rosiepink

Photos, Sketching, Chopping & Painting!

Annie

Hi there.  So how often do you take photos for inspiration for your artwork only to never look at them again?!

I seem to do it quite a lot!  I've been looking back through some of my photos this week and realised I've taken many over the years with the thought of making a picture from them 'one day'!  Time to take action!

So I randomly picked a couple of a lady waiting for a fishing boat, with her dog by the shore, and roughly sketched it on the sewing machine without too much thought, just to get it down 'on paper'.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I'm trying to machine sketch as often as possible, although my idea of doing it daily may have been a little over ambitious! But I think this sketch only took about 15 or so minutes including dabbing a bit of acrylic paint on top, so it should be quite easy to fit in!

It felt good to follow up, even if it's just a quick sketch (that photo was taken about 5 years ago!). Have now put some more photos in a dedicated folder on my laptop so I can pick one whenever I feel like it. I really like this image so it's one I'd like to have a go at again, with a little more thought to perhaps make into something for the wall.

I also pulled a few random ideas out of my imagination for a couple of other sketches. I have incorporated our handmade felt, along with a bit of acrylic paint and hand embroidery for variety. I started with this simple image of a heart cut from handmade felt and free machine stitched around it. A man holding it like a kite popped into my head so that's what I stitched!

Then a few cheery flowers and a simple funny bird to follow.

I was running quite low on calico so I popped to my local shop to re-stock and discovered some much heavier weight canvas (almost like the stuff stretched canvases are made from) in both cream and in white. It seems to take the stitching really well and the white makes a change from the usual cream colour. The bottom 2 pieces are on the thicker canvas.

I think this will be good as I am currently experimenting with different ways to display small textiles works - has anyone had any success with mounting textile work on wood blocks? I really like the way that it looks when people paint wood blocks and the edge of the work is flush with the block. The only simple way that springs to mind is glue - but glue isn't good for textiles is it?!

I've got several ideas such as lashing the felt / fabric round the block with threads or drilling holes in the block to stitch through. Will have to have a think and a play. Small textile work can get a bit a lost on a wall - and I don't really like framing felt and textiles work - I like it just to sit as it is.

As for the big flowers picture I laid out recently - well I felted it, started to stitch it and then decided I didn't like it!  So I'm going to take the scissors to it and make a few smaller pieces from it. I haven't quite worked out which bits to chop yet but I'm playing with an old
mount (cut at each end so it's adjustable in your hands) to try and pick bits out. Small pieces of it look quite pretty and will transform into a new theme when cropped and stitched - maybe the seashore or a harbour. Or just a couple of small flowers. They could be used for small pieces for the wall, or for cards or tiny colourful pieces for brooches. That's the great thing about felt, it's never wasted, it can easily be chopped and re-used!

Here are some of the bits I'm thinking of cropping out...

My other project for this weekend has been a bit of a chore though - painting my work table.  A few weeks ago I finally bought a giant bit of MDF and attached some Ikea legs to make a table and I've been using it unfinished but it keeps getting wet and MDF doesn't like water! So to seal it I've been painting it. So far have done 3 layers of emulsion to prime it. Then a layer of gloss. But I've got to do one more layer cos I came down this morning to discover it had gone all patchy. Argh! Yuck - I hate glossing! But hopefully it will be worth it when I have a nice big waterproof table to work on :-)

 

Felt Art, Stitching & Vessels

Lyn

If you don't fancy resist work but you want to make 3D felt - you can.

Flat felt can be shaped simply by stitching - just like any kind of fabric.  For example, if you put running stitches around a circle of fabric then draw the thread up, you have a 3D shape.

Or you can cut shapes from a piece of flat felt then stitch them together, either by hand or by machine, to make 3D felt.

When you know what shape you want to make, test out your idea, before you take the scissors to the piece of flat felt, by making up your design using paper and sticky tape.

This ornamental bowl was made from a flat piece of textured handmade felt, cut and stitched.  It measures 24cms across and the rim stands 5.5cm high.  

If you like making felt vessels over a resist, then you already know how satisfying it is, and during the final stages of shaping, when your soapy hands rub around the emerging form, it almost feels like making a clay pot.  But instead of putting it into a kiln, you put it into an airing cupboard!

