Felines, science and wristlets: A conversation with requited love

Hello ladies,

I had a chance to chat with fellow Philadelphian, Reesha, about her creative endeavors and her shop, requited love. Our conversation included talk of purses, cats, rotary phones, bees, thrift shops, science, and baked goods. We will explore some of her versatile designs and get acquainted with her feline companions.

Fred Astaire prepares for an afternoon of sewing.

Diana: When did you learn to sew? At what point did you

venture into making accessories?

Reesha: My granny taught me how to hand-sew when I was very small, and among my first projects were handmade clothing for the tooth fairy. I had written her a letter to ask if she was about Barbie’s size (she was) so I would use my dolls as dress-forms and make little fur-lined coats with teeny snaps and wrap dresses. I’ve always loved making small precious things, and as an adult, that brought me to accessories.

I took an accessories design elective in college where I fell in love with sewing on an industrial machine. I was a graphic design major and my fashion classmates would comment on the “graphic” style of my work. I made a handbag entirely out of zippers… with no closure. I still like to bring subtle tongue in cheek humor to my work, like using rotary phone fabric for a smartphone case

pink rotary phone ipop tech case

Diana: I think that fabric typifies my relationship with technology!

What are some of your hobbies and interests other than

sewing? How do they inspire the creations in your shop?

Reesha: I love science! I am working on a Biology degree and hope to (some day soon!) become a middle school science teacher. I think the science comes through in my fabric choices- most everything I make has some kind of flora or fauna on it.

golden rose ipop glasses case

opinionated owls two-zip wristlet

I’m a huge fan of sea-life and pollinators.

turquoise octopus anchors away zip

Recently my boyfriend and I collaborated on a project where we made flower presses to raise money to support research concerning our nation’s failing bat and bee populations.

bats and bees small flower press

Besides being a naturalist, I’m a vegetarian, a bicyclist, and a vegan baker.

Diana: Flora and fauna are popular with readers of painted Lady fingers, as are baked goods. If I walk by and smell cupcakes, you may hear a knock on your door.

You feature some pretty vintage fabrics in your designs. Do

you find inspiration from retro looks and fashions of past

decades?

Reesha: My first foray into buying my own clothes was in high school, and I quickly learned the thrifting was the way to go. I grew up in the suburbs and we would take the train in to Philly, find our way to South Street and get lost in the two floors of clothing at Thrift for AIDS.

As a seamstress, I was able to alter things to fit, and I was quickly enraptured by the thrill of the hunt. I loved the surprises I would uncover, and the patterns I would shock myself by being drawn to- insanely patterned floral party dresses are a lot easier on the eyes in a vintage palette!

retro floral checkbook cover

I still like strange combinations and surprises; you can see it most in my two-zip wristlets. I lay out all of my fabrics just to see who jumps out as an oh-so obvious odd couple. Then I choose the lining for the pocket. That’s where my favorite secrets are kept. I still like the linings to coordinate, but you don’t have to see them for more than a moment, so they can be seriously wild pattern combinations.

bluebird heart two-zip wristlet

Diana: I think it's one of the qualities that really attracts me to your work. There's obviously some whimsy in residence in your sewing room!

Which of your accessories do you end up using the most?

Reesha: My tastes are pretty simple when it comes to handbags- I require something big enough to fit all the necessities, but small enough to wear tucked under my arm so I feel safe wandering in our fair city. I have a wristlet for going out, but for everyday, I need a shoulder bag that stays in place while I ride my bike.

deer floral handbag

Being a maker of things, I end up keeping quite a few for myself. I use one of my tech cases for my camera and a loopzip to protect my cell phone’s touch screen. I have two glasses cases, one for my sunglasses and one for goggles for my bio lab- that case is an insanely realistic opossum print fabric. I am one of the few people in the world who thinks opossums are cute!

Diana: Opossums are adorable! I've always hoped one would pop out and greet me the way other animals seem to!

Speaking of fauna a little closer to home, I know you have a bit of a cat fancy. Can you tell us a little about your feline companions?

