I made these for a friend who loves the colour purple. I really enjoyed trying to make both pairs Art Deco-ish, and bold and sassy like my friend. Some people have an ability to carry off dramatic and fashionable accessories, she is one of those delightful people!







Another project--a custom box and bag for the Mandala Astrological Tarot.



This is a necklace in progress that carries a deeper meaning for me, and prompted me to buy the pendant for myself.

The inspiration comes from a snippet in a Joseph Campbell biography by Stephen and Robin Larsen.

During a seminar Campbell was conducting, a woman approached him and said she had a poem in her but couldn't write it. Campbell told her to "Cut your head off." It was a mythological reference to Medusa who had conceived a child with the god Poseidon but was unable to give birth because Athena had cursed her for conceiving the baby in her temple. Medusa became a Gorgon, a monstrous creature with serpent locks whose gaze turns men to stone--you can't bring forth what is pain.

When Perseus cut Medusa's Gorgon head off, there came the birth of her child. Her child was the winged horse who was the patron of the arts. The woman who had spoken to Campbell about her creative rut, came back a couple of days later with a poem she had written and a small image of Pegasus the winged horse to hang on a necklace. So "cut your head off" and let it go, give birth to ideas and creativity.





Another necklace prototype. I am using handmade paper/mixed media beads given to me for my birthday by South African artist Roseanne Dix. The pendant and extra beads are fashioned from polymer clay and image transfers. Dark purple and dark blue with burnt orange, and lime green accents. It is truly a gorgeous combination of colours.


The theme for this custom bag was Glastonbury Tor and the Chalice Well Garden. I used the customer's own photo of the Tor, which I cleaned up, retouched, and adjusted in Photoshop before printing.
 
The beads on the drawstring were blended from five colours to pick up the swirling colours of the batik lining. I also made some image transfers of Celtic patterns on square beads, and I made copper spirals to emulate the spirals in the frame of the photograph. Four feet of copper wire was used for the wirework spirals on the bag and the drawstring. The Celtic theme was carried over to the back where I used a Celtic knot frame around the photograph of the Chalice Well cover with its vesica piscis design in the ironwork.





I have been translating an Italian version of the I Ching in my spare time. I found a box with a plaid fabric and applied reproductions of 1930s luggage labels to give the box a Eurpopean flavour like the deck of cards.
Oh, there is always something new to discover in life! While browsing books online I came across mention of fashion dolls. The only fashion doll I knew of was Barbie so I became curious and did some research.

It's a whole new world. I bought myself two 16-inch dolls made by Robert Tonner for my birthday. One is the Wicked Witch from the Wizard of Oz, complete with green skin, and the other is a sculpt of the character Gwen Stacey from the SpiderMan 3 movie.

My witch is called Rue Esmé, and her friend is Tansy Fitzgerald. I made them a small quilt with over 300 pieces, and I've bought many patterns to sew clothes for them. I even made Rue a small tarot deck after scanning and resizing the Rohrig Tarot. I thought she'd appreciate the fashionable women depicted in that deck.

These dolls are the impetus for me to learn silk painting, as I'm going to paint the fabric for making them clothes. I also plan to make some handbags with hand-painted silk.

I have made some miniature jewellery for them too, there are all kinds of possibilities for creativity with these dolls.

Here they are sunbathing on their quilt. They are waiting and waiting for the local seamstress to finish their dresses. I think petrifaction has set in.

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