The inspiration for this ornamental felt vessel was a ceramic essential oil burner.  The main pot was made on a top open resist and the eyelets were added after the felt dried.  The little blue inner pot was also made on an open top resist and is suspended by a thin brass rod with beaded decoration.  It stands 16.5cms tall and could be displayed with a battery powered tealight in its base.

There aren't many creative people who just stick to one thing.  We've tried so many arts/crafts - and enjoyed them all - but we're realistic enough to know that there are just not enough hours in the day to make everything we'd like to.

But even just dabbling in other arts/crafts is a way to relax and expand your ability with your favourite pursuit.

With this month's issue of Make and Craft magazine was a free canvas tote bag.  It was literally a 'blank canvas' that begged for decoration.  

A little dabbling with applique quite appealed.

The fabric for the flowers was pulled from our stash and the petals were just rough cut. The stitching was easy on the top two flowers, but a bit fiddly on the bottom one.  More than once a few pennies were dropped into the swear box as the back of the bag got caught in the stitching! 

 

Annie

Hello, have just got back from visiting my in-laws.  Had a lovely time and got spoiled rotten :-)

Not only did I return home with an extra inch on my waist, and a hamper packed full of Waitrose goodies for my anniversary present, my nanny-in-law gave me these beautiful art silk machine embroidery threads.  I will have to find a special little project for these, they're so beautiful - the photo really doesn't do the thread's colour and shine any justice.  I will just have to make sure I don't let my hoarding "they're too lovely to use" instinct kick in!

I've also started this picture of some big moony flowers which I've tried to make look sort of drawn by a child's hand.  Some simple embroidery after felting should be just the ticket. But it's about 70cm x 70cm so its going to take a bit of elbow grease to felt.  For me that's sometimes a laborious bit of making a picture because its the slowest and least sparkliest part! I absolutely love the laying out of the fibres and the twinkly bits at the start of the process, and the embroidery and finishing at the end, but the bit in the middle can be a little bit boring on a bigger piece.  Had a great idea though - not sure why I've not thought of it before.  I've just been to the library to borrow some audio books to help pass the time during the felting process.  They're only 20p per day to borrow from my library, which is good cos I can (hopefully) see me getting through a lot this year!

I picked Mike Gayle's The To-Do List because it sounds just like me!  Maeve Binchy's Nights of Rain and Stars mainly because it is set in Greece.  And M C Beaton's Agatha Raisin and the Curious Curate for a bit of light hearted murder mystery (it's also narrated by Penelope Keith so a nice voice to listen to!).   So nothing that should require too much concentration just a little light entertainment for while I'm rubbing, rolling, rubbing, rolling!

Do something creative every day

Lyn

We'd all be a lot happier if creativity featured in our daily lives, but do you think your life is far too complicated or busy for that to happen? Ruth Lane shows how easy it is to achieve daily creativity in her post a daily dose of fiber challenge.

I'm using my lovely felt-covered diary, pictured in the last post, as a focusing tool.  Every day I decide what I'd like to achieve and I write it in the diary.  It then sits open on my desk, quietly nagging at me, and encouraging me to focus on my goal instead of faffing around. When my day doesn't go as planned (which is more often than I'd like), I don't panic, I just fit in what I can, even if it's just thinking about my project, then re-assess things the following day.  

I've always been fascinated by cobweb felt and I wanted to make a vessel solid enough to stand on its own, topped with a delicate cobweb collar.

I blended turquoise, white, blue, lilac, mauve and yellow merino wool, with a little yellow throwsters waste, and wet felted around a top open resist.  It was a bit of a struggle to work with two different kinds of felt, one at each end of the resist, and the cobweb felt tried very hard to snuggle down with the regular felt, but here it is finished and standing 27cm tall.  

I had a little blended wool left over and I couldn't resist making this decorative bowl that measures 18 cms across the top.  It's standing up well, even though it's delicate felt, but if it starts to droop, I'll either wet it and dunk it in a weak solution of CMC paste before putting it upside down over a bowl to set, or I'll firm it up with machine stitching.

