News of the week

Last week I was very busy…yeah!

Making new things and also preparing some shipments … It seems that my shop in French created in the platform of A Little Market has begun to be known … and apparently my shawls are French’s favourite … so I’m producing  more of them …

I must also say that my store at Dawanda “woke up” after a long period of having no sales … so, a couple of chokers are gone and a summer pochette gave much to talk … is already living in Germany …

Thus today I am presenting a couple of new colors chokers but adapted for the Fall / Winter and in the line of scarves I design to implement this collar made of bamboo fiber blended with a super soft acrylic and decorated with a fun  fiber with hairs that gives it a glamorous look … hope you enjoy them!

Ah! and perhaps you are a little bit surprised because it is been a while without interviews… I thought in holidays period was difficult to engage people to interview but I’ll start again with them in Setember…so, in two weeks we will know more about new talented people …

Have a good week!

Shawl/Scarf in soft, warm alpaca

So… with the profits of my last sale I took the chance and I bought this wonderful mannequin I called her Amanda… and I feel great not only because the photos and presentation are more professional but also it is a big source of inspiration… now I can pick up some fibers and just see how it looks in a way or another, or sewing over the mannequin, or invent lots of ways to wear garments… I can say I feel more a designer… 🙂

I have made tons of new things but it is always the same feeling of not being as enthusiastic whe, I have to publish them.. it is the less interesting part to do (for me) describing and not forgetting about anything.. taking care of all the details and writing and copy paste to all the sites I’m participating… if at least somebody could help me with this… but for now is the only way to do it.

This is one of the new accesories, a scarf/shawl made in alpaca wool (the last I had left in this color from Argentina) and now I have only brown so i should look for more… it’s a pitty I cannot buy directly from them…

Pochette in red

And finally I finished the third pochette… as I told here it was a red buckle left…

As we are almost entering in Fall season I made it with warmer fibers as wool and a piece of brown leather which gives it a lot of character…

Now that I can look at the trhee of them I love the fact that they have the same shape but completely different styles… and as all hanmade things a unique not perfect one……..

Such a good week!

This week I haven’t written so much and this is a sign that I have worked a lot, it’s true, I did.

This poncho is the last one I have done and I can tell you they are very successful… due this is the only one I have in stock! yes! thanks to a beautiful client who bought it at my Dawanda Shop so now the poncho is travelling to Germany!!

I’m discovering the great experience of designing something and making it in lots of colors… it is never the same and a simple change can be turned into an absolutely different style. I have found this essential to make something more practical in my collections without loosing the “one of a kind” touch.

more pictures in my facebook page

This week Eleni, from Mod3rnArt proposed me to publish photos of the space where I create, ok, we can call it studio… but it is such an small one!!! She featured it on her blog, surrounded by great creators all of them part of the Etsy community…

Finally and almost miraculously… I have been three times in the Etsy Frontpage!!! yey! such a warm sensation… so I have open a folder in my Flickr to save them and every time I feel blue I can realize there are people who like my creations 🙂

A custom poncho

This is the first time I make something to order and in a virtual way… and I have to say I’m overwhelmed with the experience!

A client who bought a bag from my shop at Dawanda last year ordered this poncho she saw I had sold out two months ago.

It was great not only because I love when a client come back, but also I love when they know what they want.

So… I bought the yarns and they arrived really fast from England. I started to work after she approved the colors (I sent two options and she could choose) and she decided the palest ones (I agree this is a beautiful combination…) pale green cotton, lilac ribbon bamboo and a crazy yarn full of texture and colors… lovely!

So, here it is… and now the poncho is going to live in Austria… thanks to this kind customer 🙂

Interviewing Mariana Ciliberto aka Florcita

      

Do you remember I wanted to feature an artist per week? being realistic I realized it was impossible but I’m going to do it every single time I can. 

Today we are going to know more about Mariana Ciliberto aka Florcita. I’m a fan of her and I discover her works in Dawanda, then I realized she is an argentinian as well, and we met again on Flickr, so I asked her for this interview and today we are going to learn her passions and works… Beautiful felted art!

