resurrection fern

Mummification by Felt and Vintage laces

I am not sure what has gotten into me lately but after making the ghost trees the next idea that popped into my head was to make mummies in the form of a matryushka. Since matryushka means little mother or little mummy in this case it all made sense or perhaps you are just seeing a less obvious side of my artistic personality.  I started with wet felting over some wooden matryushka dolls with undyed roving.  As I wrapped these forms after they had dried with vintage laces from my stash I sewed them in place. I left them faceless. I had actually embroidered the faces in black thread but ripped it out because they kind of creeped me out. I added some white vintage buttons that look like lace. Then I took loads of pictures . I used some of the ghost trees as props and to hold up the antler. Very helpful ghosts they are.

Matryoshka Stones

A few weeks ago I offered a sneak peak of something I called my matryoshka stones. Here is what I said about them . " I am using that word not in the literal sense of a stone within a stone within a stone but more in the sense of layers each with a different tactile emotional response. The idea came from a blog post I read just over a week ago by William Horberg. If you recognize that name it is because he is my amazing friend Elsita's husband. His post that day was about a review written by Tom Hall about the movie Bill produced , Synecdoche that was at the Toronto International Film Festival. In the review Tom said "Synecdoche is a film predicated on the power of loneliness and longing, the deep and inarticulate desire to connect to life, to the universe, and it is this desire that delivers the film's dramatic thrust. Each emotional misfire, be it feeling overwhelmed by loss during sex, say, or humbling oneself in the face of a great untruth in order to receive forgiveness from a long, lost loved one (and have to have that forgiveness revoked), provides a new layer of meaning, another box within a box, a matryoshka of tears and triumph." I haven't been able to get that line from replaying over and over in my head since reading this. A matryoshka of tears and triumph . Brilliant!!!! So what does this have to do with stones you ask. I am working this out still but my idea is to start with a cold smooth stone , layer it with a complex , delicate lace pattern and then with a warm, soft layer of felt or to reverse the layers. I then want to leave small opening where you can catch a glimpse of what lies underneath ." When we were small these openings were large and all our emotions are laid out in the open but as we experience life the openings become smaller and the layers more numerous and complicated until sometimes the tiny openings are barely visible except to those that are very close to us.  These are my stone interpretation of this concept. They are made with sea stones collected from Cape Breton , hand made wet felting and crochet with vintage cotton.I guess I had gotten so wrapped up in writing tutorials in September that I forgot to post the finished projects. <b><b> Thank you all for your wonderful tips for aromatherapy inside and out to treat my cold. With your help and that of my youngest daughter I no longer feel like this. Here is a totally unrelated cartoon I saw in one of my medical magazines.

Under the Weather and Into the Forest

I have the worst cold I have had in a very long time and the fact that it was raining for 24 hours didn't help. As soon as the sun came out this morning, I dragged myself of the couch , got dressed and went for a walk in the nearest woods to my home. I was gathering leaves for a project and they were plentiful. I don't feel like writing today so I will leave you to retrace my steps. <b><b> I hope you are all having a nature filled weekend. I have some new projects to show you this week and I am working on the next installment in "guess the nature inspiration".

All that Remains are the Ghosts of Trees

When I was driving to and from Ottawa last weekend I was looking at the landscape and imagined how it used to appear, something my husband has taught me to do over the years. Sometimes we notice the remains of farms and homesteads , or unpaved country roads where there are now highways. What I was noticing on the weekend was the places where trees used to grow. I thought of how the aboriginal people of our land believed the trees had spirits and wondered where those spirits were now. When I stopped for gas I wrote down on the gas receipt " ghost trees" and it wasn't until I arrived back home on sunday evening , emptied the car and then noticed those words I had written. I knew I had to create something to represent this idea and that is just what I did. I want to show you the first prototypes I made but first, this evening  I googled the words ghost trees and discovered this.

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and this Both are the works of the Clive Wakeford. He said " It is a narrative on the decline of trees and by regenerating a dead object brings to attention the value of these structures within the environment." I used branches from fallen wood for this project. Some I crocheted and some are knitted in the round. I cut the wood with a hand saw and tried to use the natural knots in the wood as important parts of the form like arms and facial features. One of them I have nicknamed the vertical conjoined twin ghost tree I even whittled, an extremely relaxing activity. When you look at your community do you see any ghost trees?

