Journey to Avalon March 23 2014

                                    It started with a Faerie Festival in Gloustonbury England. My art was accepted for The Avalon Faery Fayre in Gloustonbury home of many sacred sacred sights and vortexes of energy. Where the mists of avalon really do exist on the hilltop of the Tor. Old faith lives with new faith. And even those who don't believe in magic believe something is special in Avalon.Yes the Faerie Fayer was Enchanting and by being there I was amongst a spiritual family to take my pilgrimage. Life changing and inspiring.

                                       The town of Gloustonbury has many galleries and shops and restaurants that cater to the magickal bohemian crowd and that alone would keep me under a spell forever but my Journey to the Sacred Sights showed me i belonged there long ago. Visiting the Tor really was not something I had planned on doing in my life time I knew of it vaguely as a distant dream in a story. Being able to be there changed things for me. This now was a pilgrimage to return my acestral spirits and transform my own through healing the past. For me to drink form the cared well and for me to see the abbey n ruins.

                                     our first day Thursday we were able to wander through the town to see the galleries.

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This mural was the first thing I noticed and I cried a bit to be honest. We walked on and i saw a door I had sketched that felt like a portal to me when I drew it. Here it was before just a pub door, but I had drawn this door before I had seen it.

I knew then the journey would be more intense and have a deeper soul connection than I realized. A portal for my soul did exist and magic was real. A few feet away we walked past the a building a piece of lichen from the building hit me in the head . I looked up and it was part of Gloustonbury Abbey. We visited the gift shop the tours had closed but we could still see it clearly from other angles. The gift shop attendant told us of bit of the history of the Abbey and its destruction. It was a gloomy day when we took the pictures. The following day I would pilgrim to the Tor.

                       The day we walked to the foot path of the Tor there was a local funeral. Fitting as I was about to release the essence of my mother onto that hill freeting her spirit.

The children stayed behind as I continued that up hill climb . Again here I was taking the most unattainable path to peace and tranquility. Jist getting to the bottom of the hill to the for was a journey Really I stayed focused on the uphill climb and it felt exhausting to do. I count turn around i needed to do that journey for her and then at some point that journey was mine. mine to release her energy to the four directions and allow her ash to rest in a place she only dreamed of going and a journey for me to transcend the experience beyond the surface lore. When I reached the top where the Tor was there were people just like me who made that journey tired and wanting to bask in the absolute piece and magic. A magic that you can not stay in a magic that you must be in to experience. And release her I did and with it i released and removed the belief that dreams were not possible and simply foolish. No dreams are meant to be lived and we did that on that very mountain top.

The Tor is believed to be the sight where Gwenivere and King Arthur are buried. Lore my mother read in every version.

There is a way to walk straight down the other side of the Tor to go to the sacred well but I had to back track to the bottom of the footpath that led to the steps of the Tor. the children would journey with me to the sacred well where we found plain and simple peace and gentleness in that garden and we drank form the sacred well and collected the water. I truly felt the presence of Mary and Jesus here.

                               The next two days I spent the Avalon Faery Fayre meeting new people and telling them of my pilgrimage and showing them the art I created inspired much by tales from Gloustonbury. The  first two images  are from The George and Pilgrim Pub the in where we stayed said to be haunted. The last is from the Fayer that was held in Gloustonbury Town Hall.

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A journey deeper into costuming than I ever imagined: the dryad of my dreams December 16 2013

                                                             It began with a simple fabric store I never went into but always meant to check out. They had many lovely fabrics but one remnant of beautifully stylized embroidered fabric touched my eyes. Vertical trees with birds perched on staggering limbs. With this fabric I could make the dryad of my dreams come alive. No longer restricted to any type of medium I am permitted to look at every material as an art piece while developing my artisan skills. As it is one of my  goals as an artist to master as many techniques as possible so that I may create whatever I want how ever I want all on my own. And so thy DRYAD BALL GOWN began

                                                               The sewing machine, a new technological frontier for this seamstress. Over the past two years I was determined to learn how to use the machine again as I did in middle school. Back in those days it was a little more complex and a little more touchy. I have mastered hand sewing all materials. I take great pride in my seamstress abilities with hand sewing, its a huge source of pride for me as well as joyful to me. To make this gown in time for Faeriecon East 2013 i needed to use the sewing machine. Istill had a great deal of hand sewing involved in the gown. The sewing machine allowed me to move through the basic seams and really let me concentrate on couture construction.

                                                             I didn't want to use a pattern on this gown. Most couture gowns involve draping and shaping. I used one continuous piece of fabric. I I had to the fabric told the story of my dryad. I have always been inspired by the Art Nuevu era as that era harkened in a mythical aesthetic and natural inspirations. It involved a beautiful display of materials in an elegant organic form. Gowns from that era and a few decades later reflected that aesthetic. No one really makes dresses that way anymore unless they are designers or artists. I did some visual research looking for gowns that had the similar shapes I was creating on my dress form. Unfortunately I only had enough fabric to make some thing four sizes smaller than myself. Equally the gown needed to be adjustable for a variety of sizes 5-10. This was one shot the fabric was discontinued.

                                                Machine sewing turned out to be much less difficult than I remembered with the instruction form an experienced seamstress before my attempt. Many details went into the gown. Lace beaded shoulder straps and a back strap tp hude bra lines. The front of the dress told the story with the tree and the birds the back of the dress showed the transcend existence of the dryad free to dance in the forest to show he very human very feminine  skin. elegantly giving freedom. The head peace and wings were made magickaly in my studio with techniques I haven't seen anywhere yet. but I can't share all my secrets now can I?

A Midsummers Night Dream copyright 2013 June 12 2013

 I am a fine artist , but I love creating crafted costume props and making them affordable. I started my company so that anyone  had the opportunity to buy my creations. My latest Midsummer's Fae Collection of Crowns , Wands, and Wings are  elegant , simple, and affordable. Its a challenge to use materials that are nontraditional and be artistic with them. The result was quite magickal!

Crowns are braided wire and silk flowers with matching bubble wands. the bubble wands come with a strap. The Dragonfly Fae Wings cme in single and double. Stack them and create a triple wing effect. Best thing abbput these props? They are WATERPROOF ! Perfect fair props.   (I also made the top displayed with theses peaces)