Personal Project Update: Silk Tapestry Tarot Pouch for Gaian Deck

Personal Project Update

Silk Tapestry Tarot Pouch

At the beginning of February, during the Imbolc season... a time when my personal crafting work sees an increase... I created a Silk Tapestry Table Pouch for my new tarot cards: the Gaian deck by Joanna Powell Colbert.

I had met the artist at SFBATS (San Francisco Bay Area Tarot Symposium) some years ago, was very excited about the unfolding of her deck and long awaited it was released in August when I was able to purchase it.

Charged by moonlight and sun around my birthday... cleansed & blessed by the Ancestors at Samhain... the deck longed to be used but waited on my altar until Imbolc when it was once again cleansed and charged. My first official card reading using my Eye spread saw the first 5 cards all majors. It was a BiG eventful reading. lol.

Living up here in the mountains where the celestial viewpoints are rather phenomenal, Twilight and the land around these parts is heavily influenced by the Sun. Oaks, Manzanita, Chaparral, Rosemary and many other sun loving allies prosper here.

In terms of astrology and relating tarot associations... The Sun and Strength (leo) cards are powerful energies and they have been strong spiritual teachers for me. Both of these major arcana cards 'showed up' in my Imbolc reading...

Taking their three main colors: red, yellow & orange and adding two more fire related colors: black & white + blue for sky... I choose my silk sari yarns carefully and 'wove' a a Silk Tapestry Table Pouch for my Gaian Deck.

The front of the tarot bag features a rich orange & red sun embellished with a golden face metal button... encircled by a ring of variegated sky blue... and surrounded by a white silk paired with white, black and red highlights.

The back panel of this table pouch carries the same white, black & red silk sari yarn but this time paired with a vibrant yellow which becomes the predominant color here... its richness offsets nicely with the night blue from the back side of the Gaian cards.

Rich earth yellow spiral buttons were chosen to enliven the back of the pouch & secure the flap into position. The flap itself is in a rich orange paired with the same white/black/red silk sari yarn and edged with the front panel color combo.

One can get an idea of how thick the silk tapestry work is... each panel is over 1/4" (3/16") thick of reclaimed raw silk sari yarns.

And here it is... the full view of the back... all closed up with the deck inside. The silk will safeguard & keep the energy of the deck intact in its new house. I'm quite pleased with the outcome...

If you'd like to see other Silk Tapestry Table Pouches I've made, click HERE to check them out in my Brizel Handcrafts' ArtFire Studio and HERE for sold work.

Personal project: Silk Tapestry Medicine Pouch

The month of August, being my birth month, is usually a time that I set aside to manifest personal projects. Typically the days are scorching hot and folks being on vacation, sales are quieter than other months of the year. It is ordinarily a perfect time to craft.

This year, however, is proving to be rather different all the way around. I have been busy reconfiguring all three of my online businesses... moved two over to ArtFire.com & I am attempting to learn the ropes there for an overall different experience and I have completely reorganized brizel4TheAnimals on Etsy.com. What keeps me there is my animal advocacy & marketing team... I am currently lining up 'all the ducks' for Team EFA's September Charity of the Month- Defenders of Wildlife- which organization I am responsible for nominating. My animals at home are in need of daily special care which requires me to push through personal growth issues and research late at night for appropriate homeopathic remedies. Twilight is happily producing apples, pears, plums, quinces, figs, olives which I am conservatively picking as I can... AND my sanity requires that I craft so that has to be built in as well :)

I celebrated my birth day with a full moon in Pisces which not only is out of the ordinary but is also my lunar return. Such a special occasion to have one's solar & lunar return on the same day. I could not let the 23-24-25 pass by without taking time to create something very unique.

Meet my new Silk Tapestry Table Pouch...

... a custom bag for my Medicine Cards, a set of animal totem illustrations by Angela Werneke, as presented by Jamie Sams and David Carson. The above shot shows one of their template cards sitting on top of my pouch to display the inspiration behind my color scheme & design.

In the past, I have always made custom divination bags with fabric and beads (you can see my portfolio on flickr & on the bottom left hand column of this blog) ... but my love of silk sari and banana silk yarns, as well as buttons, has had me 'hooked' in this technique for many years now... and I am delighted to continue my affair with such divine crafting materials.

In the Medicine Card tradition, when I did my first card spread, it was to find which animals are my lifetime totems. These are my animal guides... creatures that have selected me to learn and navigate the waters of life under their tutelage.

The front of my medicine table pouch is embellished with the first four directional totems... east, south, west & north...

FOX

CROW

DOG

SPiDER

The back of the Silk Tapestry Table Pouch has my second set of animal guides: above, below, right and left...

BEAR

SKUNK

DOLPHiN

SQUiRREL

And the interior features my ninth totem teacher, within...

