Bath,card and books

We were given homework by Angie to make use of our stamped fabric,so a few rings of silk fabric bonded on black chiffon on the top. With some wadding underneath it was all tacked to hold it in place before quilting

It was then cut in two and the edges oversewn to make these two notebooks.

The insides showing the coloured papers,this is from an idea of Frances Pickerings,when you paint the paper with diluted inks or paints 1 2 or 3 colours and stack them on top or each other a right angles to dry so that you get these lovely lines and marks.

We had a day out in Bath this W/E as Olive the grandchild from hell has been "doing " the Romans at school and as we are riddled with Roman remains around here, with villas and mosaics,but I have not been to the baths since we went to a roman orgy about 35yrs ago and swam in them amongst other things.It was a great place to visit about 6 baths a frigorium and the temple.The water in the main bath is warm and yellow due to the salts,one of the baths is steaming,you can sample the water and it tastes very flat ,warm and rather like bath water!

Reflections....

The Celtic grandchild from hell with Flavia a Roman citizen,who was fantastic she kept in character, regardless of how many questions you asked and she had a great sense of humour.When asked about what language she spoke with the Celts,she said I wish that they would speak Latin but we have been told When in Britannia do as the Britannians do!

On Saturday my card arrived from Pat it is lovely,she thinks that unicorns are white and I admit I do too, if you would like to see how she arrived at it click here. She very kindly set me this lace as well.

Using the paint techniques from Fibre in form I have finished these 4 box canvases using budgie grit for the ammonites,2 pewter and 2 rust

Following on from last week I have been making stamps from foam,I have been using an old yoga mat and as it is thinner than the usual blocks I mount them onto wood first.I like the vague patterns best the leaves like the ones Sue did and the wicker basket I think these could be very useful

More mould making using latex and these two tubs which you mix together to harden both end up with a rather too soft mould,OK for casting plaster but does not work so well with the loo paper technique so I might have to try making aplaster casting from these then they will be inside out you cant win.

I made these two using Sculpey brushing a thin layer of it over a photocopy of an ammonite,very disappointing.

Spent most of this W/E trying to workout how to make my next ammonites piece for the end of year show at Ledbury.I want the piece to be very textured so have been painting and burning kunim felt and vilene so the whole house stinks,painted felt does not burn too well so tried transfer dyes but could not get the colours I wanted.

Painting onto cotton and vilene worked a treat I used one of the foam stamps I had made by pressing it into buttons, and I added xandaprint which I had coloured first and when heated it gave me the texture I wanted.I tried using Lutrador but the thicker one once painted is very stiff and I didn't fancy embroidering into it.

The effect I am trying to achieve is of layers cracking open to reveal the ammonites underneath,I think my next step is to try a small section to see if it will work.

Snow snow quick quick snow

I am not going to complain about the snow although it is going to be difficult if it goes on into next week as I will not be able to fit in all my patients, but then not having your toenails cut isn't exactly life threatening, when you think of those poor souls around Melbourne with the horrendous fires it must be so frightening,so I will not moan about the cold even if we do get another power cut.I have been reading on other peoples blogs about snow dyeing so thought I might as well put the stuff to a good use the problem was I couldn't check out the best way to do it as we had a power cut so just winged it. Below is the scrim that I dyed in the melted snow/ dye mixture. At first I was not too impressed with the result but when you look into the colours and see the fantastic patterns I was quite chuffed.

These are the two tubs of scrunched fabric with the snow on top look good enough to eat don't they .

The card this month for Calender girls was this one, a unicorn covered in jewels and a detailed background, so I had to simplify it. I put it into Kaleidoscope and came up with this I liked it,but was unsure what to do with it.

So it was made into the envelope and I drew out a simple design

which I was going to paint over felt, it ended up looking very "furry" and even covering it with aquawax didnt quitegive the right look,and I could not get the colours as in the card.

So back to painted calico with black chiffon machine sewn over the top and then unicorn horns hand sewn with a few beads. I did think about heat treating the chiffon but got cold feet and left it I just hope Doreen likes it especially as she is suffering in their heat wave.

I had time to make loads of cards trying out some new ideas this one is painted wallpaper and the inside of a tomato puree tube embossed and machine sewn on. The next three are -------------------eggshells from a picture I saw in Maggie Greys latest book.I finished off painting these with interference paints so difficult to photograph.

And these two are ---------------------------------- plastic pellets from a car air freshener which my husband had finished with so the cards smell good too.They were painted with paynes grey silver then ink and I had some chinese red rub and buff which I had bought in Oz and it really lifts the whole card. One thing I have found out is if your rub and buff or Treasure gold has dried out put a small amount of Turps substitute in and it will work a treat.

Message for Sue

Hi Sue didnt have your email so here goes the printing blocks are called Moldable foam stamps made by Pen Score, I googled and found that dharmatrading.com sell them but do not who sells them in Oz. At the moment I am using an old yoga mat which seems to be made of the same stuff,hope this helps.

Rosalinds works of art

My sister Rosalind who gave me the book "Silk Unravelled"has made this stunning cushion from torn strips of silk and a lovely gerbera flower for her hat ,what talent.

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We went to Ledbury today for our masterclass with Angie Hughes,we were using those blue foam block to print with,you heat them up with an iron with baking parchment on top of the block to protect the iron then press them onto an object to get a shape. Sue did the one below using dried leaves for an imprint, it really worked well. This one used a block which had been pressed into star anise and on the right a small strip which had pins to make the impression.

This one was dried beans and below cords from a belt.

This one of mine is star anise again and the squares are from garden netting.

and of course for me fossils.I went to the local kitchen shop in Ledbury to buy some star anise and the assistant asked me what recipe we were all going to make as she had sold a lot,when I told her it was for printing she very kindly sorted out all the whole ones for me,very sweet of her.Angie is running a tag competition when I can find the details I will post them.

The quilt for my daughter in Oz is finished and someone has offered to take it and a pair of Hunter wellies out to her,which is great.