Another sense of wedding

nuno felt dress: wool and silk

Project: Repurpose

Almost two years ago one of my clients was so excited contacting me, and she had an idea… She wanted me to repurpose her wedding dress that was sitting in the box for years. I think her excitement simply infected me and I said yes to her, let’s try this.

So the dress made its way to me over Atlantic. When I opened the big box, I had ambiguous feelings – fear to take the dress apart, excitement to repurpose it and…worry when I saw it was all synthetic and not silk as my client thought of it.

I don’t usually use anything synthetic in my pieces or projects, I don’t feel connected with the synthetics. And especially having to combine it with the natural materials… The other problem was that most of the fabric of the dress was not suitable for felting at all.

As the excitement and enthusiasm of the first moments faded away, I understood I could do nothing unless I build a connection with this fabric. I needed it to speak to me. There were dozen of times when I took it to my hands and then put it away. I took it apart, carded some fabric into fibers, and removed the embellishments to be felted on something I still didn’t know what. I was lucky to have such a wonderful client who understood my creative process and was ready to wait even for a year or more.

Concentrating my thoughts on my client, opened up my mind. Though the fabric was synthetic, it was a part of my clients image some years ago – I was sure this dress was soaking in most positive feelings, love and adoration during those times when my client was marrying a man she loved. It wasn’t just a piece of polyester to her. This was the point where the fabric could speak to me and I could listen. My work began.

It wasn’t all about felting, just a few pieces, it was more of interpretation in textiles. I applied several techniques and thought a lot about colors. I was sure the colors should be softening the feeling of synthetics and should be something that would look worth of a woman whatever her age would be. As the woman who decided to repurpose her wedding dress wants to cherish the things made of it for years or maybe a lifetime.

 

And…the best reward for this “communication” with the dress was my clients reaction – she loved every single piece. And I hope she is going to cherish it for years.

Photography

Whatever is your art or craft media, you will always turn to photography as the means to reflect your work to the world or even create a continuation of the thought of your work. That’s why I always considered it to be a very important aspect in one’s artistic life.

Not all of us of course have a professional photographer, professional equipment and studio, not to mention a few super models at hand to always present one’s work in the best manner. At least I don’t – just an improvised environment in an apartment, a tripod and remote control in my own hands and the same face all the time of which I really get bored and wished I had a couple of best friends – models nearby from time to time.  Anyway, on the other hand it’s sometimes the easiest option when you do everything by yourself. It’s just the maker who can really express what he meant with his work (or a real soul mate photographer who feels and sees the world the way you do and knows every corner of your soul, thus – your work too… But tell me how often do you meet such?  But… I am still dreaming of the photo shoots with some photographers I feel close to my soul and to have women I adore as my models… It’s nice to imagine).

I always regret when I don’t have enough time to picture all the work I do as I consider it to be a final act of my creation that materializes the image living in my mind. Or I’d better say – a final act that requires my own input as the very final act is the reaction of observers that the piece stimulates…

 

 

wedding dress (wool & silk)

 

   wool, silk & flax, eco dyed with vegetable plant dyes

White wedding

Autumn has traditionally been a season for weddings in our country. Perhaps that’s why I get most of custom orders for weddings in late August and September.

I have always admired the brides who are searching for something really original, even unusual, handmade and natural. Be it a dress or a wedding bouquet. I know there are tons of gorgeous and luxurious wedding gowns for lease in wedding salons, but… these dresses have always pushed me away with their synthetic fabrics, lack of uniqueness and handmade feeling. Especially when you try to imagine it used by a person for the celebration that is supposed to be the most honest, open, one of a kind in one’s life…

Feel felt felt feeling. Nuno felted wedding gown by Viltė Kazlauskaitė

 

It’s really nice to notice that there are more and more brides who take this natural and unique approach to their weddings. You might ask so where is that point of eco-friendliness if more and more brides would not lease a wedding gown in a salon for one day but would have it created just for her? Well, I think it would be much more eco-friendly to repurpose a wedding gown after the wedding to many useful and beautiful pieces of clothing or accessories or save that unique dress for the daughter or grand daughter compared to all chemical cleaning dresses in salons require.

 

Feel felt felt feeling. Nuno felted wedding gown by Viltė Kazlauskaitė

Anyhow, it’s all a question of choice. Every bride who chooses me to design a dress for her is very different and amazing in her own way. I see them prepare for one of the most important moments in their life and hear the story of how they came to this point of choosing this and not that. So with this post I wanted to make a mini overview of some important aspects for weddings when you choose to do it in a natural and unique way. And I’d like to look at our local artists and artisans this time.

