Silver this Season

Gorgeous silver and gray, just a quick eye-candy post whilst tossing turkeys about the house....;)

blues traveller

The patina of organic wear is one of the most beautiful shades of blue and virtually unattainable in a paint setting.  There are many methods out there that attempt to recreate this look, but gorgeous patina like this can only come from time, and natural wear and tear on the furniture.  There is also a blue that I am always trying to emulate - not sure if it's called French Blue in a figurative sense, but often times it is in the setting of a French interior that I find it.  It's shade has been very popular in bags and accessories, but creating it in a dye lot regularly is a bit tricky.  It will, however, make its way into Spring and Summer goods in 2014 in one form or another as I continue to conduct paint experiments while trying to recreate the magical and elusive color formulation known by me as francais bleu.

it's a wrap

What is it about the lovely wrapping of a gift that immediately raises the value and expectation of what's inside?  I wanted to share a few clever ideas for enchanting parcels that may spark fresh gift wrapping ideas in this upcoming holiday season. Artfully arranged sprigs of pine fir, yards and yards of bakers twine, vintage french ribbon, ephemera and linens, natural raffia hemp and leather straps for winter logs all raise the bar for wrapping holiday goodies this year.  What are your plans for dressing up holiday packages?

coastal inspiration from Italy

The chevron pattern with the burlap woven base continues to be very popular and the inspiration for this recent pair was taken right from the coast of Italy.  Can you spot the resemblance ?  If you click through the link right here, you will be transported directly to the Seaside Cloth shoppe where you will be able to see everything that is currently available.

newer

Gorgeous coastal-influenced colorings in the inspiration pics and the coastal tree skirt...

hues for next season

tonal on tonal

Seaside-drenched colorings and textures that spark inspiration for new designs in the New Year, also a lovely tablescape that could very easily make its way into any holiday setting as we get ready for upcoming holiday gatherings and festivities, plus a birthday or two !

le visuel

...additional eye candy as the inspiration collection continues to grow in preparation for the expanding collections of the Seaside Cloth offerings for Spring and Summer 2014

Textural

Between working on custom orders for the Holiday season, I am putting together the visual inspiration for Spring and Summer 2014.  Gorgeous Seaside - inspired colors, textures and patterns are the general rule of thumb.  Seaside Cloth is undergoing a slight rebrand and will begin to include more of a lifestyle feel in all of the accessories - with more of a styling shift that reflects the East coast and the French seaboard.

Christmas tree skirts

The Holiday 2013 Christmas Tree Skirt Collections are beginning to trickle into the shoppe.  Buried under thousands of ruffles, I am listing the skirts that have not been pre-ordered or custom ordered. Unfortunately, the time slots for custom orders have all been filled and I will list skirts in the Seaside Cloth shoppe as they are made (between the custom orders).
You can click through right here to the shoppe and see everything that is currently available.  And, I'm always happy to talk about custom orders for next year - I'll be contacting everyone in January if you are interested in pre-ordering for 2014.  Thanks again to all of my wonderful customers !

skirting the issue

Raw footage of a work in progress - from the 'we can be royals' collection, here is a glimpse into what goes into designing and constructing a client's holiday tree skirt made of rough linen and silk textile.

Over 1,000 pins are used to meticulously arrange and connect the base to the perimeter ruffle to keep it even and ready it for the next 5 or so layers of silk and linen.  Yes, over 1000 straight pins -for each layer...!

New textiles were sourced for this year's collections also.  As mentioned above, the 'royals' inspired collection features deep jewel tones, Laguna Costa collection features hues and tones from the sea and the traditional elegance will have a variety of color, print, texture and pattern.

More layers were added to this year's collections and there is also a rough linen that is iridescent - really beautiful and elegantly done.

The skirts are scheduled to be photographed this weekend and will begin showing up in the Seaside Cloth shoppe next week.  I will have a number of skirts listed throughout November and December as I construct between the custom orders I am busily working through also.

The link to the shoppe is here if you'd like to check what's available.

studio workshop updates

Between designing and constructing Holiday 2013 products and custom orders, as many of you may already know I relocated the studio at the busiest time of the year and have been industriously working on the entrance garden and a zillion other upgrades like these...

forcing Narcissus bulbs for the holidays

and so far all of the bulbs have tipped except one.  And I am also repurposing a different photo backdrop that I will be using in the studio very soon...

In its raw, gorgeous primitive form getting a paintwashing and below are more views of the patio potted garden. ..

That's the quick break to update the blog for today.  The move into the new workshop will not be completely done until after the Holiday rush, but as progress continues, I will be posting updates of the new loft and interior space.  Thanks for all of your interest and kind comments on the new workshop space !