The Mode after party at Ugly Betty's

I knew papel picado would eventually turn up on Ugly Betty, although I was getting a tad impatient, but what an entrance! And not only that, there was a hint of a Day of the Dead theme in there too! I particularly loved the larger panels created out of the traditional papel picado designs, fantastic! In case you didn't see the episode last week then here you go, these gorgeous fluttering works of art in all their glory and in no particular order!

Sugar Guadalupe and Day of Dead Skulls

I have loved stocking these wonderful Day of the Dead themed sugar and chocolate moulds and judging by sales it seems my customers love them too. Now back in store at last is the Large Original Mexican Sugar Skull Mould plus a couple of newcomers.



First newcomer is the Medium Original Mexican Sugar Skull mould, previously I just kept the more whimsical Oaxacan skull mould which has two moulds front and back of skull, but thought these were rather nice and perhaps a little easier for sugar skull newbies to make as they only have one piece. Also joining my ever growing troupe of sugar and chocolate moulds is Frida, she came along as the result of a specific customer request, but has been flying off out of the shop, so will be kept as regular stock in the future.



But onto the real star of the show, once again, my favourite lady, the Virgin of Guadalupe stands out. A wonderful new addition to my range of Mexican sugar moulds, a beautifully detailed 3D Virgin of Guadalupe mould which comes in two pieces, front and back.





Here’s what my supplier has to say about the new Guadalupe mould, “Last year, when I was in Michoacan for Day of the Dead, I ran across a sugar skull vendor selling from a rickety wooden table under the arches of the town square. He had just brought in a new batch of his famous sugar Guadalupes and women were clamouring to buy them for their ofrendas! It would make a very special offering for their departed loved ones. They were iced with green or blue frosting for the Virgin's cape, golden yellow flames of the esplandor, and little gold "teacher stars" stuck into the icing of the cape. They were true works of folk art! We have tried to make a similar Guadalupe mould this year for your enjoyment... for those of you who can't go to Patzcuaro to get the real thing.”

Sugar skulls are a traditional folk art from Mexico used to celebrate Day of the Dead on November 1st and 2nd. For hundreds of years, mounds of colourful sugar skulls were sold by Indian vendors in the open air village markets of Mexico. During Day of the Dead, spirits are welcomed back to their homes with beautifully decorated altars covered with wild marigolds, candles, incense, special foods and sugar skulls being the name of the person being remembered. The Day of the Dead festival is in November and I plan to write more about how to make sugar skulls a little later in the year and have my own mini workshop with some of the neighbouring kids, so for those of you interested in trying out this wonderful activity, pop back around early October to find out more.





To finish off today's blog post, I thought I would include a few of the lovely photos sent in to me from an Australian customer who was designing decorations and displays for his home and cafe for last year's Day of the Dead festival. Thanks to Aaron x





This last photo is his cafe where some Day of the Dead festivities took place, note the lovely papel picado and loteria imagery he has used! I have some new Day ofthe Dead papel picado in which I have yet to list in my shop..so watch this space as I will blog about it soon. Gorgeous!

Fluttering works of art, now showing in a garden near you!

Now that Spring has finally shown itself and thoughts move to al fresco living (well almost!) what could be more stunning than these wonderful Mexican Papel Picado banners fluttering in the breeze. Perfect for parties and events, store openings or whatever! I have these available in Turquoise, Indigo, Purple, Yellow, Lime and Magenta at the moment.

So beautiful are these paper cuts, I have been tempted to create an art installation by individually framing some of the sheets, who knows, I may even get around to it one day, so watch this space.

I have lots of different designs at the moment, Multicoloured banners, Red or White Amor banners which are fantastic for weddings or events of a romantic nature, and Mexican's style icon, Frida hasn't been left out either. Check out some of the images below ... photography a bit hit and miss, but all the same......viva la fiesta!

Large Multicoloured Wedding Papel Picado



Medium White Wedding Amor Papel Picado

Pretty Medium sized 'Spring' Papel Picado

And finally, here's Frida Kahlo's Paintings.. stunning!

Flora de los Muertos, a rare find from Alexander Henry

After much pondering, I have decided to put up for sale, the last few yards of Florade los Muertos, an out of print fabric from Alexander Henry's 2004 Folkloric range. I managed to get about 14 yards of this a couple of years ago from a US fabric seller, of course that was when the dollar was weak, so it still made sense to be able to buy for resale then. I had plans for these last few yards, but it occurs to me that since I don't own a sewing machine and can barely cut in a straight line, there are probably others more worthy of owning a precious fat quarter or two of this wonderful dreamlike mix of day of the dead and papel picado design. For those who find it, enjoy!

I adore AH's Folkloric fabric range, and am sad to see the passing of some fantastic prints, I hope one day they will make a return to print, we can but hope!

Loteria, this was the funkiest fabric ever, and I kick myself whenever I remember I never kept any back for myself! It was available with black, natural or tea backgrounds.

Cabeza's, this one was available in black, white, red and turquoise backgrounds



Star Signs - I managed to get about 10 panels of one full repeat of this wondrous fabric, it came about 24" x 24", perfect for one-off projects!

Valentine's Day Paper Cuts

I love these wonderful 'Amor' themed paper cut banners, known in their native Mexico as Papel Picado. If you have ever visited Mexico you may have noticed similar banners fluttering in front of churches for weddings, in courtyards for fiestas, in restaurants for ambiance and during the Day of the Dead celebrations you can find the most amazing designs decorating family altars and throughout graveyards. Paper cutting is a traditional Mexican folk art dating back to the 19th centry and is still deployed in the same way by using a very sharp chisel and hammer and tapping away at the design through 50 sheets of paper at a time. More on Papel Picado another time...