Dress of Enchanted Song

Description of Dress of Enchanted Song, 2026

This glass dress is about the regeneration and the re-enchantment of the land that I have lived with for nearly thirty years. When I first moved to this beautiful land which I reside in Ireland, there were open fields without trees. We planted a huge diverse number of trees and shrubs. There were not many birds at that time, but as the years have passed the small bird population has really grown, grown enough to merit the presence of the top predator, the Sparrow Hawk which now resides in the woodland too. There have been around 30 different species of bird recorded around this area, which is now blooming ecologically. The pleasure of the singing of the birds is a huge comfort to me knowing that they are thriving in a world that is on fire.

This dress expresses the 5th perceptionof the Luminous warrior, the Voice which gives feelings to the heart and speaks with Integrity and authenticity. and truth. It’s element is Light.

When the throat is free from constraint it gives us the space to free ourselves from the collective nightmare of fear and powerlessness and gives us the courage to dream in the manifestation of a healed and enchanting Earth -a garden which is fit for the soul of all Life, in which the heavenly rain is a huge and essential part of a healed ecosystem.

The rain drops hanging from the arms and throat are my first attempt at making flameworked beads. The headdress is an abstract and minimal form of the Sparrow Hawk.

The Sparrow Hawk: Sharp focus, agility and precision representing warrior spirit that cuts through illusions. Development of inner strength to see the bigger picture, a clear view of life’s reality

Materials and techniques

Fused and slumped flowers and leaves. Birds are made from printing decal of my bird drawings and coloured in glass frit and fused. Hand blown beads for rain. The leaves, flowers and birds are attached to a framework of brass bar and brass tube with small brass bolts and nuts onto a brass frame.The neck collar is fused with dichroic slide and slumped to form a curve. It has small brass tube attached to the lower edge to hold the raindrop beads. The beads are held with a strip under the arms attached to the wrists and elbows. The Headdress has glass features and a piecing beak, attached with brass fixings