Stamped bag

I wrote about this piece after I had been to a talk given by Sherrill Kahn at the Knitting and Stitching Show.
I eventually finished it and made it into a bag.
I have used raised chain band as the main stitch combined with some free machining.
I have just put it in my Etsy shop.

. Other than that I have continued playing with painted papers and using transfer paints with paper, leaf and lace resists. An easy
way to transfer images to cloth.

Papers

I have been playing with colouring papers today; trying to work on some ideas for a workshop. I used a variety of paper, including brown paper and greaseproof. The thick watercolour was the most successful and the greaseproof had a nice feel.
I will probably stitch into the handmade paper which feels just like material.
It’s a while since I did this and I think there will be a few more stages before they are finished.

Thank you for the kind comments about the felt bag; it was particularly nice to get a comment all the way from Italy.

Felt bag

I decided to make a felt bag last weekend; to see if I still could and also to use some dyed wool which I bought at The Knitting and Stitching Show in the autumn. I thought you might like to see some of the stages. Starting to lay out the wool over a cardboard template. I have used warm water and soap to ‘glue’ the fibres together for the first stage. I washed it out with diluted white vinegar at the end.

I am so pleased with my charity shop find, a rigid plastic CD stand. Just the thing for throwing the wool onto for the final felting stage.Below is the bag without its final decorations.Making felt balls using a felting needle and the rolled cords for the finishingsI made an insert to give the bag a firmer base. I am pleased with the end result, but my stern critic, you know who, says I should spend more time on the design stage, which is why I am thinking of taking an Access to Art and Design Course next autumn.

Rock Fall

I've been working on the piece of shaped felt, trying to get it finished and framed for an exhibition in the local library, only to find that the organiser has left without letting anyone know. At least it gave me a push to get it completed. You can click for a closer look.

The stitching is mainly piles of Bullion Knots, French Knots, and picots of Buttonhole Stitch.

Etsy

I have been working on some items to put on my Etsy shop; above are the results so far. Two small zipped pouches. I have lined them in a commercial, but I think appropriate fabric, which has a gold print pattern.
Even the labels took some time, as I found I couldn’t stitch the lettering
on a single layer of tape. I have used the same process as for the covered books, procion dyed, printed and stitched brushed cotton.
For me it was challenging to work out how to set up the shop, and I am still working on getting the photos right. I like the banner but my son says I should do better. They are hard critics, aren’t they?

New start.

This is the start not only of a New Year but something of a new life for me, having given up full time work as a social worker in a Mental Health Team at the end of December. This is my desk at home where I hope to extend and pursue my creative interests. I’m planning my Etsy shop at the moment. Here is a fascinating site on-my-desk showing the desks of people who mainly work from home in creative areas. Another surprising recommendation is ‘How to Clean Your House’ by Kim Woodburn & Aggie Mackenzie – hundreds of handy tips to make your home sparkle. Mine certainly needs some help; so far this seems to have involved spraying lots of diluted white vinegar and scrubbing!

2007

Blog's first Christmas

Hadrian's Wall

I’ve recently finished this piece, but it has a history of over a year. I started it when I was asked to do a demonstration of free machine stitching at a local library. I backed a piece of calico with felt and worked to a photo I had taken from Hadrian’s Wall.
Although I persevered with it I didn’t really like it. Somehow, right at the end, it came together. I have a love hate relationship with Bullion Knots, always trying to conquer them, and then the one line, the green gimp in the second picture seemed to make all the difference. Sometimes it just pays to put something aside and keep thinking about how to make it work.

Knitting!

Thank you for the encouragement with regard to the Beta hiccups.
I am sure it will all work out for the best. I have already been able to add a better link list. I still cannot access my blog re the bar at the top. I have two fairs next week, not strictly craft fairs but near to Xmas perhaps I will sell a few items.
It has generally been a week of angst – however, I have found a great distraction, some really simple and fun knitting. If you have not seen it there is a whole site dedicated to Curly Wurly Scarves. Really fun, have a look.

Here it is, my first curly wurly, and my first knitting for a long time; also the first photo taken with my new camera!

OH Dear!

