A blog about making art and other things using cloth, paper, paint, colour, stitch, and all sorts of exciting techniques, some of which I'm sure I still have to discover! I hope that the joy all this gives me is visible in what you can see here.

Friday 31 December 2010

HAPPY NEW YEAR, and looking forward to more experiments in 2011!



Finished piece!
 
Over the last quarter of 2010, I did a bit more experimentation, triggered mainly by the 'Wet n Wild' workshops with C2C. Some pieces have turned out
stage 3
more successfully than others, and this one here, is one that I consider fits that description. I have included some photos of the process, it started out as my first attempt at paper lamination, which I cut in half, and mounted one piece on black fabric, and the other on white. These were then joined together, stitched, painted with acrylic paint, and stitched even more. The results are above, and I've decided to call it 'City Reflections'.
Hopefully, more experiments in 2011, so here's wishing you all a very happy and creative New Year.

stage 2


Stage one




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Sunday 19 December 2010

Flying in the fullness of the moon

This piece started out as a simple mono-print from the top left section of the paper lamination post, 'Taking BIG risks' on 16th October. Once dry, I fixed the fabric (a silk and cotton mix) into a large round embroidery hoop and painted the surface with an olive green silk paint. The result over the turquoise acrylic fabric paint gave a fabulous golden colour, with the painted areas looking almost like old gold. When I removed it from the hoop, I decided to paint all around the circular shape with a blue/turquoise silk paint, and then immediately decided that I'd created an image of a full moon.

Although I really liked the results, I knew that something else was needed to finish the piece. I thought about moths, I really love the patterns on their wings, and they are attracted, apparently to the moon! I tried out some moth silhouettes, but somehow they didn't seem right. I often find that ideas will come to me just as I'm about to drift off to sleep, and on this occasion, that is exactly what happened! Geese.....I would place geese flying in front of the moon. Straight black tends to deaden, so after a bit of experimentation, I bonded some fine black lutradur onto a black, infused with gold fabric to cut the 'geese in flight' shapes from. I am really pleased with the results, and am now considering further 'geese in flight' textile pieces.

Sunday 12 December 2010

December Journal Quilt





  
My Journal Quilt for December is called December in the City. It was inspired by watching gulls reflected in the windows of a high-rise office building, but unfortunately at the time I didn't have a camera with me. I new that I had taken some photos of reflections in high-rise offices, and also of some seagulls at the coast. I printed off a photo manipulated in Photo Shop, cut it up and laminated it onto some fabric that I had screen printed in dark green. The gulls were cut from a used colour catcher and bonded onto the surface before being machine stitched down. I hand stitched some areas for contrast, and machine embroidered other areas with metallic threads for a bit of seasonal bling!.I finished it off by cutting some Christmas tree shapes from scraps of fabric and appliqueing them along the bottom.