Restocking

I've had a little run on my seashore art cards during this last week or so.  And the lovely thing is, I actually have time to make some more!  The process is a bit longwinded but I do enjoy it.  So on my table today are...

They're all a bit samey at the moment but that will soon change.

I've also had time to stock up on a few of my silk and wire hearts, now available here; the red ones have been out of stock for ages, but no more!  Here they are, hanging up to dry.

My creative space - silk paper

I've been making silk paper (silk fusion) today.  Usually I try and make it as thin and wispy as I can but today I wanted to make it a little thicker.  The first thing is to lay out some silk fibres onto a piece of netting - I have 2 (ish) layers of undyed tussah silk fibres here.

Then another piece of net on top to hold it all in place, and rub dilute silk paper medium (you can use dilute PVA or wallpaper paste too) through the net so it soaks the silk fibres - I use an old stencil brush for this.  Turn the sandwich over and rub from the other side too until all the fibres are holding together.

I decided it still wasn't thick enough, so I folded it in half.

Once it was dry, I cut some heart shapes out of it.  I love the texture and sheen of silk paper - what I have in mind are some simple hanging decorations to show it off.

See what other people have been doing in their creative spaces.

Socks for me!

Since my first pair of socks were hijacked, I have started on a new pair.  And these are most definitely for me!  I treated myself to some lovely dip-dyed yarn from 'A little bit sheepish' on Folksy and I've made a start.

Fortunately these are not bright enough for my son, so I should get to keep them!

My creative space - tiny weavings

I've had these two in the frame long enough that the warp threads had got a bit slack... finally finished them off. Now to cut them free!



See what other people have been doing in their creative spaces here.

My creative space - cutting paper, mostly

Today I have mostly been cutting paper.  Not the most exciting of tasks but fairly necessary in order to make books.

Now I have finished cutting pages for what seems like hundreds of books, I've realised I only have covers ready for 3.  Oops.

At least I won't have to do it again for a while!

Why not pop over here and see what other people have been doing in their creative spaces today.  It has probably been more exciting than cutting paper!

Playing with buttons

I've awarded myself a 'playday' today.  I feel like I deserve it!

Yesterday I was wading through yet more old stuff when I found some of these...  It's a bit of a monstrosity, isn't it?!!  They date from the time before I rediscovered my flower loom (a few years ago then!) when I was experimenting with making flowers using a rag-rugging technique.  I never really liked the result so they've been sitting in a box ever since.

Looking at them again, the one thing I did like was the way I'd added the pile of buttons in the centre, and I wondered how they would work on their own without the over-the-top bit around the edge.


So I started with the pile of buttons rescued from one of the weird flowery-buttony-things and started sewing them onto a scrap of linen, overlapping them to try and hide any gaps.








And this is the finished brooch... I added a little padding to give it a slight dome shape - it has a pleasingly 'substantial' feel.  I like it much better than the mad thing it was before!

I don't suppose this is a new idea, although it has only just occurred to me!  But it is one of those ideas that will always be your own as you start with your own selecton of buttons and your own idea of what looks good with what.  Some of my buttons are vintage, but some are just ordinary upcycled shirt buttons, but they are my own unique selection.  I think this brooch will go into my shop soon.  And I enjoyed making it so much I think I shall be making some more, after all, I have plenty of buttons!

Why don't you have a go?  I don't think the buttons need to be anything special, it is the number and arrangement of them which creates the effect.  Let me know if you do!

Hearts

Been stocking up on some old favourites this morning - here they are hanging up to dry.

Silk paper hearts with an integral copper wire edging - all the beauty of silk with added strength!  The bright red one is soybean silk which works just as well.

New Books

I haven't had time to do much serious making over the last few days but I have managed to get a few book covers glued and into the press (aka 3 old wooden shelves with my sewing machine on top for weight...).

 

I have used the last little bit of the handmade green leafy paper to make 2 sets of 6"x4" covers - these books have been very popular and these will be the last of them.

I have a new sheet of handmade paper in off-white overprinted with white roses and smudges of silver, so I've made covers for 6"x4" and 8"x6" books with this, and a new piece of purpley-blue hand-dyed fabric - so far only a set of 6"x4" covers, the larger ones are still in the press.

