And I finally did something with those buttons...

So I finally got around to playing with my new cast shapes, and inspired by discussions with the Lovely Liza from Lillybuds and Eclectic Elaine from Behind the Monkey (sorry - can't resist alliteration), I started playing with combining fabric with the buttons for some larger neckpieces.

I had a whole lot of silk squirrelled away from my murky past as a silk painter, so ruthlessly tore it up to fashion some small blooms, which I spent yesterday afternoon sewing and attached them to two strands of loose silk braids. There are three different types of silk in the posies: a habotoi which is a fine lightweight silk, a beautiful silk satin that I think my mum picked up for me in Vietnam years ago (figured I didn't use it for a wedding dress so safe to repurpose now!) and a stiffer, stronger dupion which forms the base for most of the flowers.

I don't think it is quite at its final stage yet (maybe a little too white...could try tea dying it to give it a more vintage look) but would be interested in feedback. It's definitely heading in the direction of a bridal neckpiece I think, next I'll probably play around with combining fabric and buttons to create some pieces for the "not getting married just want a cool necklace" market.

My Flexible Friend

I've been working on new pieces for tomorrow's Distracted market at Aranmore College Hall.

I've been itching the use the vintage wallpaper I gathered on my last trip to Melbourne and yesterday I worked out a new item that I'm very happy with. I sewed the vinyl wallpaper to handpainted silk using circles and circles of stitching, attached a loop of fabric to the back and threaded them on to two strands of ribbon.

I had flexibility in mind, so they can be worn as a necklace, headpiece/fascinator (I was thinking Melbourne Cup actually, dahhhlings), wrist corsage and they could even be pinned to wear as a brooch or decorate a belt. Because they are ultralight they are really versatile and a bit of a step away from my usual chunky polymer ways. I'm quite excited about them actually!



This is the only blue/green version, and there are two different orange/pink/yellow ones made from some delightful 70s wallpaper and silk. The other fun thing is you can scrunch the flowers up to make them more 'closed' than they are here - love interactive features!

My next mission...to get a better model. I'm losing too much time to photoshopping out my wrinkles these days - eeek!!!

Vintageous

A highly fortuitous and unexpected stop at an antiques shop has led me down another path...vintage button necklaces. I spent an hour pouring over a huge bowl of necklaces and pulled out some treasures, which have now been fashioned into necklaces...coming soon to a market near you.

Take a walk on the cute side

I've added some cute options for my stock for upcoming markets. I don't usually do cute. Whimsical, maybe. Kooky, indeed. But cute is a road less travelled for this chicky babe.

This image features upcycled toy man pendant on silver toned chain, 'rescuing' some wee Matryoshka polymer clay pendants (entirely made my moi) on gold toned necklaces.

It will be interesting to see what sort of feedback these get at the markets, I may have to push the cute barrow out some more...

Bobby heads out

Introducting the Bobby collection, a new range of neckware available from Odd Girl Out