So, what are your creative plans for this week and how are you going to make them happen?

Happy New Felting Year

Lyn

Another Christmas and I've overdone the eating and sitting around yet again......but I enjoyed every minute!  

Annie loves to sketch and make notes so she was delighted to receive one of Aileen Clark's pretty notebooks for Christmas.  The front cover is one of Aileen's felted seascapes and inside there are plain and lined pages - ideal for jotting down ideas before they escape.

I'm looking forward to 2013 and my head is full of ideas and plans and I have just the diary to help me to keep track of things.  The cover was made by Zed and it's a pretty patchwork of felt that feels so good to hold in my hand.

At this time of year Annie and I always look ahead with optimism and we hope that you can too.  Whatever your plans or dreams, work hard on them to make them come true.

Best wishes for 2013 from both of us.

Some felt experiments and free machine sketching...

Annie

My favourite thing is stitching into handmade felt (by both hand and machine) to give texture and add interest.

But I thought it would be good to try something different for a change - the two samples above (approx 90cms wide) are made using CMC paste (a sort of glue like wallpaper paste). They have dried with that texture with no stitching, and I think it's got quite interesting potential.  It's a bit like silk paper but is made with fine felt instead.  With the right inclusions and colours I think a picture could be complete without any extra embellishment.  These were just quick tests so I am thinking they could do with some stitching or paint or something...itchy fingers!

Have also been trying to keep up with doing regular 5-10 minute machine embroidery sketches - as much as possible of things that are not in my usual subject ranges.  So, some armchairs!  Why not? I think I want to make some bigger pieces based on this and also on my list of things to practice and play with is to start sketching people and dogs.  Something a little bit more ambitious :-)

This one is on natural merino combined with natural scrim, and an applique pink fabric cushion.

The chair on the right below is plain stitching on calico and on the left is a 3D version of it stuffed withpolyester filling.

I also did these flowers in free machine embroidery on calico then did a blind lucky dip on the acrylic paint tubes to pick some colours to wash over.  I'm enjoying trying to work quickly - not having to think about things sometimes makes them easier!

These will sit on my pinboard until they are ready to be used in future references - my poor overburdened pin boards!

One other little project I did this week is make a Christmas card - I don't tend to send Christmas cards - I never get round to it but there are a couple I want to send this year for various reasons.  I made six little pieces of felt to use as card toppers.  This is how the first one turned out.  Who knows if I'll finish the rest.  But at least 1 person will get a card, that's if I remember to post it! :-)

Here's a pic of work in progress - stuff everywhere! You can see my overstuffed pinboards in the background (and that's not all of it!  I'm sure I'm not the only one with too many piles of ideas and materials and not enough productivity.  Some of the yarns, wool and fabric is too nice to use anyway - it just needs to be got out and dribbled over every now and again!)

Lastly, thought I'd share this rather pretty photo of the New Forest and winter sun - we've been trying to get out for weekend walks when the weather holds out.  Its flippin cold, but its lovely!

 

Knit the git and stick pins in him

Lyn

I like quirky things so when I saw Knit a Git by my friend Carolyn, I just had to share.   

Carolyn designs knitting patterns and when she was going through a very difficult divorce a friend said she should 'knit the git and stick pins in him'.  She did and it really helped! 

When she'd knitted her git, she found stress relief by letting the cat play with him, using him as a pin cushion and jamming him under a door to hold it open.

All gits are made from the same, easy to follow, step-by-step pattern, with illustrated instructions explaining how to make him look more like your own 'git'.

 

Anything that can make us laugh in a difficult situation is a good thing.  Do you know of any fun ideas that help?  Please let everyone know by leaving a comment.

Felting an image for a Christmas card

Lyn

Sorry if this sets you off in a panic, but did you know that there are only 47 days until Christmas?

Eeeek!  Better get started then.  My first job is to make a piece of textile art to use as the picture on the front of my Christmas cards, and as I'd found a very funny Christmas verse about sheep that I want to use inside the card, I decided to wet felt a sheep.

I looked at dozens of photos of faces of different breeds of sheep and this is a composite - not an identifiable breed - but it does me.

