tea towell

Folly Cove Designers and the Sarah Elizabeth Shop

| ehpyle
folly cove solomon's seal
Solomon Seal by Margaret Nelson. From the Cape Ann Museum.

One of the places I had planned to visit during my month on Boston’s north shore was the Cape Ann Museum. The Cape Ann Museum holds the largest collection of work by the Folly Cove Designers, a group of local designer-artisans who produced stunning lino-cut block prints from 1938-1969.

Round Robin by Eleanor Curtis
Round Robin by Eleanor Curtis. From the Cape Ann Museum.

Led by children’s book author and illustrator, Virginia Lee Burton, the Folly Cove designers printed and sold many household textiles like placements, table runners, and napkins. Originals have become quite collectible.

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Gulls by Lee Kingman Natti. From the Cape Ann Museum.

The Folly Cove designers’ work is vibrant and dynamic and filled with inspiration from local nature – New England plants, birds,  lighthouses, and fishermen. The balance of design and detail is mesmersizing.

Conventional Flower by Louise Kenyon. From the Cape Ann Museum.
Conventional Flower by Louise Kenyon. From the Cape Ann Museum.

When I showed up at the Cape Ann Museum, only to discover it closed for renovation until late August, I was disappointed to say the least. But lucky for me, I came across the Sarah Elizabeth Shop, in nearby Rockport.

Sarah Elizabeth Shop 3

The Sarah Elizabeth Shop is the inheritor of the Folly Cove Designers. It was founded in the early 1970’s by Sarah Elizabeth Halloran, a long time member of the Folly Cove Designers guild, and has been passed down twice, first to Isabel Natti, and later to the current proprieter, Julia Garrison who continues to print and sell Folly Cove, Halloran’s, Natti’s, and her own designs. (You can read a more complete history of the store on the website.)
Sarah Elizabeth Shop 2

It’s a charming shop packed with locally produced pillows, table runners, placements, cards, and more, all printed with original artwork, using the antique Acorn press used by the Folly Cove designers. Designs range from bold and playful nautical New England themes, to softer, more abstract repeating prints on natural linen.

Sarah Elizabeth shop printing blocks

What a thrill it was to peruse all these wonderful prints. What fun it as to see the linoleum blocks lined up along the wall. Of course I came home with more than a few.

from sarah eliz shop

If you’re far away and fear you’ll never make it near Rockport, Massachusetts, don’t fret! The Sarah Elizabeth shop also sells printed textiles via etsy. So no matter where you are, you can procure yourself a piece of New England art for the home.

Printed beets tea towel giveaway.

| ehpyle

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Last summer, I was obsessed with beets: Growing them, photographing them and eating them. So, its no shock that I used them as an inspiration for one of my summer printing projects.

To make these tea towels, I carved a couple of beet stamps out of  “speedy carve” material, cut the “leaves” off from the beet part, and then used water soluble fabric inks to stamp each section separately.  I printed golden beets, beet colored beets and a few beets with twisty trailing roots.

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Like my other printing projects from the summer of 2013, I gave most of them away, so it was a surprise when I found this “bonus” tea towel, left over from last summer’s printing spree, and stashed in with my printing supplies.

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I’m not sure if I’ll revisit this project in the next few months, or try something new, but I’m thrilled to have found this ‘bonus’ tea towel and thrilled to be giving it away! I’ll send this last beet- stamped tea towel to a randomly drawn winner. To enter to win this 100% linen, hand printed tea towel, please leave a comment below. Since there’s a holiday weekend coming up (in the USA atleast) I’ll randomly select a winner next Friday, July 11. If I don’t actually know you in person or Facebook, please make sure you include your email address in the comment form so I can contact you. (It won’t appear online.) I’m pretty sure the competition will be sparse so give it a try!  I can promise you it’s really fun to win a giveaway, no matter what the stakes.

 

P.S. Looking at this now, makes me dream of the beets of last summer. Sigh.

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Etsy Love: Giardino

| ehpyle

This is a blog about making things – things I make and things other people make, books about making things, blogs about making things, and of course, handmade things themselves.

So its inevitable that I will post some of my favorite etsy stores – artists and artisans that inspire and delight. We’ll call this category etsy love, even if a few might not be etsy merchants or artists.

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I’ll start with Giardino, purveyor of hand printed, hand sewn table linens and pillows, among other things. I have loved this etsy shop for some time. I have even been inspired to dabble in hand stamping on fabric myself. (More on that another time.) Somehow, I feel she gets the scale, color and patterns just right. Sigh. Etsy love indeed.

Giardino etsy store

*** all photos in this post by Giordino.. of course!