OOAK Fairy and Egg Art - the Fairy is in Her Environment

At long last, I am finished with my little rose fairy, her swan, and her goose egg. The egg is trimmed with glitter, ribbon embroidery, and Swarovski crystals in antuque rose. This was an incredible journey in bringing together some of my favorite art forms. Enjoy!

Tomorrow it is more sculpting and more more more tassels on howtomaketassels.com.

Cheers!

OOAK Fairy Environment in the Works

What a beautiful weekend! And a great weekend to work on the environment for my little OOAK polymer clay fairy. This little sleeping fairy princess has rose petal wings and dainty hands and feet. She is equivalent to about a 5" high sculpt. I am pretty new to this, in fact she is my first completed OOAK fairy. I am working on my second, but put her on hold to finish the egg art to go with this little gal's environment. A little more tweaking and it will be all finished!

Back to work! Cheers!

Still at it

Back at it today...working on the web sites to fill them to the rim with pictures, tutorials, ideas, and just generally making them a place to enjoy and spend some time perusing. It is amazing how each seemingly small step can turn out to be a major undertaking. However I am satisfied with the progress and am really learning a lot along the way. I received some good feedback about the needleartslady.com site; this is where the bulk of photos will be. Tutorials on the needleartslady web site will likely center on egg art, dolls, and other embroidery items not related to tassel making. I have a fairly clear vision of how all of this will shake out, but contingencies happen so am proceeding with an open mind.

Here are the other tassels in this small batch of scissor tassels (yesterday I posted the red ones). Usually I make these scissor tassels in much larger batches, but I had these beads I bought at the International Society of Glass Bead Makers annual show last year in Louisville sitting in a box and really felt compelled to use them somehow.

Tomorrow I will try to post the beads up close along with credit for the artists.

On a different note, this weather is so bizarre. These pictures were taken exactly one week from eachother!

These web sites are usurping most of my time, but eventually, I will get back to sculpting me latest fairy. She is a bit shy...

Cheers for now!

Well We're off to a Great Start!

Greetings out there...This is my first "official" blog post. I am gearing up for the launch of my two web sites-check out the links on the top of the page and watch me grow! I would like to welcome everyone...or anyone...or you...or whoever might be looking...to my chaotic world of needlework. I am still not sure why it is called needlework...although sometimes it can be, like in those excruciating last few days when all you want to do is "get a project over with" or better yet...when you have taken on a large commission involving lots of colors that would clash in a garbage pail. Otherwise, I prefer the term "needle art" because that is what we do...create beautiful, expressive works of art. Whether it's charted or freeform and uncharted, it is what we create, with the love of hands and heart.

Right now I am full force on the "how to make tassels" web site. I think this is something really new on the web. I have made tassels for more than twenty years and finally have the time...and now with technology...to share so much of what I have learned about this often overlooked form of needle art and expression. From decorative to utilitarian, these thoroughly tactile objets d'art can be anything from simple to fabulously opulent and over the top.

And they can save your stash: Here is a bit to whet your whistle.

Here are some threads I had left in my "stash"...you know you have one! With some reactive procion dye, a few beads from my bead stash, some dyed ribbon (I buy yardages of silk and dye it myself), and a bit of the creative process, I turned this stuff into this:

This was so much fun, and the kind of thing you can learn how to do on my "how to make tassels" web site.

Of course, I am not all about tassels. I love needlework of all kinds and making dolls, too...I will be journalizing my fabulous journey here. I hope you'll join me...soon I hope to have a place for your pictures and as always look forward to comments too.

Also...don't forget to check out my website needleartslady.com. This was my first site and where I keep my galleries (still in progress but will be complete soon). There will also be instructional material there...check back often. Cheers!