Animal prints are one of those design statements that travel in and out of style with ease. Zebra prints particularly come to mind, perhaps because they tend to be more in style than out, and perhaps because I have a personal liking for them. Flipping through my daughter’s Kid’s National Geographic Magazine I was struck by a different kind of animal print: tortoise shells.
On a side note, as I recover from my first trimester of pregnancy I have been doing a lot of day dreaming. I’ve been too tired to get around to much actual DIY but my mind has been keeping busy with a variety of random notions. For example, I wrote an epic story in my mind and actually typed out twenty-two pages before I started reading the Hunger Games Series and realized my ability to translate my story from mind to paper is fully inadequate. I next became enamored with the idea of decorating my whole home for fall with a series of DIY projects invloving leaves, pumpkins, paint and glitter. I got as far as buying the glitter and letting my daughter make a mess of glue and glitter on paper. Finally, my mind has settled on tortoise shells.
My latest day dream is to develop a collection of home decor fabrics with patterns inspired by a variety of tortoise shells. Of note is the fact that I have little hands on artistic ability, no connections in the industry, and more generally, no idea how to make this dream a reality. But a girls gotta dream when she’s sitting at home with the kiddos.
Check out what I mean. I looked around for fabrics with the kinds of patterns exhibited on the shells below and didn’t find anything to compare. I love the the variation of light and dark neutrals, the texture and the lines. So beautiful. Could you imagine it on a pillow? a curtain? a rug even? I could.
One of my favorite patterns is on this African star tortoise.
A delicate but beautiful pattern on this African Helmeted Turtle.
This spider tortoise has a stunningly bold pattern. Look at the texture the ridges create.
The sulcuta tortoise.
Most likely nothing will come of my wild dreams but it is beautiful to imagine. My sister directed me towards a website where you can create your own fabric. If I give it a go I’ll be sure to let you know.