Snail Mail

What, no tutorial today. That's right I think I finally ran out of tutorial steam today and anyway I have some other wonderful things I want to tell you about. I don't think I have told you enough times how I love snail mail. I was getting some recently received envelopes together this evening and it occurred to me that I should have taken a picture of my snail friends delivering some mail but alas they are sleeping now and they work hard all day and deserve some rest. I have this picture to show you instead of the first parcel I want to tell you about. I have admired the art of Geninne ever since I first came across it on etsy last year but it was only a few months ago that I got to know this wonderful artist in a more personal way when she left me a few very kind comments on flickr and my here about the crocheted stones. We decided to do a little trade , a custom watercolor of a bird and a sunflower on a vintage postcard for a few crocheted natural objects. I was so excited when I got the large envelope in the mail and even more so when I opened it and saw the beautifully wrapped envelope. I love her style. It is so natural and yet refined. I have told her that I would love for her husband to build me a home on a large piece of canadian wilderness sometime in the future. Inside the envelope was a watercolor painting that I love ever so much and two sets of cards and even some postcards of her bird series. Geninne posted a few pictures to me of some of my items in her home. They seem to fit in so well with her artful decorating. The next snail mail was from Cathy Cullis who has been a swap/ trade partner of mine regularly over this past year. We usually trade hand spun yarn or vintage fabric but this time she sent me this painting of hers that was one of the first in the series she did of doll like characters. I love it dearly and can't wait to frame it and hang it in my creative space. I sent her some vintage fabrics, trims and buttons and no sooner had she gotten the parcel that she was already sewing a doll out of the yellow striped fabric that came from a damaged vintage apron. She is so clever. The last of the snail mails I want to share with you came from Los Angeles, California, the home of my very dear friend Elsita Mora. Her husband, William Horberg was in Toronto this month for the toronto international film festival and I delivered a parcel to his hotel filled with some small gifts for Elsita and the children . According to Elsita the children were delighted and Natalie , her sweet and beautiful daughter started asking many questions about me. She then drew me some absolutely fantastic pictures involving, you guessed it , snails and dictated a story to her mom for me as well. She is so creative, talented and insightful, just like her parents. Here is what I mean. And the moral of the story according to Natalie, the philosopher is: "If you have a snail take care of it and make sure that you don't lose it." A very important message in environmental stewardship as well. Now I think she gets her excellent writing skills from her father and her artistic talent from her mom. Her beauty, well I will let you decide on that one :) Elsita sent me a print that just about made me cry it was so touching. It is titled Margie and her two green friends. I can't begin to tell you how much it means to me. Elsita has been very busy with some special projects and also more importantly with her son starting school . I know I am not the only one that misses reading her blog but the good news is that she will be back in a couple of weeks. There you have it, no tutorial today just loads of wonderful things to share and using the words of a very special young girl I would like to say that what I have learned is that if you have a friend, take care of them and make sure that you don't lose them.

Preserving Leaves with Beeswax for Floating on Water : A Tutorial

It was a work day today but I just had to get outside for a walk on this perfect warm autumn day filled with light and color. I collected a few leaves for a quick little project I wanted to try before supper. This little project arose out of a desire to preserve some of this amazing art show that nature is putting on and not wanting to use the traditional methods using petroleum based products ( waxed paper) or chemicals. I wanted to use natural, wonderful smelling beeswax. The materials you will need are leaves ( of course) , parchment paper to line a baking tray with sides, natural beeswax sheets, and oven, oven mitts and tongs or tweezers for handling the hot leaves. 1. Gather up your materials and choose which leaves you want to preserve. 2. Line a baking tray/sheet with parchment paper. Place another sheet of paper on the table to transfer the warm leaves to later. 3. Place a sheet of natural beeswax on the paper in the tray, cutting to fit. Then place your leaves on this sheet. Be careful not to overlap them unless you want little clusters. 4. Place another sheet of beeswax on top of the leaves. 5. Heat the oven to 250 degrees and then place the sheet in the oven. Now is not the time to take the dog for a walk or make a long phone call. The wax can ignite if it gets too hot so please stay in the kitchen and watch over it. It only takes about 5 minutes or less for the wax to melt and coat the leaves. Carefully remove the sheet from the oven and before the wax has hardened transfer the leaves to the paper on the table using tweezers or tongs. The leaves are HOT!!!! 6. When they have cooled you can peel them off the paper, trim off any uneven wax dribbles and you are done. I poured the excess wax into a old pyrex cup to use to make some floating candles out of walnut and horse chesnut shells and also acorn caps. You may have noticed that I did not press , flatten or iron the leaves before waxing them. Leaves are not flat in nature so I wanted mine to hold their natural curves. It makes them more beautiful when they float in the water and allows them to hold wonderful little droplets of water on them for hours. I am almost certain that this will be part of my thanksgiving table in a few weeks. I lit one little acorn cap candle for my big brother. Happy birthday Robert!!!

