So, it’s December 1st 2018 and well to me the countdown begins.
Are you freaked out? It;s Christmas again! Yeah unbelievable sounds of Jingle Bells and White Christmas is popping up in my head and there is no escape! But if you can’t beat them, join them!
So, with that said!!!! I created a Romanian Point Lace Pattern for you! I was thinking that all the Christmas ornaments are bulky and heavy to store so why not making something that has style, is easy to store and looks fantastic on a tree.
So here is what I made – a teal green flat oval ornament. The idea behind was that many people have these days white trees or other colours like pale pink. So why not make the ornaments in traditional green!
But you can do them in each every colour you like!
If you are interested in it, you find it HERE. Now you can make it larger if you like, and I am sure it will look fantastic on your tree.
Also, if you make it please share an image online. I love to see what you are making!
The other pattern is also in teal…. but in combo with classic red! This pattern is soon online…. I try my best!
I know do not roll your eyes, but I am late… and if you are like me…. the tree is still in the garage. Anyways the next pattern is a Christmas Tree in RPL of course and here is how it looks!
I also want to inform you since you read my blog, I have a deal going on in the Etsy shop! We all kinda need last minute gifts and maybe this is something for you! Less then $10 and you are all set!
It is valid for all PDF prints. BUY 2 GET 1 FREE pdf printable. So to check it out click HERE.
Like you know I am always working on many projects at the same time like that Mondrian brooch, the Rosebud modern Romanian Point Lace doily, the lace mask, and the Rosa Canina with abstract vein elements, etc….
So let’s just talk lace for a minute….. Is your coffee hot? Mine is…. like you know I am a coffee addict!
Every time I create a piece of point lace, does not matter, if it home decor or a jewellery , an accessory, etc…. I want to tell you the best way to keep it clean, dust free, and long lasting.
Are you ready? Sure you are!
First of all each project needs it;s own place, while you work on it. I keep mine it little containers if I am at desk. If it;s on the go in a zip bag is best.
I don’t buy boxes unless it needs to be organised in the lace closets. Yes, I do have lace closets where everything is organised by colours, or projects or topics, art, books, threads, etc…..
I use for example a fererro rocher square box once the chocolates are done, or an ice cream container once it;s empty. First of all you recycle, so nature check and second you save money!
These boxes are great and if they get damaged you do not feel sorry if you discard them, you did not spend a dine on it.
The other think is just in case you have little kids like me or pets, you can keep your project save and dust free. It’s easy to pick up and move it away or store it.
But now let me show you all the projects started!
Mondrian inspired brooch! Loved to make the brooch and it will be a one of as far as I can think atm. If the interest is there, I might start a line. Let me know what you think about that!
It has a pin at the back and is fun to wear on something white or black!
Now the other project if you remember, was the Rosebud modern Romanian Point Lace doily.
I finished the embroidery and once it was all in place, it was time to work on the back side of the doily.
The back part is simple crochet. There is no real pattern that I followed. You need to make sure that it;s neat and covers the back in an organic motion. See image.
You can use the doily as a wall art, which I do mostly. So I framed it in a vintage style frame, like the one below or use it on a furniture piece or a tray, etc…. I am sure you find a fantastic use for it.
It;s very trendy atm to use crochet doilies as a dream catcher so why not with this type of doily?!
Sew around the edges of the rosebud embroidery designs and connect the crochet back part with the embroidery. Now you can steam clean or iron press the ready doily.
If you feel that you worked the doily a lot and the threads feels, or looks dirty, give it a quick hand wash. Make sure that you do not squish it very harsh and dry it flat on a towel. Once it;s air dry ( no dryer) you can start using it. If you feel the need to block it by all means do it. I have notes that with most RPL pieces it;s actually not necessary. BUT, said so, if you like it extra flat and stiff, of course you can block it. Here is how it looks in the frame.
What I wanted to achieve it that the embroidery is at the edge of the doily. Normally in traditional RPL, the embroidery is only in the centre. Recently, it started to become trendy and more embroidery is added, in other places, like ending and between the cords.
The lace mask you have seen in the older blog post, but if you need a reminder, click HERE. It turned out gorgeous the mask and the little one was very pleased with it. I created a listing for it and it’s now available on ETSY as custom order.
The Rosa Canina floral design in traditional ecru and white from the last blog , click HERE, was just the beginning I think … I am very inspired to take this project a bit further and create something different with it. and so I experimented with different threads and styles. I used silk rayon and rayon silk threads- different sizes and colours. All is wip atm. The pink thread is pure silk and is from the UK DeVere Yarns. If you want to check them out, click HERE.
