Sparkle Studio Chromo Collage Greeting Cards

Over the years I found that I had an affinity for making different kinds of greeting cards. I tried as often as i could to send out handmade cards for the holidays and for birthdays. Working with antique fabrics and trims for as long as I have, I incorporated textile fragments that were too small to make anything else out of, and these even sold fairly well in our antique shop. Because most of what we carried in our shop was of a French origin, I became familiar and knowledgable with chromolithography. This was a technique of art reproduction used widely in 19th c. France among other places that allowed a larger number of reproductions to be made with out the tedious element of handcoloring. Artists who traveled abroad to document other people, botanicals, animals etc., were able to share images of their journeys with a wider number of people. Also, figures and flowers were reproduced to be used by young girls as sort of paper dolls, for them to create their own fantasy world.

I bought a cache of smaller sized chromos at a flea market next to Versailles, figurines, flowers & animals, and most seemed to be from the late 19th century. This small collection has been a constant source of inspiration for me, and incorporating them into my greeting card designs was one outlet. As can be seen here, I am currently working on reproducing images from my collection and placing them on backdrops of either real settings for a slightly surreal effect, and placing them on a fabric background. I plan to make them in limited numbers, and they will be available for purchase at Sparkle Studio.

19th c. Shell Frame

The Houston Museum of Natural Science is celebrating its 100th year in 2009. To commemorate this, the museum's curators have chosen 100 pieces from its collections, which serve to highlight the different areas of the Museum.

As a huge fan of vintage shellwork pieces, I love to study the tedious placement of smaller shells as shown in this beautiful frame. Made in the second half of the 1800s at the same time that sailors to the West Indies were bringing back shellwork souvenirs for their loved ones, what impresses me most about this piece is its dramatic effect achieved by a miniature photo in the center of a much larger shield frame, allowing a proportionately large amount of open space to create a beautifully intricate design with so many tiny shells.

Thanks to Steven, who blogs for the Museum, for his ongoing coverage of each selection throughout the rest of the year.

For the love of French homespun linen, part 1...

This may very well be the first of several posts on my feelings towards homespun linen over the course of this blog. My experience with it over the years of having a shop where we specialized in French textiles, and being exposed to the weight, weave and texture of this fabric, has made it my very favorite textile. I was first introduced to it by my uncle's then wife who is French and is responsible for exposing me to the world of antique textiles in the first place. We bought and sold the large sheets, some of which had monograms in red. There would be a small hand embroidered monogram in one of the corners, not more than a square inch or so, or there would be a large monogram/double monogram in the lower center of the sheet with one letter on each side of the seam. Most of these sheets would only be about 76" wide, comprised of two approximately 36-38" wide lengths hand sewn together. This hem that ran down the sheet (which varied from 76 - 116" in length), was sewn in such a way that it would be nearly impossible for the two lengths to become separated. The hemp 'threads' as you will were more like jute string, and the stitches so close and tight together, that even with a seam ripper the task, should one want to separate the panels to put the fabric to some other use, is extremely tedious. The strength of the stitching is very much successful in keeping the sheet in tact for a very long time...

Shown here is one of the ways we put this incredible fabric to use, as custom draperies for a client's pool house. The challenge of this job was not the actual sewing - just some hemming at the bottom to accommodate the height of the rod - but having enough sheets in a similar enough color to use together, side by side. We needed a total of 8 sheets, and with working with such an organic, natural fabric, color tones of the sheets varied from a subtle off-white/sand to an almost camel/tan/wheat color. Here the beauty of using homespun linen as drapes can be seen in the way this fabric hangs, the texture of the weave filtering the sunlight, the contrast to the Spanish style wrought iron rods/brackets/finials, all working together to produce a wonderful effect and ambiance.