Experimental Printed Images, Scrappy Bags and a Hawk.

Preparations for a Summer Workshop. We will be stamping and printing, hand and machine stitching, and hopefully using our creations to make into fabric concertina books.

After cutting my teapot and two mugs out of foam sheets, I 'drew' the patterns and detail into the surface with my electric, stencil cutting heat pen.

First I tried them out on paper, then onto fabric. I may need the paint to be brushed on a little heavier for the fabric though.

I thought I'd try making a collograph print using the same foam and heat pen. The printing 'plate' is below.

First I used it as a stamp on paper, below.

Then as a collograph print. The difference is that used as a stamp, I covered the whole surface with paint, but it didn't collect down into the drawn line. For the collagraph style print below, the surface was again covered with paint, but pushed down into the drawn line. Then the surface was wiped as clean as possible so that the paint only remained down into the lines. I placed it face down onto some dampened paper, and then pulled it through a small press. I need to work on this technique, as I'm not so happy with the image below. It could also be that my drawing/design is really crude, so maybe I need to try again with something a little more refined!

I've been making scrappy bags! I have so many scraps of furnishing/curtain and quilting fabrics, and I also found a Popular Patchwork magazine from 2009 with a summer bag pattern section, so away I went.

This one is for me, to match a jacket I will be wearing to a wedding. Above is the right side, below the reverse, and the third image shows it against my jacket.

Below is the second one I have made. It's for my daughter in New Zealand, they are coming into their winter, so hence the more muted colours specifically to go with denim.

The third one below I made to try and sell in my Etsy shop, but I added the magnetic closing clip after I had finished it, so I don't feel it has gone in well enough to sell. Shame really, I think the colours are good for summer.

Finally, my JQ for May. It's my interpretation of a Goshawk. I'm reading, and enjoying Helen McDonald's 'H is for Hawk' at the moment, so thought I would stay with the bird theme. Made from one of my Gelli printed papers, and appliqued onto some hand painted cotton fabric.

If you've enjoyed reading this far, many thanks, and have a good Bank Holiday, (if you live in the UK). If not, then enjoy the weekend anyway!

Inspired by a bargain!

I chopped up a failed piece of work that I'd made some time ago into postcard sized pieces ( 6" x 4"),  continued to embellish them further with black and gold gutta, and finally more stitch. Then, while out shopping on Friday, I popped into 'The Works', and discovered packs of four canvases, 5" x 7" reduced to £3 per pack!! A bargain too good to ignore, so I bought 2 packs, and decided to use up some of my gelli printed papers to cover them with. Having sealed them with acrylic wax, my postcards seemed to be the perfect finishing touch! They are abstract, so could be hung any which way, separately, or together as in the photos above. I'm considering putting them into my Etsy shop.

Finally finished my Lavender Field Triptych, and I'm quite pleased with how it has turned out. I have linked the three pieces with some stitch, as you can see in the close-ups below, but decided to keep it quite simple. A light scattering of red french knots, (poppies) finishes it off. 

Thanks for joining me, and I hope you've enjoyed this post.

I can ALMOST smell the lavender!

Although I'm still struggling with my final decision for the Lavender Field piece, these brooches have given me some positive and rewarding respite. They will hopefully be accepted by Jackie at the Corner Gallery as 'Wearable Art' to compliment her exhibition in June/July

Each one is unique, with a small embroidered and coloured bee homing in on the lavender flowers. I have also managed to sign my abbreviated signature at the bottom, so I feel I can call them wearable art! 

Above is a photo of all my brooches to date, some of which are for sale at an extremely reasonable price in my Etsy shop here.

The paper cloth I was experimenting with has come in very useful for making some cards that you can see above. Again, lots of fun and no pressure here!!

There is a 'Sky' exhibition on at the Corner Gallery at the moment, and the image above is my contribution. Again, it has been constructed from paper cloth, painted and stitched.

More experimental work for the Lavender theme. I started it, but haven't continued with it so far, it still doesn't feel quite right to me, maybe I'm trying too hard!

Finally, my journal quilt for April, now finished. More experimental than anything else really, and it certainly isn't a work of art, but when you try a new technique that's not what it's all about really. I've given the birds a coat of metallic paint, more for fun than anything else, but by doing that it has given me an idea for next month!!

Make sure to watch this space to find out more, and thanks for reading.

Busy busy busy, but having so much fun!

A very busy week which started last Saturday 21st March, with an extremely enjoyable two day workshop with Bobby Britnell.

Bobby worked us very hard on Mixed Media Approaches to Abstract Design, but what a wonderful teacher she is! I really learnt so much, with plenty of samples to remind me of what we covered, and so much to ponder on.

Here are some samples of  what we covered during the two days, now all safely stuck into a sketch book!

Below a final piece using some of the techniques we covered. I think the one thing I really took away with me was the idea that we need, as artists, to investigate all the possibilities for an idea, before we plunge head on into the final piece, something I've not been too good at practising in the past!

So, onto my next project. I have been asked to make a reasonably large mixed media piece inspired by our local Lavender Fields here in Carshalton.

I decided that this was a good excuse to put into practise what I decided last weekend I needed to do from now on. Hence my sketchbook ideas, followed by some samples shown here and below.

I still haven't really decided exactly where I'm going with this, but have been recently inspired by  the idea of making some paper cloth for this project. This is the inspiring blog here, well worth a look, with some really beautiful work by Morag to feast your eyes on! 

The image below was another piece that I was experimenting with, and was supposed to be lavender flowers. As you can see, they look nothing like lavender, more like hyacinths, but I liked the colours, and decided that a postcard could be salvaged from it.

I've been having a play with this new idea of paper cloth, and made a large sheet as an experiment. I have cut it into smaller pieces, and there are two postcard size pieces below, plus another that may become my Journal Quilt for March.

The JQ image below still needs to be made into a quilt sandwich, and quilted, and the postcards above also need finishing.

I've had a very busy week anyway, and all of the above has been squeezed into any spare time I could muster! I just love it though, when a new technique inspires me, and after a workshop has fired up my enthusiasm. I'm so looking forward to next week now, and playing some more!

I hope you're having as much fun as I am!

A Tree, Moon Moths and some Flowers.

We went for a walk on Epsom Downs a couple of weeks ago, and this tree looked such a perfect shape, I couldn't resist taking a quick snap. My hope is to you use it in some way in some textile art!

Above is the result of playing around with one of my Gelli prints. It was photographed, laminated onto some voile, stitched and embellished with a bit more paint. Moon Moths!

Brooches for my Etsy shop. These have been made from some of my hand painted fabric, free machine sketched with black thread, coloured with a combination of paint and watercolour pencils, and finally sealed with some glossy sealing varnish. They have been padded out with a layer of wadding wrapped around a plastic template for sturdiness, and then backed with felt and a silver plated brooch pin.

Unfortunately they were too late for Mothers' Day here in the UK, but they would still make a lovely gift for a birthday, or for Mums' Day elsewhere in the world! Why not go take a peek!

Thanks for stopping by.