If you have a spare 15 mins come and join us and Be Creative, join in if you can, no obligation but it would be nice if you could come back here and let me know what you are doing?
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Tuesday, April 29, 2014
Monday, April 21, 2014
Happy accidents
Happy Accidents. These are happening to me a lot recently. First the blood on my work. It did improve my work. It was while I was perusing a friend's blog I was reminded of my love of scraps. I started listing the scraps I have.
1) there's the TUSAL jar, all the threads and tiny fabrics that most people throw in the bin. Totally Useless. NO not to me as I create fabrics with them, either with dissolvable fabric and sheers. Or they are embellished into felt or other fabrics.
2) there are the papers I have painted and played with over the years, especially tissue. They are used in ATCs and postcards. Any tiny scraps are kept for completing pieces.
3) there are the pile of dyed and painted fabrics used for many projects. Any left overs are kept, divided into strips and smaller scraps. This is a small piece, no completed yet.
4) there are the things that didn't quite work or were experimented on - my mop up cloths for example. Recently quite a few of these have come into their own.
Some of you know that I am working towards an exhibition in the summer. My topic is Clocks, one piece is completed bar it's label and I have ideas for them. (see later on in this post.) So number two was started a few weekends ago on my course with Yvonne Brown. The piece I produced still isn't quite finished but the old kitchen clock fabric I created with TUSAL scraps quite a few years ago was cut up to create one of the backings for my tiles.
I then found the photograph I had taken of the clock tower at Wallington Hall, Northumberland. DH, bless him, played with the image and printed out several clocks, all the same but different sizes.
I set to work choosing, at random - almost - fabrics that would melt and would cut with a soldering iron. Those of you who have seen Margaret Beal at some of the shows will have seen some of the intricate work she does. Yvonne works in a similar way with Kunin felt. Google the word and find out what it is. A lot of traders don't know what it is. Three clocks were made and I sat and looked at them for a while on the lovely orangey brown fabric that I had painted and printed on with my Colouricious blocks and had been going to be the grouting for my tiles. It was too small for that project so put aside, but not forgotten.
Two nights ago I was sitting looking at the work so far. In my bag I just happened to have some blue painted Bondaweb that was for another job and never used. The pieces had been folded and looked a bit disheveled so I tore them into smaller pieces and placed them on top of the orange fabric and under the clocks. Voila, simple but looking good. Even DH said yes that's looking good! Maybe he's more interested because he's been involved from the start! The end of clock 2 is in sight. Just one more piece and I know what I want to do for that.
This is the WIP.
My new labels made from scraps of dyed paper napkins
Thank-you for looking. Night for now.
1) there's the TUSAL jar, all the threads and tiny fabrics that most people throw in the bin. Totally Useless. NO not to me as I create fabrics with them, either with dissolvable fabric and sheers. Or they are embellished into felt or other fabrics.
My TUSAL jar 
2) there are the papers I have painted and played with over the years, especially tissue. They are used in ATCs and postcards. Any tiny scraps are kept for completing pieces.
3) there are the pile of dyed and painted fabrics used for many projects. Any left overs are kept, divided into strips and smaller scraps. This is a small piece, no completed yet.
I then found the photograph I had taken of the clock tower at Wallington Hall, Northumberland. DH, bless him, played with the image and printed out several clocks, all the same but different sizes.
Two nights ago I was sitting looking at the work so far. In my bag I just happened to have some blue painted Bondaweb that was for another job and never used. The pieces had been folded and looked a bit disheveled so I tore them into smaller pieces and placed them on top of the orange fabric and under the clocks. Voila, simple but looking good. Even DH said yes that's looking good! Maybe he's more interested because he's been involved from the start! The end of clock 2 is in sight. Just one more piece and I know what I want to do for that.
This is the WIP.
My new labels made from scraps of dyed paper napkins
Scraps of yarn used in this felted hanging
Sunday, April 20, 2014
ATC Give Away
Would you like to own this little piece of textile art? Then leave a comment here before 10pm Easter Monday (tomorrow) I will post here if you are successfully.
Wednesday, April 16, 2014
Lost ATCs
During March I took part in a Be Creative online weekend event. As a result some of us made some ATCs (Artist Trading Cards). Some we swapped with others within the group and at least one in the series was 'lost' somewhere in the artists local area. The small pieces of art have a blog reference number and a website address . If you click on my link you can have a look at these ATCs and see if there is one near you. If you find one please leave a comment and perhaps a photograph. We would love to hear what has happened to these pieces. If you want to see mine you will have to visit the website. Remember to come back here to see what else we have been up to.
We would also love to have you join us for our next events. This does mean you need a Facebook account which some people dislike. It is the only way we could see of having a 'safe' group site as all members are vetted and come usually by recommendations from others within the group. You do not need to have posts seen by the general public and can restrict them to friends only.
Beware however :) there is a lot of chatter depending on which activities you choose to join. I know there are one or two of my friends who follow this blog. So please take a look at my ATCs and see if you can 'find' them and give them good homes. Hint:- one of my favourite local wool shops is involved. Try one in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Below is just one image I found during the weekend event. It is an enlarged microscope image of a piece of expanded popcorn. Would you believe it? Honey bees create similar structures within a honeycomb. I can see me using this image in a future piece of work.
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That's all for today. If you would like to know more about what I have been up to since my last blog entry then visit my Facebook page.
I hope the sun is out where you are. This morning here on the North East coast has dawned with a lovely clear sky, which probably means it's very cold outside.
We would also love to have you join us for our next events. This does mean you need a Facebook account which some people dislike. It is the only way we could see of having a 'safe' group site as all members are vetted and come usually by recommendations from others within the group. You do not need to have posts seen by the general public and can restrict them to friends only.
Beware however :) there is a lot of chatter depending on which activities you choose to join. I know there are one or two of my friends who follow this blog. So please take a look at my ATCs and see if you can 'find' them and give them good homes. Hint:- one of my favourite local wool shops is involved. Try one in Newcastle upon Tyne.
Below is just one image I found during the weekend event. It is an enlarged microscope image of a piece of expanded popcorn. Would you believe it? Honey bees create similar structures within a honeycomb. I can see me using this image in a future piece of work.
That's all for today. If you would like to know more about what I have been up to since my last blog entry then visit my Facebook page.
I hope the sun is out where you are. This morning here on the North East coast has dawned with a lovely clear sky, which probably means it's very cold outside.
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