Having just bought myself a big treat, a Wacom Tablet, I should have been very busy getting to know it, but the fact is that I have been busy in other directions. The biggest excitement is that I am going to give up full time work at the end of the year. This should give me plenty of time for new endeavours. I hope to make more of my textile interests; I’m not sure in what direction yet. I would like to teach and sell more work.
In the background is the fact that my camera died and I have been mourning it, even though my son says ‘get over it’ and that nothing is made to last. I am researching a good buy and it gets more complicated each day.
You may also have noticed that I have gone over to the Beta version. I feel sure it will be better in the long run, but I have lost most of my add-ons and have to start again. I can’t seem to put a picture on the header in the minima template. The very worst problem is that it will not let me in unless I say I have forgotten my password and gain access by blogger sending me an e-mail. I had a feeling it was a mistake to move to Beta, and it looks as if I was so right!

Pekin Knots

I am starting to work on the shaped felt now. Above is a sample, made years ago, based on a dry stone wall in The Lake District. I remembered it when thinking about my felt rocks and planning how to work the embroidery. I was amazed to see the intricate tiny stitches I produced at that stage.

I bubbled up some synthetic organza using a heat gun and painted scraps to be my ice and lichen round the rocks. Tiny stitches, Chinese or Pekin knots. I read somewhere that people went blind working these - I can well believe it.

Having a blog since the start of this year has brought me a lot of new interest and satisfaction; not least of which was selling one of my book covers to a 'blogger' in New York. My first international sale! You can find this discerning person over on serenityis bliss. I also was lucky enough to do a trade for two pieces of artwork by tara you can see her unique work and purchase it by following the link.
These transactions gave me much pleasure, especially as both people liked and enjoyed my work. This is the sort of feedback which keeps you going, paticularly on those grey, wet days.

Knitting and Stitching Show

I was at Alexandra Palace yesterday. The show was amazing as usual, a chance to see top textile artists and to shop till you drop. However, this year there was added sadness to suddenly see the book of condolence for Val Campbell-Harding and to find that she had been buried the day before. It was a real shock. Many will never have had the 'experience' of a class with her but will have been inspired by her books which are the bibles for machine embroidery. There is a virtual book of condolence on the Computer Textile Design Group site.
On a happier note a generous young woman on the felt makers ' stall gave me two felting needles. If you look at her site you will see felt with a whole new scope, www.feltesque.co.uk

Shibori Felt

I have had my first go at this type of felt today, inspired by a piece I saw at Windsor by Angela Scolding which was based on a crab shell. Mine is very much a first attempt but I am pleased with the effect. I followed Sheila Smith's instructions with whom I once did a felt making course at Urchfont Manor.I felted Merino tops and African Wild Silk onto scrim which I had dyed. I found a bag of glass shapes in a Charity Shop which were ideal for the shaping.

Here it is all tied up and soapy, and then taking shape as the real felting begins.I have now left it to dry. Don't you think the scrim side looks so tactile; I have made it my desktop picture. I plan to embroider the piece at some point.

Felt tips

The background in this piece was first drawn with felt tips and then sprayed with water as described in Sherril Kahn's book 'Creating with Paint'. I added some foiling at one point. The stitching is sort of Kantha quilting. I framed it with frayed edges; I'm quite fond of it really, I suppose because it was just a bit of fun.
I have been getting ready for a craft show in our local village hall tomorrow. I am looking forward to it and hope that I have a few sales, but I am quite philosophical about that these days. I wonder if I will sell my little friend above.

London Design Festival

We have been to London to see The Scrawl Collective exhibition. The setting and the large scale work was impressive. More by accident than any 'design' on our part we were in the BrickLane area and on a sort of art trail round a number of other design shows. We even went on an old syle red bus which was showcasing the work of designers from Singapore. The New Designers Selection showed the work of 50 selected designers and was excellent; you can see examples of all their work on the link.
The emphasis in the show above was on recycled materials. There was a chance to sit down and have a go with fabric strips, hessian and a sort of prodding technique, it looked really interesting, but to tell the truth by that stage I was bleary eyed.

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.

Inspiration

This is my new' inspiration wire' copied from an idea on port2port .I am using it for unfinshed pieces and samples at the moment. At some point I'll probably add another line.
I have added a badge for a flickr album this week, if you would like to have a look at some of my work as a slide show.

Eyelets

We had a lovely morning visiting some of the open studios in the Hampshire Artists scheme.Prints, felt,glass and digital photos were particularly memorable. As you know I am really keen on experimenting with working on felt , and you can see some inspiring work at raspberry.

I have just finished a piece using mainly eyelets; after reading Julia Caprara's article in Quilting Arts I fancied doing some hand stitching and got out my stiletto.

I layered some painted scrim over in parts and worked some eyelets on the machine. It made a nice change to work some pretty intensive stitching.