HOW Old???

Mackinac is known for our lilacs and with good reason - our cold winters and limestone based soil are ideal growing conditions for lilacs.

Our lilacs tend to grow tall - compare the people to the size of the "bushes" in this photo (and these are not amongst the largest) :

But how old are they and how long have they been growing here...really?

If you listen to the Carriage Tours drivers, they tell the tourists that the French first brought lilacs to Mackinac. But it just seems really unlikely that either French fur trappers or Jesuit missionaries were hauling lilacs via canoe to plant on Mackinac, they were rather involved in other pursuits.

This particular myth makes us think of an alternative version of Johnny Appleseed - Jacque LeLac, anyone?

But at a recent presentation at the Mackinac Island Public Library, by Corinne Smith, author of
Westward I Go Free: Tracing Thoreau's Last Journey has brought to light the earliest written documentation of lilacs on Mackinac yet - in July of 1861 by Henry David Thoreau!

Suffering from "consumption," or tuberculosis, during the last years of his life, Thoreau decided, on the recommendation of his physicians, to take a trip to St. Anthony, Minnesota, to stay with a friend. He died nine months after his trip, so his notebook of the journey was never published.

He was on Mackinac from June 30 to the July 4, 1861. During his stay on the Island, Thoreau took extensive botanical notes and copied down local folk stories he learned from the county clerk, William Johnston, brother in-law of Henry Schoolcraft.

Thoreau may be best known as a writer, but he was also a botanist who collected hundreds of specimens of New England plants to create his own herbarium. In addition, he kept detailed journals, noting when and where particular species were in bloom - in fact, his journals are now being used by climatologists to to discern patterns of plant abundance and decline in Concord — and by extension, New England — and to link those patterns to changing climate.

One of these notes made during his stay on Mackinac stated: "apples in bloom - & lilac"

Will a reference in a currently unpublished diary or letter push that date back further?

Maybe...

But it doesn't change that fact that lilac time on Mackinac is magical - come visit next June and see for yourself!

Sunshine on the North Shore

Summer's nearly over, we're quickly moving toward fall. But the colors of summer linger here and there, especially within this clump of  black eyed susans growing along the north shore, like a bit of sunshine caught on earth.

I really enjoy creating these mixed media pieces; the challenge of finding just the right thread, stitch or bead to enhance the image is endlessly satisfying!

Available for purchase here.

It's Early This Year....

Spring!!!

The signs are all around us, long before we can usually expect them - it's definitely early spring on Mackinac!

The woods are positively rustling with squirrels searching the forest floor for hidden tidbits and there's also a whole lot of courting going on:



I always look forward to the annual raptor migration that goes over us, it's just thrilling to see them up soaring above the Island as they head farther north:

Plants are budding out very early:

And there's signs of life in the garden too:

Early spring is full of little signs of the season too come - watch for them, they're such a fleeting pleasure!



Paper Roses

"When the flowers of our gardens are faded, their paper substitutes will be welcome again in our houses. The accomplished artist in paper flower making may go direct to Nature for inspiration ; but flowers cannot all be copied even by taking them to pieces. Certain flowers and parts of flowers are copied exactly; others are modified to render their construction practical and simple without being less beautiful. It is only by making a number from good models that sufficient skill and acquaintance with the effects to be produced will enable a lady to go to the garden for her models, just as an artist giving instruction in drawing teaches his pupils the rudiments of his art from paper copies, and does not take them to sketch from Nature till they can fairly represent a landscape on paper, and have mastered the rules of perspective."

Cassell's Household Guide, 1869

Paper roses are hot right now, constructed of all types of paper - even pages from books! But paper flowers are not a new concept, the were a popular pastime for Victorian ladies. While faux fabric flowers were frequently used as bonnet or dress trimmings, the paper variety were more frequently used as household adornments - to fill the fireplace in the summer, garlands for bridals or on the Christmas tree. One exception to the use of paper flowers on the person was for "Fancy Dress" parties or balls.

Fancy Dress parties were very popular during the mid-nineteenth century. There are dozens of period
accounts of these parties – large and small – where the guests wore costumes and enjoyed an evening of dinner, dancing and entertainment.

