Sunday, February 23, 2025

Orchid Show Peacock

Chicago Botanic Orchid Show Peacock photo by Jeanne Selep
Image 1: Chicago Botanic Orchid Show Peacock

The latest orchid show I attended featured a wonderfully whimsical peacock with a tail created using hundreds of living orchids.    


fantasy orchid peacock from the Chicago Botanic Orchid show
Image 2: Fantasy Peacock at the Chicago Botanic

An artist created the peacock's head, and gardeners formed the tail by cleverly placing blooming live orchid plants.


Orchid Show Peacock at the Chicago Botanic Garden 2025
Image 3: Orchid Show Peacock

You can see hundreds of blossoms (looking like dots) in the photo above that will open over the next several weeks.


Pink Orchid Variety originally from India
Image 4: Pink Orchid Variety originally from India

These two photos show a closer view of the orchids making up the tail.  All of the varieties of orchids used originated from India (but most were grown here, I believe). 


Orchid Varieties originally from India
Image 5: Orchid Varieties originally from India

The photo below shows details of the tail.  Foliage behind the orchids was tinted to highlight the orchids. This image gives some a sense of the size of the peacock: the tail is about 10 to 12 feet high.  (The peacock's head is over 5 feet off the ground)


Orchid Varieties originally from India
Image 6: Orchid and Foliage Texture Detail from the Peacock

The peacock, as well as many other displays, can be seen at the Chicago Botanic Garden's latest orchid show, titled "India Blooms".  


Chicago Botanic Garden Orchid Show 2025 India Blooms
Image 7: Orchid Show 2025 India Blooms

This show may well be their best orchid show yet, and I have attended most of CBG's eleven shows. The show runs from February 8 to March 23, 2025, and if you can catch the show, I highly recommend a visit.


Chicago Botanic Garden Orchid Show 2025 India Blooms
Image 8: Orchid Show Passageway

The show's creators made fantastic floral fantasy displays designed to delight all ages, using only orchid species originating from India.


Chicago Botanic Garden Orchid Show 2025 India Blooms
Image 9: Orchid Show 2025 Display Room

Many of the Indian orchid varieties will be unusual and captivating to US orchid enthusiasts, and any flower lover can enjoy the multitude of beautiful orchid varieties and displays presented.  

 

I would show more of the displays if I had more time.  And of course I with more time I would show orchid close-ups. Here is a post with close-ups of orchids from a previous orchid show. 


Chicago Botanic Garden Orchid show
Image 10: Orchid Show 2025

This post is a new record for me - I saw the show Feb 19, 2025, and I unloaded the camera, picked, cropped and worked on the better photos, wrote and edited my text, etc. and made this post in under a week.  Not my usual workflow timing!  (I know many bloggers don't find this hard - I admire their drive...)


Have you seen the (USA) Chicago Orchid Show, and/or does your area have an orchid show?  If so, where, what country/park/garden?  Let me know!

Note: here is the link to the Chicago Botanic Garden's website, and the Orchid show in specific!



As always,
Click on the images to see them enlarged!
There is so much more detail in the larger photos!


I blog for fun and my blog is ad free.  Comments encourage me, and I sometimes need encouragement. Please leave a comment if you have time!  Anonymous comment are welcome!


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The peacock creation at the garden resonates with me because peacocks are one of my favorite birds.  

Some readers might remember my post from 2024 featuring real peacocks from Italian gardens.
Click here to see my Italian peacock post! 


White Peacocks in Italy by Jeanne Selep May 2024
Image 11: White Peacocks in Italy


Backlit White Peacock by Jeanne Selep
Image 12: Rare Italian Peacock


St. Patrick's day is around the corner -
Here is a link to my seasonal Hutch display!

hutch display
Seasonal Hutch



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Spring Blossoms
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Rock Window
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Spring bouquets, Van Gogh








Saturday, January 18, 2025

Cheery Denim Bunting

Denim Bunting by Jeanne Selep
Image 1: Denim Bunting Banners

I love Denim, the sturdy blue fabric used to fabricate blue jeans.  I've crafted multiple projects with denim, but my favorite denim project transforms old blue jeans into decorative bunting.  

More on the term bunting below, but I'll briefly define bunting here as a string of triangles (or pennants, or flags) strung in a row to form a decorative garland or banner.    


