Acceptance, I Go To the Ball

I can't believe that it has been almost a month since my last post. I took a break from felting and blogging because when anything starts to feel like a "have to," it looses some of the fun element. During the time that I was away, my donation was accepted by the Clay Ball jury, and now I have a ticket to go to the ball, something I have never done before. I had already made my garment to wear, purchased jewelry to go with it, and gotten some vintage looking shoes. My latest venture was to go on ebay to find a black vintage ball gown that wasn't too expensive that I might fit into. Yes, I am getting carried away.

I also made two journals for my kids as Christmas presents. It was a nice change from felting, though I did use some of my felting bits and pieces on them. After gluing on the pieces, I put Mod Podge over them and then metallic Rub and Buff. I tried to use some of the ideas that I have gotten from Sue on her blog, Heloise for decorating the pages, but mine didn't have nearly the vintage appeal that hers do. My efforts were appreciated by my girls.

Also like some of my blogger buddies, I took the on line photo class from Kim Klassen and finally learned a little about how to use the layers part of Photoshop Elements. I say a  "little bit" because I haven't practiced as much as I need to.
I added some texture to this old picture of my mother just for fun to see what it would look like. (The picture of the little girl with the doll is my mother.)  I did the same, not the same texture, to an old picture of my great grandmother. Some of my play was successful and some not, all of it fun.

Well, I better get this posted before another month goes by.

Funny Experiments, Or Experiments Gone Wrong

The last time I blogged I mentioned getting down on the floor to make a large piece of nuno felt. That piece of felt fills most of the back of this poncho. I got so tired after being on the floor that I became uninspired and decided to put the poncho together using what I had made and some leftover pieces that had similar colors. The poncho is for me to take to the mountains when it is cold, and as our little house gets pretty cold,  this will make a nice cover to use before the house warms up. It is hanging on a door because I still have to do some work on it.

I made another experiment that I think turned out pretty funny. I call it my "turtle poncho." I tried to make this poncho from a picture, and it actually looked similar to the one in the picture, but my felt was way too heavy. That's part of the reason for the "turtle look", and the other reason is my weight. (This many extra pounds don't come off in a few weeks of Weight Watchers-oh I wish they did!)

I think that the poncho is so funny, and I think that it will get torn apart today and made into something else. (Don't we all have to laugh at ourselves, we are such funny critters, us humans.) The fabric in the poncho actually turned out quite pretty, one piece of good news, though it doesn't show up in this picture.



Remember the garment below, a long "jackety shawl" that I made out of nuno felt and burnout silk? I decided to donate it as an auction prize for our city Art Department, if they decide they want it. If they do want it, I will be able to attend an affair called the "Clay Ball." This is evidently an occasion during which artists dress up very "artistically" to attend and have a great time.













First, I have no idea whether my garment will be accepted as an auction prize, but I have already made most of my "artistic outfit" for the ball. Talk about being a little nutty. I just wanted to put something fun together out of all the great fabrics that I had. The colors in the garment for the ball are a lot like the colors in the garment that I am donating.


 This is the "coat of many colors" that will be worn with black pants and a black blouse under it. I hope that I get to wear it. It is felted on top and has alternating reverse triangles of silk, black lace and felt on the bottom. The felt on the top has been over-stitched with black and patterned silk triangles. I know, hard to tell from the picture. It does look pretty good, though not finished yet. But I don't even know if I'll be going yet!!!

Sisterly Love and More Vests

Last weekend I got together with my sister from Los Angeles and her daughter. They came to Portland to see my parents and our siblings. During the visit I gave my sister her frog skin designer purse (Fendi.) She enjoyed the whole story behind the purse, and plans to use it, but her daughter felt sorry for the frogs. I asked my niece to model one of my vests. She is so beautiful, as is her mother.

 

My sister and I went shopping for silk at my favorite place to get the best variety I have yet found. Fabric Depot has more beautiful silk fabrics than I have found in any store or on line. The problem is that I never have enough money to buy all that I want. This time they were 35% off, what a deal! I was looking for silk for a "holiday jacket." This is one of the jackets that I made. It also has a hood in the back.

I have also continued to make several of the vests with hoods. They are a great way to combine the wool with the beautiful silks I have found.

I am now working on a large poncho, but don't have the table or counter                         space to lay it out, so I was down on the floor with this large piece of nuno felt. I am too old for that. It is no way to felt. I am going to have to figure out something else for larger projects. More on this later.