Is there a project you explore more? If yes, let me know!
Working with different types of materials, is sometimes a challenge and very interesting.
To many people, Romania is still a country that is not only old fashion but also full of mystery and darkness. It was a country that was hidden from the world due to the communist area and also due to the negative image is has today.
It not surprising that even now when you visit this country it will strike you how modern it can be and how old fashion on the other side.
Do you know that Romania has the fastest internet in the world, but at the same time the superstitions and crazy believe in mystery , witches and black magic is 80% or higher. Sad, but that’s reality.
From generation to generation we pass on and make sure that our traditions, survive somehow.Now, this could be anything from traditional recipes, so our culinary world survives or we embed in our clothes secret symbols, creating so a secret language.
Do you know that the Romanian Blouse speaks a secret language? I bet you make a face now, but it;s true. Every IE ( Romanian Blouse ) tells us a story, not only about the one who wears it but also about the culture, or region…. You just need to know how to read it and understand. I can;t speak about other cultures, but I can tell you a bit about my own culture and how we communicate, or used to communicate in secret.
Are you ready to dive in? A whole new world of secrets will open up to you….
You see the IE I wear ( my favourite) on the left, is very old. The fabric is calico, thick and it;s handmade, all of it. It; s traditional black and white. It represents the region where my father is from Tara Motilor, a part in Transylvania.
Mot means actually knot. The knot has a special meaning in this culture. It binds, it, connects and it makes it stronger. When we create/sew a blouse a IE, is made with knots, many knots that create little designs and symbols.
Let me tell you what is written on my IE… The IE is a form of protection, from the Evil Eye and so it has the symbol for it on it. It has stitched to it the symbol of water stream, which means time passing, it has the symbol of evolution on it. But my favourite symbol is the Skein Winder. It means regeneration. Its supposed to give me protection, strength, and makes me evolve.
Now, I do not believe in the evil eye and all that, but this IE has been gifted to me my an aunt by the age of seven and back then it was already over 100 years old. I am now in my late 30s and this IE is still in great condition. I did some digging. This IE was made by a relative on my dads side of the family and the lady who made it passed it on to her daughter. That daughter was the aunt of my dad. Now as I received it at the age of seven, that aunt was in her late 90s and passed away a few years later. I remember how carefully she took the IE out of the drawer and said to me. “She will speak to you!” I was seven little I knew how right she was. I fully understood it at the Fine Art University when I started to dig deeper into Romanian Fashion and traditional clothing.
I remember calling home and asking my mum to bring the IE next time they visited me, so I can read it. Once I had in in my hands, my dad said: “She is awake…… ” He was happy that I finally could understand the proper meaning of it all.
You see the IE has stitching on particular places on the garment/blouse. It ‘s placed on places that need protection. Neckline, wrist, heart, shoulders, etc….
Now the same way the IE speaks, so does the traditional Point Lace. I know you must be like…. WTF is going on with these Romanians!? Is everything a secret thing? Yes, it is!
Our traditional flower is the Dog Rose. If you want to know why it;s our national flower, here is the answer: once collected and made into a paste( they say) it can help with the bite of wolfs. The Latin name for this flower is Rosa Canina.
Here is how it looks! The five petal flower is so popular in Romanian Point Lace that the design is passed on from generation to generation. Take a look at some gorgeous examples in Point Lace, below.
The main feature of this flower are the petals. It has to be five and they must be equal.
The other important point is that the flower has to be dominant in the point lace design.
Also it is designed with the simple cord in mind. In this case the only cord used is the simple cord.
I am interested in creating this design in abstract format but with traditional threads, in white and beige. The images below are RPL inspired by Rosa Canina but very traditionally made.
And so I started to think about this flower, the five petal design and how I can make is a bit different.
Let me know what you think!
The inspiration was the actual design /structure of the petals. The veins of the leaves. I used the simple bars to guide me in a natural way.
Now you know that clothes actually have a secret language and like that we find that here in Australia with the Aboriginal art. It tells a a story, you just need to know how to read it. The same way symbols talk to us in stone, so can clothes.
I actually like masks, I have to say I can’t wear them coz I am wearing glasses and absolutely failing on putting contacts on. With this said, I can show you how I made a mask of course in RPL for the first time! Now the image above is not your usual mask, but I think you know by now, that I never pick your usual designs! Image -Guo Pei Haute Couture Gilded Mask.
The Idea…..
