Friday, July 15, 2011

Where Real Women Create

(This is a reprint of a previous blog to link up with Karen Valentines "Where Bloggers Create 2011" check it out!)
I was knee deep into a project last week when I literally put down my scissors and started giggling and taking pictures..... I was thinking about the blogs I had been reading and viewing and women talking about a magazine they just loved called "Where Women Create". It is absolutely gorgeous, with beautiful women and inspiring spaces.
But I have a little tiny house, and no studio. I create at my kitchen table. I have to spread everything out so that I can see what materials I have and stimulate my imagination....
I compete with the cat.......And the cat food......(on the table so the dog won't eat it)....My computer is shoved to one side so I can check emails, or in case the travel agency needs to forward phone calls to me.......
Of course, if they do, my phone is buried and it's likely that I won't be able to find it.....
Sometimes, I run out of room on the table, so it continues onto the floor...
My "space's" one redeeming virtue is a lucky view, out of the very dirty windows, of the creek in my back yard, offering precious distractions of ducks, herons, turtles, owls, various song birds, squirrels, deer, and the transient raccoon.....
Then the whole mess is cleaned up and put away each night, because my DH is a "neatnik" and could not possibly go to sleep with the kitchen in "chaos".

So here is what I created last Wednesday amid the chaos......
These are huge 200 year old crystals that I purchase each year at the Paris Flea Market. (to see me buying the crystals, click HERE) Each one is about 6 inches long and 4 inches wide. There is NO WAY that new crystals have the look, feel or weight of these beauties. I fuse 100 year old French documents to the back so that it shows through the front, and a different one on the reverse side, which is then covered with several layers of a clear glass like resin. The crystal is then reversible. I wire on a loop and add a vintage seam binding cord. I can only make 10 or 12 a year because I only have access to that many crystals. They sell immediately and I'm not really sure what people do with them. They look fabulous hanging in a window, from a mirror or on a lamp shade.

This one has a French perfume company check on one side........$45And a French postcard on the other. Look closely for the child playing in his mother's dress form...

This soft pink is from the front of a 1898 French legal document....$45The back is a vintage French postcard with puppies chasing a frog...

This is my favorite. The front is a French postcard with an angel painting from the Louvre.. $45 SOLD
The back is an old French letter........This crystal is almost 3/4 of and inch thick, look at all the bevels!

This last one is almost small enough to be worn as a necklace. The front and back are from a French Postcard...$35 SOLD
All are now residing among vintage French lingerie, at the Red Shed, until they go their new homes.
Oh, I also made these darling magnet-clips the same day.....also currently at the Shed.

So, I didn't do too bad among the "chaos". Now, you tell the truth......Where do YOU create???
Valarie

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3 comments:

  1. Girl...I would wear any of those as a pendant...have you met me?
    A word to the wise. Don't set your bowl of Cheetos close the bowl of kitty chow. I'm just saying!
    If I put up photos of my workshop outside...folks would laugh me out of town.
    Deb

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  2. Valarie ~
    Oh my gosh you are totally making me smile because that is pretty much exactly what my dining room table looks like ~
    I long for a wonderfully organized studio ~ I have a studio but it is a total disaster area ~ I just don't want to take the time from creating to organize it ~ that doesn't sound like fun at all !!
    Your crystals are beautiful!!

    xoxo
    Lori

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  3. I love this post for so many reasons. First, those crystals are awesome. I would cherish what you have made. I am fortunate to have an entire room to craft in, but I have very little talent. The creative space does not impart creativity. hehehe I also love your cat in the middle of it all. That's how my cat was. (He died in November at the age of 18, and I still miss him.)I also like that you clean up your mess. I am so guilty of leaving lots of them around the house.

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