Remembering Purple. . .

February 04, 2008

Remembering Purple. . .

Funny how the mind works, remembering things long forgotten when prompted by what seems to be the most random stimuli. I had completely forgotten that for quite a while, lavender was my favorite color when I was a little girl. I went through an "all things lavender" phase, which included the color, the flowers and the scent.

Purple is all around me in my life now. I have a stash of purple papers and fabrics, buttons and beads, and tons of purple leftovers from a commission for 25 Mardi Gras centerpieces several years back. None of these things jogged my memory. But yesterday at Gothic Arches, the second I read that the week's theme was "purple", my mind immediately detoured to my room as a little girl, and for a moment, I could actually smell the Yardley of London lavender cologne that my grandmother gave me because I loved all things purple. And I remembered the lilac water that my grandmother used to splash so liberally on herself as if it were a shower when the days were very hot.

It all must have had quite an impact, because although I've used all new items in making this arch, I look at it now, and it seems so old-fashioned that it could as easily be one of my grandmother's hankies. I think of matronly women in purple prints at Easter, wearing their hats with lavender flowers, pansies and short veils. And it was not meant to evoke anything when I made it. It was just supposed to be pleasingly purple.

I started out by cutting and covering an arch shape with purple cotton broadcloth. The three pansies on the left side are from a make-and-take that my kids and I did at the Sewing Expo in January - - watercolor pencil on white cotton with micron, gel, and glitter pens - - cut out and glued to the base fabric. I freehand cut a piece of lavender artist paper into some Gothic swirls and glued them over the top, stamped the butterfly with black Staz-On onto a transparency sheet, cut and glued it down with Diamond Glaze. I let the Art Institute glitter around the periphery dry overnight, then wired the pearls and the beads at the bottom.

So here's my arch, and thanks for the memories!

Posted at 04:11 PM in Gothic Arches | Permalink