 

Wedding rings. Adding something really dear to it, like a detail of fingerprints of your beloved one, choosing more organic shapes and details, putting a piece of simple beach stone that means something for you rather than diamonds, or putting a stone on the side that only you can see – all those little things make  huge difference…

 

by Jurgita Erminaitė Šimkuvienė

 

by Ugnė Blažytė

 

by Eglė Čėjauskaitė

 

 

by Jurgita Erminaitė Šimkuvienė

 

 

Flowers… the flowers I chose grow in our country – in a wild or in grandmothers’ gardens. They represent beauty, fragility, lightness of feminine nature.

 

White peonies

Heath

or even wild madder! (photo credit from Madara cosmetics)

 

I wish I could show you really unique and elegant shoes for the brides, designed by Lithuanian shoe designers, but… As every bride I met had most troubles finding shoes for her, I had the same trouble searching in the internet for our local shoe designers and.. I am afraid nothing really impressed me..or I was not lucky in my search. So I guess our brides will still have to be content with whatever they choose - high fashion shoes from Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik or Jimmy Choo; elegant dance shoes or…everything else, just waiting for a new generation of local shoe designers to grow up and knock us back.

 

Wedding photography… it’s for my next post.

 

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Ruduo – vestuvių metas nuo senų laikų. Galbūt todėl baigiantis vasarai ir prasidedant Rugsėjui gaunu daugiausiai užsakymų vestuvėms.

Visada žavėjausi nuotakomis, kurios planuodamos savo vestuves renkasi originalumą, netgi neįprastumą, natūralumą, tikrumą. Ar tai būtų vestuvinė suknelė, ar gėlių puokštė.

Mane visuomet atstumdavo saloninės nuomojamos vestuvinės suknelės. Taip, žinau, kad ten pilna labai ištaigingų ir gražių, puošnių suknelių. Bet jų dažniausiai sintetinės medžiagos, rankų darbo jausmo ir unikalumo trūkumas veja mane tolyn nuo jų, ypač kai įsivaizduoji, kad tokią suknelę moteris renkasi vilkėti tą savo gyvenimo dieną, kuri turėtų būti nuoširdžiausia, atviriausia, tikriausia, vienatinė jos gyvenime…

Ir tiesą pasakius džiugu stebėti, jog bėgant laikui tokių moterų, kurios pasirenka originalų, rankų darbo, natūralų kelią savo vestuvėms, daugėja. Galite paklausti, kur gi čia tas ekologiškumas, jei kiekviena moteris siūdinsis vestuvinę suknelę, o ne nuomosis. Bet aš manau, kad vestuvinės suknelės “perkūrimas” po vestuvių į daugelį kitų originalių ir mielų širdžiai aprangos detalių, aksesuarų ar kitų dalykų; ar galiausiai tokios vienetinės suknelės saugojimas savo dukteriai ar anūkei, yra daug ekologiškiau palyginus su visa chemija, kuri naudojama saloninių suknelių švarinimui ir atnaujinimui.

Žinoma, visa tai yra pasirinkimo reikalas. Kiekviena nuotaka, kuriai aš kūriau vestuvinę suknelę, skirtinga ir žavi kiekviena savo būdu. Aš matau, kaip jos ruošiasi vienai svarbiausių savo švenčių ir klausau jų istorijų, kaip jos priėmė sprendimą rinktis būtent tai, ką pasirinko. Šiuo įrašu dienoraštyje norėjau tiesiog turmpai apžvelgti keletą svarbių vestuvių aspektų, kurie buvo svarbūs ir mano sutiktom nuotakom. Ir norėčiau pasižiūrėti į mūsų vietinių kūrėjų ir vietinės gamtos kuriamus ir dovanojamus dalykus…

 

Vestuviniai žiedai. Maži dalykai turi didelę reikšmę. Mylimojo pirštų ar delno antspaudų detalė ant žiedo, jūros akmenėlis, kuris turi jauniesiems svarbią reikšmę, o ne deimantas, ar akmenėlis ten, kur jį mato tik mūvintis žiedą, organiškos formos, faktūros…

 

Lietuvoje augančios gėlės vestuvinei puokštei – balti bijūnai močiutės gėlynėlyje, laukiniai viržiai ar net lipikai iš pievų. Visi jie simbolizuoja moteriško prado grožį, trapumą ir stiprumą, lengvumą…

 