Primary sources indicate the depth, breadth and ingenuity of the costumes worn during the period.
Some of the popular costumes were based on:

• Historical characters - Come as a medieval knight, an Elizabethan lady, a Revolutionary War soldier.Historical characters - Come as a medieval knight, an Elizabethan lady, a Revolutionary War soldier.

• Fictional characters – From novels, plays, poetry, art, famous and infamous, e.g. Old Man Winter, Macbeth, the Lady of the Lake.

• Famous personages – Caesar, Cleopatra, Queen Victoria, Henry the Eighth, George Washington, politicians.

• A role or job – A chimney sweep, a cobbler, a basketmaker, a cook, a trapper, a seamstress, a teacher, an inventor or foreign visitor.

• Artifacts – Dress up as an object: a playing card, a barrel, a photograph.

• Allegorical – These can be the most interesting and can make the best use of an existing wardrobe. Themes
can include the four seasons, flowers, jewels, colors, fantasy roles, almost anything.

While the opportunity to relax social norms was part of the appeal of fancy dress, it was also considered somewhat dangerous. For this reason, fancy dress costumes never included masks or face coverings. Masking or masquerades allowed participants too much license and were thought to result in lewd behavior.

I'll be attending a fancy dress party soon and my chosen costume requires literally dozens of flowers, so I started exploring techniques for making paper flowers and actually tried out a couple.

The first was from The Girl's Own Toy-maker, and Book or Recreation circa 1860. The second was Helbronner's Manual of Paper Flower Making, With Complete Patterns and Instructions, circa 1858.

One involved tissue paper cut into scalloped strips, the other tissue paper cut into individual petals that have been crimped:

 

The tip of a piece of wire is covered in a scrap piece of tissue paper, both to disguise it and to provide a bit of base for the next step:

The strips or petals are next added, carefully pleated into place, so as to emulate an actual rose.

I probably only spent 15 minutes creating a rose using both techniques - and I don't think they look too bad!

Every reference I've found stresses the need to use the more expensive "French tissue paper". After further research, I believe the superiority of French tissue paper is due to it being made of flax, not paper pulp - and of course, not currently available. Sheets of crepe paper are a possible substitution, as it can be goffered and curled.

While I was pleased with my budding ability to make paper roses, I'm in the midst of many projects with tight time lines - so I purchased the roses for my costume.

Making paper flowers uses many of the same techniques as the "La Petite Fleuriste"  fabric flowers I discussed previously. Ladies of the period could even purchase precut petals, as well as leaves, stamens, etc. Advertisements stated the availability of packages of supplies to make a large bouquet for $1 - just like Martha Stewart (except for the price!).

I can see myself needing to explore this technique further, some of the flowers described in the Helbronner book are just too interesting, but not right now - one more item on my ever growing "to do" list.

Touring Michigan - Boyne City Farmers Market

I love living on Mackinac, but there are a few things available in the "real world" that I do miss - and one of those things is visiting the farmer's market on a regular basis.

I recently discovered a great farmer's market in Boyne City; it's been in operation since 1982 and currently has over 70 vendors, all located within a 30 mile radius.

There was a very long line waiting to purchase raspberries - they were HUGE, and ours didn't make it back to the car, we ate them all as we strolled.

There were lots of flowers available, especially sunflowers.

I would have loved a bouquet, but it just isn't practical when camping in a tent.

Actually, I think I would have come home with bushels of produce if we hadn't been camping, it all looked so wonderful.


There was so much more than produce and flowers on display, we sampled some wonderful cheeses from Farm Country Cheese House (a pound or so came home with us), discovered Cook Family Farms meats, tasted (and purchased) artichoke pesto, and tried our best to be strong and resist all the incredible baked goods.

Farm markets offer so much to a community, providing positive financial opportunities for the farmer, making a variety of locally grown and made farm products directly available for purchase, as well as encouraging direct communication between local farmers and their customers.

Eat local!

