New seashore cards and notebooks

With all that's been going on I haven't had time to replenish the stock in my hypsela shop on Etsy lately and it had begun to look a little empty.  So now I'm officially 'on holiday' (ha!) that is one of the things at the top of my to do list (along with clearing enough space in the garage for a small glass kiln*).

I've had a set of little backgrounds waiting around for me to do something with them for a while and at last I've had time to finish them; some of them are already listed in the shop; the rest will be in there shortly.

*We had enough space for a short while yesterday but then apparently all the stuff that was piled up in the front garden had to go back in, and had to go into that particular corner...

Beach Treasure

I rarely come back from the beach with empty pockets, this time I brought back 2 mermaid's purses.

I try to avoid photographing anything in strong sunlight but this time it was perfect - it's hard to see where the squiggly bits (what are they??) end and the shadows begin.

Ancient History

I've been clearing out. So much fabric - some of it has to go!

I found a box of pieces saved from my City & Guilds Embroidery course days - I had forgotten about these two. I'm wondering whether to remount them - maybe wrap them around a little canvas - and put them in the shop? What do you think?

I always liked the darker one (I hope the picture isn't too dark) but was less sure about the pink and orange one - a bit too bright for me - but it is fun!

It does seem a shame to have them stashed away in a box never seeing the light of day.

Something else that I found was this piece.  This was a sample I did when I was learning how to do shisha embroidery - can you see the little mirrors?  But, they're not all mirrors, there are shells and pieces of slate and sea glass in there.  This was the beginning of my journey into sewing bits picked up on the beach onto my work.






Such a lot has come from this piece!  I made 3 pieces at the time, all quite different but all with shells and/or sea glass stitched onto them.  My sister has one of them, the other piece was the first piece of my work I ever sold.  What a thrill that was!

I saw some nice white frames in John Lewis the other day, I think I might remount this one and put it on my wall.

Did I ever tell you how/why I started collecting things on the beach?  You see, I don't much like building sandcastles so I needed to look busy... such a bad mother...!!

Experiments with Basket Weaving

I belong to a lovely textile art group - we meet once a month and have workshops from visiting tutors and try out all sorts of different techniques.  At the last session we looked at different traditional basket making techniques.  We were shown how to make simple woven baskets from paper - I had a go at home with strips cut from a paper carrier bag.  It was a bit fiddly but I was chuffed when I finally got them to hold together!

 

I have long admired the little baskets made by SewDanish on Etsy - I am even more in awe now I know how fiddly they are - hers are so much neater than mine!  I think I need more practise.  A lot more practise.

Basket by SewDanish

Basket by SewDanish

During the session on Saturday I worked on using a traditional knotting technique - not to make a basket, but to cover a rather nice piece of driftwood I had in my bag.  And of course I had to add a few of my favourite shells...  I really enjoyed this, it was a very calming process and I'm pleased with the result.  Makes a nice sound when you shake it too!

 

The coloured thread is all waxed linen thread.  It is a bit strange and sticky to work with but makes really satisfying knots, and I love the subdued colours.  There is a bit of a problem with this stuff though; it is apparently made in Northern Ireland - it says 'Crawfords Belfast' as clear as anything on the label - and yet it seems you can only buy it in the US.  It's not cheap and by the time you've added on shipping, VAT and the good old Royal Mail handling fee it's going to be exorbitant.  So if anyone knows where you can get it this side of the pond do please please let me know.

September morning

I love September mornings - they seem to be sunny more often than summer mornings. If I take the time to climb into the loft, stand on a box and poke my head out of the skylight this is what I see...

Earlier on there had been a band of cloud on the river so you could only see the very tops of the mountains but it had cleared before I thought about getting the camera out.

I find September to be quite a productive time as well.  This is what was waiting for me on my work table:

And this is what I had by the end of the morning (despite a few interruptions), all ready for my new shop:

Not a bad mornings work!