Oh my, such a wonderful theme for the Around the World on Wednesday Blog Hop this month. Welcome, friend to the market place and all the texture that it brings with it. With so many stalls, sounds and products from all over the world, this theme had my mind bouncing all over the place with excitement.
If you haven’t been around the world with us before, we are a group of Stampin’ Up! demonstrators representative of all the global Stampin’ Up! markets. Our group was formed by Angie McKenzie who keeps us inspired with fun themes. We hop on the 2nd Wednesday of each month, although in different time zones. I’m in Melbourne, Australia and it’s 9pm on Wednesday over here when this blog hop goes live.
My favourite type of market is a good old country, craft market with lovely handmade products and baked goods. There’s something welcoming about entering there and finding families together, browsing through stalls.
Today, however, my projects are taking me back to market places in India where I have visited many times. These markets are like no other. The riot of colour from the beautiful fabrics and costume jewellery, brass decor, the crowds (not my favourite), noise, smells of curry and some seriously good coffee, uneven footpaths make for some vivid memories.
When you visit a market in India, you will notice the many stalls which sell brightly coloured clothes with many specializing in sarees. These 6 metre lengths of silk or georgette which are simply draped around your body (quite adeptly), are adorned with gold stitching and more intricate beaded work. My mum used to wear sarees to church, although these would be the much simpler style without all the ornate work. The gold embroidered silk sarees were kept for celebratory occasions such as weddings and Christmas. There was always a new one each time.
Saree shopping was always interesting because there would be some intense haggling going on. Shopkeepers see a tourist and bump their prices and of course after much negotiation the price drops. I’ve tried to depict the texture of a beautiful silk saree on my projects today with the colour gradation resembling a ‘shot’ saree. All I remember of a ‘shot’ saree was that the colour kept changing so I had to do a bit of Googling to find out how it is created. The saree is made up of threads of colour that are so small that the main colour changes depending on the angle you look at it.
To create the ‘shot’ look, I took a piece of Whisper White cardstock and using my sponge brayer, I added the various colours. Brayering the colours created a smooth finish to depict the softness of the silk. First was Magenta Madness, then Highland Heather, Gorgeous Grape and a little bit of Blackberry Bliss right at the bottom. I wasn’t sure whether to leave it like this but I felt it needed a bit of a yellow so I added the Mango Melody and blended it in.
Next I wanted to create the beautiful ornate, gold embroidered borders which are on sarees. I ran the bottom section of my sponged panel through the Tasteful Textile Embossing Folder for the texture on these embroidered panels which feel quite thick and heavy. Then I added some gold embossing using the mask which created a really lovely detailed embroidered look. To complete my border panel, I added a decorative border from the Ornate Borders dies in Gold Foil which was perfect for my Eastern look.
To create the tassel, I untied the gold cord and put several strands together adding a Gilded Gem in the centre.
This card just had to be a wedding card with all the gold detail and I chose the sentiment from the Peaceful moments stamp set.
A wedding card needs a gift and the Gold Mini Pizza Box was perfect to decorate with my theme. A gift card would fit nicely in this which would make a lovely coordinated set for a special couple. The band across the centre was die cut from the Stitched Lace dies and I fussy cut around one of the hearts in the Ornate Border Dies for the centre.
I hope you have enjoyed the projects I have shared with you today and your trip from Australia to the markets of India! Thank you for taking the time to visit me today.
Next on our blog hop is Cheryll Miller. You can view her her beautiful work by clicking on the Next Blog button. To browse through all the market stalls make sure to follow the hop right through for lots of inspiration.
Rochelle Laird-Smith – AU (you are here)
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Beautiful colours Rochelle!!!
STUNNING Rochelle! I adore your projects, those colours are amazing together and really does look like silk with the gold decorations! Beautiful. xx
Oh wauw! The colors are just popping! I love it!
Oh my … You have just taken me back to my many visits to Indian Markets. The explosion of colour always astounded me and you have absolutely nailed this in your creations. I adore the colours that you have captured here and the combination with the Gold and embossing. Thank you so much for taking me back to those travels of mine. Very fond memories xx
Stunning color combo and textures!
Oh dear … These saturated colors .. this incredible oriental atmosphere … I love it! It makes you want to dance and wear a sari!
Wow! You really captured the Sari and Indian Market!! Beautiful colors & embossing. Such a special gift!
Totally gorgeous!!! I love your color choices and the idea of an Indian market is fabulous.
Rochelle, my jaw literally DROPPED when I saw your projects. The richness of color, the mix of textures…absolutely stunning. I would love to visit an Indian Market someday.
Truly AMAZING!!! Thanks so much for the visit to an Indian Market!!! It was a spectacular trip full of amazing images and feels and your projects totally represented such! x