jjcolourart.com - Gallery Two

Buttercup Bags This is a montage of Buttercup Bags I have made using a pattern by Rae Hoekstra. Two of them have matching wallets and one has a matching notebook. I make both the bags and the notebooks to sell. The bag on the top right was made for someone who travels a lot and likes to golf and entertain, so it has summery, fun sort of fabrics. I customized the lining and pocket and put my label inside as you can see in the picture on the bottom right. I can see her using it on the golf course or while shopping or going to the beach. I like this particular size and find it big enough, quite roomy actually because the pleats allow for some expansion, and it's great for packing to travel. The bag on the upper left was done in a lovely batik with a decorator fabric shot with gold thread for the top band and a nice olive green tie-dye for the lining. The bag on the bottom left has a nautical theme in blue and yellow with a vibrant red lining.
Fabric Postcard Oracle I like to make my own decks of cards, usually playing cards, but I do have a collection of about 700 postcards in my general card collection, so I'm interested in postcards too. I bought some books on making fabric postcards and artist's trading cards using fabric and bought some Flexi Firm from Fabricland on sale and have started the project. I have lots of fabric after 25 years of quilting, but I recently traded a card deck for some more fabric with fresher colours and motifs. I have 50 of these cut out and ready to sew and embellish. This first card includes a motif cut from a skirt that I have saved since the 1980s, plus some hand embroidery and beading, machine embroidery decoration, and a rubber stamp on the back. It is called "Pierrot's Checquered Garden."
The Illustrative Lenormand Oracle I designed my own Lenormand fortune telling deck in Photoshop with some vector and raster clip art from my extensive collection. I had such fun crating these and spent endless hours tweaking the colouring and compositions. I have finally finished printing The Illustrative Lenormand Oracle and here is a shot of some of the cards and one of my custom bags. I like illustrative card decks and line art, so I was pleased with the way this turned out. The cards which measure about 69 x 102 mm, so slightly bigger than conventional Lenormand decks, but they handle and shuffle beautifully.
Civil War Bag I hand dyed ribbon to get subtle colour gradations for blue and grey and then did the roses in columns, much like the buttons on uniforms. In the South at least, uniforms were very often hand-dyed and they tended to fade and come out different colours. Also there is the subtle suggestion here of there only being slight differences between the factions, like colour tones. So many families were split with some on one side and some on the other. Shades of blue and grey, it's a very haunting war even today. There is an actual photograph on the front of the bag with women dressed up in clothing from the Civil War era against a backdrop of a ruined town. For reasons of privacy, I won't show that photo, but the fabric border on the photograph is a reproduction fabric from the Civil War era. I took the blues and beige in the embroidery from that too. The large flowers are glass done in a bone finish—didn’t want to be too literal but thought that suggested fatality and worry, as women back home contemplated their loved ones and waited for news. The other flowers are shades of blue with red, and along with the white branches and blue buds, give a hint of the red, white, and blue on both the Union and Confederate flags. On the back is a reproduction of an actual letter from a gentleman fighting in the war, detailing some of the day-to-day information about his company and men, the clothes they wore, and what they ate and drank. Perhaps the ladies on the front were waiting for just such a letter?
Custom Embroidered Bookmarks I made these for a customer who specifically requested some fancy bookmarks with beaded fringe to use in her books and journals. The first one is done with a crazy patchwork theme with a silk fabric base, pewter charms and silk thread and silk ribbon embroidery. The fringe has small drop beads in an iridescent colour with some lentil beads in a garnet colour. I don't use purchased fringe, I hand bead it one-by-one, just like I do on beaded necklaces. I was amazed how much weightier a bit of fringe makes a bookmark; they feel lovely in the hand. The second one was made for an art journal, and is consequently more elaborate and large and is done on a claret-coloured velveteen. It has turquoise chips worked into the embroidery as turquoise is a relevant birthstone, and the turquoise is also worked into the fringe. I used brass stampings on this one and the silk floss leaves and silk ribbon embroidery look very lush. I even managed to get some Swarovski crystal bicones in the fringe and the iridescent glass leaves and two-tone glass daggers really make this elegant. It measures about 3 x 10 inches plus the fringe.