Reesha: My boyfriend and I have four perpetual kittens. Here’s the rundown:

Vibrissa: tough as nails, built like a brick house. She has had three lives so far: “Bobby Sue” as part of the famous South Philly Home Depot cat colony, ruled our backyard for 5 years as “Scootch,” before finally coming inside. She's missing a canine tooth, fearful of strangers, and impossible to capture on film.

Moonunit: the alpha-female. She sprung from a pet-shop at 12 weeks old, has no manners and is insatiably curious. She especially loves stinky things, like the bottoms of shoes and boys in bands. Her appetite is never-ending. She moves like a monkey and she rules with an iron paw.

Moonunit conquers the fuzzy blanket.

Fred Astaire: our handsome man, the only true lover. He showed up on our doorstep one day, scrawny, dirty, and cuddly. He has a high-quality patented move where he maintains eye contact while twisting 180 degrees and landing with a thud just within reach. He has a voice like a canary, yet he's soft as a bunny.

Violet and Fred Astaire take note.

Violet: a.k.a. Kitten Grayskull, the great uniter. She was abandoned as a kitten in our yard, an orange striped cat wearing a sooty grey body stocking. With great patience, she has managed to get Vibrissa to play and Fred to bathe her… She’s still working on Moon.

Violet displays her determination.

Violet and Fred Astaire put their feet together.

Diana: I think Violet and Fred are hinting that it's time for me to walk back to my home in our fair city. Thank you so much, Reesha, for sharing your work, your inspiration and the stories of your felines in residence.

Stop by Reesha's etsy shop, requited love, to see a greater assortment of her work. For the next week, readers of painted Lady fingers will receive 10% off all items in her shop with code: love10.

Happy painting, ladies!

Get Festive Giveaway!

Hello ladies,

Come join in celebrating the winter holidays at painted Lady fingers with the Get Festive Giveaway!

Let's take a look at the beauty gift pack one lucky winner will receive:

The entire BB Couture Christmas Collection of eight sparkling polishes.

A paint-by-numbers songbird wristlet from requited love.

Made from Earth natural skin care:

Organic Lip Balm, Three Berry Organic Face Serum and Green Tea Toxin Cleanser.

BB Couture For Men: Silver Balls, Blue Christmas.

BB Couture For Men: Roasted Nuts, Santa's Sak.

BB Couture: Icicle, Plums & Sugar.

BB Couture: Ride My Sleigh, Santa Baby.

A hand made, double zip wristlet from requited love on etsy.

Made from Earth: Green Tea Toxin Cleanser.

Made from Earth: Three Berry Organic Face Serum.

Made from Earth: Organic Lip Balm.

The items pictures were sent to me for consideration. The winner will receive her prizes directly from the giveaway sponsors. Many thanks to Overall Beauty, requited love and Made from Earth for participating!

The Get Festive Giveaway! is open internationally for followers and e-mail subscribers. The contest runs through the end of the day January 7th. To keep this simple, I am willing to count the date as the last available time zone worldwide. As long as it is January 7th somewhere on the planet, you may still enter.

Here's how to enter:

Mandatory:

1) Become a follower or e-mail subscriber of painted Lady fingers. If you are currently a follower or subscriber, that certainly counts! Please let me know in the comments which option you choose for keeping up with painted Lady fingers. For example: I follow via Google Friend Connect or I subscribe via e-mail. Be specific. I check entries very carefully.

If you follow via Google Friend Connect, log into the proper account when you leave your comment. If you follow via Google Friend Connect, your account has to have some public aspect. It is okay if you don't follow publicly, but there needs to be some signs of humanity on your profile page. If you subscribe via e-mail, your e-mail address must be confirmed through feedburner. If you have never received an e-mail related to painted Lady fingers' blog posts, you do not have a confirmed account.

2) Include your e-mail with your entry to qualify. If you forgot to write your e-mail in with your contest entry, leave me another comment with your e-mail address.

Both 1 & 2 together = 1 entry.

