Flora

I've been drawing and colouring flowers!

They look like pretty happy flowers to me

However I somehow have managed to pair them up with a sad song, about a flower, in a way.

It's actually the lyrics that are a bit sad perhaps, but I love this song and this group and I hope you'll like them too :)

This is one of my favourite groups, their name is L'Ham De Foc and they are from Valencia, Spain.
They are unfortunately no longer together, but their records are available on line.


And here are my flowers:

They started out like little drawings. They're rather minute, like the one the song speaks about.

I painted them together because they are a set.

I tried to make them feel similar through colour.

It took me quite a while to finish them, I kept on asking them which colour they wanted certain petals to be and they kept asking for white.

And guess what? They were right about certain petals, they were white, I just had not noticed it at first :)

I've included a translation to the lyrics of this song in English and Spanish and the original lyrics in Valenciano.

The words made me sad when I first read it but I think this song is amazing.
I love the pipes and all the medieval folkloric spicy magical feeling there is to it.

A name
I had nothing to loose so I took the seed
Dry and black that he kept like gold inside a handkerchief
Still in the hope that I would find comforting


And in the soil of a planter I placed it at sundown
A crib in case it grew as the sorcerer had said
who with roots had promised me a child or two


And donkey's ear* you made me harvest, cat's claws I searched for, foxglove from the slope,  fern from an old lady (twice)


The next day came quickly and at the same time as the dew


It sprouted and bloomed with little luck
whom only came for a day, for a day or two


and in the soil of the planter I placed at sundown
a coffin in case the little flower died
I wont have time to give you
not even a name

And donkey's ear* you made me harvest, cat's claws I searched for, foxglove from the slope,  fern from an old lady (twice)

*Pear melon


For more insight about what this song speaks about I found this entry on a Spanish blog (it's in Spanish)


Un nombre
No tenía nada que perder así que cogí la semilla
Seca y negra que guardaba como oro en el pañuelo
Era todavía en la esperanza de que tendría consuelo


Y en la tierra de una maceta le puse al caer el sol
Cuna por si crecía como dijo el brujo
Que con raíces me prometía un hijo o dos


Y oreja de burro me hiciste cosechar, uña de gato busqué,
Dedalera de ladera, helecho de la vieja 


El día siguiente no se hizo esperar y al tiempo que el rocío


Brotó y floreció con poca suerte
Quien sólo venía por un día, por un día o dos


Y en la tierra de la maceta le puse al caer el sol
Un ataúd por si moría la pequeña flor
No tendré tiempo para ponerte
Ni siquiera un nombre.


Y oreja de burro me hiciste cosechar, uña de gato busqué,
Dedalera de ladera, helecho de la vieja

Encontré una entrada muy interesante en un blog español que explica ciertos aspectos de ésta canción


Original lyrics in valenciano:
Un nom

No tenia res a perdre així que agafí llavor
Seca i negra que guardava com l'or al mocador
Era encara en l'esperança de que tindria consol

I a la terra d'un cossiol li posí en caure el sol
Un bressol per si creixia com digué el bruixot
Que amb arrels em prometia un fill o dos

I orella d'ase em feres collir, ungla de gat vaig cercar,
Didalera d'aiguavessant, falaguera de la vella  

L'endemà no es feu tardar i al temps que el rou

Va brollar i va florir amb poca sort
Qui només venia per un dia, per un dia o dos

I a la terra del cossiol li posí en caure el sol
Un taüt per si moria la menuda flor
No tindré temps per posar-te
Ni tan sols un nom.

I orella d'ase em feres collir, ungla de gat vaig cercar,
Didalera d'aiguavessant, falaguera de la vella

Available in my etsy shop

Feisty Fish Windsock

Dawn often finds me crafting, I love the color of the sky.at dawn and dusk.

Night is my favorite time of all times. Everything is cool and quiet. and I can just relax and craft away, It's when I have the strongest impulse to craft.

A couple of years ago I made some tissue paper windsocks, they didn't like the terrace that much. It was the rainy season and they looked glorious under the harsh wind. They were swept away quite a few times and we'd go chasing after them until finally the rain got the best of them and the wind scattered them. So I decided that I would make them with fabric someday. And I made one last night for my etsy shop.


Etsy only allows me to upload 5 pictures and I have a hard time deciding which ones to use. Plus sometimes I take pictures of the process, this is not a tutorial but it might give you an idea of how to make your own fish-hat-windsock-boo:

 

I twisted some wire and made circles with it.
Then wrapped it with flora tape to waterproof it.

Cut out the eye's shapes, burned its edges, and glued the pupil over the iris. Then embroidered highlights over them & added  lights to the pupils, then I

glued the eyes on the fish head and stitched  around the edges to secure them and  to make them look pretty.

I must say, this fish has been playing with us right from the beginning as you can witness on this picture to the left. He managed to stick out his tongue at us even before having a head!

I sew all the fabric stripes together to make the body and head and then sew the scales on. Then sewed the long seam along the side to finish up the body, you can see the tunnel vision on the inside!

I then gathered the bottom of the body and sewed the tails and some scales over them.

The tail strips were also burned on all 4 edges to prevent fraying. It's the first time I've worked with this fabric, I was told at the fabric store they use it to make light raincoats. I doubt it would withstand any rain at all! But it's perfect for windsock making! Really light weight and dries up within seconds if it gets wet, plus they had it in almost every color that I wanted!

The strips and scales burned  unevenly and this gave it a really whimsical look.

When I was a young child I had this idea stuck in my head, I thought that if I stared at something beautiful long enough it would become engraved in my eyes and when someone looked into them they would find a forest with the wind blowing, a tall bright sky or a beautiful waterfall. I was later told that was not possible.

But even now, I can't help to think that this mischievous fish must have been staring at flowers..

These are some views:from underneath!

As soon as it was made it jumped right on my kid's head! He looked like a really neat hat to wear and the tail could be wrapped around as some sort of scarf or just left alone to hang loose.
It looks so festive! I can hear him mumble Nomonomonomo Yum!

This is a detail of the part where the tail strips are sewn to the body