Moroccan Inspiration

I really wanted to do some Moroccan inspired pieces after my trip in January. The place was so rich in colors and imagery. Camera candy everywhere you look.

I'm in the habit of picking up bits from the streets and sidewalks everywhere I go now. My biggest criteria being that it won't rot or it's not plastic. (now that I have this patina treatment I may have to revise that edict if it's an interesting plastic shape and I can make it look like metal)

On our last day in Marrakech I suddenly realized that I hadn't picked up a little gifty for someone that had put in a request for something from our travels. This involved a hurried walk back to the market area to do some last minute shopping. I had been eyeing leather slippers (round toed) but hadn't been in the mood to engage in the bargaining process with vendors. I found the bargaining to be much more hard core and less fun than the easy going bargaining that I've been accustomed to in Thailand. Luckily we found a fixed price shop of artisans' wares. We knew we'd have to pay a bit more but it would shave the time involved in bargaining off of our dwindling schedule. We had a shuttle to catch to the airport soon.

I am a swift shopper and had my little pumpkin colored leather slippers, some beautiful aubergine tassels and a few other goodies in hand in record time.

On the way back to the hotel I scanned the sidewalk for my last chance at some enchanted bits of Morocco.

I thought that rose petals, a feather and some braided trim would go nicely on the flattened can with an image from a school book and a Moroccan coin. I mounted this against a round oak wooden piece from an antique store, an image of an arabic calendar, a piece left from our bamboo kitchen flooring project and hammered some copper to finish it off.