Optional extra entries. There are lots this time!

3) Let me know: What other BB Couture polishes (aside from the Christmas Collection) are on your wish list? You can browse the full catalog of nail color at Overall Beauty. 1 entry.

4) What is your favorite item from requited love? 1 entry.

5) What other Made from Earth products are you most interested in? 1 entry.

6) Like Made from Earth on Facebook. 1 entry.

7) Blog about the contest in a post or add contest info to your sidebar. I will definitely count your entry if your blog is not written in English. I will also count your entry if your blog is just getting started and has a small number of followers. These extra entries are meant to be inclusive and fun. Please provide a link. 2 entries. If you use one of my contest photos, add another entry. Please mention that you used a photo.

8) Tweet about the contest. Only once, please. Here is a tiny url for tweeting: http://tinyurl.com/233ja9p. Please provide twitter user name. 1 entry.

9) Have painted Lady fingers on your blogroll or add painted Lady fingers. Please provide a link if I haven't already commented on your blog. Otherwise please remind me. I want to be sure to count the entry even if painted Lady fingers has been on your blogroll for a long time. If you have a nail polish blog and you would like to be on my blogroll, please e-mail me. 1 entry.

10) In appreciation, I am going to add an extra entry for those who comment regularly on non-giveaway posts. I do enjoy reading your feedback! Thank you! Not to worry, I am very inclusive with this extra entry. 1 entry.

You are welcome to put all your entries in one comment or return to the contest post with comments for each entry. Either way works for me. Your entries don't have to be sequential. Enter in any way you like whenever you like before the end of the day January 7th.

Feel free to enter this giveaway even if you have won recently. If a little extra good fortune comes your way, you deserve it!

Best of luck, ladies!

Cats, owls and tea: A conversation with Sarada

Hello ladies,

I recently had the pleasure of talking with the artist Sarada over a pot of Earl Grey tea. Come enjoy our meanderings about Halloween, owls, cats, ghost stories, Alice in Wonderland and, of course, nail polish!

Shinobi helps get us in the Halloween spirit.

Diana: Much of your art focuses on Halloween themes. Can

you tell us about your fascination with the holiday?

Sarada: Since my birthday is about a week after Halloween

(Nov. 8) it has always been a doubly festive time of year for

me, when the temperatures cool down and everything has

that wonderful haunted feeling.

Forest of Eyes (original painting).

I grew up watching Hammer horror movies on Saturday

afternoons and just loving dark and Halloweeny things --

I always decorate year-round with things I buy at Halloween

time. I'm always using Halloween plates and a Halloween
mug or making dresses from Halloween fabric.

The Owl and the Pussycat went to Tea (print).

I didn't start doing paintings with that theme until about ten

years ago when I thought about my interest in turn of the

century Halloween postcards and chose to paint for my own

amusement -- using images especially of owls and cats,

girls in witch hats, and pumpkin men having tea.

Diana: Your paintings are very imaginative and often

fantastical. Do everyday happenings show up in your work?

Sarada: I usually paint straight from my imagination with

idealized remembrances of what things look like -- but

sometimes things from nature will inspire me. Even if I can't

get a picture of flora or fauna in its natural environment, I'll

carry the image home with me and paint it from memory or

from other photos I can find.

Redhead Companions (original painting).

For example, I saw a pileated woodpecker in a forest

last summer and was so struck by its beauty that I kept the

image with me for awhile and then painted it with a

red-haired woman. Some of my favorite forests pop up in

paintings -- a tree in the middle of a field in a favorite park,

and things like that.

Diana: Haunted settings appear on your canvases. Do you

take inspiration from ghost stories?

Sarada: 19th century ghost stories and 18th century gothic

novels are among my favorite things in the world -- some

of my favorite writers are Ann Radcliffe (The Mysteries of

Udolpho), MR James and EF Benson (ghost story writers).

Images of women in white gowns swooping around decrepit

mansions and ruined castles with candelabras or lanterns

are of course a theme I derive from ghost stories.

