New Design: Feather

The newest design slated to be added to the Dragonflight Dreams shop repertoire:

feather design

If I think about a feather as an important mythological element, two things come to mind. The first is Egyptian mythology, where the hearts of the dead were weighed against a feather on the scales of justice to judge their worthiness. If the heart was lighter than the feather, it meant it was free of sin and the person could then enter the afterlife.

The other is from Russian folklore. In many tales, the glowing feather of a firebird is what sparks an epic quest, because a king or whoever sees it and demands that the live bird be captured and brought to him. Sometimes the feather itself is the treasure, rather than the bird. Sometimes it is bad luck, sometimes a sign of hope. But all of the tales agree that the firebird is beautiful, and so too the feathers.

And then there are the dozens of stories out there where feathers themselves are magical – granting wishes, teleporting, calling in a favor from the creature it came from.

This is all on top of the most obvious symbology of a feather – flight, and the freedom that comes with it. Since I have a fixation on the idea of flying (that would totally be my superpower if I could choose), it’s no surprise that a fondness for feathers isn’t far behind, fueled even more by hearing stories like the above growing up. This design is my take on all of that. It’s fanciful, yet clearly a feather, and the swirls and points fit in with my other designs. The screen is already made and now I just need to get down to printing. And then photographing… and then listing. A shop owner’s work is never done. 🙂

What’s your favorite myth or story about feathers?

Also, if you want news like this directly to your inbox, I’ve started a newsletter for the shops. New designs, new products, discounts/sales, and upcoming events – newsletter subscribers will be the first to get it all. And I promise not to flood you with emails – probably at most two emails per month.

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Busy Little Bee

Now that the craft show is past, I’ve been attending to a lot of the other to-do list items for my shop. First up, I’m finally getting photos of the made-to-order shirts on an actual person! Witness: Yeah, that’s just me wearing them. I never know what to do with my arms. I only have photos of the size mediums I had printed so far (note to self: always print a size medium for the example shots for made-to-order shirts), but I’ll get to the rest slowly and surely. Also, I did a big inventory and sorting of all of […]

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Austin Craft Riot Summer Show

If you’ve been around the blog awhile, you probably already know this as I’ve been talking about it for a few weeks. But this upcoming weekend is the annual Austin Craft Riot Summer Show. It’s got over 70 local handmade artisans and food trucks and kids activities and live music and a bar. And it’s inside in the air conditioning. And, most importantly, it’s my first major craft show and you should come. My booth will be right up front by the lobby – hard to miss! Here are the details: If you are an Austinite or just in town […]

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Taking This Show on the Road

“This show” being my shop, and ok, not a very long road when it comes down to it. Just into downtown Austin proper, because I got into the Austin Craft Riot Summer Show as a vendor! Behold, the official poster: This will be my first major, juried show. You know, the kind where you had to apply and be accepted and pay a booth fee and all of that jazz. Official craft show time, you guys. It’s a 2-day event (indoors with A/C, thank goodness), and I am stoked. I’m already planning out my booth space. Which reminds me: there’s […]

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Bits & Pieces

1. I started the Beginner Sewing Series at Stitch Lab on Friday. We went over the basics of our machines (which was useful as refresher since I hadn’t touched my machine in awhile), and learned how to make a drawstring bag. The also introduced me to an oh-so-handy little tool called a magnetic seam guide. To be honest, sewing in a straight line is not one of my natural skill sets. But no more! That thing is a game changer. They also let us take extra fabric scraps to practice making bags, and I think I’ve nailed it: That one […]

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My Process

Create the design

For the curious out there, my screenprinting process is as follows: Step 1: Create the screen (or buy a pre-made one) For this, I just use a basic embroidery hoop in whatever size I need for the design, and stretch some gauzy white material through it until it’s taut like a drum. I got both the hoops and my screen fabric at JoAnn’s. I use blue painter’s tape around the inside of the hoop so that my filler paint and fabric inks don’t get the hoop itself all messy, since the screens get changed out (<—- bonus feature of making […]

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