BAT

and then there is a tenth guest... a representation of 'me' with Eagle, who soars the highest of all creatures and can deliver my prayers to the great spirits !

I began this pouch on full moon eve, August 23rd, and completed it by sundown the day after full moon climaxed on August 25th. My medicine Silk Tapestry Pouch spent that night and the two following nights moon bathing... so that each side would be 'charged' by the moonlight.

I am still soaking in this beautiful new creation !

RESOURCES

Medicine Cards

Of course, I want to thank the creators of the Medicine cards- whose images I have not shared here due to copyright, information about them can be found on Jamie Sams website HERE.

Silk Tapestry Table Pouches

Brizel Handcrafts has ready made Silk Tapestry Table Pouches which you can peruse by visiting my art studio on ArtFire.com. Click HERE and feel free to contact me for any custom work you'd like me to consider !

Brizel Handcrafts also makes animal totem Silk Tapestry Boxes... you can find these in my Etsy shop brizel4TheAnimals :)

Buttons & embellishments

The Animals Magic Shop & The Faerie Cupboard on Etsy are a fabulous resource for beautiful animal themed buttons. Lisa & Sky are valued members of Team EFA: artists helping animals. Visit their shops by clicking on their store names !

Beads

The hand painted crow bamboo bead was purchased through OutPostJewelry. Click HERE to visit Etsy shop.

ArtFire Collection: The Crescent Moon by MosaiCollage

Another celestial feature today... curated by MosaiCollage... THE CRESCENT MOON is a heavenly moonlit Collection of divine products...

THE CRESCENT MOON

In fact... there are so many delights here that as of today, some of the featured items above have already sold. Click HERE to visit today's yummy version of THE CRESCENT MOON Collection on ArtFire.com. So many lovelies that I personally enjoyed... for example, I lust for mocahete's copper & silver earrings...

I was over the moon to have one of Brizel Handcrafts' Silk Tapestry Table Pouches featured in this Collection...

"Brizel Handcrafts presents CRESCENT NEW MOON, a Silk Tapestry Table pouch and fiber art meditation bag for your spiritual sacred space. A perfect holder for those personal ceremony accessories, ritual altar items and divination tools... Crescent New Moon makes an ideal tarot card holder and dream journal keeper- a divine celestial gift for any occasion.

This unique Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouch featuring a crescent moon, is made of handcrafted white silk sari yarn with black & magenta accents and contoured in night blue. It is embellished with dark blue spiral vintage buttons at the back which secure its closure flap. Crescent New Moon measures approx: 7 1/2" height x 7" width finished size"

If you like this Silk Tapestry Table Pouch...

come see some of the others I've created !

Click HERE to visit my lovely ArtFire studio

Brizel Handcrafts :)

But before you do... feast your eyes on this beauty... created by MosaiCollage the curator of the above Collection:

Southwest Pottery in the Moon Light

A gorgeous "mosaic made with ceramic and stained glass. The moon, stars, and pottery are tiles I fired in my kiln. It's backed on MDF (medium density fiber board) so it won't warp in wet conditions. I've sealed both the front (the grout) and the back. This mosaic measures 9 1/4" X 11" and comes ready to hang."

Personally, I think its a magical piece... not only do i love the composition but look at the iridescence !!! It reminds me of a scene from Paulo Coelho's The Alchemist, a book that I adore and love to reread on occasion...

MosaiCollage lives "in sunny Tucson, Arizona where I spend lots of time making mixed media mosaics, sun catchers, and wind chimes, including my own hand made tiles. I use glass, wood, ceramic, polymer clay, shrinkable plastic, paint, metal, beads, charms and other found objects. I sometimes grout my mosaics, or I pour resin over them, or use nothing but the objects. I take great care in making my mosaics and want to make all my customers happy with their experience shopping here."

DO take a moment to visit MosaiCollage studio

Click HERE to see more delightful artisan mosaics !

ArtFire Collection: A Spirally Sort of Collection by bluetina

I love spirals... for one, they are magical !

Their shape draws on one of the most primitive symbols in our existence... the circle being the first and foremost. It is, in essence, the motion of life itself and in petroglyphic times was one of the depictions for the sun.

ArtFire Collection extravaganza continues and today's offering is themed around spirals... A Spirally Sort of Collection curated by bluetina...

A SPiRALLY SORT OF COLLECTION

Feast your eyes on such marvelous things... there are too many marvels here to only have one favorite... what's a girl gotta do ? I especially adored signsofspirit's Spiral of Newgrange... a triple celtic knot carved from red cedar... in fact I have to admit I personally lust for something out of their studio... sigh.

Check out A SPIRALLY SORT OF COLLECTION on ArtFire.com HERE because then you will be able to gaze on all these lovely products and visit each item & studio to your heart's content.

I am so grateful to have been included in this Collection, one of Brizel Handcrafts' Silk Tapestry Table Pouches...

