The Creation Story of These Fan Veils
The goal with these fan veils was to make the silk look almost like weathered with metallic magic pulled from the sea. The color was built up to resemble patinated bronze and gold, with metallic tones moving through layers of blue and green. Vinegar and salt were worked into the watercolor process to create blooms, edges, tide marks, and irregular textures that could not be completely controlled.
That unpredictability was part of the point. Real patina does not happen evenly. Metal changes where water sits, where salt collects, where air reaches it, and where time has had longer to work. The surface becomes a record of exposure. These silks were treated in much the same spirit.
The feather boa kelp, Egregia menziesii, and giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, move across the fabric beneath washes of bronze, gold, green, and blue. Some areas feel metallic, while others dissolve into watercolor. Salt pulls pigment into crystalline edges. Vinegar shifts and softens the color. The whole surface begins to feel aged, oxidized, and ocean-worn.
When the fans open, the bamboo ribs give the silk the shape of a fin. The metallic areas catch the light, while the softer watercolor sections seem to disappear and return as the veil moves. That is where Nerina emerged.
The name carries a feminine connection to the sea, but these are not meant to feel delicate in a precious way. They feel more like something that has been underwater for a very long time. A bronze object recovered from the ocean. A piece of armor softened by salt. A fin belonging to some ancient sea creature.
The kelp prints reinforce that feeling. They place something living against a surface inspired by aging metal, bringing together growth and decay, softness and structure, water and mineral.
Nothing about the surface is perfectly uniform. That is what makes it feel alive. The salt leaves evidence. The vinegar leaves evidence. The watercolor leaves evidence. The kelp leaves evidence. The process becomes part of the image.
Nerina is meant to feel as though the sea itself had a hand in making her.
______________
Nerina is an offering to the beauty of being changed by what you have lived through.
Patina only appears because a surface has been exposed. To water. To salt. To air. To time. The marks are evidence of contact, and somehow the object becomes more interesting because of them.
These fans carry that same idea. The bronze and gold do not stay pristine. The blue and green move through them. Salt creates edges. Vinegar shifts the color. The kelp leaves its shape behind. Every layer changes what came before it.
There is something beautiful about allowing transformation to remain visible.
You do not have to polish every mark away.
You do not have to return to an earlier version of yourself.
You do not have to be untouched in order to be beautiful.
Some things become richer because they have been weathered.
More layered.
More dimensional.
More alive.
Open the fans and let the metallic surfaces catch the light. Let the kelp move through the folds. Let the silk ripple like a fin through water.
Let Nerina remind you that change can leave evidence, and that evidence can become part of the beauty.
______________
These magical oceanic silk fans are handprinted for dance, flow arts, worship, ritual, play, photography, performance and becoming your most luminous ocean self.
Each pair is created in San Diego, California using a sun print process and fresh kelp or other sea botanicals ethically harvested, composited then composted from the shores of the Pacific. I make every piece by hand with sunlight, seawater, silk, and naturally washed-ashore kelp. No two prints will ever be exactly alike.
Because I print with real fresh kelp, every order begins with a custom beach trip. Seaweed decomposes quickly, so I harvest it fresh and look for beautiful, mostly intact fronds during high tide. Then I bring it home, prepare the silk, create the exposure, rinse and process the piece, clean up the studio, and carefully pack it for its journey to you.
Each set takes roughly a day and a half of hands-on work, plus travel time, materials, cleanup, packaging, and the many small business costs behind making art sustainably. Your purchase supports an independent artist making wearable ocean magic one piece at a time.
This is a wet sun print artwork, so you may see organic marks, tonal variation, soft edges, water textures, and other beautiful creative imperfections. These are not flaws. They are part of the handmade process and the reason every silk feels alive and unique.
Please treat your silk wings with care. Keep them away from dusty or dirty environments, rough surfaces, and anything that may snag or stain the fabric.
If they get dirty wash only with non alkaline silk soap. Not detergent. Heritage is a good brand. The color will change if washed with alkaline. If the color begins to change, rinse in a solution of water and vinegar to bring back the intensity of the blue.
Printed in the USA.
Dance with them. Pray with them. Play with them. Let the ocean move through you.
_____________
This is an art-fan collectors item /mixed media art fan. For “light” performance or observation. Paint and embellishments on staves may fade over time or with heavy use.