Labai norėjau surasti unikalius ir elegantiškus vestuvinius batelius, kurtus lietuvių batų dizainerių, bet…kaip ir visos mano sutiktos nuotakos turėjo daugiausiai problemų ieškodamos batelių, taip ir aš nesugebėjau internete rasti nieko tokio iš lietuvių meistrų, kas iš tiesų pakerėtų savo originalumu, elegantiškomis linijomis.. O galbūt man tiesiog nepasisekė ieškoti. Tad panašu, jog mūsų nuotakos turės tenkintis tuo, ką pasirinks – aukštosios mados atstovų nepriekaištingus batus (Christian Louboutin, Manolo Blahnik, Jimmy Choo), elegantiškus šokėjų batelius, ar…visa kita tol, kol užaugs nauja lietuvių batų dizainerių karta ir savo kūriniais tiesiog nustebins mus visus.

 

Vestuvių fotografija… palikime tai kitam įrašui. :)

Through other’s lens

I really love photography. And I keep on saying that perhaps when I get old I will have time to study it and understand it :) Perhaps.. But now I am enjoying looking through other’s lenses. I have so many favorite photographers, each of them so different and yet so me in one way or another.

I take my own photos with remote controler, and though I am just an intuitive photographer without any knowledge of what I am doing, expressing my pieces through photography is also very important to me, just like the same process of creating a piece. I believe that presenting a piece in photography is the continuation of your creative process, as well as respect to the piece created.

And it’s very interesting to see how others see my pieces through their lenses. It really gives you more feedback than one can expect to hear verbally spoken.

 

These are my nuno felted wrist warmers “Growing Spring on my skin” and nuno felted shawl used in a photoshoot by photographer Svetlana Batura.  A very sensual approach.

 

The following photos were made by photographer Eigirdas Scinskas – a bride was wearing my nuno felted wedding dress from so many yards of silk…

 

 

 

 

Natural lightness…

 

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Man patinka fotografija. Kartais sakau, jog kai pasensiu galbūt pagaliau atrasiu laiko perkąsti fotografiją ir suprasti, ką iš tiesų reikia daryti su fotoaparatu :) galbūt….

Bet kol kas aš mėgaujuosi žiūrėdama pro kitų objektyvo stiklą. Kiekvienas mano mėgstamas fotografas toks skirtingas ir tuo pačiu atrandantis atgarsį manyje.

Pati aš fotografuoju visiškai intuityviai, absoliučiai be jokių fotografijos žinių (deja), naudodamasi pulteliu, tačiau fotografinis savo kūrinių pateikimas man yra be galo svarbus. Tai yra tarsi tos pačios kūrybos tąsa ir pagarba kūriniui…

Visuomet labai įdomu pamatyti savo darbus kitų fotografų akimis – tai suteikia nepaprastai daug atgalinio ryšio, daugiau, nei galėtų kas pasakyti žodžiais…

Aukščiau pateiktos mano darbų nuotraukos dviejų skirtingų fotografų akimis – Svetlanos Baturos ir Eigirdo Scinsko. Svetlana savo fotosesijoje naudojo mano veltas riešines ir šalį – itin jausmingas, jautrus pateikimas… Eigirdas fotografavo vestuves, kuriose jaunoji vilkėjo mano veltą vestuvinę suknelę. Nepaprastas natūralus lengvumas…

 

P.S. My Facebook Fan page has moved to http://www.facebook.com/vilte.net

Mano gerbėjų puslapis Facebook’e persikraustė į http://www.facebook.com/vilte.net

Dunes. Dragonfly meadow. Weddings

My soul land – Curonian spit.
The brides who choose a very unique, natural and handmade look for their special day.  And feel so free like the dragonflies.
Brian Western: “Everything about these images evokes a sense of calm serenity--the felt is practically alive!”


 

 

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Mano sielos kopos.
Nuotakos, besirenkančios unikalų, natūralų, rankų darbo įvaizdį. Tokios laisvos lyg laumžirgiai…

White. Like 20 kg of snow in the Summer

White white and white. White is purity and innosence. White is kindness, wholeness and completion. White purifies your soul... like 20 kg of snow in the Summer...

I've been working a lot with white recently. Taking new photos of my white rug "Wind in the desert", felting a white christening outfit for a little girl and a white wedding dress for the "Bride of the Clouds"...

And dreaming white dreams... trying to purify my soul and heart from all the inquietudes it's got...

I miss snow in the Summer. (Ironically - I miss Summer blooming in the Winter...) I miss white all around me. Could you send me 20 kg of snow in the port?..

P.S. Discovering myself featured in Alcova Moderna was a pleasant surprise.