The orchids are just incredible.  I made a series of dresses once for the Cirque du Soleil based on orchids.  Below are two dresses by Michelle Ferranti that served as my inspiration for that project.

Here are the frogs!!  Ha ha!  They are so hideous and yet i have nothing against frogs.  Actually, I think frogs are pretty important and I own a pair of little gold frog stud earrings that are quite delightful.  We all loved Kermit the frog.  Below I have added the image of a dress by John Galliano that seems kind of froggy to me.

This plate is classic Faberge egg inspiration.  It is just so perferct.  Look at he symmetry and ornament and texture.

You don’t need to be a genius to be an artist.  You just need to take the time to do it.  A lot of the work that I do is detail oriented and time consuming.  Other designers look at my work and think I’m crazy to be cutting out shapes, making stencils and drawing with thread.  But to me, it’s just what I do.  Come see the new Spring 2011 collection at the boutique.  I have been adding new styles every week.

Kat

How many of you have sea shells in your bathroom?  I know I do.  I even have starfish spray painted silver and driftwood that I lugged home from vacation.  This post explores the connection between Nature, as illustrated by the drawings of Ernst Haeckel, and our desire to surround ourselves with objects from the ocean.

Below are some amazing contemporary furniture designs by a company called ARKTURA.  I am totally smitten with the lines and shadows that these pieces cast.  I am also a fan of the colour options they provide…what not just black and chrome?, but also plum, red and aqua…how do I choose?

a little bit of the real thing in pink and purple and red ( may favourite colours)…

…and a little bit of happy homemaker throwing an ocean themed dinner party!

photo by Jeffrey N Jeffords

Below are the sqid pages.  mmm, yum!

We have this pin in the store.  It is by an American artist called MamasLittleBabies.

Now this tops it all for me.  Michelle McCoskey has crochet this squid scarf.  I can’t say that I would wear it, but i was thrilled when I found theses images online and I hope you enjoy the ridiculousness and effort that went into making this masterpiece of crafty kitsch!

Pets make us more productive, and certainly more creative.

Artists have long understood the importance of  keeping pets around.  Mary Oliver wrote an incredible book of poetry mostly inspired by her morning walks with her dog.  Sarah McLachlan attributes getting through one long creative block to her companionship with her pup.  I know some of my best ideas are the ones I first share with my cat.

Animals can sense the things we’re often desensitized to.  They know when we need a snuggle, a hand-licking, or when we need to play. They also know when we need some fresh air.  What’s better – and healthier – than a cigarette break? A dog-walking break!

One of Katrin Leblond’s, um, more furry of team members is Arthur, Kat’s brother’s dog.  He hangs out a lot at the studio, keeping the team company.  Does he earn his keep?   You betcha.   The creative inspiration he brings to the workspace, as well as his boundless ability to love, is priceless.   It’s a treat to be in the studio or boutique when Arthur’s around.   He just has a way of keeping everything more real.

Much of Kat’s new spring collection was inspired by animals.  Monkeys, fish, and elephants all made their way into her latest designs.  However, I believe that more art than we give credit for is inspired, in one way or another, by the pets in our lives.

Express your beauty as you are.  Dance in your kitchen and sing to the stars.

Sarah Pearson

Are you tired of Ernst Haeckel yet?  I’m not.  I think his are some of the best illustrations from Nature I have ever seen.  I love the attention to layout on the page…how he created shading and shapes that stand on their own as a work of art.

The first image is of moths.  They are soft and fluffy and every hair is delicately rendered.  Imagine the time it took to illustrate all of these.

And now for some Mothy jewelry.  We just got these in the store.  We have moth necklaces and octopus pins…oh and there is a Jellyfish necklace that is oh-so Ernst Haeckel.

The second image of the shells made me think of the experimental fashion by  Swedish fashion designer Julia Krantz.  These shell garments are made of  translucent fabrics draped over metal frames.  This was done as aschool project at HDK School of Design and Crafts in Gothenburg, Sweden.

