I have had the time of my life in Italy and I am very sad to leave. I have had such fun exploring Italy and photographing doors. Quirky, I know, but hey, someone’s got to do it. So, expect to see lots of Italian doors and gelato spoons appear in my art. It is not just Italy that has made it wonderful, but the great friends who have come along for the exploration!
One of my terrific friends gave me a farewell gift that is one of the best gifts I’ve ever gotten! She made it herself and it is a book, which she is a wonderful book binder, but she didn’t stop there, she incorporated felting and beading as well, which I gave her the fever to do. She thanked me for opening creative doors for her that she wouldn’t have gone through had she not met me. She made a virgin page (page not cut on the front edge: like two pages stuck together) in the book with an inscription and an original print she made of a white door (you don’t see those much in Italy!) that we saw after our long walk up and back down from Piazzale Michelangelo that overlooks Florence. (This is where the background photo of the Duomo in Florence on my personal blog came from. But I digress!) So, I had to decide how to open the pages and reveal them. Inside was expressed her gratitude for the doors I’ve opened for her.
The page spread Trinia did for me
She has opened many for me and when I said, “hey what if…”, she said, “yeah, and then you could…” and it went spiraling out of control from there! I have actually left her house and 2 minutes down the road had to call and tell her what idea I just came up with and then her expand it and then just before getting home I called again with even more ideas. She is a great sounding board and creative mind. Not that my other friends haven’t given great ideas and input as well, but she and I just seem to feed each other!
I was so excited last week when she finished a necklace that was completely her own design and it was so creative, beautiful and unique. I asked her if she could have imagined doing it a year ago when she first decided to make jewelry after I reeled her in for a first Scambio Creativo class in beading. Hopefully she will take some nice photos and send me one or put some up on the Scambio Creativo website so you can all see it, although she may want to wait until after the soon to be recipient actually gets it!
I will have such fun with my new Doorways book and will use it as an artistic journal as I explore Italian doors in my art now instead of just my photos on my hard drive! Every time that I see it I will be reminded of our great fun together in Italy from the yarn that she bought at the yarn factory, to the way we had fun talking about how to felt, what would happen if we used felting and non-felting yarns, to making books, to the beading and bead buying on Murano, and so much more all wrapped up in a beautiful book!
Beaded book closure
And I was thrilled when she gave me a mini book as a charm swap! In that one she put tiny photos of doors from Venice! What beautiful reminders to keep me inspired for years!
Thanks to all of you who have opened doorways for me and I know that we will continue to open them for each other even if we can only do it via the internet and swapping long distance!
Grazie Mille!!!!
Now for some more photos!!!
Front of Door Book closed
Back of book