Small Critters and Designer Purses

Frog

 My sister loves designer purses, but she never pays the full price for them. She lives in L.A. where she can access a great store that sells them for good prices. Every time I see her she has a great looking bag. So here's my story...

I love to watch "Live Auctions," especially when there are vintage things for sale. I couldn't believe it when I saw this Fendi purse for sale. It wasn't the name at all that attracted me. Sure it's a great brand name, but what I couldn't believe was that the purse was made of frog skin. What a perfect gift for my sister. Yes, it is a joke, and no, I am not mean. What a conversation piece for a woman who loves designer purses!

Snake

My husband doesn't believe that it is frog skin, but it is. You can see the
bumps of the frog, just look. Also, you can't lie about something like
this in an auction.

I also got a snake skin purse and a lizard purse. Normally, I don't buy things like this that are little animal hides, but I justified it to myself by saying that they were "vintage." I don't think that this made much difference to the critters, but they were long dead.

Lizard

I do plan on using the purses, so I guess that makes it a little better. I hope that my sister likes hers.

A Beautiful Boutique, And a Barbershop Quartet

I

Last night I had a sale of my felted apparel at a beautiful little boutique, Ma Valise, owned by Janet. My friend Tass came to model my vests, jackets and scarves, and she did a fantastic job!!! She is very outgoing, and had purchased some great outfits from the store that Monday to wear with my apparel. She turned out to be my best customer.

 Before the first customers came in we were serenaded by a barber shop quartet. They were very good, and sang a song for us that they sang to get into the Nationals.

Janet had set up a wonderful spot for me as her quest artist with two racks for clothing, a couch, and table. Her shop is charming, and already dressed up for the holidays.

 My husband planned a real treat for me. He had called my daughter and granddaughter and told them about the event. I was so tickled when they walked into the store. They both have school and work the next day and live in another city down the freeway, so I didn't expect them. What a treat!!! And, of course, I had to take advantage of my granddaughter's presence by getting a picture of her in one of my garments.
Thank you girls and Hubby.

It was so wonderful of Janet to give me an opportunity to meet more people and to give my work more exposure. She is very supportive of local artists and has given me many good ideas. She is also a fun person to be with, a very quality person. Thank you Janet. And thank you Tass for modeling for me.

What a fun evening!!!

New Name, New Opportunity

Green and rose cowl neck vest

Plum and orangy cowl neck vest

As you have probably noticed, I have changed the name of my blog. There are just too many businesses named Cameron's Creations, and when I had to pick a name for my little business, I couldn't use it. So my next choice is Cameron's Threads. It will take some getting used to, as I have used the other for so long informally. Oh well, life goes on.



After the show in Sisters, Oregon, my friend, Sandee went into a boutique carrying the purse I had given her. It happened to be one that I had made. The woman in the store wanted to know where it had come from and Sandee told her about me. (Nothing like having friends to brag about your work.) So the woman, Janet wanted to see more. Her wonderful store is called Ma Valise. She buys things outright from artists to sell in her store, and bought 2 purses and 3 scarves from me. I was quite pleased. (It is still hard for me to believe that people like my work. Is that a woman thing?) We began talking about First Wednesday, a time when stores downtown do special little things for customers, and provide entertainment and refreshments in order to get people to come down to shop. Janet asked me if I would like to be her artist for First Wednesday. I told her that yes I would love to do that.

Again I had a dilemma, as I had very few things left after the Sisters show, leaving things in the gallery, giving things to friends, etc. So I have been producing like mad. But pressure sometime helps the creative juices, we'll see. These are some of the vests and jackets I have made for First Wednesday. This one has striped black and gray crinkled silk lining, collar and hood. It looks better than the pictures show.

                                                                   Have a fun Halloween.

New Vests For the Gallery

 Teri, who owns the Don Terra Artworks  in Sisters, Oregon, asked me to make more vests for the gallery. I made three of them last week, putting a lot of yummy silk, yarn and fun wool embellishments into them. The pictures don't show the colors as well as I would like even though I hung them on my fence in the back yard giving the pictures natural light. They look really cute on, even on my overly chubby body. I had a lot of fun picking out the color and shape of the buttons for each one.

