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Trying to make time to update my Etsy store after many months. I have added these two small quilted wall hangings or throws.

' Raspberry Ripple'

I am also trying to ‘destash’ as it is called. I have quite a lot of dyed fabric which I was really into when I made a number of printed and embroidered book covers, so I had the idea of adding pieces of the brushed cotton fabric to the supplies section on Etsy. It was really difficult to photograph.

'Fairy Glade'

'Green Glade'

Tribal Messages

On a programme we have in the UK called University Challenge there was a question last night about signs and symbols and I got them all right being more aware of them at the moment; they included the sign for ‘compostable’ and the one for ‘antivivisection’. Do you know what they are? Here are two of the pages for my artists’ book.

This page is worked on a piece of cotton which I dyed with Potassium Permanganate and discharged with lemon juice. Over it I have stitched signs for ‘corrosive materials’ and ‘biohazard’. I have made some paper and also dyed the pulp in the same way, adding bits of bay leaf to give some texture.
This page is stitched onto handmade paper and is overlaid with a piece of organza on which I managed to print. I tried various ways of doing this and settled on spraying a piece of card with 505 spray and attaching the material. I printed out the messages in the same way.

Dyeing

When I followed some links to find out what Parfait dyeing is, I found mention of Ann Johnston's book 'Colour by Accident' and instructions for Low Immersion dyeing on Paula Burch's web site; I think they are the same thing. The results are really interesting and make a good background for stencilling and screen printing.
I am making some book covers for hard backed sketch books ,using pelmet vylene as a backing, to sell at a craft fair. Its difficult to know what to charge, as they take quite a bit of time, but at the same time I do want to sell them. Any thoughts about charging?




Here I enlarged a maxi leaf pattern and stitched it as the final layer.

The dyeing and printing is done on a brushed calico, which I like as it is very tactile,almost velvet like.