Some of you may recall me working on a display box this spring for the demonstration I was doing in the gallery. I wanted to include the various beautiful straw elements found on original straw bonnets and hats. The problem was I haven’t yet learned to make these many motifs.
A couple weeks ago, I was talking with an Etsy merchant in Italy about her straw millinery products. She told me about these antique straw art pieces. I agreed to purchase them for her very reasonable price.
They are from around 1900, but these same elements can be found on hats and bonnets from the mid nineteenth century.
I will be arranging them into my display box. I would like to do a reference sheet for each, noting where millinery with each design can be found. If you would like to see some now, check out the The American Straw Art Museum.
If I Had My Own Blue Box: 
❤️
Those are very cool.
You can find balsa at JoAnne’s. Are you going to be making any of these. For sale?
Thank you.
I will be learning how to and practicing making them, but it iz unlikely I will make them for sale. There are accomplished straw artists around the globe who make and sell beautiful arrangements.
I will decorate a millinery piece of my own with some at some point. Beyond that, we shall see.