Wearable Art In Gallery

While I was at the show this weekend, I met a woman who owns an art gallery in Sisters, Oregon. She asked me if I would like to have some of my garments in her gallery and I said yes.
They also have a website: http://donterra.com/home/about/don-terra-artworks/
I am still working on getting my pictures into the artist directory, but it is happening. There are many artists represented. Please visit.

And the Winners Are...

Thank you so much to the 13 people who entered the drawing on my blog and to the wonderful women who mentioned it, Julie, Sue and Heather. You are all much appreciated. (Please do not forget to go to Heather's blog as she is also having a drawing. I won a fantastic clutch in her last drawing and I love it.)
My drawing was very fair though my husband did not draw the names, I did. I held the boxes way over my own head and drew out a name from one box and then an article from the other box. And the winners are... Drum roll please...

Julie has won the flapper dress. Congratulations Julie.
 Fiona has won the pink lace dress with the big bow in the back.  Fiona please email me your address. My email address will be at the bottom of this post.
Jan has won a scarf. Jan I have a couple of scarves put aside so tell me what colors you like. Do you tend toward purples or more autumn colors?

Lucretia has won a purse. I will also need your address.
And Barb has won a scarf. Barb, you also have a choice between purples or autumn colors. Please let me know.
I will be having another drawing some time soon as I really enjoy them. Please make sure that I have your address if you won this time. Thanks to all of you and I will be getting your goodies out to you as soon as possible. Hugs to all.
Cameron's email:  camcove@msn.com

Pink lace dress

sample purse

Flapper dress

Fun Weekend At the Fair

The dress for the day.

 The weather forecast for Sisters, Oregon was rain and showers and we got them. My friends and I arrived Friday evening, checked into our motel and then waited like everyone else for the time to set up our awning. I have to say that we were an amazing team. The awning went up without a hitch, and set up was smoother than I would have imagined. However, come Saturday, the first day of the fair, the rain came in. We had small breaks in the downpour, but it never really stopped. By mid day Saturday we had a small creek and lake forming in our awning. But we had a great time playing dress up with everyone, and the day went very well.

Many people turned out despite the rain. If you are an Oregonian, you would never go anywhere if you let rain stop you.

Puddle of rain inside awning.

Saturday it never stopped
raining, but people came out.

She just got her hat and loved
the "jackety shawls."

A very satisfied customer.

Sunday was a real treat. The sun came out and dried off the pavement.



People were so complimentary about the garments that it was almost embarrassing. By the end of the day I was offered room in an artists gallery, which I accepted.

 Now I  have to get my act together, make more garments, and organize pictures for on line sales. What great fun, to make some money doing what I love.








Now I am ready for the drawing that I promised to have after the fair. I have two lace dresses and a couple of my articles for the drawing. 


I want at least 10 people to sign up for the drawing. If you are interested, please blog. 
Let your blogger friends know about this.
 Love and Hugs to all of you who offered me such wonderful support for the fair. I had such a great time!!!

Pink lace dress

 Here are the two dresses modeled by my sister and sister in law.
They might actually be worn or taken apart for the lace.

My felted articles will be a surprise.

White lace flapper style.

Playing With Fibers

Playing with closures

Wool batting with silk lap and
 more fun closures

Wool batting with burnout silk
on the sleeves

Turquoise silk lap

I have been playing with different styles of scarves and a few vests using odds and ends of materials that I have had on hand for a while. This is the first time that I have used a large amount of wool batting, and it's amazing how much faster the felting process goes. Silk fibers and wool locks seem to adhere and blend into it very nicely.


 I have also just used some silk lap that I purchased some time ago. It was difficult to find a source, but I finally found a good one. Silk lap gives a garment a beautiful sheen and wonderful texture. The only drawback is that if your hands are rough the silk sticks to them like crazy.

The centipede looking scarves look funny in the pictures, but are actually quite attractive on. As can be seen,
some of my scarves would also make good table runners.

Centipede scarf

I should be finishing up all of the things that I am taking to the fair, but I just can't seem to stop making more new things. And now after talking about this fair so much, it will be very embarrassing if I don't sell anything. No matter what, this will be an adventure, lots of fun. The fair is only a week away now, I am excited.

Wool batting with silk
 fibers

When the fair is over I am going to have another drawing. This time I will have some of my own things in the drawing as well as a couple of the lace dresses. Look for this the week of October 11. Hugs...