... "Winter Spiral, a Silk Tapestry Table pouch and fiber art meditation bag for a spiritual sacred space. A perfect holder for those personal ceremony accessories, ritual altar items and divination tools... Winter Spiral makes an ideal tarot card holder and dream journal keeper- a divine elemental gift for any occasion.

This unique Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouch featuring a spiral, is made of handcrafted variegated banana silk yarn in reds, cinnamon browns & vanilla creams; contoured by primary colored silk sari red yarn. The design, colors and motifs have been reversed en verso. It is embellished with large vanilla chocolate spiral buttons at the back which secure its closure flap."

I immensely enjoy making Silk Tapestries... please drop by my ArtFire studio, Brizel Handcrafts, to see the products that are available for purchase and thanks so much for the lovely feature !

Of course, it was my turn to rummage for spirals and the destination for my curiosity was none other than the curator's studio, bluetina...

Blue Murano Glass Silver Sterling Cage Earrings

"Vivid, iridescent blue Italian Murano glass beads in sterling silver cages. The sterling silver chains below hold Swarovski crystals in complementary colours that sparkle in the light. The ear wires and all other components are sterling silver. These earrings are most unusual ! They are the only pair there will ever be, so grab them while you can !"

Tina is a Britisher living in sunny Spain... "I use silver, copper, gold filled, vermeil, semi precious beads, freshwater pearls, Swarovski crystals, porcelain, good quality glass and other interesting things! I enjoy finding new combinations and ways of putting things together. I don't start with a drawing - the pieces just seem to grow by themselves into what they want to be ! My little slogan is "I never make the same thing twice!" which means that all my pieces are unique, never to be repeated and one of a kind."

Hop on over to Tina's ArtFire studio to peruse through her work-

its fun, its colorful, itsssss bluetina !

an introduction to... Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouches

Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouches are handcrafted & individually unique pouches made with silk yarn and/or banana silk yarn.

Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouches are bags created to store something extra special...

... perhaps for housing some divination tools or Tarot cards;

or... for some other kind of ceremonial tools;

or... maybe for a rosary or prayer beads; fine jewelry or even a pearl necklace;

or... perhaps for your personal diary or poetry book;

or... for some irreplaceable photographs;

or... for a special ancestor heirloom or keepsake...

A table pouch is for storing whatever feels sacred & important to you !

When considering a table pouch... think about what you’d like to put in it... for example... if its a tarot deck then will it be in its original box or wrapped in a cloth ? would you like to have the original tarot booklet stored in there ? or perhaps a notebook ?

Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouches have been made bigger to accommodate those types of things :) They are very thick and have no sides... so their interior space is smaller than the external finished size.

Inspired originally by ancient rug bags, Brizel Silk Tapestry is a technique that was developed to create woven rug-like thickness. Since I work in spiral formation, I adapted upon crochet... each thick silk yarn loop must be pulled tightly before the next one can be made... making the creation of a Brizel Silk Tapestry piece both a conscientious & effortful act. A Brizel table pouch typically takes around 10hrs to complete.

The silk yarn that is used to create Brizel’s Silk Table Pouches is made from reclaimed silk threads and loom warps, left overs from a silk garment factory... which are reclaimed and hand spun into this gorgeous yarn by Nepalese and Himalayan craftswomen. Some of the pouches also have some banana silk- a silk like yarn made from banana fibers - yet another lovely eco-friendly product !

Brizel Silk Table Pouches have a gorgeous colorful design at the front: usually a sun, a moon, or an all-seeing eye... sometimes a large spiral motif or a yoni gateway. Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouches have been created to store something extra special and whatever you decide to put in it, a table pouch will keep those things safe - out of sunlight and out of immediate reach- inside a thick silk tapestry bag which can be displayed on a coffee table, mantle piece, bed side table or altar space.

The pouches close at the back with a flap and are secured with two large colorful vintage buttons, often with spiral motifs. The spiral reflects the numenous nature of life, mirroring the direction in which the pouches are made. Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouches are very thick, like a rug bag, substantial in weight and often weighing between 150 and 200 grams !

Each Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouch has my special Brizel logo: a lilac faux swede label with the Brigit cross, rising sun and full moon, to assure you that this pouch is handmade by me. Please dry clean only !

If you are interested in purchasing an original Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouch... please visit the Brizel Handcrafts store !

ALL iMAGES designs CONTENT

©2008-2009 Nicole Planchon /

Brizel Handcrafts ALL rights reserved

Etsy TREASURY FEATURE 8/24 - 8/26

An ECO ETSY team member, Moon Beads, created a TREASURY on Treasury West entitled "CELESTiAL THiNGS"... and featured one of my Brizel Silk Tapestry Table Pouches which can be seen below on the upper left corner !

THANKS so much Moon Beads !