Here's the cover as I left Suzy's place....
Well, I knew it wasn't finished and I kept playing and experimenting with different ideas. I like both, ideas, but this is the finished front cover:
I experimented with different lighting when I photographed it. Here it is in the afternoon filtered sun:
A couple of close-ups...
Here is the middle spread...
A close-up - I cut roses from a strip of curtain material that I rescued from an op-shop. It was attached to a pelmet. These pages had more pinkish tones because the old photos were slightly pink in tone. I love the white leaf, which was cut from a vintage doiley. A while ago I had a day where I dyed fabrics and doileys using boiled avocado skin and seeds. It made a beautiful dusky pink, and I used some in these pages. (I will do a post on the avocado dyeing soon, too.)
Close -ups, in a different light - afternoon sun indoors.
A couple of close-ups...
The embellishment is a piece of lace from a wedding dress, with some metal mesh from an old soap holder I found. It was malleable and scruffy. The bottom piece of lace was from a baby's dress that had been made into a bag. It was pale pink, but I dyed it in parisian essence and it became this mushroomy shade, and the ribbon kept its pale blue tinge.
The colour looks different in various light. I love its old-world charm. The flower at the top left is one I made using a candle to melt the fabric petals to make them curl, with a tatted doiley, some yarn fibres and found florist berries which i spray-painted gold.
Here's the first pages - a lace doiley pocket with a vintage postcard featuring roses in a salmon tone, and the right-hand page which was done with Suzy - I later added the word and the last open weave white lace doiley because i wanted the niddle spread to be a similar length, but forgot it would also show longer on the preceding page (this one)!
Here is the middle spread...
And on another day, in different light...
A close-up - I cut roses from a strip of curtain material that I rescued from an op-shop. It was attached to a pelmet. These pages had more pinkish tones because the old photos were slightly pink in tone. I love the white leaf, which was cut from a vintage doiley. A while ago I had a day where I dyed fabrics and doileys using boiled avocado skin and seeds. It made a beautiful dusky pink, and I used some in these pages. (I will do a post on the avocado dyeing soon, too.)
Here's the last page spread, including another pocket page I made with Suzy.
I had made this 'fairy' from paper and she just seemed to belong in the pocket...
Thanks to Suzy, I have now overcome my paralysing fears of cutting into a gorgeous vintage doiley, not knowing where to start, or making a mistake!
I realise it's all a learning experience, and you just have to dive in and have a go, and look at what you might have done differently and try that next time...
So, thank you Suzy for sharing your talent as an artist. I am absolutely in awe of how much beautiful work you produce!!! But it's lovely that even busy mums can achieve something in small sessions of stolen time, once you get started.
Here's a picture I took on the way home from Suzy's place near Bega, Australia. The trip was full of beautiful views; I had to make myself concentrate on driving!
Since this book I've also made some extra pages which I'll put in my next book, and a couple of wall hangings. I'll post those soon, too.
Now, I'm off to polish some silver flute keys for my partner, Terry McGee to complete his next order. He's at http://www.mcgee-flutes.com/ if you like flutes...