Distractions

I've been distracted lately - too many projects (which I will be sharing, hopefully in the near future) but even more so by spring having finally arrived, making it just too tempting to be outside.

There's new growth bursting out everywhere you look and there's just something so enticing about those new greens:



We've had a bumper crop of trout lilies, the flowers are so cheerful, but it's the namesake leaves that I find very interesting:

The trillium have come into bloom in just the past couple days, dappling the forest floor with bright white:

The beauty of the blossoms draws us to them, but the real purpose is to entice the proper pollinator, thus allowing the plant to reproduce itself. This is potentially a future wild strawberry .


This last one isn't a wildling, but a carefully cultivated magnolia, tucked away in a sheltered corner. The blossoms look as if they could take flight and float away if they weren't tethered to the tree.


Surrounded by such delightful distractions, is it any wonder I'm having trouble keeping myself on task?

Mackinac Easter

A beautiful sunny day; it was even almost warm!

Grand Hotel opened on Friday and they hosted an egg hunt for the Island kids, 1200 eggs were hidden in the Tea Garden. Most contained candy but the special "golden eggs" had prizes like dessert at the Gatehouse or a day of swimming at the Esther Williams pool - it didn't take long for them all to be collected!

For those familiar with the Island and Grand, the man in the bunny suit is Bob the hotel historian.

The flowers are just starting to bloom, maybe spring will finally arrive!

La Petite Fleuriste - Advanced Level

Last March, I was fortunate to be a student in a faux flower making class based on mid-19th century techniques, offered by Martha McCain. When I heard that an advanced class was available this year, I jumped at the opportunity.

This year, class was an all day event; we would be creating a poppy, a morning glory and a cornflower, expanding on the techniques we had learned previously.

We entered to find our supplies waiting for us:




Martha had prepared the starched silk in advance for us, but we would be creating our own stamens and centers this time.

As many parts needed time to dry between steps, we worked on all three blossoms throughout the day.

The first step was cutting all the various petals, corollas, etc from silk - basic botany knowledge is a definite plus when assembling flowers!

We started by creating stamens; repeatedly dipping waxed linen threads in colored gum arabic and allowing them to dry between dips.

The cornflower needed to goffered - shaped using a hot metal tool. The goffering tools are in a variety of sizes and shapes, each has it's own particular use.


The silk is dampened before goffering; it takes practice and deft hand to obtain the desired shape without scorching the fabric.



After goffering, each flower shape was tightly wrapped around the tip on awl and allowed to dry.

A teaching board, with the various stages of construction:


That little blue twist is what you end up with after twisting on the awl - it sure doesn't look very flower like at this point!

But after wiring the stamens together and carefully adding three "fluffed" little blue twists and binding it all together, here's the result:



We started by painting blue dye onto white silk for our morning glory blossom and bud - I should have left a bit more white showing - and allowing them to dry.

Creating the center was a multi-step process, involving wire, cotton, waxed thread, starch, glue, paint and gum arabic. It's time intensive, but provides great results.

The flower is glued along the center seam, goffered to shape and bound together. The little bud is formed from that square with a blob of blue dye in the center and amazingly enough, when twisted and assembled results in a very realistic bud.

My favorite is the poppy; shaping the petals takes an interesting technique - each petal is folded in half and twisted in a damp bandanna on a bias fold (thank you to all my hand models in the following shots!)

Here's what you end up with:

In the meantime, a poppy center needs to be formed, by creating a stuffed silk "lolly pop", embellished with just a bit of embroidery and 48 stamens:

After the petals have dried, they need to be colored:

The period references call for "china ink", but Martha was unable to find modern black ink that was colorfast, so black fabric markers were substituted.

Just a bit more assembling and voila - a poppy!



I can't say how much I enjoyed this class (okay, there were some frustrating moments when all the flower parts were NOT cooperating).

Martha and her husband invested countless hours in preparing materials, tools and supplies and I'm deeply appreciative of all their efforts.

I'm seriously considering prepping everything needed to present a flower-making sweatshop scenario to the public - but first I need to convince my friends that they really do want to be a wage slave for a weekend...and the wages would consist of flowers!