Custom Tarot Bag for a Tolkien Study A friend sent me The Lord of the Rings Tarot, and I made a custom bag for it. My idea was to use it for daily draws on one of my blogs and tie it into an exploration of the Poetic Edda which was one of the sources that inspired Tolkien's writing and work. My inspiration for the image on the bag was a painting in an old manuscript that depicts the god Heimdall blowing his horn before Ragnarok. In that battle, he and Loki fight, and although Heimdall wins, he dies of his wounds. I drew a parallel between Heimdall and poor Boromir blowing his horn before his last stand against the Orcs in Lord of the Rings. They both died of their wounds, alas. Superimposed over the painting, I have printed one of Tolkien's poems, the one that refers to Aragorn, that was given to the hobbits in The Fellowship of the Ring when they still knew him as Strider. I used the font Edda to tie into my theme. The bag is lined with a Celtic-themed fabric in red, blue, green, and yellow, and I've picked up those colours in both the image and the beads on the drawstring. Also on the drawstring are some pewter beads: a dragon charm, to represent Smaug; a spider, to represent Shelob; a Celtic knot; and moon and stars imagery.
Thwarted in my attempts to buy a Lord of the Rings action figure for lack of money (I often like to get relevant action figures for decks), I found a free paper doll pattern online and made a representation of Boromir's last battle when he blew his horn so desperately to call for aid while trying to protect the hobbits. You can't go wrong with a pertinent visual.
Custom Animal Totem/Goddess Necklace This is a commission piece I did recently. My customer’s animal totem is a dog/wolf and she also likes goddess symbolism. She sent a bone pendant and some lovely beads that she had collected including tigereye, coloured pearls, moonstone, and garnet. She wanted earthy tones and subject matter so I bought ceramic cabochons with tree and plant-related designs and imprints from artist Helen O’Donnell of Embroidered Soul, and I found some transparent brown seed beads lined with yellow called “Espresso” which remind me of my customer’s love for coffee. The shape had to be an inverted triangle to represent the feminine and she mentioned the colour mauve so I used some of that, picked up beautifully in the central cabochon with the mauve glazing, and she also wanted a red rose, so I’ve done a bit of silk ribbon embroidery and tied that into glass flowers and pearls on the other side. The carved bone flower that ties into the bone pendant and colour of the pearls and moonstone on the necklace strands. I edged the embroidery in red to pick up the red rose the customer requested. The strands have more of my customer's beads, including a lovely glass tube in tigereye colours, plus garnet, moonstone, tigereye, pearls, and beads that I added in of copper, Picasso stone, and copper-coloured glass. It was a challenge to pull everything together in such a small area of embroidery, but it was really a pleasure to make something pretty with lots of symbolism and special beads for someone.
My customer very kindly sent me some close-up scans of the piece so I could display them on my web site.
I love this carved bone floral accent with the glass beads.
Earthen Harvest Dark violet-coloured cotton velvet tarot bag with rich fabrics of gold, purple, fuchsia, and peach in the accompanying appliquéd patchwork. The hand-dyed silk ribbon and silk floss embroidery complements the patchwork with similar colours and accents of hunter green and emerald leaves. The deep wine-coloured cotton lining blends together the outer fabric and the violet drawstring with copper tube beads, marbled FIMO beads, and dark blue wooden beads. This is a handsome, richly saturated combination of materials.
Dragonfly Grotto Dark forest green cotton velvet with appliquéd patchwork in teal, lime, royal blue, and pink and a central fabric that features a dragonfly highlighted with gold ink. The silk ribbon and silk floss flowers are predominantly peach, pink, blue and green with a pewter dragonfly charm nestled among them. The lining is the same lime green fabric used in the patchwork. The pale green drawstring has wooden beads and FIMO beads along with etched pewter-like beads, all accented with a delightful cloisonné fish. What grotto would be complete without a small pond, running water, and a beautiful fish?
High Summer Garden Against black cotton velvet lies an appliquéd patchwork done in burgundy, blue, teal, and pink jewel tones. Shimmering with the colours of summer are hand-dyed silk ribbon and silk floss flowers of peach, violet, gold, and purple with blue and green accents. The black drawstring has wooden and pewter beads and a cloisonné fish to leap about the pond. The lining is an ivory and blue toile fabric that captures the feeling of high summer in the garden with the changing light and shadows of overhanging trees, and their graceful tracery. I kept this for myself because the impetus for The Illustrative Lenormand Oracle that I designed and printed for myself, was inspired by the Fish card, and the fish on this drawstring fit that perfectly.
Custom Purple Earrings 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!
Medieval Necklace 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.
Taming the Lion This bead embroidered necklace was inspired by an artist friend's photograph of the plant Leonotis Leonurus which is commonly called Wild Dagga or Lion's Ear. I included some royal blue Thai silk and my custom handmade paper beads in this, along with lime green glass and orange cat's eye beads. The cabochon is blue goldstone, which has the most attractive gold flecks. The clasp was handmade of copper wire and the back was finished with Ultrasuede in a deep green spruce colour.
Glastonbury Bag 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.