We’ve all seen trilobite fossils as kids.  They must have been numerous back in the day (millions of years ago) for there to be such an abundance of fossils around being found. and sold  for a few dollars.   Below Haeckel’s trilobite drawings, I have attached the image of a dress that to me looks like it was inspired by arthropods.  The layers are like the sections of a hard shelled creature.  The beauty of it lies in the perfect cusp between soft and hard.  The dress holds it’s form, but doesn’t look too stiff.  I think it is really gorgeous.

Trilobite Dress by: Wesley Nault+Daniel Feld

Hope you enjoyed another viewing of art, crafts and nature.  Where does one begin and the other end?  Is it all the same?  Sometimes I believe that what we (humans) craft is not separate from, but a part, of the big organism we call Earth.  We often assign value to what we craft: good or bad, expensive or cheap, destructive or ecological.  What really matters though, is do you feel joyful?  Is there a happy moment in every day that you live?  If you need to find a happy moment outside of yourself, you can always come to the store for a little drop in, a hug or a cup of tea.

4647 blvd.  St-Laurent, Montreal, Quebec, H2T1R2, 514-678-9616

Katrin Leblond

This is from McQueens SS 2008 collection.

I mean, really?  Is this not totally crazy awesome to see how closely linked all creativity is!  We are all drinking from the same creative well!

Also SS2008 McQueen

These three images really need to all be looked at together. Above we have shapes that look to me like armour, shields and Samurai headpieces.  Below we have another McQueen headpiece from his last collection FW 2011.  Then below that, I have inserted three photos from early nature photographer Karl Blossfeldt.  The references are stunning!

German photographer Karl Blossfeldt (June 13, 1865 – December 9, 1932) worked in Berlin and  is best known for his close-up photographs of plants.  It is documented that he was influenced by the the illustrations of Ernst Haeckel as a scientist and artist.

I love this book Kunst-Formen der Natur (Art Forms in Nature)

The artwork is so inspiring.  It was illustarted by Ernst Haeckel, 1898.

I think there is something really interesting about the lacy intricacies of these drawings.

Nature is my ultimate source of inspiration for everything from embellishments to business management.  All the answers exist in Nature.

This book of illustrations will appear to you over 6 blog posts….the last being images of larger lifeforms.

It is a wonderful book, in the public domain, which features all sorts of illustrations of the natural world.  I scanned my personal copy to share with you page by page I have also included all sorts of images from architecture to stained glass that seem to be directly drawing their inspiration from the natural world.

Curvy lines and fancy squiggles ….these creatures could be Rococo carvings in a Parisian church covered in gold leaf.

And here i have added an image of the Tassel House staircase, an art-nouveau building in Brussels.  I feel the jelly fish lines and the art Nouveau lines have a lot in common.

All we need is Nature.  For every design, every line and every problem, I feel we could find all the answers in Nature.  Below is a stockphoto of stained glass that could be directly referencing the illustrations of  Ernst Haeckel.  And yet, those illustrations were done directly from observation.

photo by Paul Cummings

I feel we all need to show our appreciation for Nature and artists especially so.  Thank you Monther Earth.

And, thank you Ernst Haeckel for taking the time a 100 years ago to make these beautiful drawings.

It’s not about doing it all.  It is about doing what you can.

The world is vulnerable and we can protect it by being conscious of our choices each day.  Plastic for everything all the time is not a right.  It is a luxury, and a choice, that costs us all dearly.  Excessive packaging is really easy to give up.   Giving it up is an immediate improvement in our quality of life.

If the bag is really important to you buy one that you can use again.

Below are a few quotes I cut and pasted from the net.

Message in a Bottle

Seabirds are starving with bellies full of trash. Fur seals in New Zealand poop shards of yellow and blue. The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is twice the size of Texas. Now the bad news: Plastic never goes away, and scientists are finding that it absorbs toxins with spongelike efficiency. The fix? Cut it off at the source.

By David Ferris

” the Garbage Patch as two to three times the size of Texas, but in fact it might be far larger–as much as 5 million square miles, or one and a half times the size of the United States. Sailors encounter it within 500 miles of the California coast and 200 miles off Japan.”

Katrin’s tote bags are available for you to take home your treasures.  They are sold for $3.  You are welcome and even encouraged to bring your own bags from home in anticipation of the beautiful fashion harvest you will fill them with.

