CELTIC WOMAN JOURNAL-CARIDWEN

CELTIC WOMAN JOURNAL- CARIDWEN

Celtic Woman Journal

I’m so excited! London, Ireland, Wales and Scotland! I am finally headed to the land of my roots. How I have loved traveling and studying in France and Italy. I have taken many classes in both of those countries and when I arrive, I always feel as though I belong to each one. Yet,I have never been to the country of my ancestors; Wales. My great grandmother came here after the potato famine. She was a Dillon. Her daughter, my grandmother, raised four wonderful daughters, my mother being the youngest. My childhood was steeped in Welsh lore, Welsh myths and Welsh love. I was driven to write a story about Druids and Dryads. You can find it in my book,Layers I titled the story, Caradwen, after the Goddess. It is one of my favorite stories of all time, and I am amazed that I am the author. I always said that the story wrote me, instead of vice-versa. I was particularly surprised at the ending, which my characters definitely wrote, all on their own.

Close-up of Caridwen

I knew I wanted to create a journal to take with me on my journey of my motherland. I wanted her to be mysterious, hold keys and sacred images from that glorious land. What I finally produced was a far cry from this imagery. I worked an entire day adding layer after layer of cloth to my journal. I bought a journal at Stapes store because I wanted it to have the capability to hold pictures, journaling, sketches and alls sorts of other artwork. I then added a ton of fabric, one of my paper dolls which I adorned with a wonderful batik fabric, a celtic symbol, yarn, and ribbons. I used my free motion attachment on my sewing machine and I also embroidered it with celtic looking symbols. She started looking rather upbeat and whimsical..which is definitely not the look I strived for. I think it was the bright color scheme I ended up with that did it. I finally decided that I like her anyway. I used a photo that I scanned of my laundry room labyrinth and printed it onto cloth. This labyrinth is quite large and absolutely fills my laundry room. I love it. I use the image as much as possible since I remember the pain of the 4 months of daily labor it took to complete. To think that before long, this special journal will be filled with adventurous stories, pictures and mementoes from Wales and beyond, boggles my mind.

Close-up of the unwanted black rings

One thing that bothers me about the journal. The rings and the spine are black. I would love to change the color somehow but I don’t know what kind of paint would do the trick. If anyone out there knows of something I could use to subdue the black in some way, I’d really appreciate it hearing from you. I just must do something with those rings-which are closed so I cannot add ribbon to them. I guess I could add another row of ribbon, via a pipe cleaner, to the front by gluing it on-maybe that would at least camouflage the rings.

Caridwen with ribbons over rings

I’ll be leaving June 25th and I plan to try very hard to post a picture for each day that I am gone. That will be 20 pictures! I hope to find ancient doors, ancient people and scenery. You are free to use anything that you find pleasing from my journey for your own artwork. I want to share this amazing land with everyone. I am so hoping to take pictures that invoke the character of my subjects.