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...a glimpse into life on Vancouver Island, needle felting, photography, food, gardening, etcetera...etcetera
"Happiness always looks small when you hold it in your hands, but let it go, and at once you learn how big and precious it is."
Maxim Gorky

Wednesday, October 7, 2015

Sometimes...

Sometimes you just need a visit to the seaside for inspiration...
sound inspires thought
light inspires  an open heart
clouds always inspire, no matter what
 A big knot of drying kelp inspires drawing
 or perhaps basket weaving
 slow photography movement
 chasing light once again
 ragged, rugged October late afternoon light
 Sitka bark inspires colour ideas
 texture
 pattern
 It's all there for the taking

Monday, October 5, 2015

The Find...

So I've had these lovely, antique wood spindles around for ages.
Technically called 'quills', they were used in the woolen mill/textile 
industry in big factories to organize threads on looms.
I've had a few inspirations on what to do with them
and then yesterday one of those ideas finally came to fruition...
Introducing... "The Find"
 These happy crows are making a big noise of today's find...
 I had these scissors in my button stash that I think were intended for scrap booking.
I believe they came from a little pack of buttons and such from the thrift shop.
I've aged them a bit to look like they've been around the cutting floor for eons...
So if any of you know anything about the Corvid family of birds,
you'll know that they love shiny things...hence the excitement!
Crows and Ravens are some of the most enduring birds.
Don't be fooled by their bad reputation.
Intelligent, loving, resourceful, dedicated family members and comical.
I'm not sure why they've been the subject of doom and gloom and bad omens
but in my books they are a joy to watch.
Definitely the bird of October aren't they?!
 I notched of the bottom edge of the spindle so it wouldn't roll around anymore.
The beaks are made from some outer teeth casings from a jaw I found on the beach...
...I painted them black and meticulously pieced them together before adhering 
them into the heads of the crows...
They worked into perfect crow beaks...
In photography, I find the two hardest colours to capture are red and black.
In practicing with different shutter speeds, apertures, etc, and some fine tuning
in the editing department I was able to get some fairly decent shots though.
So off they will fly...to a house on the river road...
...to a maker of lovely textiles and a lover of crows.