How to Whittle Gnomes From Fallen Branches : a Tutorial

And now for something completely different , my first wood carving tutorial ever. I am sure some of you might be wondering why I would even attempt such a thing after my run in with a rotary cutter blogged about previously but I guess I like to live dangerously. This is actually something I made quite a while ago and was reminded about when I came across my daughter's whittling tools a few months ago while looking through some boxes.  The gnomes or tomten are really easy to make and they are something your children could paint or draw the faces on. I wouldn't recommend giving them the wood and sharp knives and then going out for a few hours. An older child may be able to do this with CLOSE ADULT SUPERVISION  and close proximity to a doctor or nurse who can do sutures. All kidding aside here is what you could make. Materials: A branch about 1.5 to 2 cm in diameter cut into 2 to 3 cm long logs ( please use a fallen branch and don't remove it from a living tree), some carving knives or a sharp knife like a jack knife will work, paints, a pencil . 1. If your branch is not cut you need to saw it into small logs or have some one else do this part. 2. With your wood carving knife whittle one end until it comes to a point. This takes time so put on some good whittling music or whittle with company. It can be very relaxing seeing those little bits of wood shavings coming off your knife. Always whittle away from your self and never close to another person or pet. 3. Now score a line where you want your beard outline ( gnomes have beards !!!) and then whittle the surface above the score line to remove the bark from that area. 4. Now paint the hat of the gnome in a bright cheerful color that would make any gnome proud. I used watercolor paint but you could use whatever you have. You could even use a colored pencil or marker if that was all you had. 5. Draw a little face with pencil . Keep it simple . I make all my gnomes happy little guys. Add little rosy cheeks with paint or a red colored pencil. That is how its done. I bet you will want to make your own little rainbow of gnomes to spread joy. Did you know that gnomes are idolized in iceland so much so that they build special gnome crossings in the roads in certain areas. So sweet!! I had just a little bit of fun after dinner this evening photographing this gang of seven before the sun set of this the first day of Autumn. Enjoy the pictures.

How to Crochet a Polypore : A Tutorial

Don't be frightened by the title . This is a very quick and easy crochet project and it's uses are only limited by your imagination. This is the polypore that inspired this little project. This is what you will make using a small amount of grey wool, and off white and white crochet cotton. You will need two crochet hooks , one for the wool and a smaller one for the cotton. If you know me I don't get fixated on the sizes of hooks. Whatever works for the materials you are using is the right size. Starting with your grey wool and larger crochet hook make a chain of 6 stitches. Make a single crochet in each chain for the first row. The pattern will be achieved by increasing the number of stitches in each row. It is really simply a doubling of the number of stitches in each row. Since we are starting with 6 stitches the sequence for six rows would be 6, 12, 24, 48, 96, 192. So starting with row 2 you make 2 single crochet in each stitch . At the end of the second row you will have 12 stitches. At the end of the third row you will have 24, and so on and so on until you have 192 at the end of the sixth row. I dare you to count them :). When you hear people talking about hyperbolic crochet this is what they are talking about. This method of increasing causes the material to fold in waves and is really quite beautiful and amazing. I had better not get side tracked. Now switch to your off white crochet cotton and smaller hook and crochet 2 plain rows with no increases. Switch to your white crochet cotton and make one row to complete your project. Sew in all your loose threads with a yarn or tapestry needle. Admire your mathematical crochet genius. Bend and fold it and see all the different forms it can take. The next step is optional. I soaked mine in some boiling hot soapy water to soften the wool and felt it a little. I left it by the sink at my mom's home on the weekend and when my eldest daughter went into the kitchen she called out " Why is there a hair scrunchie in the measuring cup?" I replied it isn't a hair scrunchie it is a polypore. To which her response was "Huh!!!". I don't have time to discuss the funny conversation I had with my mom when she asked what I was crocheting . The cats were happy to see me last evening and they were trying to get in the pictures again. Isn't it sweet how edgar's tail matches the polypore. This object makes a great brooch for your fall sweater , coat or purse if you want to wear it. I will have a few other surprises for you this week so check back later.

