Crystal is a newly fledged designer who has been creating in the corners and edges of her first career. She has been wishing and dreaming for years about designing a warm and welcoming world that draws you in to find deeper meanings and kinship in creations reflecting the natural world.
February Challenge 2025: Create one bird a day
The first fourteen birds were created on Procreate with seven of the birds being endangered or threatened birds in California
The next birds were all about experimentation
I used different techniques and mediums to experiment with creating birds
The final week of February was all about creating elements to create repeating patterns featuring birds
I was going down a rabbit hole of Celtic patterns with the two patterns above
The patterns above are made up of the wings from the birds over the first 14 days of February in two different color ways
Recent Designs
A trip to Kauai was the inspiration for these recent designs. I hope to have them up in my Spoonflower shop soon.
Hibiscus are found throughout Kauai. The vibrant colors and boldness of the blooms is spell binding.
The flora and fauna of Kauai was so beautiful and dense. I could definitely see why the islands of Hawaii are considered paradise.
Scales Series
Fish scales when observed closely are wondrous pieces of design. Shimmering and reflecting light while also conveying each individual fish’s surface pattern. They protect and yet are beautiful. In this series I look close and then move outward imagining each scale as an island surrounded by sea. The Atlantic Halibut and the Chinese Sturgeon both occupy spots on the most endangered list of fish species. I have taken their general forms and protected them with my special scales hopeful that they will find protection from extinction. I work to show their beauty but also to record their forms in case we lose these important members of the greater web of life.
Designs which pull you in to look a little deeper and escape a little longer
Slow and Steady
When I began my journey learning surface pattern design through the Bonnie Christine Immersion course I was frustrated by my slow progress. I was frequently working overtime at my current job and was not able to complete the lessons at the time they were released. The course lessons remain available for life so in this sense there was no rush. I however wanted to experience and share in the delight which was peppering the chats as each new lesson launched. I remembered running my first (and only) marathon and wearing a shirt with a turtle screen printed on it. I knew that even though I was slow I could be steady in my efforts. I decided to honor that motto by incorporating the forms of the snail and turtle into my first designs. I was enchanted by the beauty of their shells and the meditation of their movement. Welcome to my first pattern series- Slow and Steady
I take a small part to create something new….