I was asking in a really gorgeous FB group what else I could create in RPL , next to my jewellery and pattern. Now one lady suggested, that I create lace masks, and so I did a lot of research and gave it a long thought. If you would like to check out her amazing Etsy store, check it out HERE. She does gorgeous items! Thank you Karen, you made me think about mask lace idea! I had many questions, that I needed to answer, before even embarking such project. A large project because, masks are different. You put it around your face, so it has to mould easy and stay ok….
So I checked Pinterest. Here you can visit our our boards!
And the cords is on!
Above, you can see the beginning of the mask idea…. Raw, easy and still a virgin….. LOL! I had no particular fillings in mind, no ideas, where it will take me and if it would be larger or smaller. Quickly after the base idea was shaped in my mind, colours and netting were picked. I ended up adding tulips to it.
It was important to me to combine, greens and vibrant colours to make it all come together. And like I said, I wanted to say away from black and classic red or white. Anyways, this is where it went…
A mask is an ancient form of a facial disguise, it was used to frighten enemies and contain identity. In modern day the mask is generally known to be a symbol of the concealment of the ego behind an artificial mask. In ancient Greece the mask was very common, and used for actors on stage. But do you know, where that mask comes from? Actually mask exist from 7000BC and were used in theatre ( Greece) but they became very popular in ancient China and in the 13th century they very introduced in Italy, specific in Venice…. The rest is history and the mask dominated and fascinated Europe since then… The Carnival was born and the Masquerade…. was a new idea… But back to this project…
The Sketch….
Before starting the lace on calico and having enough cord, I always sketch and draw the idea of the mask. This sketch was the start and birth of the mask. Even though I sketch the mask with an adult woman in mind, I wanted the mask to be wearable for my little girl in mind.. I wanted to make it fun and here came the idea of adding flowers and so to add colour – in this case vibrant emerald. She is born in May so emerald is her gemstone. It was falling into place just fine.
I also introduce into the mask, the traditional crochet rings, as seen above. I loved the idea of recreating a web like design….. I will elaborate the sketch into a watercolour print as soon as possible….
The designs in the mask are a mix of netting and fillings. I am also using different type of cords like you see in the image above. A simple cord in the dark / emerald green and a fan cord in the lighter green.
The Illustration…
So, now let me show you how it looks on her…. coz voila it;s ready! And If you are interested in having a mask done in this style or similar, get in touch! Also if you like the illustrations, you can check out the Etsy Store HERE. I am very exited about this piece, not only because it;s the first time I made, it, but also because it made my little one so happy and she felt exited about wearing something so different!
Have you ever asked yourself what attacks you to a colour? Me, always and every time it;s a different answer! Now I always liked Purple.
Not any kind of purple….. a dark deep, velvety purple…. and a touch of black….. I love purple and been always attracted to agate and amethyst. Purple Agate is one stone that I use on the regular in my designs. It calm the wearer, it hold on to good energy and creates a wonderful save environment for the one who wears it.
A reminder that I love Lavender, that I love creativity, luxury and royalty a colour that is a great representative for peace, dignity and mystery as well as magic, this is purple to me. It also represents the Crown Chakra ( head Chakra) it shows your connection to the universe and spiritual part in you. It;s your connection to creativity
How does purple make you feel? It makes me feel great. It makes me smile and creative. But how does black make you feel like?Elegant, classic, minimalist and timeless. This is how it makes me feel.
I also want to you check out the video below. Guo Pei a fantastic Haute Couture designer…. She is amazing. Almost all her designs remind me of Romanian Lace and this last collection was exceptional. The
Isn’t her style amazing? The inspiration of the dark ages architectural design is stunning. The structure is fantastic and is so detailed. We lace makers can easy get inspired and create stunning Romanian Point Lace.
Did a colour ever inspire you? If yes, comment below and let’s talk about!
And voila it;s finally done – my first Modern Romanian Point Lace style doily. It;s made with gorgeous fine Romanofir thread available in the shop. The finishing cord is a wide cord in traditional Romanian Point Lace style. When I started this designs I had in my mind a specific style, Shabby Chic. If you want to find more about Shabby Chic click here.
Sometimes I google images to give my design an inspiration or direction… I do not use or work in very pale colours, but I love soft pinks and ecru of course. You can find more threads that I use here.
Like I said Shabby Chic and I had this particular image that you see below, that inspired me to create this doily.
I can picture this doily in this room, framed and stylish. I know , I know I might dream tooooo far! LOL! Now if you want details on this doily it;s available here in the Etsy shop.
Let me know how you would dress up this doily, how would you make it work for you!?
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What I wanted to achieve it that the embroidery is at the edge of the doily. Normally in traditional RPL, the embroidery is only in the centre. Recently, it started to become trendy and more embroidery is added, in other places, like ending and between the cords.
