Is this cheating?
28 July 2013
I spent part of yesterday evening following the 'what if' principles.
What if I decorated some papers with acrylic paints and inks and then used them to overlay photographs.
So I got out the paints.
My colours were specific - I wanted to use colour that in my mind reflected Andalucia - it may be a bit of a cop out but the next series of JQs (May to August) which I am doing in one hit will deal with my memories of Spain and some lovely holidays spent there - my theme for the JQs is 'Memories'. And my philosophy is to treat them like sketch book pages and not to get too hung up about them.
So I also got out my box of hand made print blocks.
And then I kind of went for it.
And here are the results.
Then today I did a bit of manipulation in Paint.Net.
Print of fabric, bit of stitch and I might have a few little quilts.
What if I decorated some papers with acrylic paints and inks and then used them to overlay photographs.
So I got out the paints.
My colours were specific - I wanted to use colour that in my mind reflected Andalucia - it may be a bit of a cop out but the next series of JQs (May to August) which I am doing in one hit will deal with my memories of Spain and some lovely holidays spent there - my theme for the JQs is 'Memories'. And my philosophy is to treat them like sketch book pages and not to get too hung up about them.
So I also got out my box of hand made print blocks.
And then I kind of went for it.
And here are the results.
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| This is from a 'Sun Block' inspired by a tile in Seville. |
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| This uses a commercial stencil that reminds me of the shapes of the ceramic wall tiles. |
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| A lino cut using a cheese plant image (there are a few of these in the courtyard gardens) |
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| Another cheese plant image, this one a print block made using childrens funky foam. |
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| Individual print blocks (again using foam) |
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| Floor tile blocks using foam. |
Then today I did a bit of manipulation in Paint.Net.
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| Mezquita 1 |
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| Mezquita 2 |
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| Seville courtyard |
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| City Gate Granada |
Print of fabric, bit of stitch and I might have a few little quilts.
I went to my favourite tea shop
I popped in for breakfast (well ok cake and coffee actually). It's a lovely place on the Wakefield Estate at Pottersbury.
It is not just a tea shop but they also sell original artworks and a few re-purposed pieces. If you are any where near the Bramble Patch then this is about 10 miles south on the A5.
They don't just throw chipped cups away - they repurpose them!
To frame or not to frame
26 July 2013
Many of my pieces are smaller and designed for hanging.
I embarked upon this latter phase of my textile journey via quilting, and lots of what I do can technically be regarded as a quilt ( it's got all the ingredients of a sandwich) but when they are done I so often feel that work is crying out for a traditional frame. My friend Rob, he of the re-purposed chairs (see last post) says that a good picture deserves a frame and a bad one needs it.
Now I'm not sure which part of the last statement my work falls into, I'm hoping the former, but Rob is very complimentary about a lot of my work, which is very encouraging as he is both an alumni and ex tutor of the Camberwell School of Art while I am just a dabbler (though more and more I am coming to regard myself as an artist).
Anyway, you may recall that back in the frantic month if June when output was at a frenetic level I created this piece.
Well, it went to my favourite framer, who doesn't baulk when I tell him that I want bits hanging over the edge, and I picked it up last Sunday week(which was a good job too because its a present for a friend getting married and the wedding was last weekend).
And here is the finished piece.
And in this case framing takes it to a different level, I believe. (though I must learn how to take photographs of pictures!)
I hope she likes it!
Re-purposing
17 July 2013
I'm not sure if that's a word. If it isn't then my friend Rob invented it. If it is, then he introduced me to it.
Either way, to my mind it has more class than up-cycling.
Now I think I have introduced Rob before. Beautiful hand decorated bone china is his thing. You can find his lovely work here.
When not doing lovely things with china Rob and Andy are masters at the art of EBaying, and their latest project was to re-purpose some elegant mid century chairs, a bargain on eBay, with a mix of vintage tapestry panels and some panels that Rob and his sister had worked themselves.
In my view the results are stunning.
Up-cycled tin cans
11 July 2013
A bit of departure from textiles, but I just wanted to share with you a nifty decorating idea if you're in 'vintage' mode. This time it relates to flowers. And in my view, on special occasions, flowers just finish off the decorations.
So, if you remember, in the last post, we were on a boat. To me that indicated that my flower arrangements had to be robust. And anyway I did not have enough matching vases.
The solution - upcycled food tins (or in my case dog food tins - so glamourous!).
I used two sizes - baked bean can size and large. And I covered the tins with strips of fabric glued with prit stick. I did not worry about hemming.
As you can see, the effect was stunning.
I did not bother with oasis, but just went for an unstructured posy look.
And to keep the costs down I bought roses from Lidl (yes, you read that correctly), gypsophilia and long lasting flowers from a local florist, and picked the greenery from the garden.
In there you might spot grass seed heads, jasmine and buddleia.
So, if you remember, in the last post, we were on a boat. To me that indicated that my flower arrangements had to be robust. And anyway I did not have enough matching vases.
The solution - upcycled food tins (or in my case dog food tins - so glamourous!).
I used two sizes - baked bean can size and large. And I covered the tins with strips of fabric glued with prit stick. I did not worry about hemming.
As you can see, the effect was stunning.
I did not bother with oasis, but just went for an unstructured posy look.
And to keep the costs down I bought roses from Lidl (yes, you read that correctly), gypsophilia and long lasting flowers from a local florist, and picked the greenery from the garden.
In there you might spot grass seed heads, jasmine and buddleia.
The flowers were stunning on the boat and they made it to the evening table too.
Party Bags for a sophisticated hen do
9 July 2013
Well June went by in a blur of deadlines and finishing frenzies.
And, because it just had to be done, I also got involved in the preparations for a friends Hen Party.
First of all there were party bags to make.
We had ordered some labels from Vistaprint (a customised stock design) for some of the party bag goodies and I took the label design and reproduced it onto treated cotton fabric from Crafty Computer Paper by just running it through my colour printer.
Backed onto bondaweb, these were then stuck onto the front of the bag and finished with a decorative blanket stitch on the machine.
Then I did a toile for the bags to check my proportions.
And, because it just had to be done, I also got involved in the preparations for a friends Hen Party.
First of all there were party bags to make.
We had ordered some labels from Vistaprint (a customised stock design) for some of the party bag goodies and I took the label design and reproduced it onto treated cotton fabric from Crafty Computer Paper by just running it through my colour printer.
Backed onto bondaweb, these were then stuck onto the front of the bag and finished with a decorative blanket stitch on the machine.
Then I did a toile for the bags to check my proportions.
The bag was basically two rectangles -8 x 10 1/2 inches - with a bucket bottom (is that the correct wording?) created by cutting 1 1/2 inch squares off the two bottom corners and then, bringing the bottom and side seams together, stitching along the straight line that created. (does that make sense? Should I do a tutorial?)
Then I stitched.
And, because I decided in a moment of perfection to line the bags, I had to make 24 of these little fabric buckets (there were 12 bags in total).
It's probably worth noting at this point that one of the ladies in the office was chucking out a bag of remnants a few weeks ago, and chucked them in my direction. In the bag was some vintage Laura Ashley and some lovely cream furnishing fabrics which rather dictated the vintage theme for the bags. I contributed a couple of pieces of cream and pink fabric from my own stash, though in fact I don't really have much traditional patchwork fabric - it's not really my thing.
And here is one of the finished bags with the little 8 inch ribbon handles attached when the inner and outer bags were joined together at the top seam.
And for the record the goodies which we popped into the bags. (the labels were used on the lids of the lip gloss and on little glass jars which we filled with dolly mixtures. It really was pretty.)
Elsewhere, a colleague and I determined that the thing this party really needed was bunting! So we bunted - again using fabric from the bag of scraps donated by our work colleague. In the end our production line was so effective we ended up with over 16 meters of bunting.
Now the hen do was actually on a beautiful edwardian style boat at Oxford (we're talking classy ladies!) so I also got out my collection of vintage table clothes gave them a jolly good iron and, well as you can see for yourself, the effect was perfect!
Oh - and the sun shone!
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