I love wearing a scarf.
Even when I am transplanting seedlings in my greenhouse, running an errand, sitting in front of my computer it feels lovely to me to have something soft like silk around my neck. It’s cosy I think.
Other people reflect to me how it is elegant and elevates any outfit, finishing it somehow—
Years ago, when I was facilitating workshops at Science World, in my Curiosity Club group- where people who are aged 3-5 come with their special grown up – there was a very famous mom who was accompanying her sweet 3 year old. She was used to being in the public eye. She was cool and elegant when she walked in, then she took her grown-up looking scarf and overcoat off which she was wearing over jeans and a t-shirt and played with her child enjoying the messiness of the activities we were exploring like everyone else. But when they got dressed to go out in the Vancouver weather, she would look so elegant because of the way she carried herself beautifully with confidence…there was something about the scarf though that just made it! Such a simple busy mom up-levelling move!
On a hot July day last summer, I was standing in the shade of my house snipping the lavender that was head height growing out from the concrete bed over to the driveway where I stood. Because it was growing out over the side and up towards the light, the stiff stems had a perfect curve for the size of lavender wreath I wanted to cyanotype.
I was experimenting and playing with the largest cotton paper I have ever used— it was super yummy stuff– from a company in Italy that started making paper in the 1600’s which as a Canadian seems impossibly long ago.
As you can see in the collage above, I have placed the large cyanotype on the side of my hoop house- an exciting discovery this summer- because the wet paper sticks to the plastic, you can even take the hose to it for a final rinse and it dries in place and stays flat as it does.
I can’t remember how the idea started, but I decided I wanted to make this onto a silk scarf. I found a company in Montreal who can print onto many things ( my journals are made there too ).
This is Habotai silk.
There is something special about seeing an image that you made in this case with my collaborator, the summer sun, and then it appears at your front door in a box from across the country — the thrill of opening the box and holding the fabric for the very first time…nothing like it.
The first order sold out days after they arrived in December.
I am now playing and experimenting with other scarf designs and I can feel myself be drawn to this kind of exploration.
What are some experiences that you have had where one thing leads to another in your creative life? Whether that’s making dinner and using an ingredient that you tasted in a restaurant meal or using a colour in your knitting that you saw on a bloom at the park.
I would love to know: hello@Lise-Lotte.ca