Request for donations of fabric scraps and swatches

I've begun working on a design for a tactile tapestry, which will be a wall hanging of a forest scene based upon this mural
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/handpainted-frieze-summons-up-a-forest-the-oregonian--062759
My idea is to integrate a variety of materials and perhaps some scents like balsalm and cedar as well.

While talking with LJ user Issendai, I mentioned how shopping for these fabrics was going to be kind of a project in itself, and, since the amount of fabric I need for each bit is pretty small, she suggested that I ask for donations from my fabric-oriented friends.

I thought this would just add to the coolness of this project, so I'm posting a request for fabric donations and also asking for suggestions regarding what would make a good backing material for the tapestry. I want something with enough stiffness that it will hang well but not so heavy that lifting it and carrying it will be a burden while I am working on it.

Colors and textures I am hoping to find:
many shades of green, especially dark forest, pine, and emerald
black, dark dark midnight blue, and shades of brown and
a few swatches of gold and silver
additional embellishments such as dark green, gold, and silver beads, silk leaves, something twinkly for stars, material which feels like bark, floral wire or something similar for the Celtic knotwork roots, and very thin silver ribbon (I would actually be interested in purchasing a couple rolls of this if anyone knows where I can find it).

I intend on spending a couple of months collecting materials for this project and beginning it in March. Folks should also feel free to make suggestions and post links for techniques which lend themselves to creating tactile effects, especially if it doesn't involve lots of fine sewing.

Book review: Arcadia Falls by Carol Goodman

_Arcadia Falls_ by Carol Goodman (Ballantine Books, 2010) [Bookshare.org]
Description: A widow with a teenage daughter gets a job at an isolated boarding school in the Hudson Valley, and soon becomes drawn into both the mysterious death of a female artist who founded the school and the recent death of one of the students.

Things I liked about this book:
* the descriptions of the Hudson Valley landscape and folklore, including references to the Dutch moss maidens and wittewieven (white women)
* the bits about women as artists and the discussion of the Arts and Crafts movement and the art nouveau style
* the references to feminist fairy tales (favorite quote: "You'll find nineteenth century children's literature good preparation for this place: it's mad hatters and goblins all around.")

Things I didn't like about this book:
* the superficial research done about paganism, i.e., the book store owner of a pagan shop who recommends Margaret Murray's _The Witch Cult in Western Europe_ as a scholarly text, when it hasn't been considered robust scholarship for decades.
* the totally humorless emo-mom protagonist who keeps the story well within the parameters of the "woman in peril" cliche.

It's this last element which persuades me that this book is an example of what I call the pseudo-gothic, or gothic-lite. It uses the earmarks of the gothic genre--the isolated setting, the preoccupation with history, the mysterious murder from the past--but it never seems to quite dig into the deeper, more fertile psychological aspects of gothic literature.

As an example, the female protagonist is supposedly a scholar of the fairy tales of Angela Carter. Those fairy tales often featured women who managed to hold on to a certain aspect of wildness, they refused to be fully domesticated by traditional female roles. The author herself claims to be a fan of such stories.

And yet...by the end of the story, all the good women turn out to be those who are mothering and nurturing, and all of the bad women are those who either rejected becoming mothers by not having children (more specifically, daughters) or who abandoned their daughters. All these bad women come to bad ends sooner or later. Even the student who dies is characterized by her (unnatural?) preoccupation with her academic and professional ambitions. So much for the subversive aspects of gothics and feminism.