Your life is your most powerful art.  See you at the boutique.

erin

Come fall down the rabbit hole…

This is Wonderland…

Let your imagination soar…

Let me tell you a story.

I had been walking for days. Lost. Alone. Afraid…
My feet were screaming, begging for rest, but I could not stop.  I was fearful of the emptiness.  If I kept going, maybe nothing could get me.  Tears would no longer flow, tapped out.

I had stopped screaming for help two moons ago.  I knew no one could hear me.  I was in a world unknown to me.

I climbed up. up. up.  Finally, the top of the mountain.  The sun shone so bright.  So yellow.  How could that be?  It was the dead of night.  I got closer. closer. closer.  It wasn’t the sun.  It was a horse.  A great horse.  Yellow.  Wings.  I stopped for the first time in a long time.  That was it.  I was what I feared the most.  Crazy.

He was standing still.  Behind him was a wall of rocks.  Some of them as colorful and bright as he, others dull and lifeless as I felt.

I approached the horse.  He looked at me and smiled.  Sit, rest. He said.  I have riddle for you.

I sat.

In the dark I am found, without being fetched.  In the day I am lost, without being stolen.  What am I?

I thought.  I did not know the answer.  I gave up.

The stars. he said.

Stars. I hadn’t looked up at the stars since I was lost.  I did so now. Their bright twinkling bodies gave me comfort.  I hadn’t been alone this whole time.  Those little tricksters had been up there the whole time.  Laughing.  Joking. Watching out for me.  I found the brightest one I could off in the distance.  He was different.  He was warmth.  He wasn’t a star.  He was a town.  I started to run.  run.  run.

I awoke to the sun in my face.  The real sun.  I was lying on a street, people surrounding me.  They took me to a pub.  Someone bought me a drink and asked me for my tale.  I spoke of my days wandering.  I hesitated.  I told them of the magnificent horse.  I expected laughs.  The people looked at me knowingly.

There is a story, about a great horse, yellow as the sun,  with spectacular wings.  Behind him stands a wall.  For every lost soul he guides home, one rock on that wall…turns a wonderful color.

Tell me a story….

(Photo in this post is one Kat pulled from the internet.)

all photos in this post by Kat except the beautiful fall leaf colours was offered by Krysten.  This post was written for Kat by Krysten.

Weddings are the perfect place for fanciful dress-up, parading around in your finest and, best of all: a chance to see what everyone else is wearing.   This ogling of others attire is something I fondly refer to as “wardrobe scrutiny”.    Rather than going down the path of criticism I love to scan for the wardrobe statements I admire most.   It is like going on a visual treasure hunt and the reward is stunning fashion.

It was at the wedding of a cherished friend, that I saw a guest wearing a dress adorned with colorful and beautiful hand embroidered bugs.  I stopped the woman and asked if I could take a picture of her dress.  I could not pass up the opportunity to photograph them.  Thankfully she agreed.

It is truly sad to know that long gone are the days where it was very common to see embroidery on clothing.  It is always a pleasure to see someone who appreciates the craftsmanship and the love put into each stitch.

The wonderful thing about hand embroidered pieces is that no two are the exact same, each have their own personality.  These little critters are no exception…

This little dragonfly is the perfect example of the time and consideration put into embroidery.  The colors are bright and the details are exquisite.

This little bee was done perfectly, and with so much detail.  The shading of his body is an added bonus which adds realism to the piece. This little guy’s personality definitely shines.   The colors are more neutral, his colors may not be as bright as the dragonflies’, but that does not make him any less beautiful.  He is quite a regal being.

This little guy may be small, but he is just as perfect as the others.

Here is the front of the dress just below the bust. Individually, these little bugs are immaculate, but together, they form a rich tapestry of fall colors and life. It was an honor be be granted permission to photograph this dress.

The embroidery is perfect for fall.  The colors used definitely take into consideration the sights you might see while walking through the woods on a crisp fall day.  With the leaves a vibrant red, green, golden and rich browns, mother nature is definitely an inspiration for these little works of art.