And last but not least is the brown pebbly handmade paper - I've had this stashed away for ages and I decided that since I hadn't used it in all this time I should use it for book covers.  It is lovely and I might have to keep one of the books for myself... this will be available in the larger size too.

I'll let you know when the books are bound and making their way into the shop!

My creative space - more ffflowers

It'a a grey and drizzly day here today and I feel as if I have been sitting around all morning not achieving very much.  I wonder if it is the greyness making me feel like that?  Because it is not actually true, I have been finishing off this whole garden full of ffflowers...

They have brought a welcome splash of brightness to an otherwise dreary day.  I think I need to do something a bit more energetic this afternoon!

I am waiting impatiently for the paper to dry from my printing sessions - the general humidity is not really helping.  Here's hoping for a better drying day tomorrow!

Edit: I've just realised that I forgot to include a link to all the other lovely creative spaces out there - oops!  Go and have a look!

Favourite ffflowers

I think of all the different colour flowers I make, these are probably my favourite.  I was quite sad to pack this lovely lot up today to ship them off to their new home.

Sea Breeze ffflowers available here.

Socks

Oh dear, I've got the sock knitting bug.  As if I needed another thing to be doing...  I've never wanted to knit a pair of socks before since I really don't get on with dpns but since I discovered the magic loop method of using a circular needle I thought I'd give it a try.  I'm not sure if my way of doing the magic loop is the 'proper' way, but it works for me.

I've been surprised how fast it's grown and best of all I won't need to sew it up at the end!  This colour (very Christmassy I think) was chosen by my eldest, who was most upset that I was thinking of knitting a pair of socks not for him.  Who knew that a pair of hand-knitted socks was such a must-have for the fashion-conscious teenager?  So I'm going to have to wait for my own pair... good thing I am enjoying the process!

I shall be taking a blogging break for the next few days while I take time out, spend some time with younger son, maybe do some sock knitting, maybe a bit of weaving, that sort of thing... I'll be back soon!

New ffflowers

I have been surprised and pleased with how popular my little 1" flower embellishments have been.  I stock them in sets of 6 on a card.  From time to time people ask me for larger flowers so I will now also be stocking cards of pairs of 2" flowers in my shops.  Here are the first few colours... more to follow.



Available in both my ffflowers shop on Etsy and my ffflowers shop on Folksy.

My bag giveaway is still running if anyone is interested in entering... find the details here.

Finishing things

After feeling that I hadn't achieved anything much last week I've been strict with myself and finished a whole load of bits. So I have a couple of these...

and a bunch of these...

 

These brooches aren't quite finished, they still need felt and pins on the back but they're all neat and have their embellishments on, so nearly there...

The colours in the blue one reminded me so much of my seashore art cards I just had to put a piece of seaglass on it.  All of these will be appearing in my Hypsela shop over the next few days.  

And I can settle down now to do some printmaking without any distractions. I bought a couple of pillow cases the other day and they were somewhat over packaged - each one was wrapped round 2 good size pieces of thick greyboard which will make excellent bases for some more printing plates.

Bits and pieces

I have felt a bit unfocussed the last few days...   not really able to settle to anything.  Still tired after the cold I had maybe - but really that was only a couple of days of sniffling, not much of a cold!  When I sat down to see what I had actually done there was more than I expected but I don't feel as if I have really settled to anything. So not much in the way of finished things.

I've made a couple of collagraph plates - I love the right hand one and really hope it prints well... maybe that is a job for this afternoon while I'm keeping out of the way of my son and his birthday guests.

I tried out the photo transfer technique in an ACEO size - I'm undecided about the result, I think I'll try a few more before I decide whether to list them.  I'm not sure it's clear enough in this size to get a sense of the scene... but maybe that's because I know what it really looks like.  Opinions gratefully received!

I added some bits to a few of these...

And I made some more of these

and started on my newly discovered stash of white bags too.

 

When you look at it like this it seems quite a lot, but it has all been fitted into the gaps between doing... what?  I'm not sure.

New Eco Daisies

Like most of you reading this I have a stash. In fact, I have several stashes... this is one of them:

This is my collection of thin plastic carrier bags (only some bags are suitable) ideal for making into daisies.  I hasten to add that I have not collected all these by myself - I do take bags with me when I go out shopping - I have had donations from friends and family!

