Here are some of the things I had to show the moderator from my GCSE class. I was really pleased with their finished pieces of work. They did very well and thankfully the moderator agreed with me. This is only half the class as you only show the moderator a sample. I wil photograph the rest soon.
For some time now I have been a member of FAt (Fibre art traders) and have got to know Norma jean the list mom really well. She has helped me when i have had listmom troubles and is a constant source of support and help. So when I got am email from her moderator Vix asking if I would like to make a journal quilt to celebrate the 2nd birthday of FAT I was in!
Hia it is my little madam, Ellie's fourth birthday today. She has had a blast! i thought I would show you her cake (which I made!!!) and a pic of a very happy girl! Thanks to all my lovely friends who have sent her cards, pressies and god wishes today she is very happy. She did a video clip but I am ashamed to show it as all she mentions is poo and wee! Oh to be four!
This first picture is the very first piece of stitch I did that started me on the road I am on today. I made it 3 years ago after going on a day course at the local college for Art teachers. Enid Davies who is my lecturer for C+G now, and who hosted the day course taught us how to use Nappy liners on Velvet and transfer printing. This was what I made when I went back to work the following day. I had started sketching again as I was restless in my school work but didn't really know what to do so i started sketching the plants in my garden. Then I did a transfer print using berol paints. i then free machined it and hand stitched into puff paint. The reason I am showing this to you now is that a few people have been asking me about nappy liners and I realised that this and Jan's padfolio (blogged previously) were the only finished pieces I have with nappy liners. Hope this helps some who have been asking to visualise it.
On to other things. I have been working on inchies for a month or so now. I had to do two sets for reasons that some of you know about and so am working on the second set now. Above are little pouches I made to send them in, I thought they could double as little needle cases with somewhere to store scissors and thread etc. I used the fabric that I had block printed previously for the challenge on textile challenges group.
These are turquoise and copper inchies and the ones below are teal and aqua.
I saw this on Liz Plummers blog and thought I'd add it to mine. My Ellie is 3, Four a week today, I feel for these parents. I will have a firm grip on Ellie May when we go to Cyprus later in the year.
I have recently joined a yahoo group set up by Sue and Joanna to discuss the book "The Artist's Muse" by Betsy Dillard-Stroud. The book is amazing and I can't wait to work on things within it. The starting chapter is about creating mandala's. So our first task was to make one of our own. As we are doing Colour and Culture this term I thought this was a perfect subject choice for my third project also. Now I apologise in advance for this post being long but this piece has turned out to be very significant to me, it is the first piece I would be happy to put Carol Taylor "Fiber artist" after!!! I feel like I have really considered every mark and colour - every aspect of this piece.
I talked to Sue about some free association and she helped me think about how I would put over some of the words I associate with friendship over, and this is what I came up with as a result. I decided to use a split complementary scheme for my colours. The reason for this was that i felt we choose friendship based on our similarities and mutual interests but it is the contrasting opinions and viewpoints that make friends so valuable. Now I could have chosen any split complementary but this was the one aspect where I reflected my part in a friendship, and so I chose red orange and green. Red and green as they are the colours of my country. I then decided to have a woven section to show all the sharing that goes on amongst friends, the warp and the weft of life. I wanted to have symbols supported by the weaving to put over the word support and also a shape that would blend and hold the weaving together to show those bonds we make. So I chose circles, thinking about how all those small things that friends do, advice, a kind word, gifts, moral support etc are like the circles on a pond when a stone is thrown in, they effect and resonate across your life. I free machined this in red thread and a variegated green thread.
I added painted scrim to further blend and then decided it needed a bit of hand stitch to give broader marks, the greater effect, the more noticeable effect of having friends. I decided these lines should radiate from the centre to echo the giving nature of my friends.
Look at the lovely gift I was sent this week. It was from Val Thomas. I have been helping her to develop a header and pictures for her blog. This photo does not do it justice as the flash has taken a lot of the colour out, it has hand dyed fabrics in yellows, red-orange and a range of blues and purples. I totally love it and was gob-smacked to recieve such a generous gift. I am going to hang it somewhere in the house, I haven't quite worked out where yet.
This is a padfolio i made for a swap with Angela of The adventures of Angelcat blog for a swap on FAF. She chose Orange, which i find a hard colour to work with, but I enjoyed working with a colour I would not ordinarily choose. I decided to work in my technique for the FAF monthly challenge too, which was working with metal. I have never tried annealing so I had a go with a piece of copper. I managed to get some nice patterns and a bright orange colour. I then embossed it with an old biro. The fabric for the padfolio came from a pack of hand dyed cottons that Gillian had sent me. I then painted a nappy liner with acrylic and ironed it on in stripes. I then hand and machine stitched hearts on tho the surface and printed over with orange acrylic and irridecence, using a heart stamp.
Here's the finished piece. I really liked it and Angela had said she does too, so Bargain !!!!
Here are my metallic inchies for Jan. I used gold taffeta for the background, tyvek and copper paint, paper beads, beading, sequins and sequin waste, wire, the soldering iron to burn holes in organza, and free machining. It's amazing how many elements you can cram on to 3" square! Loved doing these but then they are for Jan and so are a labour of love, we have such similar taste. Hope you like Jan.
Lynda wanted black and white for her inchies and I had a blast doing them. The first thing I found the day we saw the peacock (regular blog readers may remember him) It was a black and white spotted guinea foul feather. I decided to felt this into a kunin felt inchie. I had a needle felt hand tool for my birthday last year and haven't really used it. I then made the centre of this felting into a nest and added a white bead egg! I did some of the stitches we did on tast and on some I decided to use the VCH emulsion technique in honour of Lynda who has trialled this on her blog. I stitched first then painted with emulsion and when dry with ink, but it all went a sluggy grey so I painted it with black acrylic and then highlighted with emulsion. It was great fun, and I loved making these.
Here are the 1st of my 1" art squares for a trade on my group textile challenges. Judy asked for bright pink, and I was in luck! In school we dye fabric 4 times a year with year 8, I use cyan, yellow and magenta for tie dye and we colour mix. So left over from the last one I had a piece of cotton half bright pink and half turquoise ( I know Judy loves this combination as it features strongly in her work). On these i have managed to pack in a lot. Paper casting with solvy in the bottom left hand corner, Middle left is stitching and painting with emulsion and then with pink ink! Then highlighting with silver. The top right square has fabric and fabric mesh ribbon beads ( fullfilling the TC bead challenge for this month too!) There is also a bit of felt melting and printing too, and brads and beads of course. I thought I might have been squared out but I have really enjoyed these. I am nearly finished with Lynda's black and white set, just a couple more beads to add.
ct! I also photographed lots of machinery and cogs and stuff as they looked like potential too.