_________________________~~___________________________

I found some more lovely embroidery being done today, courtesy of the internet.  One may think that birds and insects are better suited to spring than to the upcoming fall season, but done correctly; using neutrals, earth tones and sharp black lines, you cannot go wrong incorporating them into your wardrobe, accessories and home.

A simplistic design, but beautiful.  The use of black lines makes for a wonderfully delicate piece.  The birds may be flying south for the winter, but this one will stay behind as a reminder of the beauty and life that can be.

The monarch design is more complex and elaborate.   So perfect and realistically done, it is almost ready to pop off the material and fly away.  A very true to life piece of work.

Happy Labour Day

Your life is your most powerful art.  See you at the boutique.

erin

————————

While on my first road trip across Canada, with the man I later married, I wanted to record our travels.  The problem was I get car sickness.

Despite, the fact that I couldn’t write in my journal,  I found embroidery to be something I could handle even with the rock and roll of the road.  Embroidery became my traveling form of journaling.

I stitched the landscapes and the names of all the animals we saw along the way.

The coloured threads depict the story of our road trip  together.

I would sit in the passenger seat of our non air-conditioned van and stitch away.

The finished belt wraps around my body twice.

The needle pulled the thread in and out of the fabric stitching the moments I wanted to capture.   The van hit the road.  My needle pulled the thread.  The wind swept us away at the start of our journey.   The stitches became pictures.  The pictures began the story of our journey.  I stitched the flower called Indian paint brush.  Wild to Canada, this flower called out to be remembered.  I stitched the orange and yellow of it’s petals.  The lakes in Ontario were numerous  swimming pleasures.  There were so many lakes.  I painted with the blue of my embroidery thread just one to remember them all.  As we approached the prairies fields of Canola, also called Rape seed, danced yellow blooms that waved in the wind.  Dots of yellow thread floated across the belt.

The car broke down and we had to spend three days waiting for a part in Edmonton.  I stitched the part we needed  called a U joint.  We drove on to the Rockies.  Nights under the crescent moon were beautiful.

We took the fairy to Salt Spring Island and went swimming with purple and blue  dragon flies.

We watched boat racing on a Native reserve on Vancouver Island.  We walked in the red wood forest under the full moon.

Then we left Canada.  We hit Seattle and we went to the fish and flower market.  Four hours from Seattle, we spent two days at mount Saint Helen the mountain that erupted years before.

LOVE…….LOVE LOVE WAS EVERYTHING.  Our van was love parked in dry lands that had sage bushes all around.  I stitched a heart floating over our van.  I stitched my love.  My heart.

We drove through the Craters of the Moon and finally got back to the rivers of Ontario.  Eager to get home we drove and drove and drove…day and night.  We took shifts.

The road took us home.

]]> http://katrinleblondblog.com/embroidery/travelling-embroidery/feed/ 3 http://katrinleblondblog.com/embroidery/traditional-toreador-costume/ http://katrinleblondblog.com/embroidery/traditional-toreador-costume/#comments Fri, 30 Jul 2010 13:00:03 +0000 Katrin Leblond http://katrinleblondblog.com/?p=2203 Ok, so we all love men in tight pants.  Are we agreed?  Add silver and gold tread, pink and orange capes, heart stitching and pretty buttons and my heart goes pitter patter.

Photo: La Presse Canadienne /Rafa Rivas       Corrida espagnole

I love the hot pink tights!  It is a moment of glory when hot pink tights are a symbol of masculinity and dominance.

The love and detail that goes into costume making is very different from all the assembly line of fashion production.  These garments are made tight so that there is less material for the bulls horns to catch on.  I love the embroidery.  I love the embellishments.  I love the tassels and pom poms.  The layers!  The capes! The little hats!  I love that there can be a ritual for men to get this glamed up and that this much pomp can actually contribute to their sense of masculine power.

black and white toreador portraits by photographer: Christian Courreges

The Catalan people have recently voted to stop bull fighting.  They are breaking with tradition and choosing to move forward into a cruelty-free world.  They are courageous and I have great admiration for the willingness to evolve.  Congratulations!

Down with needless torture of innocent animals.  Down with the idea that we are not animals ourselves.  Down  fear of the other.