Colorful Shadows (original painting).

Movies from the 60s and 70s with the
same sort of imagery are also a tremendous

inspiration, like the TV show Dark Shadows.

The Peril of Crimson Manor (original painting).

I did a few monochrome paintings of ghostly women with

lanterns and torches after reading stacks of Victorian ghost

stories last year. This year I have been painting a series

based on the image of "women in gowns fleeing from

castles" that I love on 1960s gothic book covers.

Diana: Continuing with the theme of storybooks, you create

alternate Wonderlands for Alice. These often seem to

include tea! Could you tell us about your affinity with Alice

in Wonderland?

Sarada: Alice in Wonderland is one of the first things I can

ever remember loving to the point of acting it out all the

time as a child. I'd wander through the garden or house

pretending that I was falling down the rabbit hole -- I'd take

a nibble out of a cookie and a drink of tea and pretend I was

right there in the book.

I had a Alice in Wonderland record I'd listen to all the time

and I read it over and over. It has always been something I

felt very close to, even down to my love of 1960s

psychedelic music, which often refers to the story (like the

song "White Rabbit"). It's just one of those things that never

fails to delight me. And just the image of an Alice-like girl,

wearing striped tights in a world of mushrooms or

chessboards -- even the elements from the stories in other

context, always enchant me.

Alice Dreaming (print).

As an avid tea drinker of course, that element also is

something I love to play around with. There's just

something lovely about a nice round tea pot or a hot cup

of tea, and something magical as well.

Diana: I would say tea is just about as magical as nail

polish!

With paintings like Nail Polish Witch, it's evident that your

love of color isn't limited to the canvas. Please let us know

about some of your favorite nail polishes.

Nail Polish Witch (print).

Sarada: I love all of the unusual colors -- dark, forest

greens (Orly Enchanted Forest comes to mind), dark

blues and purples (Zoya's Yasmeen is a lovely

example), I like a nice copper or gunmetal as well

and I love glitters.

China Glaze released some glitters that drive me wild with

joy, like Dorothy Who?, the Spellbound and Fortune Teller

glitters from last year. I love Nubar's glitters too, their

lime green, teal and dark purple glitters make my head spin.

Nfu Oh is another brand that makes me go crazy -- I love

for my nails to look like opals. Nfu Oh #60 is breathtaking!

I also love orange and bright or lime green in any form. I

love to just look at a big display of nail polish in what I call

"colorbetical" order (I guess most people call that "rainbow"

order). I feel like I have to have every single one!

Diana: I seem to recall your line up of Sally Hansen Hi Def

polishes!

Since readers of painted Lady fingers have a love of fauna,

would you share a little about your animal companions?

Sarada: At my mother's house in New Jersey my animal

companions are currently staying -- my cats Shizuka and

Voudoun are sisters, they are 13 years old -- Shizuka is

white with a funny grey tabby tail and Voudoun is a very

fluffy black with a little white bib.

I also have two turtles, red-eared sliders, named Kermit

and Mason, whom I adopted from a friend several years ago.

My mom has three other cats -- we speculate they
might have some Norwegian Forest in them -- Snickers,

Dimples and Max are the names we seem to call them the

most often, though that changes! And where I am staying

right now is a black cat named Shinobi, plus the occasional

armadillo that wanders by.

Diana: That is quite the menagerie! Readers of painted

Lady fingers are well acquainted with the charming

Kermit and Mason. Let's introduce them to Shizuka and

Voudoun, who seem to be letting us know in their feline

way this interview has reached an end.

Thanks so much for stopping by for tea, Sarada!

Shizuka and Voudoun share a favorite past time.

To see more of Sarada's work, stop by her etsy shop. She

also maintains a gallery of past creations at

xelucha.homestead.com. You can read about her creative

process at artbysarada.blogspot.com. Would you like

the opportunity to win an original painting by Sarada?

Stop by Trick-or-Polish: A Halloween Giveaway! to enter.

The contest closes on October 18th, so don't delay.

Happy painting, ladies!