I needle felted a sheep's face and laid it atop 4 loose layers of merino fibres and wensleydale curls.  It looked fabulous.....until I felted it......and then I didn't like it.

Now, I don't believe in giving up on a piece too easily, so I looked long and hard at it.  I decided that I liked the face so I cut it out and the discarded leftovers are now in my 'box' and may come in handy for another piece of re-purposing.

Removed from the large piece of felt, the sheep's face didn't look quite finished, so I raided my grand-daughter's box of felt tips and added a few lines.

Once again I laid out merino wool fibres and curls and placed the sheep's face on the top. I loved it just as it was.  I wanted an image not a piece of felt so out came the camera and the job was done.

As a bonus, I can re-use the wool and curls that I didn't need to felt! 

Serendipity happens when you play with fibres.  

One lovely blog award and a new felting challenge

Lyn

I can't imagine a life without reading for pleasure, so it was a lovely surprise to receive a nomination for the One Lovely Blog Award from Sarah because her blog showcases a book every day of the year.  

In accepting this award I have to write seven things about myself and Annie that other bloggers don't know, so here goes:  Annie always wanted to be called Rosie; she was kicked out of the Brownies for being too naughty and she goes all gooey over dogs.  I would love to try scuba diving but I won't because I think I'd look like a whale in one of those rubber suits; I eat chocolate and sweet stuff but I tell my dentist that I don't; I would rather play with fibres or read a book than do boring housework and we both love to sit on a beach and just watch the sea.

I've also been asked to suggest 15 other interesting blogs that we haven't mentioned before: Lou Tonkin, Geninne's Art Blog, Diana Trout, Poppyprint, a stitch in dye, wooldancer, hens teeth, centering with fiber, Anna Maria Horner, do you mind if i knit, studiofelter, Hooked on Felt, Wool love, Things I've learned lately, Mixed Media

So make a cuppa, get comfy and enjoy a short trip around blogland.  

And while you're on your cyber travels, have a look at The Felting and Fiber Studio Forum. This quarter's challenge is to make a piece of felt depicting the weather where you live.  

So I looked into the garden last week and I could see the changes being made by the coming of the autumn weather - most noticeably the falling leaves from the trees and the falling petals from the flowers. 

The sky was very blue and the dying flowers looked so sad with half their petals on the ground that I thought it would translate well into felt for the challenge.

'Autumn in my garden'.  Felt, nuno felt and stitching, 19" x 18"

The nuno felted petals were cut from my favourite skirt that had seen its last summer, so it felt right to use the fabric to depict the falling leaves.  

I hope you are all enjoying the fabulous colours that nature gives us with the changing seasons and that it inspires you to be creative in whatever medium you are happy with.

 

Wendy's Handmade Harbour

We're thrilled to be in Wendy's 'tea and chat' feature today over at Handmade Harbour!

This is a fascinating blog for all things textile and is written by Wendy Massey who's a craft magazine contributor and designer/maker at 1st Unique Gifts.

Why not pop on over and see why it's such a good blog to follow.  x

Flowers, Flowers and More Flowers! And a shiny new work space - woo hoo!

Its been a while, so lots of rambling coming up! Have been on holiday, revamped my work space, me and mum have started a million (and one) projects, and got heads bursting full of ideas!

Among many things I'm working through Danny Gregory's book - "The Creative License". It's about grabbing a Sharpie and sketching something / anything everyday - it inspires you to "just do it", even a few minutes a day.  I figured I could translate this principle into the textiles world too, and into a series of small challenges - otherwise days / weeks can fly by without picking up a needle or piece of wool because "I am too busy" - huh?

Here are a couple of the pieces so far...they are not masterpieces by a long shot, they are experiments and samples (approx 22cm x 16cm) for some much bigger ideas I have in my head (more on that later) but at least now I have recorded so that I won't forget!

Because I have been experimenting with marker pen and coloured pencils recently I first wanted to see if I could get this down into feltwork and machine embroidery.  I tried a couple of ways.  The picture above started as a blank canvas of pale scrims laid on white wool, then the "ink" outline and colour was applied by fabric applique and dark thread.  It's OK, but has room for improvement.  I'm not sure I like the blue colour of the "ink" but it is something to play with further.