Cheers to men in tights.  Cheers for playing dress up!  Cheers to ornate fabulousness.  Lets find a better reason for men to get this dressed up.  End the blood….. Keep the fashion!

Torro!  Torro!

Nature will never fail you.  When you are sad, angry, happy, rageful…Nature is a place you can take every emotion you have and She will welcome you.  Especially great is really exerting yourself in nature.  Getting sweaty and dirty and hot.  Chopping wood, lifting rocks, shovelling earth.  These activities may not be good for your back, but ladies they are good for the soul!

Last week I saw a mama deer and a baby deer drinking water by the lake.  The baby was jumpy, like a little puppy, hopping around in the mud.

I am a rock collector.  Not shells and not pressed leaves.  Rocks and sometimes they get quite large.  When I am travelling my pockets inevitably fill with stones…and a few of them always make it home with me.

Arts and crafts are another place where I can be myself.  Uninhibited craft therapy.  Remember your tools in your emotional toolkit.  You learned what makes you happy a long time ago.  Playing in piles of leaves and painting with your fingers.  Remember?  Try it again.  See how it feels.

I think I speak for all woman (and man) kind when I point out the extraordinary woman that Frida Khalo embodied.  Her passion for art, love of animals, eye for beauty and color, as well as rebellious personality make her one of the most remembered and cherished artists of all time.

Why exactly?  Because with every whim she followed her instincts and her heart.  With every experience she grew stronger no matter how negative they may have been.  Jotting entries down in her journal, creating oil paintings infused with wildlife and heartbreaking imagery – if there was one main theme behind her artwork it was authenticity and acceptance.

What I love the most about her (and draw the most inspiration from) is how she was never anyone other than herself.  Through good and bad habits she had a “take all of me or nothing at all” approach to life.  She was passionate.  She never settled.

Katharina, one of the lovely creators of KL goodness (a specialist when it comes to sewing machine embroidery) reminds me so much of Frida.  While she is very much her own person, there is a wild beauty within her that is so refreshing and strong, you can’t help but think of Frida’s spirit.

Frida’s portraits were another highlight of her perception of the world.  She did not try to beautify herself on canvas (in fact I find her much more attractive in photographs), but instead looked reality right in the face (sans alteration) and made it astounding.  As a woman, this takes some serious guts!!!

Frida is a big part of what the KL team accomplish every day. The boutique is full of trinkets and prints alike that mimic or fully resemble this icon.

Kat even has this stuffed doll on her bookshelf…

My personal fave?

The Classic Hardware Frida bracelet, available for $55 at the boutique (There are also Frida necklaces and earrings).  When I wear mine not only do I get heaps of comments, but it reminds me to stay strong and stay true.

xox

I have always been attracted to the myth and meaning of animals.  We are so far removed from them in our urban day to day, that when a fox runs across the road in front of me, it is a profound moment.  For years now I have been documenting all the animals that I encounter.  Surprisingly, this happens without having to drive to the country.  In Native folklore the meaning of these chance encounters are called animal medicine.

The Deer is gentleness:

Stop pushing so hard to get others to change, and love them a they are.

Apply gentleness and become like the summer breeze; warm and caring.

The Rabbit is fear:

What you resist will persist.  What you fear most will be called to you by worry.

(But  today we see rabbits as sweet and cuddly and innocent and edible. )

The Giraffe is the ultimate fashion model animal.

The exoticism of this animal is essential in it’s public perception of today. Seeing a real live giraffe is as unattainable in real life as the perfect body.

Regularly I see a beautiful woman trying on a dress in my change-rooms who sees herself as defective.  Her eyes fixate on one spot: her hips, her knees, her shoulders, her tummy, her whatever….and she cannot see the whole picture of who she is anymore.  It’s too bad, because the whole picture is a beautiful woman.

The porcupine is innocence.

Don’t get caught in the world of fear, greed, suffering.  Let go of seriousness and severity.

Remember fantasy, imagination and COLOR.  This will lead you to JOY.

May it be beautiful before me.
May it be beautiful behind me.
May it be beautiful above me.
May it be beautiful below me.
May I walk in beauty.