To Everything There is a Season

I spent another precious weekend with the beautiful woman in that painting, my mom. It was a quiet weekend , she was too tired too go outside so we spent our time talking about the family, the events of the week and near future such as family birthdays and the wedding of one of her grandchildren in November. She knitted and I crocheted. Even though we couldn't go out to see the changing of the season. My daughter Tamara and I changed her seasonal table from summer to autumn on Saturday after a quick trip to the farmer's market. Long before it was trendy my mom has always celebrated the change in the season with a change in her decor of her living area. In her apartment she has a small desk that she uses as a seasonal table ,changing its contents with the passing of the months, celebrations and seasons. The sun rose over her city marking the passing of summer into fall and her decor changed with that new day. She loved the fresh picked pears I brought her and said she wanted to paint a picture of them. She loved the flowers of the season and how well they matched her seasonal table. She was wondering what I was crocheting and kept asking about it and wanting to see it's progress. You can catch a glimpse of it in this next photo. She studied my red vintage suitcase that I carry my supplies in and a few finished little items. She noticed an orange mushroom I had crocheted and asked if there really were mushrooms that color. I just so happened to have my field guide to mushroom species in my suitcase so we spent some time looking at the diversity of shapes and colors. I saw these ones on the weekend and thought they looked like cappuccino's with a sprinkle of cinnamon on top. My daughter and I had a picnic lunch while mom was playing bingo at a park in Ottawa that I used to go to with my parents when I was a child. It is filled with large oak trees and we used to collect acorns there. We called it coconut park because we thought acorns were coconuts when we were little. We only managed to find one acorn there to bring to my mom. The millions of squirrels that inhabit that park now had eaten every last one or stashed them up in their homes for winter. I think they must be the best fed squirrels in Ottawa. My mom was very happy, positive and upbeat about everything all weekend except for one thing. She is very strongly opinionated when it comes to pumpkins. Tamara and I saw a bag of little pumpkins at the grocery store on friday called baby boos. We thought they would look nice as part of the seasonal decor but when we brought them home to show mom the first thing she did was wrinkle up her face and say what happened to those poor little things. Next thing she did was ask if we had any orange paint so she could paint them. We joked about this all weekend and made sure to get her a few bright orange ones on saturday. We told her she shouldn't show prejudice , that pumpkins of all shapes and colors deserve to be loved. I am not sure she was convinced and I wouldn't be surprised that if the next time I visit in a few weeks if she has found some paint and turned the baby boos orange just like the queen in Alice in Wonderland who ordered all the roses to be painted red.

Wrapping up a Busy Week and a Sneak Peak at New Projects

Last night I spent time tying up some loose ends , answering emails, packaging and mailing some parcels, doing laundry and packing up and getting ready to travel to spend time with my mom and eldest daughter. Must be the full moon this week but the cats were especially seeking my attention constantly. Maybe they were just missing me in advance. I was trying to get a final picture of Maggie the Marmot , who will be going to live with Cassi of Belladia and Crafty Crow fame. My daughter drew her name this morning. 40 of you left comments so I am writing a cheque for 400 dollars to send to the organization that is attempting to breed these adorable little rodents so that in the future they may be removed from the most endangered species list in Canada. Thanks for helping me empty my pocket book. No sooner had I written that cheque that I get an email from the David Suzuki foundation that the woodland caribou in my own province of Ontario are in trouble. There are so many creatures that need our help. Our guild of the forest fern will do our part to help them, won't we. We have almost over 40 members so far and I am so happy that entire families have signed on. This is definitely a family thing. I will leave the comments open so feel free to join at any time. That was Arwen and Edgar helping with the photo shoot of Maggie the marmot. In that picture you will also see the latest in my making mushroom obsession. I want to work on this a little more next week , plus I can't believe it but I ran out of natural linen fabric. The cap is plant dyed ( with goldenrod) felt . I love the pleating of the linen imitating the gills under the cap. I already told you that I won the indie fixx second anniversary craftoff but I only found out yesterday which of my two finalists had won. I borrowed that image from their website. Thanks so much for everyone who voted. It is the first time I have won anything like this other than ribbons at our local country fair. So what else is happening in resurrection fern land? I am working on a new version of the crochet acorn necklace that so many of you adore. The original tutorial is still the most popular post on my blog list of over 200 posts ( I missed celebrating my 200th post). When I open my etsy shop I want to have a mailable version since checking into postal regulations for international mail I would not be allowed to mail nuts or seeds or plant material. Good thing there are no rules about stones. That brings me to my next new project. Something I am calling my matryoshka stones. I am using that word not in the literal sense of a stone within a stone within a stone but more in the sense of layers each with a different tactile emotional response. The idea came from a blog post I read just over a week ago by William Horberg. If you recognize that name it is because he is my amazing friend Elsita's husband. His post that day was about a review written by Tom Hall about the movie Bill produced , Synecdoche that was at the Toronto International Film Festival. In the review Tom said "Synecdoche is a film predicated on the power of loneliness and longing, the deep and inarticulate desire to connect to life, to the universe, and it is this desire that delivers the film's dramatic thrust. Each emotional misfire, be it feeling overwhelmed by loss during sex, say, or humbling oneself in the face of a great untruth in order to receive forgiveness from a long, lost loved one (and have to have that forgiveness revoked), provides a new layer of meaning, another box within a box, a matryoshka of tears and triumph." I haven't been able to get that line from replaying over and over in my head since reading this. A matryoshka of tears and triumph . Brilliant!!!! So what does this have to do with stones you ask. I am working this out still but my idea is to start with a cold smooth stone , layer it with a complex , delicate lace pattern and then with a warm, soft layer of felt or to reverse the layers. I then want to leave small opening where you can catch a glimpse of what lies underneath . Here is a sneak peak at what I am working on. Before I embark on my journey I want to wish you all a wonderful autumn solstice , the forecast here is sunny days and cool evenings which is just perfect. I will be back here on Monday :)