Personal information:

My name is Mariana Ciliberto. I’m married to a Dutch man whom I met on
vacation in Firenze, Italy. A few years later, and after many a romantic
attempt to lure me to Europe, I left everything (including university,
job, apartment, family, friends…) back in Argentina and moved here to
The Netherlands. We have a 3 year old son, Sebastián, whom speaks
non-stop in 3 languages.
We live in a small town in southern NL, only a few meters from Germany
and a few km from Belgium. We consciously chose to live in a little town
because it fits with the way we want to live our life: surrounded by
nature, in an easy going environment enjoying the “good life”.

What kind of craft do you do?

Ever since I was a little girl I have been involved with artsy stuff. My parent’s house’s walls were my first canvas but since then I’ve taken
workshops on ceramics, puppet making, drawing, photography, weaving,
etc. A few years ago I stumbled upon wet felting and I was immediately
hooked. I’ve always liked playing with wool and I even carried my own
loom all the way from Argentina. But this new technique – new for me but
with thousands of years of history- allows me to discover and
experiment the great versatility of such noble material such as wool.

When have you started and why?
A few years ago I received an invitation from our local Cultural
centre to a 3hours workshop on hand made felt. I didn’t know much about
it bit I went anyway. My theory has always been that if I wanted to
adapt to this country, I had to participate as much as I could from things happening around me. So there I went, and I came out with a car
trunk full of wool and very anxious to learn more.
It did fulfil it’s purpose down the line because through wet felting I
have met lots of people and it has helped me made a niche for myself in
this society.

What are you inspired by?
I don’t think there is one thing that inspires me. I find that the more
I work, the more ideas I get. I suppose then that everything around me
inspires me… what I see, read, draw… life itself!

What do you enjoy the most with this activity?
What I like the most about wet felting is that, once you learnt and
understood the secrets of the technique, the versatility of the wool
allows you to produce a broad range of objects: from practical daily
life objects, clothing, shoes…to art installations.
Furthermore, I love experimenting with wool and other materials such as wood, metal, leather or glass. It enriches you as an artisan as you
learn the properties of different materials.

What are your future plans?

I hope to have the chance to keep learning from my work and from
others more experienced in the field. I hope I can develop my own unique
style with which I can feel comfortable and represented.
Finally, I hope to further cement the basis of my craftsmanship and from
there keep exploring the broad world of creativity. One nerver stops learning.
Website: www.florcita.eu
Flickr:http://www.flickr.com/photos/marucs/
Shop: http://en.dawanda.com/shop/florcita
Blog: www.florcitasart.blogspot.com
Non artistic blog (in spanish): www.polosciclotimicos.blogspot.co

New product for musicians

 
                           

As my partner is a musician and I saw  many times that he lost the  plectrum(pick), so I made him this pick-holder…as I saw  it was very practical, I made a series for the shops… and it is really good for me, because when I get tired of knitting or crocheting I can alternate with this kind of works although manuals , less demanding in concentration

They are all made in recycled leather (leather remnants that people to have given me) and painted by hand.

You can customize it as you want!

Hope you like them!

Here I show you some of them, I will update little by little to etsy to dawanda and my flickr!

 

You 

Mini corchet baskets for the new deco section!

Well now I show you what I did with the textil hardener…

First I crocheted these baskets and then I submitted to a process with this hardener which is excellent because it is ecological and non toxic so you can put in the baskets whatever you want included cookies!!
Here you can check the texture I gave them

And this is the other set…

A very sentimental vest

I was searching for new weaving techniques and I remembered a book I saw when I was in The Art School in Granada, Spain which I believe is called Creative Weaving and it was part of a series of books published in Spain which had several issues of handmade disciplines … if there is any Spanish around who knows it, just write me!

Anyway, this book inspired me to know that you can weave on anything, using a support that is able to hold the threads and then is a question of “entangling” …

This vest was made using a paperboard, which is its own pattern and here I explain how to do it. As is my first tutorial, maybe I’m missing certain things, so tell me what you would love to see in the next ones.

I made the back with silk that is not so “heavy” and with the wonders of fabrics that are in Paris, is a pleasure going to search them … It took me over two weeks of work, but worth it!

Tonight I’m going to publish it for sale on Etsy and Dawanda
Bon soireé!

Cotton pin flower

I come a bit late with the posts… I don’t have enough time! and I have thousands of ideas …

This time I present a very delicate touch that is part of the spring collection for which I now have three distinct color palettes creams, pastels and vibrant ones … This is the creamy family;)

It is a pin so it can be used as is, for any shawl or shirt or bag …. we want to decorate…