As the scrap pile in my studio slowly turns into goods, I am distracted. I hear the calling of birds in the spring. Snow melting away and little green shoots bursting up through the soil. Yes, its all in my imagination, as this IS January in the northern Rockies. But where my dreams and my work meet is where you’ll find me today. So, with a pen, some Angelus leather paint, and some leather (from the leftover pile, by the way) I am set to work at my desk. The sky is cloudy outside, filtering just enough of a bright winter white to see by. The gorgeous Flathead Lake sits below but I don’t even glance at it. My head is down, in my work, coaxing spring’s first blooms on leather.
One of my goals this year is to balance my leather work “to-do list” with my whimsical ideas that usually stew on the back burner but never get plated. With my son’s upcoming birthday, I was reminded of all things birthdays. Then it hit me to make a floral bag every month of the year based on birth flowers! Use the scrap pieces when I can, create art, and feed my artistic soul. January has two birth flowers that I came across: carnation and snowdrop. Snowdrop! It was an obvious choice for my being that I work mostly in the silhouette of the flower.
Do you see snowdrops come up in the spring? Does it fill you with hope? Maybe you’d like to hear the Moldovan legend of the snowdrop? It tells of a fight between Lady Spring and Winter Witch; in which Lady Spring cuts her finger. The place where the drop of blood melted the snow, a snowdrop grew. The pure white flower was a sign of Lady Spring’s victory over the Winter Witch.
Their Latin name ‘Galanthus’ means milk flower. It is said the Romans brought them to Great Britian where they bloom at Candlemas (Feb 1). According to another legend, the snowdrop dates back to the Garden of Eden. After God banished Adam and Eve, Eve grew tired of the endless winters. Then an angel came to her and created snowdrops from the snowflakes. She proved to Eve that winter doesn’t last forever. They came to symbolize hope as the first flowers to appear after the storms of winter.
I’m not sure what the Ground Hog will say in a few short days, but where I live, I will be celebrating the snow for a good month or two more. Especially in the higher elevations. So, dream with me if you will about spring, about flowers, about snowdrops! And know that every month I will be making a new birth flower in leather. Possibly with paints or beads, on a bag, or a jacket. I made a small cell phone crossbody for both my mother and mother-in-law last Mother’s Day. One a favorite flower and the other a bird. And if you want something for yourself or a loved one, I would be thrilled to make something for you. It makes my so happy to add a little whimsy to the everyday.
What’s your birth flower? Does it happen to be one of your favorites by chance? (Mine is: July, the Waterlilly! and the Larkspur!)
