Santa Fe International Folk Art Market

I am writing this from Santa Fe, where I have come to see the International Folk Art Market.  I was invited by Docey Lewis, on behalf of Hand/Eye Magazine (now THAT'S a fab read!) and Hand/Eye Fund, to design the logo for their fund-raising booth, A Million Hearts for Haiti, at the market.  Docey has worked with Haitian artisans for years, helping them develop product for American markets under the auspices of Aid to Artisans.  Most of these people lost their workshops in the earthquake, so the goal right now is to raise a million dollars from the sale of Haitian hearts to replace their ateliers.  (see Hand/Eye Fund to make a contribution).  Hearts sold briskly during opening night and yesterday; I was gratified that all the souvenir button pins (see above, sponsored by Tesoros Trading company) I designed already sold out , as well as all of the t-shirts with the logo.  They should be available through Tesoros shortly.

I had the opportunity to walk around the market, agog at the depth of skilled artisanry on every available surface by people of many lands.  The entire market place was decorated with fabulously festive flowers, garlands, color everywhere.  I was too busy looking at the beautiful crafts to take many pictures, but here are a few.

There was a large proportion of artisans from Uzbekistan in particular, suzanis abounding.  Persuaded by a charming Uzbek man to try on a peacock green ikat chapan robe -- which, alas, has no place in my simple wardrobe -- I gave him a length of my Suzani ribbon, which pleased him very much.

I also stopped in at Patina Gallery -- my representatives in Santa Fe -- to drop off a tapestry and say hello to Ivan & Alison Barnett.  The gallery looked gorgeous as always and my most recent work, the Beehives and Goldenrod, as well as Shed with Bales, were hanging. 

crocheting ribbon

My love affair with the image of crochet is continuing. Having designed the rather prim Doily ribbon, we now are introducing a fairly rambunctious design based on Granny Square afghans. Over the winter I was determined to learn to crochet, inspired by Sophie Digard's incredible crochet scarves (I own two). These are hand crocheted of extremely fine wool or linen threads, sometimes bundled together in heathery combos. One of my scarves is in shades of coral an the other in shades of verdigris: between them they go with nearly everything I own and I wear them all winter.

So I slaved away in front of the fire every night during the winter, working on more blanket-scaled grannies, trying to make the color sing like in my Digard scarves -- and, well, I should stick to weaving. It WAS fun. Then I took the inspiration and went back to the computer and have designed a series of things based on crochet. The new Granny Squares ribbons are a part of all of that work. Hopefully other designs will make their way on to the market too. I have had lots of fun, and I think it shows here.

Wonderdog NY

Oh, more is coming! I have sold a lot of ribbon over the years to dog leash and collar makers but look how particularly pretty this one is (using the Suzani Flower 22 mm in ivory)

Sea Parrot Kaleidoscopes

People are always asking me what to do with my ribbons. Well, I had never thought of making kaleidoscopes with them! To be exact, Sea Parrot Kaleidoscopes uses LFN and other ribbons, encased in glass, to form the side boxes for their exquisite kaleidoscopes.

"Kaleidoscope designer, Bob Rioux has been working with glass since 1976. Using creativity and fine craftsmanship he designs and produces beautiful works of art. Bob’s wife and business partner, Elissa comes to The Sea Parrot with 20 years of experience from her business, Elissa Glassworks. A love of glass and textiles has inspired her to design several new kaleidoscopes in the collection."
(this from their artist statement)

It is a pity that I don't have the technical know how to reproduce the fabulous spinning kaleidoscopic images of what one actually sees through this ribbon box -- for that please visit the website, www.seaparrotkaleidoscopes.com. Stunning and imaginative! Thank you, Bob & Elissa, for these glorious things!

Sew WOW Magazine

Waechter's Fine Fabrics in Asheville NC has a gorgeous online magazine called Sew WOW. I love Waechter's and they have obligingly carried LFN Ribbons for years. Their fabric selection is interesting and unusual, and Joyce specializes now in beautiful pattens & idea for children's garments. I had the nice surprise of finding they have used Dahlia ribbon in the current issue, as a trim for a vibrant girl's sundress.

recycled fabric potholders

I have been at a loss for a long time as to how to make use of recycled materials within my own aesthetic. Funny to hear, I am sure, as there is so much creative thought and work out there on the subject! I recently read Natalie Chanin's Alabama Stitch Book, and saw she was using recycled T-shirts to make the most sumptuous garments imaginable (I want them all), so off I went to the recycling center and picked up an armload of T-shirts in pretty colors, then sat on them for weeks wondering what to make.

The book had a project featuring a dishtowel made of T-shirt jersey, so at last one morning I lighted on the idea of potholders (I never have enough attractive potholders). I cut the jersey up into 8" squares using a wave-edge rotary cutter, sorted them into piles of five layers, and sewed them together with fancy stitches, using a scrap of LFN Ribbon as a center anchor and another as a loop. I made up 6 in well under an hour. Nice project!

thanks, Jane Brocket!

Last week Jane Brocket graciously wrote about my ribbons in her luscious blog, Yarnstorm. This is the second time she has been kind enough to do so and I get a little blast of what it must be like to have her life as my blog and my website are inundated with visitors from all corners of the world who stop in on her recommendation. Jane writes eloquently about domestic life and has the most sumptuously colored photos of -- well, this week, tulips -- one could hope for. I won't lift one here but by all means visit her and see a color maestro in action.