Kelzine Butterfield's artwork doesn't hang in an art gallery.

It's not hanging on the walls of a mega company and she doesn't hold openings where people guzzle expensive champagne. (Not yet, anyway.)

But, her work can be seen all over Bermuda and has been shown abroad ? on the backs of Bermuda Gombeys.

Miss Butterfield is swiftly becoming the outfitter to the Gombey stars, and each costume that she creates is assuredly a work of art.

"When we were coming up we were not very fortunate and we didn't have toys to play with," said Miss Butterfield, who works for Capital G as a debt collector during the day. "What we had was a sewing machine. We were taught to crochet. I'm glad that it was that way because now I know how to sew. Those were the good old days."

Sewing skills turned out to be valuable, not just as a hobby, but as a tool to maintain her own sense of independence.

When she wakes up in the morning and decides she wants to wear something beige she often knocks out a little number before heading off to work at Capital G.

One of her sons has recently joined her in the Gombey costume making business by making the headdresses, masks and peacock feathers. Her son is the third generation in her family to be involved in Gombey costume making.

"Back in the day, my mother Elsie used to grow her hair for the plaits, for the captains. She would make costumes up with old jewellery and stuff like that," Miss Butterfield said.

Years later both of Miss Butterfield's sons became members of the H&H Gombey Troupe when they were just three years old. Miss Butterfield and her mother were asked to show the troupe leader a costume they had made.

"We showed him our suits, and he said, 'oh we don't make suits like that anymore'. We looked at one another and we cried. It was years difference between back then and now.

Back then you just sewed on old jewellery, earrings and beads and other things you found lying around. Now the costumes have handwork on them."

Miss Butterfield and her mother soon recovered from their disappointment and put their sewing skills to work. Miss Butterfield would chain stitch designs on the Gombey cloaks such as the face of a well-known cartoon character, a bee or praying hands, and then affix sequins, beads and mirrors.

Her mother would crochet the long, colourful woollen tassels that hang from the trousers.

Unfortunately, Miss Butterfield's mother has now passed away. "Every time I make a suit, I get stuck on it," said Miss Butterfield. "When I made the suits for the first six years, I never had to do this (the crochet work). It isn't that I didn't know how to do it, it is just that my mother was so much faster.

When she was alive, I would come home after work and find she had made half the costume. Now, when I do the crochet work, I am like 'where are you, could you just do this'? It is a cheat in a way because she did it so fast, and I take a while to do it. It is tedious."

One of the first suits Miss Butterfield worked on used characters from Super Mario Brothers, the video game.

Although Gombey suits obscure the true identity of the dancer, they also reveal a lot about his hopes and dreams. People often come to her with ideas about what they want when they order a suit. One customer came to her with a photograph of himself in cap and gown, graduating from the Bermuda College.

"I like it when my clients come to the studio to see the suit being made," she said. "I think it gives them a better appreciation of all the work that went into their suits.

"He only had this photograph in mind, he didn't have anything else," she said. "We needed something more to fill up the suit, so we decided to put praying hands."

Work on the suits is painstaking, and Miss Butterfield is often up until 4 a.m. working on them. Materials such as wool, cloth and all the bits and bobs that go with a Gombey suit are not cheap.

Some things come from Gibbons Company or Qui-Ja Fabric Accessories, but otherwise materials are difficult to obtain in Bermuda. These are some of the reasons a Gombey suit is not cheap. Adult suits can cost between $1,500 and $2,000 easily.

Miss Butterfield also makes the suits for children and these are a more modest $500. Many people order them from her to be special Christmas presents.

Miss Butterfield made a suit for her three-year-old grandson, and he loves it.

"He woke up this morning and was walking around in the suit, dink, dink, dink," she said. "They sleep like that and wake up like that. That is the joy. The most joy I really get is to see the children's faces and to see how they transform when they put on the suit."

Miss Butterfield has made about 12 suits so far, mostly for the H&H Troupe, but also some for other troupes. She said she does not discriminate.

"In the groups, everyone makes their own suits or they get someone from their group to make them, such as the wives or mothers of the children in the troupe," she said.

Her oldest son recently graduated from the troupe, and plays the drums. Her youngest son still dances off and on. "I didn't get the excitement until my youngest son started to dance," she said. "Back in the day it was true that you had to be a member of a particular family or neighbourhood to be a member of a Gombey troupe. Things have changed a lot now. There is even a girl Gombey troupe. Before girls use to dance, but you wouldn't know it was a girl."

However, she said discipline in the troupes is still harsh. Even the smallest Gombeys are whipped if they do not get out of the way of other dancers.

"They soon learn," said Miss Butterfield.

To contact Miss Butterfield about her Gombey suits, telephone 737-5010.