Petal & Pins

Category: Fairy

February 25, 2019

Ripples On Water

I’m a little late with my first blog post for 2019, our January trip to exhibit at Top Drawer London S/S had us on the go from day one.

But as February starts to disappear the beginning of a new week has spurred me to dive back in and what better inspiration for a post than participating in Cathy from Rambling in the Garden’s In A Vase On Monday!

I have a small clump of Amaryllis belladonna growing in my garden but this big bunch I was given by my neighbour.

These lillies are a bit ‘now you see me now you don’t’  – with warmer than average weather this summer and everything looking a bit dry and a little jaded, suddenly in gardens and paddocks up pop the ‘naked ladies’, prettiness that belies hardiness.

After using some to design a lily dress for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe I have arranged the rest with white agapanthus, some branches from a deeper pink flowering shrub and some greenery.

This time last year we were excitedly planning our trip to Japan and on the weekend we finally hung the beautiful drawings we bought at the Oedo Antique Market in Tokyo.They are actually technical drawings – designs for obi, the sash worn with a kimono. The market seller had a large pile of them with other trinkets laid out on a cloth. I hovered rather impatiently as someone before me went through cherry picking a lot of the most beautiful ones!

Of the two we chose I had thought the other one – a lush arrangement of peonies and chrysanthemums was my favourite but now hung, one each side of the fireplace, the simplicity and serenity of this one beckons me to pause, imagine myself on a river bank, glance through the over hanging branches and watch the ripples dancing on the surface of the water.

 

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December 23, 2017

The Fairy & The Farmer

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Two of the highlights of my year have been about collaboration.

In April Lisa Britzman, a ceramic artist and sustainable boutique farmer in the Huon Valley of Tasmania got in touch to see if I would be interested in having some of her autumn blooming saffron flowers to design my minature botanical couture with.

Mr Petal & Pins and I drove down to Campo de Flori Farm which is picturesquely located high in the hills. It was facinating to see saffron growing  and Lisa showed us how it is harvested. I brought a basketful of the striking purple flowers home and designed a mini collection of dresses that has kicked off the Farmgate Project by petal & pins.

Recently we went back to the farm for olive blossoms and culinary lavender – and of course we were only too happy to come home with some freshly baked lavender shortbread biscuits too!

The other wonderful collaboration began in the Spring of 2016 when Carolyn  Turgeon editor-in-chief of Faerie Magazine interviewed me by skype for the The Faeirie Handbook – ‘an enchanting compendium of Literature, Lore, Art, Recipes and Projects’.

In winter this year I got a sneek peek at the proofs for the pages featuring my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe® and the beautiful cover featuring Euphaeidae from the Wonderland series by Kirsty Mitchell Photography but of course had to keep it a secret until its release.

The book launched in November and I was very excited when my copy from publisher Harper Collins New York office arrived!

It’s an exquisite hardback book with silver edged pages and I couldn’t be more proud to be featured within it.

There’s something for everyone who loves a bit of whimsy and magic of any age with chapters on Flora & Fauna, Fashion & Beauty, Arts & Culture and Home, Food & Entertaining.

So let me know if you see The Faerie Handbook in your local bookstore…or if you have a suggestion for a collaboration why not get in touch!

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My limited edition prints can be purchased from the petal & pins online shop and selected stockists. Wholesale inquiries welcome.

The Faerie Handbook is available from bookshops worldwide and online through Amazon, Booktopia, Dymocks and the Faerie Magazine online store. 

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November 2, 2017

A Beautiful Mess

The big voluptuous blooms from the tree peony  started to slump in the cut glass vase and as the petals started to dry the colours intensified.

I left the vase sitting on the cocktail cabinet and every day  more petals gathered around the base of the vase looking like a decadently dishevelled ball gown discarded by my garden fairy.

When it became more mess than beautiful I scooped up the petals to design with – their texture like silk paper taffetta and each one uniquely shaped and coloured I almost got lost in admiring their detail.

There is beauty in decay.

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June 20, 2017

Pink Skies & Shrimp Tails

winter sky

Winter skies are always beautiful in Hobart around dusk with pink hued clouds alluminated by the setting sun.

The aptly named flowering Shrimp Tail Salvia echos the colours of the evening sky and the leaves turn to patches of burgundy and green like an exotic camouflage print, perfect for the Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe.™

I once mistakenly picked this flower for a floral arrangement,  the strong scent becomes more intense inside and is not at all pleasant – definitely a flower to simply admire in the garden.

botanical couture by petal & pins

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November 19, 2016

Sweet Cécile Brünner

cecile-brunner-rose-in-my-front-gardencecile-brunner-dress-in-the-making-and-petal-pins-card

We’re having such a great season for roses in Hobart and one of my favourites is the sweet Cécile Brünner.

I love to pick petite posies of them whilst still in bud and their size is perfect for creating my miniature flower couture!

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September 17, 2016

Romantic Decadence

tree peony flower

I was quite enamoured by this peony when I saw it, the velvety centre ‘fringed’ in gold and those streaks of magenta on each petal (perhaps applied by a garden fairy’s paint brush!)

