Santon Boutisseuse

There was a wonderful surprise waiting for me at Nicole's home !  Some time ago, at the show in Pierrefeu du Var, I had admired the santons boutisseuses which had been commissioned especially for the show.  Hiromi had also admired them and we corresponded about it.  Little did we know, that Nicole had something planned for us !
This is what Hiromi writes on her blog:
Last March, after the pouch exchange project at the show of Pierrefeu du Var, Nicole was kind enough to collect my “new pouch” and sent it to me. Before then, she emailed me “I have already sent your new pouch to Tokyo”, so that I was waiting for it. She sent two pouches for us, my friend and myself. You imagine you will receive a small packet like an international package, don’t you? I definitely imagined as well.
Monday morning, 2 weeks after the exchange, I received “a large box” from Nicole. A large box for small two pouches? How large pouches are there? I opened the box and found pouches and another box inside. I opened it and... “she” was there!
After the show at Pierrefeu du Var, Henriette and some participants uploaded many beautiful pictures on their blogs. Heather who is living in Florida and I gazed at them and we were chatting by email about them, especially about the pictures of “les santons boutisseuses”, the traditional costumed dolls making boutis. We loved them very much. Of course, Nicole didn’t know our chat about “les santons”. So, I didn’t believe “she” was here!
I emailed Nicole. “Astonished! Thanks a million!!!!!!." She said “I bought 2 “santons boutisseuses” for you and Heather. I sent one of them to you. As for another, Heather will come here in May, so I will hand it to her. I keep it secret from her.”
I agreed to her plan and decided I would upload the pictures of my “santon boutisseuse” on my blog in May. This morning, I got email from Heather who had come home from Europe. She had finally met her “santon boutisseuse” at Nicole's apartment!
This is my lovely “santon boutisseuse”. I really thank Nicole and was touched by her deep and warm friendship for us.
Thank you again, Nicole.
Heather, I am waiting for uploading the pictures of your santon on your blog!!
                                                                         *******
Here are some pictures of the lovely santon Nicole chose for me (I think it is funny that both Hiromi and I chose to place our santons next to the lamp in boutis we made !)

The ladies of Lei Roucas dou barri made the individual boutis by hand for the santons, they are beautifully done.
Santons are the popular figures made to decorate a Christmas scene in Provence; some a very small clay figures, and others are larger and clothed.  There are several well-known santon makers.  This maker was chosen because of the lovely facial features of the santons.
This photos is courtesy of Henriette's blog - I think I have spotted both Hiromi's and my santon together - thank you

Links to more photos of Boutis Salon

My photos are very poor compared to many of the others taken during the expo.  Here are some links of Boutis friends and designers who took wonderful pictures that will give you a much better idea of what everything was like.  I had very limited time to walk around since I was in a class all day, and only there briefly Friday evening, so take a look at these gorgeous photo galleries:

Pierrefeu du var Henriette's blog

Marie Silvestre - who I was able to meet after admiring her blog and beautiful work - she has photos from each day separately on her blog

France Boutis of course - there are many pictures to see here

Dominique  Fave - her site is gorgeous, look at all her work here

Enjoy !

1st Salon National du Boutis at Caissargues, 11-13 May

I had a fabulous time at the first national salon in Caissargues last week.  I am just posting now since I returned to the US on Sunday night.  The ladies of France Boutis who organized this salon did a wonderful job, and I hear that there will be a second one in two years - a long time to wait !
The salon opened on Friday afternoon, following an official opening in the morning.  I will be listing a few other blogs with better pictures than mine, so you can go there and look at everything in more detail. 
The salon was organized with several very well-known boutis teachers, plus representative work of various clubs, and some specialized vendors.  I was fortunate enough to take a full day class from M. Hubert Valeri, who has a very different, precise and contemporary approach to boutis.  I learned two new stitches from him that are gorgeous and I will definitely be using in my work.  Other teachers present were Kumiko Nakayama, Dominique Fave (a very charming lady who does boutis on silk, making very original jewelry and contemporary items), as well as Francine Born.  Many of the individual stands had boutis used in interesting ways for clothing items, I particularly loved a silk jacket I saw.
There were antique boutis from various collections on show, always my very favorite thing to look at.  Mme Alphand had brought many interesting pieces to study, and she is fascinating to listen to.

Jupon displayed in a panettiere

Mme Alphand explaining details and techniques

Magnificent display of new and old boutis

Lots of shopping going on here !

I did not take many photos, since I was in class all day and honestly, I was so dazzled by so much boutis in one place that I wasn't thinking clearly about pictures !