Velvet Portfolio

A while back I talked about the necklace I created in memory of my aunt, my mother's sister, and blogged about it in an earlier post. I knew that my first class at Artfest would be to create a book with Nina Bagley, and I decided that it would be a memory book of sorts for my mother, about her sister.

I made up some components, some you've seen in photos on the blog. Also crocheted some lace in short lengths, and gathered up some of my hand dyed fabrics and stitched, quilted cloth.


This book is not formal or fancy, I wanted it to have the look and spirit of the old style padded photo or souvenir albums my grandmother used to have. Some were covered in velvet and had silver lettering on them, with black heavy paper sheets inside for putting your photos and writing onto, describing the people and places.


The word 'IMAGINE' on the front was part of the trades and ephemera I got when I arrived at Artfest. As well as including some of my own handmade items in the book, I wanted it to be a remembrance of people and places where it was made, so many of the ribbons, beads and other items used in it were given to me at Artfest.


The lace that wraps the cover was made by me, the fabric is my hand dyed cloth. Some of it was torn instead of cut, to have a raggedy, worn look and to symbolize the tearing of the fabric of life.


My aunt and my mother are religious, church-going folks, and on the first day at Artfest someone gave me a package that had a church offering envelope in it. I used the words from it, applying them to the page to indicate that my aunt is an angel now, walking the streets of gold, as the hymn lyrics say.


I took a photo of my mother's family (my mom had not been born yet, that is her sister and brother in the photo) and put an angel wing on her sister's photo, the idea being to imagine her as an angel - thus the word 'IMAGINE' on the front, a scrap of cloth given to me in a trade.

I had never used mica before, so I took song lyric paper and encased it in mica and hinged it as a page in the book, to indicate the psalms and hymns being sung during services.


I added the 'CARPE DIEM' charm with a silver angel dangle on it that I made onto a page decorated with clocks, there are clock faces and measuring yardsticks on both pages to remind me of the short time of life


and to make the most of each day. The photo was taken in a churchyard in Scotland, with the lovely angelic carved stones, marking the people who passed through that place in ages past.


I will make a preservation / presentation box for the book, add the necklace I made earlier, and send to my mother, to remind her of her sister.


I really, really hope she will like them both.

For a peek at the class photos where this book was started, pop over to the Artfest blog.