The Creation Story of These Fan Veils
The goal with these fan veils was to make the silk look almost like weathered with metallic magic pulled from the sea. The color was built up to resemble patinated bronze and gold, with metallic tones moving through layers of blue and green. Vinegar and salt were worked into the watercolor process to create blooms, edges, tide marks, and irregular textures that could not be completely controlled.
That unpredictability was part of the point. Real patina does not happen evenly. Metal changes where water sits, where salt collects, where air reaches it, and where time has had longer to work. The surface becomes a record of exposure. These silks were treated in much the same spirit.
The feather boa kelp, Egregia menziesii, and giant kelp, Macrocystis pyrifera, move across the fabric beneath washes of bronze, gold, green, and blue. Some areas feel metallic, while others dissolve into watercolor. Salt pulls pigment into crystalline edges. Vinegar shifts and softens the color. The whole surface begins to feel aged, oxidized, and ocean-worn.
When the fans open, the bamboo ribs give the silk the shape of a fin. The metallic areas catch the light, while the softer watercolor sections seem to disappear and return as the veil moves. That is where Nerina emerged.
The name carries a feminine connection to the sea, but these are not meant to feel delicate in a precious way. They feel more like something that has been underwater for a very long time. A bronze object recovered from the ocean. A piece of armor softened by salt. A fin belonging to some ancient sea creature.
The kelp prints reinforce that feeling. They place something living against a surface inspired by aging metal, bringing together growth and decay, softness and structure, water and mineral.
Nothing about the surface is perfectly uniform. That is what makes it feel alive. The salt leaves evidence. The vinegar leaves evidence. The watercolor leaves evidence. The kelp leaves evidence. The process becomes part of the image.
Nerina is meant to feel as though the sea itself had a hand in making her.
______________
Nerina is an offering to the beauty of being changed by what you have lived through.
Patina only appears because a surface has been exposed. To water. To salt. To air. To time. The marks are evidence of contact, and somehow the object becomes more interesting because of them.
These fans carry that same idea. The bronze and gold do not stay pristine. The blue and green move through them. Salt creates edges. Vinegar shifts the color. The kelp leaves its shape behind. Every layer changes what came before it.
There is something beautiful about allowing transformation to remain visible.
You do not have to polish every mark away.
You do not have to return to an earlier version of yourself.
You do not have to be untouched in order to be beautiful.
Some things become richer because they have been weathered.
More layered.
More dimensional.
More alive.
Open the fans and let the metallic surfaces catch the light. Let the kelp move through the folds. Let the silk ripple like a fin through water.
Let Nerina remind you that change can leave evidence, and that evidence can become part of the beauty.
______________
These magical oceanic silk fans are handprinted for dance, flow arts, worship, ritual, play, photography, performance and becoming your most luminous ocean self.
Each pair is created in San Diego, California using a sun print process and fresh kelp or other sea botanicals ethically harvested, composited then composted from the shores of the Pacific. I make every piece by hand with sunlight, seawater, silk, and naturally washed-ashore kelp. No two prints will ever be exactly alike.
Because I print with real fresh kelp, every order begins with a custom beach trip. Seaweed decomposes quickly, so I harvest it fresh and look for beautiful, mostly intact fronds during high tide. Then I bring it home, prepare the silk, create the exposure, rinse and process the piece, clean up the studio, and carefully pack it for its journey to you.
Each set takes roughly a day and a half of hands-on work, plus travel time, materials, cleanup, packaging, and the many small business costs behind making art sustainably. Your purchase supports an independent artist making wearable ocean magic one piece at a time.
This is a wet sun print artwork, so you may see organic marks, tonal variation, soft edges, water textures, and other beautiful creative imperfections. These are not flaws. They are part of the handmade process and the reason every silk feels alive and unique.
Please treat your silk wings with care. Keep them away from dusty or dirty environments, rough surfaces, and anything that may snag or stain the fabric.
If they get dirty wash only with non alkaline silk soap. Not detergent. Heritage is a good brand. The color will change if washed with alkaline. If the color begins to change, rinse in a solution of water and vinegar to bring back the intensity of the blue.
Printed in the USA.
Dance with them. Pray with them. Play with them. Let the ocean move through you.
_____________
This is an art-fan collectors item /mixed media art fan. For “light” performance or observation. Paint and embellishments on staves may fade over time or with heavy use.