I have been meaning to update the design of my eco daisies for a while now. While I love the idea of using old plastic bags to make flowers, and I love the flowers themselves, the stems I had designed were terribly fiddly to attach and made making them rather a chore.  So this week I spent some time experimenting with new stems using green florists wire stubs.  These stems are attached at the same time as I stitch the centre of the daisy - so much easier than trying to attach them afterwards, the only thing I have to worry about is not poking my eye out with that great long piece of wire waving around...

The florists wire stems make for lovely tall graceful daisies with the added bonus that if the stem is too long for you, you can simply trim it to the desired length.  These new tall eco daisies will be appearing my shops soon.

In the meantime I have a few of the old style (still lovely) daisies left and I am reducing them to half price in my Etsy shop and in my Folksy shop too.  So now is the time to bag a bargain - ideal to brighten up any corner, but especially good for kitchens.

 

Making textured paper backgrounds... part 2

So, if you've followed the first part of the tutorial you should have ended up with one or more curly and not-very-exciting bits of papery stuff like this...

Now we need to colour them.  The colour needs to be transparent, so a dye based colour or watercolour or even very dilute artists acrylic should work.  I use Brusho which is a fun little pot of dye based powder colour which you can get all sorts of interesting effects with.  To get the shade of blue I like, I use the black (yes, black!) Brusho, mixing a sprinkle of powder with lots of water to make a very dilute colour.  I can't tell you how much of each because I don't measure it, I literally do just sprinkle.  But for this, the more watery the colour the better, you can always add another darker coat later. The idea is that the colour from the base paper should show through just enough to make it interesting.

 

These have had a wash of the dilute colour applied.  You can still see the underneath coloured paper a bit too much but don't be tempted to add more colour, they will tone down as they dry.  If you still don't like the effect once they are dry, by all means add more colour then.  And of course, you don't have to use blue, you can use whatever colour you like!

 

And here they are nearly dry - you can see that the underneath colour has toned down a lot and the wrinkles in the tissue paper soak up the top colour to make darker streaks.

When they are completely dry they will probably curl up again. At this point I just flatten them with a cool iron.

Take a look at your work.  Do you like the way the base paper shows through?  One of my pieces (bottom left) had a very definite line down it which I didn't like, so I sponged some white acrylic paint over it and voila, no more line!

If you are making a bigger piece I would definitely recommend sponging some areas with acrylic paint in your choice of colour to add interest.

Once that has dried we get to the really fun bit - adding all the little bits of texture on top.  It helps if you have amassed a collection of interesting bits and pieces like I have, but really, anything will do.  Silk fibres work nicely, but so do threads pulled from the edge of fraying fabric.  I love plasterer's scrim but I have also used shredded pieces of the netting bags that you get fruit in.

Here's a selection of what I use - there are some silk fibres in there and the sparkly stuff is Angelina but a lot of them are just scraps - whenever I cut the edge off something and it's the right colour scheme for my cards it goes into the box.  And I save the little tangle mess of thread ends that accumulate when I'm doing a sewing project... sad, I know...  I have heard that lint from a tumble drier is interesting but I don't have one.  Probably just as well!

So what I do is look at the background in front of me, look at the box of scraps, pull out something that looks like it might work and stick it on.  I like to use acrylic matte medium to stick the bits because it doesn't leave a shine and seems to stick pretty much anything.  You could use PVA, that does tend to make the paper a little shiny, it depends on the effect you are after.

Nearly finished...

Once I've stuck something on I decide whether that's enough, or I might stick another piece of something on.  Or I might spray or spatter it with some ink - pearlescent is nice.  And because I am working with a seashore theme, on most of my pieces I add a little puff paint because I think it looks like flecks of foam.  Puff paint is weird stuff that expands and puffs up when you heat it with a heat gun, but he warned, less is more!  It's very easy to obliterate the whole thing with little white blobs!

And here are the finished pieces, complete with puff paint on some and each with their own piece of sea glass.

I have shown you how I make the toppers for my cards but I originally developed this technique for a series of much larger pieces (sorry the photo is a bit dark - do click to see it bigger).

Sea Strand I

If you are working on a larger scale than the cards and want to include a lot of stitching on the piece I recommend you back it with an iron-on interfacing for extra strength. It's best to do this before you add puff paint if you are using that, otherwise it can get a bit flattened.

And there you are! If you have any questions, do leave them in the comments below and I will try and answer them. And if you do try it out, I'd love to see what you make!