Here's how it started:

And a bit of detail from the finished sample:

The other way, which I haven't felted yet, is to add rough outlines in black silk (throwsters waste) to a couple of random basic felt flowers. The ink and paper sketching is somewhat more portable in that you can do it anywhere, anytime but the principal is the same - freedom, experimentation, and most importantly practice.

I'll report back with progress!

The exercise of the next picture (below) was all about limiting the "palette" of materials (initally anyway!), and working faster.   

I always work quickly once I get going but what I mean by this is to start the process with less faffing!  I tend to spend so long "ooh-ing" and "ahh-ing" over jumbles of pretty colours and worrying that I might have missed a nice piece of thread that I just don't get going (mum is the same!). I also keep reading that limiting your resources can force you to be more creative. So I bravely (and quickly!) picked a small handful of colours, one small bag of fabric scraps and laid out this small piece.  I had no idea when I started what it was going to be but as I worked it unsurprisingly turned into a vase of flowers!  However, it was very free-ing to just lay down bits of fabric and fibre until I saw one of my favourite subjects emerging!

I think the next thing to address would be knowing "when to stop". This was going to be a really simple little picture, but I kind of got carried away when I reintroduced all my stash back into the mix!  I also tried to incorporate the "ink" aspect in darker threads but decided it was not really working on this sample, but it added a bit of clarity in places.

Also, on the flowers theme, my neighbour kindly dropped round a beautiful bunch for me before I went on holiday a couple of weeks ago...

and when I got back they had "dropped" splotches all over the cabinet they were on.  I can definitely see a potential embroidery in this one...!

Its crazy what you start to notice when you are actively looking for what to sketch next!

I have purchased five little pinboards so that I can pin up all my favourite and inspiring things during the day - I am forever clipping at magazines, collecting scraps of fabric and odds 'n' ends, and I want to be able to see them all at once!

Now....drum roll....the "Big Clear Out" has finally happened! Woo Hoo!

Since I moved into my house 7 years ago and claimed the downstairs room at the front to be my "studio", so I've been filling it with "stuff". Bits of thread, odd balls of wool, countless stitching books, and piles of fabric.  If you make things, you will understand!  

But it was getting a bit unmanageable, and Mum and I have been meaning to "get Annie organised" for such a long time, and finally could stand the mess no more. So we went through every box and bag and ruthlessly chucked out anything remotely uninspiring or that neither of us could imagine using in a project.  About a third of the room!  I also decided that I would decorate while we were at it - to make it a more inspiring place to be.  

I am so lucky to now have this light and airy (and organised!) workspace....

....transformed from this gloomy mess ! ....

So it was out with the woodchip wallpaper, beige tatty 30 yr old carpet, and piles of junk. In with sanded floorboards, and lots of white paint.   I'm just saving up for my new table and then I can finish the last of the rearranging, all of the baskets can stack neatly underneath the table, and I can put my inspiration pinboards up :-)

Its such a great feeling now I can actually find everything, in fact I even know what I've got now!  Bliss!

Finally, a mention of a bit of fame :-) We were chuffed to be published in the Embroiderers Guild Stitch Magazine in the June 2012 edition, in the regular feature of From Sketch to Stitch ....

...and we’re thrilled to be included in the Artists and Crafters section in a new monthly magazine ‘Make and Craft’ (available as a digital or paper version) http://www.makeandcraft.com

It’s a creative hub for the Craft Community packed with inspiration, crafty tips, creative tricks and exciting ideas, featuring contemporary tutorials and projects using a wide variety of supplies and techniques, as well as reviving traditional crafts worth cherishing.  ‘Make & Craft’ magazine also brings you  the latest trends, up-to-date products, craft books and supplies, new techniques, sneak peeks behind the scenes of Artists and Crafters, the best online sites, news round ups, a diary of craft events and a whole host of competitions and giveaways.

I'm sure there is much more, but for now, I'm gasping for a cuppa! We hope you are all well, enjoying some creative time, and not thinking too much about Christmas yet!  There, I said it.  The "C" word ;-)