Bohemian Textile Cuff Bracelets

Recently, tam and i did a photoshoot together in her backyard in the perfect afternoon light. Here are a few of my favourite pictures. Above is a hand beaded textile cuff bracelet created with vintage laces, silks and beads.

Probably my favourite photo- this dreamy skirt we created with vintage doilies and embroidered linens hand sewn to a layered cotton skirt.

Shrinking Women

Shrinking women and Lily Myers

Bombarded with images of beautiful young women every day (what I like to call a particular Western "style" of woman...) at age 37 I'm starting to feel like I'm losing my value, my identity as feminine even... and I have to rethink everything that I took for granted as a twenty something.

If we pick away at the façade there are so many intricate layers....many would say that it is the fault of our culture- that we are fed images of beauty by someone else's hand and so therefore we are the product of what we 'eat' with our eyes.
But then where do we draw the line and decide that what we have been subjected to doesn't have to determine our own views or contributions back into our culture? When do we decide to take some responsibility realising that we are all a part of what we call "our culture" and therefore we all have a part in creating and re-creating it? And how do we do it?

little by little...here and there, we can add our voices to the pool of consciousness that is ever changing. Lily did it, and her voice is drawing many others with it...

new ethereal textile necklaces

we've been making a few new textile necklaces lately, check them out...

Children live in the present

More on these thoughts about where we "dwell".
I spoke to a friend today, and we were talking about our children and somehow it came up-and she made the comment "children live very much in the present moment" , and I thought yes, how true- they are fascinated by the intricacies of the things at hand; they delight in the temporal world so well.
The scene which remains in my mind today as I go to bed is of the kids playing with a vintage tea set. The tea set sits on a small ornate metal lace table in the middle of the lush grass. The kids are pouring sand into the cups and tea pots and mixing it with water. The sun is in the most perfect position in the afternoon sky, so that it causes my daughters golden hair to glow as if she were an angel.

Tonight as I put my head on the pillow, I can hear my sons sweet breathing while he sleeps. How stunning the treasure is!

Raw Hemline in PEPPERMINT Magazine

Well I may as well revel in my "fame" and share it with you... especially since Michael, my husband has appeared numerous times in various newpapers...so I think that's fair..

Below is the excerpt from Peppermint Magazine about RawHemline, featuring my favourite dress modelled by my best friend, Tam....

Find Peppermint Magazine here: http://www.peppermintmag.com/

Defining and Redefining concepts of the 'Ethereal'

 So I have always thought I owned the realm of the "ethereal", since the concept for me revolved mostly around the movie "The Dark Crystal" which I watched countless times when I was 8 years old. I always wanted to be Kiera...that gorgeous little blonde gelfling who wore those amazingly raw art nouveau'esque clothes and who had wings....(I also had a crush on Jen...but we all had crushes on a muppet thing at 8, right?)

Another key movie that influenced me at an early age was a movie called "The Last Unicorn"...I wanted to also be the ethereal blonde (again!) unicorn who had been transformed into a human.....

This film used to make me cry....the girl who had be changed into a human was growing weak and had to be changed back into a unicorn even though the magician who transformed her fell in love with her...!

I spent so much time drawing unicorns and flying horses and fantasy creatures. My mum even made me my own Kiera dress, and I think I remember complaining it wasn't 'raggy' enough....

I have always considered the concept of the ethereal as meaning 'otherworldly', or heavenly...which I quite love.

RawHemline etsy update

I am absolutely loving the etsy community.....I feel so inspired by the amazing artists and lovely people I meet... I am hoping to keep updating my blog and twitter rather than updating my esty all the time...but we'll see !

Here is my favourite recent creation: