Laura's bag finally finished

Well it has taken me long enough to get this done but the bag I owe to Laura H is finally done. I used the mono print I made for the Textile challenges monthly challenge and added sequins and then used a vintage fabric I found in school. It has turquoise and lime flower print on it. I am quite pleased with how it turned out, it is quite firm and nice.Another I am tempted to keep but won't as I have let Laura wait long enough. I took a second set of monoprints when I was at it so I have more to make one for me, or for my C+G unit. Hope your all having a great bank holiday.

WIP's

More progress on 2 pieces. I finally edges the mono prints this week, with a lovely vintage flowers fabric that I found in the rumage bin in school. I think it goes well. I have enought to use for the lining and the strap too. I added sequins, to fill some of the gap in the print. I used some cerise ink cirlces and some green and irridecent flowers too.
Next if you remember was the canvas I have been working on using Kelly Rae Roberts tutorial from CPS. I couldn't decide what to draw if you remember and so I played tonight drawing a bird ornament we have in the down stairs loo. Here are my sketchbook drawings and then me whiting out using a mix of cream emulsion and white acrylic, nearly as good as Gesso.
And this is what I came up with. I need a little peace in my life at the mo, and this is probably a subconcious cry for it. I didn't think that I was drawing a kinda lorrel leaf, but hey here it is.
I drew the outline of the bird with a charcoal pencil as per Kelly rae's instructions and then used a felt pen and finally a pearlise gel pen to highlight the leaves. As a first attempt and a bit of a departure in style for me I think it turned out well. I managed to buy 5 A4 ish sized canvases for a £1 each this week and so I plan to play with them and this technique further.
Love the highlighting showing in this photo.

Progress

Here is my progress on the canvas. I used a rubber roller (brayer to use in the US!) to put on 2 colours of acrylic in one go. This is a lovely technique as you get such lovely serendipidous marks. I then wiped away to reveal the collage papers beneth. Unfortunately this is where I am at a standstill. I think I don't know what to paint! I thought of doing flowers and I am on that Vibe at the mo, so it may well be. Kelly Rae Roberts who's tutorial I am following in CPS paints ladies, but this canvas it only about 4 inch square and I haven't the room for a person. I will think on, I think I am unsure about the colours to use to be honest!
Side view!
Here is the progress on my Mono printing for the challenge on Textiles challenges, my group, I set the challenge of mono printing, but then taking this further and making something, anything! I am making a bag, although it doesn't look like it at the mo!

Under my children's illustration theme I did the stitching all in black. I will be able to show you more progress on this soon as I am working on it right now!
To close a piccy of my darling girl, on her 5th birthday. Bought many a thing, including a rather expensive big girl bike, but choosing on her birthday to only play with a £3 tesco bubble gun! Don't you love em!
Have had a pants day in work today and have feeling a bit blue in general after some bad feeling arose online of late. This has been a frustrating few weeks, so the holidays next week can't come soon enough, I am hoping to garden, go to the beach and maybe camp for the first time with an excited 5 year old! ( + an even more exited 35 year old hubby!) Hope your all having a better time of it than me!

Well, more industry

I thought I would show you the other things I have been onto this week. Firstly I have been fed up with carrying my sketch book to college in a folio and the handle cutting my fingers so I made this bag. I realised after that it is a lovely piece of devore that was in the store room in school.
Then I thought, how about one to carry the folders that the kids use for their course work, I have to carry them home to mark and so I can fit 6-8 in here now, if I can carry that weight!
Then I made this bag, I made it for a swap but I can't bear to part with it, and so I am going to keep it. I love it!
Here the back.
and the detail of the front with dandelions!
I finally finished the commission. It was for a Pearl wedding anniversary album for Kate who works with me, for her parents. I wove the background and printed and then added organza and FME'd over the top. I normally burn back and this time I decided that it was better leaving it as it is.

I added foil pearls and mother of pearl buttons and of course pearl beads.

I decided that it needed a focal point and so I added a padded heart and beaded over and around this. I love this it turned out so well. I used a piece of foam board to build on and it has made it very crisp. I wanted to say thanks to Sue Bleweiss as she has given me some great advice in working this piece. I decided to line it off in the end Sue, I think Kate will prefer the cleaner lines! Thanks again Sue.
Finally, the closing gambit,One happy lady! We got her bike today and of course she had to have a go on it. She is being closely guarded by my Mum! See that happy face! We were in bits as she is barely strong enough to push the pedals round going up the street, she didn't half give us a laugh!!!!

What i have been playing with this week!

Well lots to show this week so if you don't have a cuppa go get one now!!! I am starting with what i have been playing with tonight. It is a little 4 inch square canvas that i am going to try out a tutorial from Cloth paper scissors onto. It is a tutorial on surfaces by Kelly Rae Roberts. i love her pics and so as I am looking at children's illustration for this unit of C+G I thought it mght fit in well, plus I have had this canvas for ages and this is a lovely size for playing on. I don't know what I am going to do on it yet but not a figure it is too small, maybe a butterfly or a bird or something.


The next is my piece for my challenge on Textiles challenges, my group. We are looking at mono printing this month and I decided to play on the garden theme for my C+g and for a swap I have this in mind for. I have been dying to get going on this but there are only enough hours in the day at the mo.








The next pieces are an exercise from college where we were drawing to music. It was really fun. i found it hard at first and found i was bound by the rules, the metre of the music. If it was 4 beats to a bar I had to make 4 marks! After 2 goes I started to loosen up and this is the third, (EDIT) (Title removed for competition!)


The next thing we did was to draw on a big huge piece of paper all together, swaping positions every 2 minutes. We drew along to It's in your heart by Rod Stewart. Then when we were done we had to select a piece and say why we liked it. I chose this piece which I had drawn. It was probably the strongest image on the page to be honest!

