Having mountains of fun designing and crocheting my new mountain range brooch. Being in the mountains is one of my favourite places to be. This mountain scene brooch was inspired by many trips to the mountains from when I was a child and continues to be a place I gravitate to for a moment of peace and serenity. Banff and Vancouver are 2 of my favourite places to be in Canada and I have spent many holidays enjoying both incredible places. The mountains, ocean, lakes or rivers, luscious forests, rocks and pebbles always give me a sense of peace and calm. I am amazed at the incredible beauty they behold. I love the never ending inspiration that nature is always giving us. The colours are so perfectly arranged with splashes of unique and beautiful colours mixed together to form a perfect scene. I could go on and on about nature and it’s extraordinary beauty but I would end up writing a book.
One of my recent customers was sharing her beautiful photos of places that meant a lot to her that encompassed beautiful beaches, pebbles, mountains, lakes, seals on the waters edge and other places she visited. She had purchased several of my previous landscape designs that had reminded her of places she had been that meant something to her. It was her pictures and chats with her that have directly inspired this brooch. Dear wonderful customer, thank you for the inspiration! It has been a true pleasure chatting with you about stunning landscapes, fiber art and design. It brought to life my past memories and more current ones of the wonderful world of nature we live in. This brooch is based on some of your favourite places and inspired by Banff and Jasper particularly, but can also be reminiscent of many other places around the world. I hope you enjoy wearing it as much as I enjoyed designing and making it.
The mountain scene brooch is accented with mountains on the top trim of the brooch, forest and foothills in the middle of the brooch, pebbles and rocks that are visible wherever you go and finished with the water for the lakes, rivers or ocean. I have added some perspective to the brooch by making the mountains smaller at the back and the pebbles and rocks larger in the front to add depth to the design as in nature. Various colours and yarns were used to show the texture of nature and the amazing colours. The movement of the waves is shown with the ruffle edge in various hand painted yarns. The pebbles are placed at the waters edge to add to the effect.
The mountain scene brooch has 4 different mountain range sections in various colours and textures of yarn to show the varied colours and textures of the stone. A touch of white here and there at the top for the snow on the peaks of the mountains. A splash of light brown at the beginning of the mountain range for the foot hills that precede the grand mountains. There is a hint of sparkle on the edge of some of the mountains to show the sparkle that many rocks and pebble show when the sunlight hits them.
Beautiful green forests and foothills in the center of the brooch are crocheted in various colours of greens with hints of brown. The pebbles and rocks are also crocheted in various colours of hand painted yarn. The customer loves unique pebbles collecting and admiring them as she walks along the beach or visiting the mountains she enjoys so I made this a focus of the brooch. I too have spent may hours by the waters edge with my kids looking for “sea” glass and beautiful pebbles often with other family and friends by our side. It is such a wonderful way to spend moments with people you care about or just enjoying nature around you.
The mountain scene brooch was inspired by the beautiful and extraordinary mountains, forests, foothills, oceans, rivers, lakes, rocks and pebbles that bring us peace and calm. A photo or a visit to these wonderful destinations give us hope and dreams of many great memories and moments to enjoy. I will be adding new landscape inspired designs in January on my Etsy store. Follow my blog and my Etsy store to see the latest additions. New floral scarves have also been recently added.
Various ready to wear scarves, shawls and hand warmers including contemporary, floral, nature inspired, architectural, lace and more as well as crochet patterns and yarn so you can make your own scarf by Valerie Baber Designs are available at:
YARN is available on my Etsy store: Etsy
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Valerie Baber Designs 
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