Denim Bunting by Jeanne Selep
Image 2: Embellished Denim Bunting

Upcycling blue jeans into bunting is satisfyingly fast, and offers lots of options for embellishment.  Since I am a fan of vintage laces and linens, I frequently use bits of lace and doilies to decorate individual triangles. 


Denim Bunting by Jeanne Selep
Image 3: Denim Bunting Upcyled from Blue Jeans

I also love plain denim triangles for a simpler look.  The details of the blue jeans used and the range of colors stand out when not embellished.  Of course, any fabric could be used, but denim has it's own special place in American culture - a love affair resulting in many items created by people reusing this fabric.


Denim Happy Birthday Banner Bunting by Jeanne Selep
Image 4: Happy Birthday Banner (Bunting)

The first bunting I made was for a birthday decoration.  I had saved worn out blue jeans for denim projects, and I wanted to upcycle them.  Bunting is a satisfying, quick, low tech project (no precision measurements) with a cheery result that has lots of possibilities for embellishment.


Denim Bunting by Jeanne Selep
Image 5: Denim Bunting

I used white electrical tape to quickly form letters on the banner - this way I can spell out a name, or whatever I want.  In the end the words I used most are "WELCOME" and "HAPPY BIRTHDAY".  Letters could also be painted or ironed on, or embroidered or appliqued for the ambitious.  


Denim Bunting by Jeanne Selep
Image 6: A Drinking Straw makes the top Sturdy

Bunting is almost intuitive to make, and I will be posting a tutorial soon with tips. (Photos already done!  Post started!)  But a sneak peak here: for my bunting, I've added one innovation: I put a drinking straw in the top of the bunting to make stringing the triangles fast and easy, and to keep the top of the triangles from sagging.  


Denim Bunting by Jeanne Selep
Image 7: Step #1 Decorated Denim Bunting

I also hope to showcase some other embellishments I have experimented with.  Watch for the full tutorial soon, but in the meanwhile I hope this post has inspired you.  Up-cycle away!

 

[Notes: Bunting is a British word for this type of garland made with triangles.  Strings of flags, frequently triangular, (called bunting) were used on British Navy ships for centuries.  Bunting then found their way into the celebrations of British events as decorations. You might also call them garland, etc.]

[Notes: I stressed for a while to determine the triangle size I wanted.  The top of my triangle measures 7.5 inches across, and the top to bottom dimension is 8.5 inches.  This allows a template to be printed out on 8.5x11 inch paper, and I have made bunting with paper, which could be a cute project with kids in a class setting.]



Click on the images to see them enlarged.


I blog for fun and my blog is ad free.  Comments encourage me, and I sometimes need encouragement. Please leave a comment if you have time!  Anonymous comments and  comments months/years later are welcome!

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If you enjoyed this post you might also enjoy:

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Rock Window




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Bunting,    Awesome bunting flag    Birthday    bunting




Tuesday, December 31, 2024

Fused Glass Christmas

The Christmas season quickly went from pending to past, and my very pleasant Christmas passed by without a Christmas post on my blog.  Now that the time spent decorating, visiting, gifting, cooking and cleaning is over, I can focus my attention on other things without guilt.  (That's sometimes hard to do before Christmas.) 


Fused Glass Star by Jeanne Selep
Image 1: Fused Glass Star

My living room got new carpet, a new desk and a new couch in December, basically a mini-remodel, so this year I had a smaller tree and less time to decorate and blog.   


Fused Glass Snowflake by Jeanne Selep
Image 2: Fused Glass Snowflake

I decorated with some fused glass ornaments I made, which I thought I would share today.  I only started creating fused glass projects in the last six months of 2024, so I'm posting early results. 


Fused Glass Christmas trees by Jeanne Selep
Image 3: Red and Green Fused Glass Christmas Trees

Starting simple, I tried making numerous Christmas trees for gifts and to learn techniques.


Fused Glass Christmas trees by Jeanne Selep
Image 4: Millifiori Fused Glass Christmas Trees

I'm looking forward to creating more projects in 2025.


Fused Glass Christmas trees by Jeanne Selep
Image 5: Clear Fused Glass Christmas Trees


My hopes and prayers for 2025 are love and serenity, and no climate change problems.

 

Have a Blessed and Peaceful 2025!





I blog for fun and my blog is ad free.  Comments encourage me, and I sometimes need encouragement. Please leave a comment if you have time!  Anonymous comments and  comments months/years later are welcome!


Click on the images to see them enlarged.

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If you enjoyed this post, you might also enjoy...

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Angel Window
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