Red Victorian Rose Arts: 2012

Brigid - Celtic Cloth Art Doll

Wednesday, July 11, 2012

If you are interested in purchasing this doll, just leave a comment!

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Brigid, seated on her white and brown fur cloak, works industriously on her Elder Futhark letters and illumination lessons.

Living in early medieval Iwernia (Ireland), Brigid epitomizes many aspects of Celtic life.

Her skin is delicately printed to be reminiscent of Celtic tattoos, her green wool girdle is decorated with bronze Celtic eternity knots, and her long-sleeved blouse and skirt are stitched delicately in shades of deep cranberry and pale gold.

In her left hand she holds her dip-pen, in her right a bottle of ink. A beautifully bound copy book sits on her lap, one side carefully illuminated with the figure of a woman and the other side lined for her lessons in letters.

Delicate couching decorates her face and girdle, and her soft suede slippers are embellished with vintage woven ribbon.

Around her neck is a delicate round pendant with a green gem, and her glorious red braids are decorated with bronze baubles.

A woman unusual for her times for her letter learning, Brigid is also a kind soul and spends her free time teaching the village children about famous figures of Ireland .

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This doll is one of a kind, inspired heavily by the Book of Kells and illumination.

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Height: 8 1/2 inches.

Honest to goodness craft post!

Tuesday, July 3, 2012

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Aren't my mice awesome?

These are mice made from a Jill Barklem's Brambly Hedge pattern book. I love her work and if you have never heard of them, seriously, go look them up. They have the most awesome illustrations and story lines, perfect for children and adult alike. Anyway, these were my first four, given to me by my mother years ago. She then added Dusty Dogwood and Poppy Eyebright in their wedding clothes.

So, these mice are, in the picture with the strawberries, from left to right, Wilfred Toadflax, Mrs. Apple, Primrose Woodmouse, and Mr. Apple. I would like to try making Lord and Lady Woodmouse in their party clothes. I think my favorite book is either the Winter Story, the Summer Story, or The Secret Staircase. Awesomeness abounds!

The pictures below these are of a folding card I made with the aid of my sister. She cut the card out of some really pretty fantasy paper we had and folded it, then handed it off to me to decorate as I wished.

For me, decorating a card or a doll is as much fun as decorating cake. It's like the icing. So keeping with the same color palette, I used a Celtic green, stylized flowers and brads, watercolor butterflies, and an appropriate quote. This card probably took about two hours to make total and looked awesome, both folded and unfolded. It really is not as hard to cut it out as it looks, it's just the decorating that takes a bit of doing. Oh yes, and I inked the edges, too. I love using dimensional foam tape, it makes everything pop!

When in doubt, add more foam tape and stick to a complementary color scheme.

Tell me what you think! =)

art doll · magical · shoulder pet

Peacock Cockatrice Shoulder Pet! + Colorado Fire

Thursday, June 28, 2012

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This colorful little creature comes from medieval mythology and was featured prominently in English literature during those times. Unlike it's more ferocious rooster/dragon-like English cousin or slithery Eastern cousin, the Basilisk, this smaller European cockatrice gets some of its ancestry from a peacock egg hatched by a metallic lizard. This shoulder pet was completely handmade by myself and is very light and durable.

This Shoulder Pet is currently:Sold

Also, greetings from smokey Colorado! I happen to live in the state that is on all the news right now, in the endangered city itself. Right now the Waldo Canyon fire seems to be heading towards the Air Force Academy and up into Larkspur, home of our beautiful Renaissance Festival =(. I haven't gone yet this year and it looks like I won't get to, because even if the fire is stopped before there, the smoke is unbelievably bad. My family charged into the fray on Tuesday to help our friends evacuate and as much of their belongings as possible in our vehicles back to our home.

They live close to Centennial road, about half a mile from it, which is where over 600 firefighters made their stand. They saved my friends house, but they were evacuated anyway and they have been staying with us. It's a good thing, too, as we have a fabulous air filter and air conditioning in our house, which has helped since they didn't and were inhaling acrid smoke. While loading the cars with their belongings, I looked up at the hill beyond their house and saw black smoke and roaring flames, ash the size of post cards was flying in the air, and the smoke where were was thick and yellow. We then spent the next hour and a half in traffic, leaving the area to get back to our house. Finally, we all met back at the house and after rounds of showers to get rid of the smell, arranged where everyone would sleep and watched the news to see if their house was burning.

The local news coverage of this catastrophe has been a disgrace, with only small snippets of a few houses burning and no releases on which ones are still there. We found out that their house is still there using some interesting technology overlays using Google maps and current aerial shots of the location, taken by the Denver Post. It could be two weeks before they can go home, as the fire is still raging in the mountains and endangering many places. Please keep Colorado in your thoughts and prayers, we need rain and smart leaders.

To read updates about this, please visit: http://photos.denverpost.com/mediacenter/2012/06/photos-waldo-fire-aerial-photos-by-the-denver-post-staff/38644/