Two down, lots still to go

I am feeling quite chuffed with myself. Today I have finished two ongoing projects.

The first was the piece I started in Maggie Grey's workshop back in August. It has been nearly finished for weeeks - just waiting for some beading to be added. I am NOT fond of hand stitching. Now it is done and mounted on the artist canvas I am pleased with it. I must decide where to hang it.


The other was the bowl I started after the Designing Women Retreat using cord made from torn strips of silk wound with some purple yarn. It has turned out quite well, though I don't think the cord is as successful as wrapped piping cord. It is softer and the bowl is a bit floppy.


But hey! Finished is GOOD!

Still fiddling

I have been playing with all the Maggie Grey bits today. This was one of the arrangements.


I am not happy with it so I will be fiddling some more. I auditioned some beads for use as possible embellishment. Love these semi precious stones, but the colour is too yellow.

These crystals might work. I picked them out of the cheap bin at Spotlight a couple of weeks ago. They are supposed to be Svarovski and have the most excessive packaging I have ever seen - stiff cardboard enclosing not one, but two, moulded clear plastic boxes shaped to fit the beads.


It was mammogram day today. Not quite as squishy as on previous occasions, but the edge of the plate cut the skin where my right boob joins my chest. Ouch!

Progress Report - Maggie Grey piece

Some of the paper and both felt bits have been painted with a dark green acrylic (black + green oxide - Jo Sonya) and Lumiere Olive Green. Copper metallic paint will be the next addition, so it matches the pieces made earlier.

I have stitched four "fumfy bits" with metallic thread on water soluble. I seem to have run out of Romeo (though I am sure I still have some, somewhere) so I used a double layer of Vilene 541 for three of them. I have only dissolved two as yet.

I found a piece of copper shim that had been embossed with circles. This had been through a paper crimper that Carole Redlich had at a workshop probably 5 years ago now. I have daubed a bit of Starburst Stain on top to link it with the one I did at Maggie's workshop.

Almost ready to assemble the bits. Too late to take photos, though. Sorry.

Rain and paper casts

One of the techniques I learned at Maggie Grey's workshop was the use of soluble paper to make wonderfully textured bits. I have been experimenting with a range of soluble stabilisers and papers, stamping with expandaprint and puff paint.

It has been raining all week (we need the rain, the farmers are liking this, the dams need the top up, the garden is looking good, etc, etc) and as a result the humidity is much higher than usual. It took a whole day for the stamps to dry enough to be zapped with the heat gun. That happened on Tuesday and I then wet and distorted the base papers. They are still not dry.

I know, I should have laid them out in front of the heater. I tried the hairdryer today, but they just blew about.

I have used water soluble paper, Kozo paper, Lokta paper and a machine embroidery wash away stabiliser. I think the white expandaprint is the most successful resist. The black expandaprint did not puff up at all, while the Dala puff paint puffed almost too much. I don't like the results on the stabiliser, but the papers have possibilities. I will try to remember to take photos before I do anything else.

And I don't know how people who live in damp places get anything like this ever finished.

Maggie Grey workshop

This is what I accomplished yesterday. All my bits laid out on a meat tray.

I had been looking forward to this workshop for months and I was not disappointed. I managed to get all the samples done - which is probably a workshop first for me. I usually start well, but tail off dismally!

Maggie is a very good teacher and her samples were most inspirational. Some of them were immediately recognisable from her books (she was most generous in signing copies - I took 5 different ones, but unfortunately forgot to check the other bookcase and left 2 others behind). I took lots of photos, but can't reproduce them here.

She showed us a number of techniques. I didn't have time for copious note taking yesterday, but I wrote down headings and I have filled in what I remembered today.

1. Watersoluble paper stamped with puff paint or expandaprint.

We stitched straight lines first, stamped and then zapped with our heat guns. Then we wet the paper so it began to dissolve and pulled and shaped the pulp. The results went out into the sun to dry, which took most of the day. At the end of the day we painted them with acrylic paint. Note to self: a dry brush is essential!

2. Stitching on Romeo

We drew a rectangle on the Romeo and stitched a multitude of diagonal lines close together. After anchoring the lines with another rectangle and cutting away the excess we pinned the piece to a tray and washed out most of the watersoluble. The result was an organic piece which we manipulated into a 3D shape.

Maggie also had samples of beading, couching and stitching on the rectangle, but we didn't have time to try that.

3. Working with Metal

We heated copper shim to get colour, then used a ballpoint pen to draw a design on the back. For further colour we could spray with alcohol inks or paint with acrylic paint and rub most of it off before it dried. I tried the inks.

4. Felt and Gesso Lace

Here we used gesso as a resist on acrylic felt, then applied heat to melt away the areas where the gesso was absent. The felt was then painted.

We are now supposed to assemble all these bits into a piece of art, adding stitching, beading and other bits to complement the basics. I plan to try this tomorrow.

This is Jennie's piece. Love the extra bits - especially the rusty bottle top.

Killed Catalogues

I intend (truly, honestly, cross my heart) to do the online lessons that Maggie Grey has set up for people who have bought her book: Textile Translations.

So far, all I have done is slash a couple of catalogues (plenty available at this time of the year!) and put them in the garden.

This shot is of one that has been there for about a week. It looks quite dead to me. At the lower right is a second, newer effort. Not visible is a baking tray which I am trying to rust.


Lots of hiding places for peculiar stuff in our garden - and Kevin usually asks if it is intentional before he chucks it in the bin!