Part 2- EARTH, SEA and SKY

Sea........

I grew up by the sea many hours spent exploring the rock pools, and the quote I found for this etui was  " The sea once it casts its net holds you in its spell of wonder forever "          ( Jacque Cousteau)  

 I have a little dried sea horse that I  first got over 50 years ago and it was the inspiration for this etui, 

 Maree found me a perfect fabric, hand dyed linen, it reminded me of the colours of a stormy sea.The linen is darker than the photos show and goes well with the pieces of Paua shell that I have used..

 finding the small sea horse charms at the Bead Hold here in Stratford was just perfect. Both the Sea horse and fish were embroidered  then added to the background.

opening it the quote is now shown, I wanted it to look like it was an old message rescued from a bottle thrown in the sea

and fully open it is ready for use

and Sky........

I wanted to photography this piece against the sky but that did not prove to be easy!! although there was a lovely blue sky with just a few clouds but in a built up area to find a patch of sky.

so inside shots it was.............

Another hand dyed linen for the last etui, blue with the suggestion of clouds, the bird again was embroidered first then added and the little backstitch birds were from a chart I drew up some years ago and have used many times

The quote "O birds of beauty, the sky is your home  just spread your wings and fly high" (unknown)  is seen before the etui if fully opened.

These pieces took much longer than I expected to do but I have enjoyed them from the planning though the stitching to the finish,  This photo was taken before the final finish, the first scissor fob I made was to thick when the etui was closed so when the shops opened on the monday I bought two more bird charms like those I had on the cords and used them. then it was time to meet the deadline and deliver my pieces.

I hope you have enjoyed my sharing of the photos.