Monday, September 26, 2011

Luminous Mandala Class and More

Diane Tibbitts and I have 9 people enrolled in our Luminous Mandala Class.  In the class we use the Judith Cornell book, "Mandala:  Luminous symbols for Healing" in which class participants learn to draw healing mandalas on black paper using the scale of light technique for illuminating their drawings. In the first class we did Exercise 2, Expanding the Light Within, from Chapter 1 in the book.  This exercise helps participants spiral inward, open thier hearts to unconditional love, and release fear.  Judith Cornell says  breaking through the inner barrier to reality will enable the participant to experience balance, wholeness, and spiritual light within themselves.  They are instructed to start at the center of the paper and place a white dot and begin drawing a scale of light with a white pencil.  Then they are ask to repeat the scale of light and change its size and shape in reponse to intuitive insights gained in the meditation before the exercise.  One of the participants, Jennifer Efusia, gave us permission to share a drawing she did in reponse to this exercise. 

Melissa York had contributed her latest mandala design which she generated on the computer.  It will be up in my mandala store on the website as a free download in a couple of days so you can print it out.  It's title is "Getting Closer".

Holdiday Idea

If you are looking for a unique holiday gift, go to my Pressed Flower Art Store and look at the Petal Girl Print Cards.  I made the original designs using real flower petals and leaves.  I have sold several boxes of them and have received very positive feedback from the buyers.  I sell the cards in as assorted box of 6 or 6 of one kind.  The assorted box of six has been the biggest seller.  If you live in the area and want to avoid shipping, call or e-mail me with your order and we can arrange for you to pick them up at my house in Medford.  hummingbird710@msn.com
541-608-9238

Saturday, September 17, 2011

Framing While Waiting

I need to leave the wedding bouquet at the graphic designers until next Wednesday.  So yesterday, my husband Buzz and I sealed my "Fairy Garden" picture in a method I learned from the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild.  Marie Ann Robinson and Pat Smith who are WWPFG members were especially helpful to me in learning this process.  Since I injured my finger last week I needed some help from Buzz.  We sandwiched UV glass, the pressed flower picture and myler and sealed it with aluminum tape and added to the back side of the picture silica gel packets and oxygen absorbers before the final sealing.  It was quite a relief we did this as this has been such a missing peice for me and has prevented me from wanting to sell my original pressed flower work.  Next I will put a matt in the frame with glass and the sanwich and put bracketts to hold the sandwich down and then back it with brown paper.  Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!  This will keep the picture much fresher and the flowers will keep their color longer.   More later.....

Tuesday, September 13, 2011

Next Step/ Scan with Graphic Designer

Today I am taking the wedding bouquet design to graphic designer Rene Childs at Harmonic Designs so she can scan it.  That way I will be able to offer giclee prints for sale if any of Shelley's friends or family want to purchase them.  The next step will be framing.

Friday, September 9, 2011

Finished Wedding Bouquet Design

The design is now completed and I must move to the next step which is to put the picture in a box with some silica crystals for 8-12 hours so the plant material will fully dry.  This will preserve the freshness as moisture is the enemy of pressed flower art.  So I will do this and gather some of the extra flowers and send them to my neice, Shelley, in case she might want to make something with them.  So when this dries an I glue down any petals that stick up after the drying.......... I will let you know the next step in my next blog. 

Thursday, September 8, 2011

Wedding Bouquet Progress

Last night I made some progress on my bouquet design.  I finished putting the flowers and leaves on the outside edges of the design and began to fill in the flowers in the middle of the right side.  Hopefully today I will be able to finish the design.  The hardest part for me is having the patience to glue down small individual parts of the flowers.  As it comes together it gets to be more fun as the design comes more into focus.  Thanks for sharing this process with me and there will be another picture tomorrow. 

Wednesday, September 7, 2011

Fall: Time to Pull In and Create....Wedding Bouquet

Summer has been a whirl of traveling and social events and I realize it is now time to pull in and create.  One of the most memorable of the social events was my neice's wedding in Seattle.  She is my only neice and a very special person so I was so happy to see her marry a wonderful man and create a time to celebrate and see relatives I hadn't been in touch with for several years.  For her wedding present I am pressing her wedding bouquet and framing it.  It has been quite a project as it was a beautiful big bouquet with lots of flowers.  The gerbera diasies have taken the longest to dry out and yet they came out looking very colorful.
The bouquet was originally mostly pink but in the pressing the hydrangeas turned a nice lavender color and the gerbera daisies, a deep violet.  I am beginning with gluing down the stems and outer small flowers and the largest flowers.  Then I will add the flowers in the middle.  There is a picture displayed of where I am right now.  I will post more pictures later.

The Mandala:  Luminous Symbols for Healing class that Diane and I will be starting Sept. 14 is full and we have one on the waiting list.  We are both excited about teaching this as we have done the process ourselves and have seen some amazing results in our lives.

Well, must return to my studio........

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Pressed Flower Art Sale, Sept. 3

Pressed Flower Art Sale:  Petal Girl Print Cards, Bookmarks and Laser Prints

Where:  Jacksonville, Or., Corner of 5th and C St. (Directly across
              from old courthouse.)

When: Sept. 3, Saturday, 9:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. 

To view the petal girl designs used for cards and laser prints go to my website:


and click on the Pressed Flower Art Store.  Scroll down and you will see the lovely petal girl designs.
The original designs were created with real pressed flower petals.  I took an on-line class from the World Wide Pressed Flower Guild and learned the technique from a teacher in India.

For further information call or e-mail me, Janet London.
541-608-9238