Sunday, January 13, 2013

Envelope from Julie

My third envelope came from Julie mid-week. There was so much in it I had to give it time to get my head around it.
There were: photos, including three from Edinburgh, (we went there on our honeymoon in 1990 and then again in 2003,) and closeups of plants; lovely threads and a fine woven sample; a box of conté. 
A lovely letter, and more images. My immediate favorites were:
Zebra stripes, which, funnily, I kept thinking were tiger stripes until just a moment ago when I uploaded this photo. It's the kind of patterns we can weave easily if we had a Jacquard, but simplified, I should be able to do a dumbed down version on 16, but then would I like the dumbed down version? The task would be made easier, too, with dyeing before or after weaving, but you know me; for now that feels like cheating. So now I'm thinking can I make stripes deceptively wobbly by using textures? Because I'm not interested in recreating the exact graphics of zebra stripes, but I am interested in weaving wobbly irregular stripes. The clear-cut division or black or white stripes attractive; the expression/nuance in the cloth can be made by varying the stripe width; and 
the colors of these ceramic pieces. Also the similar-but-not-the-same-ness of the angels. There are more vibrant images in the mix that no doubt will come into play as well.
Even the postage sticker is an example of how these things can be done nicely. And I giggled at the blue supermarket plastic bag in the top pic. I used to be and still am fascinated by ordinary items from different places, and make a point of visiting supermarkets and ordinary stationary/bookshops in every country I visit. At once point I had a sizable collection of ordinary pencils and ballpoint pens and Air Mail stickers from different countries; my nephews grew up with toothbrushes and toothpastes from every country we visited/lived in. Globalization takes away the fun of travel, I say. 


Thank you, Julie. much to think about, much to simply enjoy! 

Links to some of the other envelopes can be found at the bottom of this post.

7 comments:

  1. What a treasure trove, Meg! Lovely, inspiring bits and pieces. I must check out your other envelopes now.

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  2. All the envelopes were beautiful, weren't they? What a lovely idea, Meg, and a very successful one.

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  3. What's the deal with these envelopes you've been receiving? I haven't been paying attention, sorry. I sure wish I'd bought journals and pens, etc. when I was in Italy -- I saw many lovely things but was on a serious budget. Unfortunately I chose to buy instead a few ceramic pieces which are beautiful, albeit heavy and consequently sit unused in my kitchen cabinet. Would rather have had paper stuff!

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  4. They are, aren't they, Carol. I love them. The best part is, it's not a one-time thing, but the kind of gifts I can revisit time and time again.

    Connie, we did an inspiration exchange of sort, which you can read about from the link at the very end of this post. Just anything that gets each other's imaginations going.

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  5. Although, Connie, paper is heavy, too. I often send home books and notebooks when I travel.

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  6. Hi Meg, I am so glad you found the stuff I sent interesting. I haven't blogged about your envelope yet but will do soon. Was thrilled with the contents. :) Julie x

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  7. Even used the conte already, Julie. :-)

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