Piece for Exhibition

I finished this piece on Friday. We've had all sorts of things happening this week with a dress up party on Saturday to prepare for and a broken down car to get fixed. This piece is for the exhibition, 'Tragedy, Treasure and Trade'. It is titled 'Miserere Domine'. Made from felt, hand dyed habotai silk and free machine embroidery and applique.

Bunting for BIFF.

I just finished the bunting for my van. I've made two strips like this. I painted vilene with inks. Then, when they were dry I zigzagged around my traced template lines. I cut out my shapes, then I painted the black detail with slightly diluted acrylic paint. Followed by gold ink. Cute, huh? I'm really pleased with them. I think the gold really sets it off.

AWOL

Haven't blogged forever and a day. Just been so busy! Been surfing too, so that uses up most of my spare time very pleasurably. I've just finished these 2 pieces for an upcoming exhibition called the 'Clothespeg Project - Volume 2' Here's a review of the first instalment. And some photos from the first instalment! Should be fun! Fingers crossed my work makes the cut. I've worked with applique and paper casting on these two pieces. They're A5 sized. Will try and upload some more of my recent work. Just gotta get the home PC up and working again. Alas! It has died.

February Arch Swap - Textile Challenges Group

This is my second arch. This one's for Cathy, I hope she likes it! I printed on hand dyed fabric with iridescent acrylic inks. I then sis some applique and an image transfer onto organza. I've been surfing so much lately that this is about all I've done for ages. As it gets cooler, I think I'll get more inspired as it cold and gloomy outside. Snuggling up with the sewing machine suddenly becomes very appealing. Not so when it is 39C. Enjoy your weekend!

playing

I bought some new paints the other day with a jackson's voucher. They are mostly acrylic inks which are gorgeous. metallic paints. Have been experimenting with making my own stamps. These ones are made with a styrofoam meat tray. Also layering images on watercolour paper for some book making later on... The green colour in this bottom one is actually the acrylic ink so really shiny and yum.

Arch Swap

I have finished my first page for the Arch page swap I'm taking part in this year. This one is for Gillian.

Fremantle Bazaar

Some more eye candy,coz we love it!! I found these in textile traders. So gorgeous. Like an enamelled, metal bead. I bought so many of them... Might make some earrings. Who knows what else. Oooooooo. Ahhhhhhh. Shiny bead! This is some of the stuff I made for the Freo Bazaar. For the FeltWest Stall. This sold, which was cute. So did this.

Fremantle Bazaar 2

Here are some brooches and earrings I made using handmade felt and free machine embroidery. I made a series of wrist cuffs, which sold well. Felt, off cuts from other projects and free machining. Pretty...

Long absence

I haven't blogged in so long. It's been quite bad. Having just started a new job, where I sit in front of a PC all day, the last thing I feeling like doing when I get home is do the same. Have had a bit of a break from my art. Been learning to surf and enjoying some well earned holidays doing NOTHING!! It's a strange felling to be sure. I'm normally so motivated towards a goal. Not having one leaves me feeling a little displaced. Having finished my exhibition, I've been looking forward to exploring some new techniques and making some small projects. This one tickled my fancy. Little amulet pouches from a recent issue of ClothPaperScissors. I am in the process of making 8 at the moment. Even followed the instructions!!! From now on I'll do what I normally do and make my own version based on my inspiration from the original design... these ones for instance, ask you to iron bondaweb onto each side of the acrylic felt. You then iron printer's foil to one side and paint the other. Next time, I would paint the vilene. Let it dry and then iron it on to the felt. I think this will give a better texture for what I was after. Also make them slightly bigger. :] I gave the above one to a friend for Christmas. Folded up it is about 9cm long. So pretty small. This one is a little bigger. Probably 13cm, when folded. Here's the foiled inside view. Will try and blog a bit more regularly now... as long as I have something to show :D

Eye candy 2 - Because we love it!

There is a Christmas Bazaar coming up in Freo at the end of the month. I thought I would once again try to sell my purses. Don't really know what's wrong with them, but no one buys them ;) I am also making some felt jewellery. As the stall is with feltwest, all of the goodies have to be handfelted to some extent. So I will be using felt as a base and then free machining and adding extra fabrics on top. Here are some of the colourways I've been playing with. All of the felt is pieces left over from other projects I've made of offcuts - the sleeves off my jacket, the edge from a purse I made... The start of a couple. This is just yum. I love these colours. Especially the bit of brown fabric add a nice retro feel.

Guitars

Here we are!! Line is the little one on the left. The thing next to it is an acoustic bass. My husband plays the bass and when we saw this, it seemed right that it should come home with us. They are both Tanglewoods and have a really great sound. Both steel string withbuilt in pick up.

Clocks

I'm involved in another textile exhibition with some other lovely ladies at the Lumiere Gallery in Cottesloe. The exhibition actually finishes on the 30th, so not long now. I have been meaning to call the gallery and see if anything of mine has sold. Amongst some other things I made three clocks. This is the red one. I have made a few of these now and am finally sorting out the process that works best. The gallery is lovely and light with polished floor boards, but it is very small and a little hidden away. I will be interested to see how many visitors they've had. The exhibition at Heathcote is going well. I've sold 7 pieces so far. Anything that I don't sell can easily go into an Art Sale early next year. It will actually be good to have some 'spare' work lying around so that I'm not always rushing to finish things for a deadline. Since installing at Heathcote I've had a bit of a textile holiday. i think this is normal. People need a break after working really hard on one thing. I've been so focussed on it for ages. I think I will know when its time to start creating again. In the mean time I've been playing a fair bit of guitar and singing. I have been playing the guitar for about 12 years and I just realised the other day that I have never actually had my own guitar. The other weekend we were at a music sale and one jumped out at me. I just had to buy it!!! SO now I have my own. I'll post a picture in the next post. It's beautiful :)