Friday, June 27, 2014

4th OF JULY or BASTLLE DAY? The French COCARDES (Cockades)



Something strange happened to me lately.
More France is collapsing, being in the "deconfiture" would be the right word, it has something comical, while "collapsing" is not really funny.
Not that I find funny the fact that France is collapsing, it is actually pretty sad, but the way they are doing it is kind of comical and ridiculous. What is still very sad.

Anyway, this is not my point, so more France is collapsing, more the vision of a huge French flag, the blue, white and red colors become an urge to me.
I became obsessed with the French "COCARDE", which was the sign of recognition used by the revolutionaries in 1789 and later, but in the same time, the fleur de lys comes in the mix in my mind, a beautiful totally contradictory symbol. Marie Antoinette has never been so "now". 
Wish we wouldn't end up like her!

And while I was frenetically doing my researches about the antique "cocardes", how where they done, what were their materials, their colors, their look, tail or no tail? Flounces or not? Gold or no Gold? Fabric or Paper? Solid colors or printed fabrics? What was fancy in 1789?
I fount a few amazing documents, photos of original "cocardes", some of them in rather bad shape, but I also stumbled on pages, photos, blogs about 4th of July, and suddenly I realized that the "cocarde" concept was not only existing in France and that the French colors are very close to the American ones, and basically the same of the United Kingdom ones, which, as its name shows it, is a monarchy.


On the left : Cocardes révolutionnaires, Revolutionary Cockades.
On the right : Vendeuse de cocardes, Woman selling Cockades 
Jean-Baptiste Lesueur (1749-1826), around 1790
Musée Carnavalet, Paris, Carnavalet Museum, Paris


In 1776, as in 1789, the phone, the TV and Internet didn't exist yet, nevertheless, fashion was spreading all over the world. We find similarities between the French, American and English looks.

In 2014, French people are still watching their far American cousins and do a pale or sometimes a better imitation of the stuff these far cousins are doing.
They should work together, because I know, from my own experience, that they are complimentary. Add to the mix the English sense of humor and elegance, and then, we would have a true treasure.

But for now, I will show you how I made my own "Cocardes" so far, my intention being to explore more other possibilities in the future.


As you can see, I create kind of a small fan with some crepe paper, and I staple the bottom to keep it in shape. I go little by little, in small areas, because it is impossible to do it in one piece. I staple the portions together as I go further.





Here, I almost finished the pale blue part,


 Once the whole circle is done, I put some dabs of glue between the different portions to hold them well in place together. I use my glue gun for that. Be careful not to burn yourself, I burn myself all the time, and it really hurts! :-) But glue guns are so convenient and quick!



I start by the same way with the pink part.


But instead of attaching the small portions to each other with staples, I glue them little by little at the back of the blue circle, with my glue gun.

As you can see here: 

And I will continue like this until it is completely done.
It is also useful to add some dabs of glue between the different pink portions.




It doesn't need to be perfect, I eyeball where the pink is supposed to go, but there may be a few differences here and there, that is what makes the charm of this thing: the hand-made aspect. But if you want it perfect, you can measure everything. It is up to you.




Then, I added a brown piece of cardboard coming from a crackers box, to reinforce the whole thing. I could have started with that, and staple the pink part to it, but I found easier to do it that way. 

I covered the blue center with a small piece of crepe paper to hide the visible staples. I actually glued two pieces of them, because one is rather transparent. I didn't use here the glue gun, that would have been a guaranteed burnt session for my fingers. I just used a regular glue like Elmer's but any glue of this type will be fine, use what you have, no need to buy something else.

I did the same at the back on the pink paper, to hide the cardboard.

As this Cocarde was pretty big, I decided to add a round shape of fabric at the center. It is a dark blue with white tiny polka dots fabric, which makes me think of the France liberation in 1944-1945, the polka dots were very fancy in the 40's and even 50's in France and maybe also in Europe and USA.

  I added here something that I made before: I painted, with acrylics and gouaches on a piece of drawing paper, a cocarde. I, then, glued it on a piece of cardboard to make it more sturdy and straight. I added some Glossy Accent to give it a shinier look. Glossy Accent needs to dry at least 24 hours.
Once dry, I could glue this round thing with my glue gun on the center of this cocarde. It gives it another dimension and a more one-of-a-kind look. 

At the back, still with my glue gun, I added the pin part, so this cocarde can be attached anywhere. 
You can find these pins in any arts and crafts supplies store.


Look how beautiful this Cocarde looks on my cat! I precise I didn't attached it on my cat, poor cat! :-), it gives you an idea of the size of this thing, and my cat is pretty big. He doesn't seem to appreciate it, he hates being a model!



Soon, I will explore more possibilities. After all, we can wear these things whenever we want! No need to wait for July.

Friday, June 13, 2014

Playing the Arts & Crafts Newbie again with Jennibellie

Lately, I've been thinking that it was more than time for me to make some Arts and Crafts items again. Managing a business means a lot of paper works and administration to do, and while that is necessary, especially when we are coming from another country, since some immigration issues are involved, I think there is a time when we must remember what is our purpose in life.
Certainly not filling papers and documents! At least for me!

Cuculapraline-Frenchic will gather soon more handmade items, because the one-of-a-kind things can't be found at Target or Forever 21! Even if there is nothing wrong with Target and Forever 21, I actually love them!
But chiefly, because it's so much more fun! To make, to look at, to sell and to buy.

To warm me up, I decided to attend an online workshop, forgetting all what I know, ignoring that I've been a craft teacher during so many years, and starting from scratch. We always learn something, even when we know a lot. Because it is impossible to know everything. 
In France, we say, there is nothing new under the sun. Actually for me, there is always something new under the sun. Every day.

With Jennibellie, I learned how to create a journal with just one wide piece of paper. Believe it or not, I didn't know how to do that, and I learned:


This is the first step, one sheet of paper covered with all the papers, stamps, stencils that I love the most. This photo has been taken at night, that is why the colors are darker and so yellowed.


Defining the pages. It is interesting to see how a simple line can put the focus on a specific area that we don't see by the same way as we were seeing the whole picture.



Once the piece of paper is folded, we have this small journal, so cute. Its theme is about learning and creating. The painting of my former mentor Joy de Rohan Chabot was made with gouaches on another piece of paper, cut and glued on the journal. 
I think that I did put too much mascara on Joy's eyes! :-)
I am showing here unfinished pages, because then, comes the work of drawing more, painting more, writing, embellishing, closing, loving and making this journal my own. 




These are the unfinished pages. More work is to come that I, of course, will share with you when they are done.

If you are interested in learning this technique which is not mine, you can go to the Inspiration Station page here:


Follow well all the steps starting from the beginning to the end. It is better if you want to understand completely the technique.

I will share with you my own projects and techniques soon, but this was a fun workshop to warm my hands up before having them dirty with more paint and more glue.

More details to come and enjoy!