Author: dustine

  • Lovely Spun Cotton Ornaments

    Jejemae is an artist living in Brooklyn who makes little spun cotton creatures and ornaments. She has developed her own techniques to make them by trial and error. They remind me of vintage spun cotton German ornaments. They are very delicate. You can find more of her work on her flickr and Etsy. I’ve been […]

  • Appreciating A Different Point of View

    I love handmade things. I definitely don’t want to live in a world where everything is mass produced and every decision is made by committee. I was looking at dolls made by Paulina Feicht, a Polish artist, and I started to wonder why her creations appeal to me so much. I found an art doll […]

  • My Newest Toy

    This is my newest aquisition. Isn’t she a beauty? There are three things that I love to do: create, encourage others to create, and find artists who create things that I admire. One artist that I recently discovered is Sandy Mastroni, an American folk artist from Connecticut who makes dolls and decorative items like clocks. […]

  • More Examples of Embellishing Fabric: Stitching and Beads

    This is a shoulder bag that I’ve made from fabric I dyed using the low immersion technique. I made a few using different colors. Not only was I playing with colors and textures that were created by the dying process, but I wanted to add additional decoration to the surface of the bags. I did […]

  • Creating Patterns on Hand Dyed Fabric

    I love the look of hand dyed fabric. After I experimented with basic low emersion techniques, I wanted to experiment with methods I could use to add patterns to the fabric I hand dyed. I started by using freezer paper as a resist because it is easy to get, it’s safe to use, and I […]

  • Why Do We Women Love Shoes?

    I’ve always loved shoes. Unfortunately, I’ve always had a difficult time finding shoes to fit my very wide feet. Now I have a bunion on one foot, which makes my foot even wider. All hopes of getting my feet into any of the shoes that I really want have gone out the window. To vicariously […]

  • An Obsession I Share with Betsey Johnson

    A few years back, I was going through the tv channels to find something to watch while I worked on a project, when I came across a program about the fashion designer Betsey Johnson. I’ve always been attracted to her quirky sense of style – I even have a few of her dresses. One, which […]

  • Spring Planting

    Since my daughter Gelsey has taken over our backyard to grow vegetables (she’s going to be an urban gardener), the only place that I can plant flowers is in containers in the front of my house. I haven’t planted them yet because I need to get a ride to Home Depot to buy dirt. I’m […]

  • Having Fun with Paper Decorating

    I had a lot of fun the last few weeks decorating paper with the faux marbling and the resist decorating techniques. It just goes to show that you don’t have to have the most expensive art supplies to make beautiful things – watercolors, crayons, and food coloring will do. The resist techniques will appeal to […]

  • A Look At My Design Proccess

    The last few days I’ve been working on the next project, using another paper decorating technique. The first thing that I do is look at many different ideas to come up with designs. I do a lot of doodling and sketching to solidify my ideas. Since the techniques will be used to decorate cards and […]