The Nelms House

The Nelms House Private Event facility with period, vintage decor, boutique, local art, upcycle art, tea/coffee room, and a prep kitchen. Open anytime to book events 8 a.m.

until 8 p.m. Sun to Th, and 10 p.m. Fri and Sat. Weekly hours Wed to Sat noon to 5 pm.

After posting the ecoprint cotton earlier, I decided to use it to make 2 hip totes and a small apron. All are handsewn w...
08/02/2026

After posting the ecoprint cotton earlier, I decided to use it to make 2 hip totes and a small apron. All are handsewn with ecodyed yarn using embroidery stitches. Ecoprints on fabrics are washable in cold water. These totes and apron are unique so come visit to try them out.

For the summer, Nelms has light weight headbands of vintage sari silk with eco printed designs. Headbands are hemmed wit...
07/17/2026

For the summer, Nelms has light weight headbands of vintage sari silk with eco printed designs. Headbands are hemmed with nuno felted edges of ecodyed roving. They are adjustable. Come try them on to find the native plant designs you like in a variety of natural plant colors. If interested, headband tags list the plants used.

Besides vintage silks, cotton fabric was eco printed with the mordants of vinegar plus alum. Can you tell the darker pri...
07/11/2026

Besides vintage silks, cotton fabric was eco printed with the mordants of vinegar plus alum. Can you tell the darker prints from the iron in the recipe? I think I like the printed colors of the leaves without the iron. What about you?

The underside and sunside of leaves were printed by placing leaves between the folded cotton. Wanted to see if any of these plants printed well on both sides of the leaves. Looks like only cleome printed well on both sides without the iron.
Native plants used for this mordanted example were common persimmon, black walnut, sweet gum, tulip poplar, muscadine, br eyed susans, post oak, sour wood, and winged sumac. All these native plants are usually strong printers on wool.

Any suggestions about what to make with the eco printed cotton: aprons, tote bags, ...?

Look what Nelms started this week! Our tiny free gallery is finally approved by town planning, painted, and stocked by u...
07/03/2026

Look what Nelms started this week! Our tiny free gallery is finally approved by town planning, painted, and stocked by us and 1 other artist at Nelms. We painted it to match the house exterior.

This gallery was a request by an artist at Nelms so we planned and painted it together. It has a portable base so we can move it around the yard as needed. We want youth especially to enjoy trading their artwork. If you want, you can include your last name or initials on your art to acknowledge your work.

And here are the latest eco silks with native leaves to test 2 new mordants infused in the fabrics. Both have vinegar an...
07/03/2026

And here are the latest eco silks with native leaves to test 2 new mordants infused in the fabrics. Both have vinegar and alum with 1 mordant that includes a small amount of iron for darker definitions. Can you tell which has iron?
Tested native leaves for prints that do well with just vinegar and leaves that don't or were new to try. I placed the leaves in the same pattern on 2 types of silk, georgetette and crepe (light peach). Wanted to see if a new mordant makes them print. Do you like the iron for darker prints?
For the longer silk scarves, from top to bottom native plants are:
Winged summac
Common persimmon
Southern red oak
Queen Anne lace
C. Persimmon
Wax myrtle
Silky dogwood
Blue wood aster
Queen Anne lace
C. Persimmon
Black haw
Black walnut
Common hackberry
Q. Anne lace
C. Persimmon
Post oak
C. Persimmon
W. Summac

For the shorter silk scarves, from top to bottom native plants are:
Haldbred rose mallow
Golden rod
Blue false indigo
American elm
Beauty Berry
Yellow crown beard
Indian h**p
Winged summac
Trumpet Vine
Swamp rose mallow
Wild blue violet
Huechera
Honeyvine
Fleabane
Cleome

A happy customer during the Maritime Rendevous found a ecoprint sweater and a boho jean apron to take home. So grateful ...
06/22/2026

A happy customer during the Maritime Rendevous found a ecoprint sweater and a boho jean apron to take home. So grateful we could please her so she can use the sweater on a Scotland trip in the fall.

The Nelms House Eco Art workshops will be offered throughout June and every day of the Maritime Rendezvous, June 12-14,...
06/06/2026

The Nelms House Eco Art workshops will be offered throughout June and every day of the Maritime Rendezvous, June 12-14, noon to 5 pm or visitors can arrange a special workshop time by email [email protected] or phone 757-334-9568.
https://genuinesmithfieldva.com/events/smithfield-maritime-rendezvous/?event_date=2026-06-12

Nelms Wetlands Eco Art Workshop and Display
(There are Free Demos of Eco Art for the Maritime Rendezvous and 20% Discounted Workshops. Maritime Rendezvous Eco Art workshops include complimentary tea/coffee and scones.)

To increase cleaner waterways by use of native plants, Nelms will feature wetland native plants for ecoart in workshops and displays on vintage fabrics. Wetland plants in the Nelms Native Garden are available for eco prints and eco dyes in several rain gardens. For summer, silks from vintage saris are available for eco art workshops and on display for sale with wetland eco prints. See examples of wetland native plants as eco prints on Display such as silky dogwood.

Nelms had a newly married couple buy and custom order 2 French Nouveau buttons as their first wedding rings. What a trea...
06/06/2026

Nelms had a newly married couple buy and custom order 2 French Nouveau buttons as their first wedding rings. What a treat to have these beautiful buttons be used for their special occasion.

Our tea buffet guest on Mother's Day left with a sari silk cowl in a shibori design from elderberry eco dye. Let me know...
05/13/2026

Our tea buffet guest on Mother's Day left with a sari silk cowl in a shibori design from elderberry eco dye. Let me know if you like this style of cowl since this was OOAK. It was an experiment for ecodyes. I can create others with other eco dyes and shibori patterns on vintage sari silks. Or please come visit to commission a cowl or take a workshop to create a scarf!

Now that spring is here, ecoart on vintage sari silks are being created at Nelms. Am experimenting with new natives, esp...
05/13/2026

Now that spring is here, ecoart on vintage sari silks are being created at Nelms. Am experimenting with new natives, especially native grape vines, and being surprised at the results as you unwrap the bundles after steaming. Here are some results so far with silky dogwood and grape leaves (frost, muscadine and gray bark grape). They printed green! These silks are for a scarf and headbands.

Eco art headbands are now available in various designs to include needle and nuno felted styles using ecodyed roving and vintage lace. .

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Smithfield, VA
23430

Opening Hours

Wednesday 12pm - 5pm
Thursday 12pm - 5pm
Friday 12pm - 5pm
Saturday 12pm - 5pm

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