A bit rusty

Tried out a new technique today - rust dyeing. This could become seriously addictive I fear ....

This is what I achieved in just half an hour and I ran out of table drying space. I tried out heavy weight tyvek, 300gsm watercolour paper and fabric (no pics of the fabric yet as it looks a fairly uninteresting dark brown until it dries and can be rinsed).


These are the tyvek pieces - some A4 and some A3 size pieces.








Close ups of some of my favourite areas





And I think this piece of watercolour paper is just stunning


And because it's so quick to do, I even did some more of my coursework piece!

Back from 'lurgy' land

I've been laid up in bed most of this week with a vicious viral thing so haven't felt much like doing anything let alone blogging!

Anyway, I'm back with a vengeance and thought I'd share my first attempts at using transfer papers to make A4 size mini quilts with a view to submitting them to
http://littlegemquilts.wordpress.com.

The first two I'm not very pleased with:-

"Sunrays"


and "Shiny Spirals"


Both of them are a bit 'obvious' - don't really say much about anything.

These three I like much more. The first one, "Scarlet Rain" was transferred to light weight Lutradur which was layered over some commercially printed fabric, free motion machine quilted and then areas of the Lutradur were cut back to reveal the fabric beneath. I've since mounted this on a blue painted box canvas and plan to give it as a birthday gift to a friend this weekend so this is one that won't end up in the Little Gems tombola.


This one I've called "Optical Illusion" as it made me cross eyed when stitching it! I painted two transfer sheets - one graduated yellow and one blue - then cut and wove the two sheets together before printing onto an 80% polyester/20% cotton blend and quilted.


This one, inspired by the sun shining on the big stand of bamboo in the garden, is my favourite.


Enough blogging for now. Got to get back to beading before class tomorrow!

Productive weekend

Well, Artmixter has certainly started something now! I've made 19 ATC/ACEO this weekend - some I'm pleased with, others not so pleased. If you click on any of the images you'll get an enlarged view.

This is the first batch:


And these . . .



And I think I like these ones the best.



After all that cutting, painting and sticking, I decided to just sew today. I seem to have acquired quite a lot of copper coloured fabrics so I chopped some bits up and stitched them to a piece of craft vilene. I then added some free motion embroidery, bound the edges and this was the result:-



What a shame it's back to work tomorrow.

Couldn't resist it

I know I should be stitching beads but Artmixter asked me to be her guinea pig for a new pamphlet she's produced on making ATCs. Having never made one before, I just couldn't resist making a start on my first four. Will post some photos when they're finished.

I did spend nearly three hours this morning with the beading although progress is painfully slow. My own fault for trying to be too ambitious I suppose.

Fed up with this

Been a bit quiet on the blogging front as I've been frantically trying to finish my NCFE Creative Textiles coursework - a 1m x 1.2m wall hanging of the Great Barrier Reef. I only have nine weeks to get it finished. If I never sew on another bead, it'll be too soon. The pics below speak for themselves (apols for the poor photo quality - taken on my mobile as I still haven't mastered the new camera).

This is a photo of one of the pieces of coral that I'm trying to recreate:-

And this is what my attempt currently looks like - half finished:-

and in detail:-


And this is my recreation of a giant clam:-

And detail:-

Only about another 4000 beads to go ......

Tragic weekend

My laptop died. Ceased to be. Defunct. It is no more - that is unless John can somehow revive it from the blue screen of death. So yesterday was spent dashing around to buy a new desktop PC and configuring it so I could actually work this morning.

The rest of the weekend was spent putting together all the stuff I'm taking to the Mid Norfolk Guild meeting tonight so no time for blogging. Hopefully once I've got this talk/demonstration out of the way, I'll be able to get back to creating.

Easter holiday comes to an end

But what a busy weekend it has been. Grace and Sam (her mum) came to lunch today and I cooked roast beef and all the trimmings. The Easter Bunny brought Grace, amongst other things, (but no chocolate) her first paints. She ended up with red hands, red face and red teeth - had to keep checking if it tasted nice or not - but seemed to enjoy it. A girl after her Nana's heart.

I really should have been getting on with my NCFE Creative Textiles coursework but the bits of lutradur that Marion sent just wouldn't stay in my SABLE (new acronym that I came across recently - Stash Accumulated Beyond Lifetime Expectancy) so out came the transfer dyes and several papers completed and left to dry.

While the workroom was in "wet" mode, I couldn't resist having another go at painting on kitchen foil and completed a 12" x 15" box canvas. Always with one eye on the cheaper alternative, I used pva to stick the foil to the canvas. This proved to be a big mistake as it didn't stick properly all over which resulted in lots of air bubbles and some unsightly ridges/folds that just wouldn't stay down. I painted it anyway but I'm not nearly as happy with this as with the canvas book cover (see blog 9th April).

Yesterday was spent trying out the transfer dye papers on the lutradur. I'd made the dyes quite concentrated as I wasn't certain how well they'd transfer. I needn't have worried as the colours came out really strongly. In fact, next time I'll definitely dilute them more to try and get something a little more subtle. I'll live with the lutradur samples pinned to my wallboard for a week or so before I decide how I'll use them.

I've also been working on some needle felted samples (including the A5 felted notebook cover - see blog 9th April) to take along to the Mid Norfolk Guild of Spinners, Weavers and Dyers meeting on 20th as they've asked me to give a demonstration. I want to show them felting isn't just twee embellished felt flowers and the like so I've worked up a triptych design, using the embellisher, based on the changing colours of Uluru throughout the day, hence the title, "Uluru Dawn, Day, Dusk"‏.

And here's some detail - Dawn,

Day

and Dusk.

Apart from the box canvas mounts, the triptych was made entirely from old/worn/discarded items from the Sheridans' wardrobes. John's close scrutiny while taking the photographs resulted in a plaintive, "But I liked that old jumper" .............