The bushes were covered in blooms and my friend gathered a bunch for me to design with.

My own tree peonies are also in the midst of their annual display of romantic decadence which  serves as a reminder that my blog has a birthday – number 4!

Thanks for following or simply stumbling across it and stopping to look around and if you happen to know the name of this peony variety I’d love to know.

peony centrespetal & pins peony dress

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October 22, 2015

An Imaginary Guest

white and cream flowers from my garden

A few days ago, I decided to pick a bunch of white and cream spring flowers from my garden and since the wedding season has begun they were perfect for creating a wedding dress for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe.

I used the Jupiter’s Beard centrathus ruber, Snow Ball Bush viburnum opulus, and Granny’s Bonnet aquilegia – all of which I have created dresses with before.

The Jupiter’s Beard reminds me of tulle and the Snow Ball Bush guipure lace flowers.

start of white dressSpring wedding dress 2015
I love white and green gardens, they are elegant and calm, but I’m too much of a lover of colour to ever restrict a garden to just that, besides my garden is a collaborative effort with ‘gardeners past’ and tends to reflect that.

If I were playing the game of ultimate dinner party guest-list, one of the guests would be the person who started my garden – a pre dinner stroll around the garden would be a must, with a glass of champagne of course!

Who would be on yours?

 

© Sandra Alcorn 2015 All words and images on this blog are my own work (unless otherwise credited) please ask before reproducing elsewhere.

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October 17, 2015

A Bag Of Grapes

I’ve been making paper cut signage for my market stall inspired by the class I took with paper cut artist extraordinaire Miso last year.

petal & pins paper cut sign
Mr Petal & Pins translated this design into a rubber stamp for paper bags.

The stamp arrived just in time to use for the Spring markets, along with an abundance of grape hyacinths in the garden to decorate my stall and create some new dresses for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe.

grape hyacinths petal & pins grape hyacinth dressNow we’re making plans for Xmas markets including traveling  to Sydney for one!

You can find a list of market dates and card stockists here.

 

 

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September 17, 2015

A Garden Fairy’s Birthday

Spring 2015

petal & pins celebrated a birthday yesterday! It was the third anniversary of starting my petal & pins blog and about four years since creating the very first dress for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe.

When I made my first garden fairy’s dress it was on a whim on a sunny day in a moment of daydreaming in the garden, a break from cutting or sewing a real life creation, and then the next day I made another … and kept on making them!

I started my blog as a ‘home’ for my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe and other musing from my studio and garden. My first blog post featured a dress made from a peony flower and very few words so I decided a new peony dress was perfect for this birthday post.

peony birthday dress

Three years on and I’m pleased that I’m still blogging. Like most people who start a a blog I wasn’t exactly sure what I was starting, where I was heading or who would be reading but it has been so much more than I imagined when making that first post.

It has been a lovely journey of finding people with shared passions and an interest in what I do, discovering other blogs on everything from the travel adventures of a boat dwelling cat, vintage glamour and the joys and tribulations of gardening in a different hemisphere to me.

To my surprise I also found great enjoyment in writing to accompany my photos and something I never expected – some solace when my father died.

I had dreams for my Garden Fairy from the beginning of my blogging journey and it has been fun bringing some of those to life and dreaming up new ones.

The first was creating a range of greeting cards featuring flower dresses from my Garden Fairy’s Wardrobe. There have been twelve collections to date, five of which are currently available, with the newest being my Christmas collection of five holly dresses.

This year Mr Petal & Pins created my gorgeous online shop, I was commissioned to do a life size dress for a wallpaper panel and the local weekend magazine asked to do a feature on me!

It’s been great to meet some of you at the local design markets and to see my cards available through a growing number of retailers.

So thank you for your part in it all – your comments, encouragement or just following – and now I’d like to be bold and ask a favour.

If you have a moment, please visit my online shop – take a look around, give me some feedback, you may even see something you like! Perhaps you could share a link to my website or blog with someone you think might enjoy discovering my garden fairy’s wardrobe because that would help the dreams to continue to grow!

Thank You
Sandra x

P.S.  To celebrate petal & pins’s birthday I’d like to give you a special offer of Free Shipping worldwide until the end of September 2015 on any purchase from the petal & pins online shop.

Visit the shop here and enter the discount code HAPPY3 at the last step of the checkout.

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September 11, 2015

The Second Act

It is a year since my far North Queensland holiday and there are still things from that trip I haven’t shared with you that I wanted to!

Tropical flowers that offered new inspiration for garden fairy dresses – some realised, some just conjured up in my mind while admiring them (it’s not always appropriate to be a flower thief in someone else’s garden), or the romantic story behind Paronella Park and it’s decaying beauty and lush gardens.

I did share my Tropical Ballet which features Barringtonia Asiatica – a night flowering tree whose flowers by morning have fallen to the ground.

So without further ado here is the second act…

barringtonia asiatica flower dressspent Barringtonia Asiatica flowers on Radical Bay beachI like to think you will add your own imaginative take on the storyline of  my tropical ballet but take a look at the beautiful nighttime costumes in act one before you do!

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