Spring Bling

Photo by Sadie Dayton

Twice a year I get to design a catalogue for Swarovski's Touchstone Crystal and I get a little seasonally mixed up. I do the Fall book in Spring, and Spring in Fall so I am always seasonally challenged. I'm in the last month of creating Fall/Winter '13 and I should be excited about seafoam green, but I'm actually already giggling about Tory Burch's Klimt inspired, turquoise and burgundy line for Fall. But back to Seafoam green, which only comes around about 2-3 times a century; the model shots for the new spring/summer book were taken over two very cold days last November but thanks to an amazing team, with Sadie Dayton shooting and Joji Goto styling we found some sunshine.  Add in piles of bling with product photos by Ira Garber, the incredible retouching of Suzanne Dunkl, and styling by jewelry designer Troy Hines, the sparkle happened.

Photo by Sadie Dayton

Photo by Sadie Dayton

Photo by Ira Garber

Feather In My Cap

I love the Curatorium on Wickenden in Providence. Owned (and curated) by industrial designer, Matt Bird, the store and Matt are always a delight, a surprise and inspiration. It is very difficult to leave his store empty handed. There is something there for E V E R Y ONE. I'm working on a few cloth hats for two spring weddings and these parrot feathers might be what I build them around. Naturally shed, (please, please birdies drop a few more) they raise money for the New England Exotic Wildlife Sanctuary. He doesn't always carry them and they go fast. I also thought you would like to see the work of Olympia Washington artist, Chris Maynard. Hmmmm I wonder what one of his feathers would look like in a hat?

Did I mention they are reversible?

What I Did on My Summer Vacation Part 2

Hannah Noah, newly weds, Santa Cruz, CA

It wouldn't be summer without a wedding. Our trip to California was in part, to see my dear friend Hannah, marry her wonderful Noah. I asked Hannah this spring how I could contribute to the rustic, elegant, bespoke event she was planning. She requested something I'd never done before- a paper cake that a cupcake could sit on top of. Paper hats, collages, even clothing I've done but never a cake. She left the design, color and style completely open to my inspiration. Checking out her beautifully curated Pinterest wedding board, I got a feel for what she was attracted to. For materials I settled on an old Benjamin Moore color chip set. Inexpensive, abundant and perfectly graduated colors to build my version of an ombre cake. Photos by Paul Clancy

Thank you Mr. Benjamin Moore

I started with trimming hundreds of paint chips
 to create flat bottomed "petals"

I then stitched them together, carefully butting
the edges of each petal.

I arranged them in four tiers, starting with a
 small light cream top (big enough to hold her cupcake)
then a soft green and blue layer,
then two deeper blue/green layers
 and ending with a large "chocolate" bottom.

I also made hundreds of white, cream and chocolate
" mushrooms".  A simple circle, with a slit to the center.
 Pulling the corner on each side of the slit together,
I glued them with a dab of hot glue.

The cardboard base of each layer I made
fashioned after a basic hat box design.
Using templates that were available
(cereal bowls, odds and ends) I traced
two circles the width I wanted each layer.
I added a 1/2 inch to each circle and cut out.
 Then all around each, I cut tiny slits from outer
 edge to traced circle and cut.
They became the tabs I used to glue it all together.
Straight strips of cardboard cut
to the size I needed with
penciled guides for gluing became
the walls of my cake layers.

Even though I carefully packed and shipped the
cake unassembled, there was a little repair
I had to do when I got there.
The hundreds of mushrooms hid lots of sins.

What I Did on My Summer Vacation Part 1

Great summer. 

Writing a posting after being AWOL for 2 months feels like putting on new school shoes after a summer of flip flops. A lot of family visiting, some great projects professionally to work on with Paul, setting up a new sewing room and going to the San Francisco area for a beautiful wedding and to see old friends kept us going at a lovely speed.

First I'd like to introduce you to a new client that had us shoot some of the most beautiful, well thought out gardens I've ever walked through. Kathy and Chris Tracey of Avant Gardens in Dartmouth, Massachusetts hired me to design their logo last winter. Logos are one of my favorite things to create and the process with them was one of my favorites to date. They can design and build a garden for you, sell you some of the most rare, uncommon and delightful plants, inspire and instruct with their blog, and offer you a walk through one of the loveliest nurseries you'll ever visit. Client crush big time. 

Below are three collages of some of their work Paul and I captured. For general info their site is http://www.avantgardensne.com  To see more of the photos you can visit my flickr site here. 

A GIFT

I spent a long day at the computer yesterday working on a casting project for a print photographer. I do real peeps casting occasionally and I love it but it's a lot of intense searching on Facebook, getting in touch with a lot of friends, (too briefly) and compiling everyone's schedule, height, sizes and addresses in a concise way. Admin overload. I was a tiny bit weepy because I missed my paintings so much and lots of family and friend stuff is making it look like painting is unlikely on Sunday. Then I got this gift. Sun was going down through the trees, shadows playing on my painting prints posted on the office wall, birds settling in, peepers coming out and Paul playing around on the flute. I watched this little dream play it's few minutes out, then shut off my computer and walked out the back door barefoot onto the lawn. Done for the day.