We then had to trace off an outline and use the tracing to make a kind of a one sided stencil. We then loaded this up with pastel, oil and soft, and smudged it off onto black paper. Mine turned out well
I also saw this little tute on the Crafty crow blog. It was meant for kids but I thought looked like my mono prints and so I have a go, and so did Ellie. I will have to show you Ellie's next time. incidentally she turns 5 on wed!
It uses ike a watercolour wet in wet method, but I used acrylics!


I made these this week too, a little helper/ mouse had helped himslef to a hole in my seat covers over the winter so new ones were called or, love this print, I have been harbouring it for a while!

I finally finished my sister in law's canvas for her new house. She wanted creams and brown, so I added gold too. I went with a klimpt theme and added stencilling in gold and a variety of inchies, in satin and silk.


And because I know you love a close up!!!!!!

Well hope your not too exhausted reading about it! I am knackered personally so am off to bed. I hope to show you more on the pearl anniversary commision tomorrow or monday, it has to be with the client by friday so I want it done this weekend if I can! I expect there will be some birthday cake picks this week, as i have always made my own, however Ellie wants a high school musical one this year for her party so that has to be bought, but I no doubt will make one for her real birthday on wed!

Aren't my friends clever?????

I thought i would share with you some of the talent in our group. These are fnished pieces, I am not going to show all the works in progress as we will be here al day!
This piece belongs to Deb and is her finished piece from the Angie Hughes workshop (Ashamed to say mine stil sits unstitched!) She chose Hundsenwasser(spelling ??? arg!) and isn't it just lovely. She sells her painted fabric online Here, so get your buts over and buy some if your a quilter in particular!!!
This piece is by Michelle, and is free machining into copper, extensively! Michelle is havng a hard time at the mo, so send her your good vibes.

These last two belong to Enid Davies, my lecturer and are both metal inclusions. This first one has lots of reclaimed metals and even plays a tune whe you wiggle it!
This one has copper mesh and a print on Plywood? I think. I love it don't you.
Well I thought I would share, they are lovely aren't they.
I am of in marking and commission land at the mo, I have a piece that has to be finished by the 23rd and I have a LOT left to do!

What I did today!

Today I went to my usual monthy workshop with Fibrepaper arts the group that the girls at my college have set up. Our lecturer from College Enid Davies, was taking the workshop on metals. I decided on doing a sampler type thing for my C+G and it fitted well with my grid
theme too. I decided to use some washers that I painted with blue irridecent nail polish ( although it doesn't show well in te pic!) I luckily had packed the painted wallpaper too!

I decided to make it look like it was going from newer metal up to corroded metal at the top. I punched with the setter tool, I used gesso and acrylic, I annealed, I used some kitchen foil paper, used slat, vinegar and amonia solution and my fave of the whole day annealed copper mesh over printed with acrylic that was LUSH! A great day, thanks Enid, I learnt masses!

Now for exciting ness! The girls, Chris and Sandra, invited me to do a workshop!!! A mixed media one in December! How fab is that, and true to my usual form when they sid how would you like a mixed media workshop in December I said...... Ye, who's doing it....and they said......YOU! What a fool! I am chuffed tough and I have my thinking cap on now!

WIPS - and oh so many

My list goes on and on, I currently have on my WIPS pile:
Katie (SIL) canvas
Shape lottery ATC- Jigsaw shape
A Bag for me
A bag for a trade
and the rest of my list for May goes on!
I have been commissioned!!! By a girl at my work to make a pearl wedding anniversary albumfor her Mum and Dad. So I made a start. She saw my bookwrap from long ago and wants someting similar, so I wove strips of duchess satin and cotton and some lace. I then printed some images including using some new letter stamps I got for £6.99! It is tacked and ready to FME now.

I have also made a start on the nature inspired bag that I owe for a swap on unlimited textiles. It's theme is nature inspired. It is one of my customery double ups and is therefore a mono print.
This is a WIP for me, a book bag for me for school. I have worked into this further and I will show you at a later date.
The last thingis how to tell me from my sister Sian - I don't climb! She quite blatantly does!!!! (Note all the others are kids! She just turned 25!)
Anyway off to mark all those lovely dresses so I can have time to sew myself and minimise the WIP's list!

Design - colour

This terms unit for C+G is colour and for design we have been looking at colour and the effect of colour on one and other. I chose lime, Pink, turquiose and purple as my colours as this unit is going to be for Ellie, i am going to illustrate a book for her! So in this first pic we were looking at which colours look best next to each other, or on a background of....
Can you see how different they look on white and then on black, mad innit!!
We then used the Fibonacci (spelling may be dire here!!!) series, you know the rules of number e.g. 1,1,2, 3, 5, 8, 13, 21.... etc.We measured strips and slots in these sizes and then wove them together. Again look at the difference between white and black background.
We then used paint to look at how many colour we could mix from a limited pallette. I chose pink purple and turquoise. Then pink purple turquoise red yellow and blue. Mad how many lovely colours you can make from these hey!
Finally one of the first home works of this term was to make flags, banners or bunting (our overall theme is entertainment and Enid thought that there are always some sort of flags etc at entertainment things!). In this you had to show our understanding of harmonious, triadic, tetradic, complementary, analagous, monochromatic colour schemes. I really enjoyed this, and i made some lovely girly bunting from magazine papers.
Fun with colour, I really am having fun with this.

This is where I have been!!!!

This is where I have been for what feels like weeks! These are some of my girls doing a quick fashion show at school on friday - their leaving day. It was fab!



And here they are , wearing their corages and looking glam! They have been a total joy to teach, they are what should be reported on in the papers rather than the asbo's a nd single mum's. They are what keeps me in teaching! I'll miss you girls!