Hat

 

Mosiac #4

 1. Steampunk Brooch, 2. Flies' Time Steampunk Necklace, 3. Sweet Absinthe Dreams Steampunk Necklace, 4. Untitled, 5. Black Lace, 6. Punisher & Mest Goth Dolly skirt or top, 7. Vintage Alpert Nipon Black Lace & Taffeta Party Dress, 8. Victorian Boots Early 1900's, 9. Convergence of Lines, 10. re5, 11. photoshoot 3 058, 12. anya pics 075, 13. re7, 14. IMGP4056, 15. re3, 16. re7

 

 

Beautiful May Day ~ Part 2

Let's see... where was I?  Oh yes, I was stuffing the little pockets in my May Day baskets when the three kitties arrived and took over the art nest.  I love my little furry girls. 

A few hours later though, I was back at my work table.  I guess I was thinking a lot about making May Day baskets as a child, gathering flowers, probably weeds for the most part, bunching them up and putting them in a tin can. 

So, even though my "paper plate" baskets were turning out a bit fancier than I thought they would, I still wanted the flowers inside to have a pretty wild, random feel.  There should be field flowers, weeds, moss, grasses, maybe even a few sticks.  Something so sweet about a simple bouquet picked by a child. 

Okay, let's start with the grasses.  Of the three baskets I made, two got the nice deep green moss in the photo above. 

And I put this chartreuse-y green excelsior in another.  I also stuffed a few shreds of an old math book into each pocket, and a length of very old, fragile lace trim along the edge.  What's next?

 

You can't quite see it, but the "sticks" in the photo above are little branches of tiny pussy willows.  They're coming out all over town now that its warmer here.  There's also a little branch that looks a bit like a weed. 

Finding field flowers was a teensy harder, but I found these little purple blooms that I thought would look good with the green moss and excelsior.  A few sprigs of white flowers were tucked in at the top.

I do love tags, and so tied a small tag with lace edge to the trim along the lip of the little pocket.  My Star's Fault card is nested behind, but I've attached it in a manner that allows for it to be removed so the piece is all art. 

Here's one with the moss filler, and you can see that I've added a vintage button to the tag. 

This basket turned out more colorful than the two others.  Instead of the lace trim along the edge, I used a rose ribbon.  While it has the same tag as the others, I added a tiny vintage rhinestone shank button in a different place.... it's on the little rosy bow at the lower left of the plate edge.  I also used a vintage ribbon flower trim on the edge of the pocket, rather than the old lace. 

The basket above has the excelsior, and the button on this one is a clear glass with a rhinestone in the center.  I love old buttons.

All finished. 

 

One will go to my lovely swap partner, while the other two will be put on my Etsy site.  Yes, I will be populating my Etsy site this weekend.  There will be small treasures at first, while I figure out how to manage both a blog and an Etsy site, but I have wonderful things to share, and I'm really looking forward to beginning this new adventure. 

Eileen

 

 

Inspired by (fuzzy) Red ~

 

I'll be in Seattle by the time this post is published, flying out Thursday evening for meetings all day Friday.  I just love Seattle, its energy, the shopping, the COFFEE.  Unfortunately, this trip will be short, and I'll miss a visit to my favorite haunts like Watson Kennedy and Anthropologie. 

When I travel I always take a project with me to while away the time in airports and on planes.  So Wednesday I picked up this incredible yarn and a new crochet hook.  It's just delicious to touch, and the colors are very saturated.  I'm thinking crocheted hearts, little, rumply, fuzzy hearts. 

I'll share when I get back ~

 

Eileen