Clipper Ship Wall Art

I have always adored a good old, turn of a long lost century, seafaring, Settler Carrying, tall sails bellowing in the wind... Clipper Ship. In fact, I once was utterly obsessed, having framed prints on the wall, pages of my own sketches, and a collection of small scale models. 

Early on in those days, when I first began my interest in plastic canvas work, I decided to trace a few of my sketches onto clear plastic canvas with a black permanent marker. I followed the traced lines with black yarn, and then slowly began filling them in (like a coloring book page) with long stitches of simple color. The entire background was filled in with continental stitches in a light blue. I framed them all out in a royal blue.

Clipper Ship

These were made somewhere in the vicinity of 1991. There were at one time three of them, but a few years ago, one of them began to unravel. The other two remain tacked to my bedroom wall (as they always have been), right next to what remains of my model ship collection.  

Schooner

You can see that they are a little fuzzy, and they do need a good washing. But they are twenty four years old! That's endurance.

Seaside Decorated Sunhat

I first crafted this decorative wall hanging just about two decades ago. 

It was quite a simple piece when I first started. Just a plain straw hat, with some navy blue lace glued around the edge. I added some blue colored sea oats, the white dove, a few small starfish that I bought from a tourist shop at Sea World, and some shells that I collected from a trip to the beach. And that was it.

I was inspired to "beef it up" a bit, by my Aunt CC, who is quite a professional seashell crafter in Wilmington, NC. So I added some more collected shells, and some blue dyed coconut husk that came from an old bag of potpourri.

Over the years the lace has faded in color to more of a medium blue, and the oats have lost most of their color, returning them to their original brown, but I don't really mind. It's a more natural look.

In all the many places I've lived, it has always hung on a bathroom wall, as it still does today. No matter where I live, or how many bathrooms my home may have, I always have one that is done in "Seaside" decor.

I think it will always be one of my favorite pieces.