Playing with texture paste

I've been reading Stitching the Textured Surface by Lynda Monk and Carol McFee and decided to do some texture paste samples. I didn't have the products used in the book but they said to try different types so I used what I had: Dreamweaver embossing paste and Winsor & Newton coarse texture gel and gesso. I used a variety of materials: calico, hessian, velvet, nappy liner, butter muslin etc. and my dining table is now covered with samples drying. The texture gel and embossing paste are used up so I've had to stop! I'll leave them overnight to dry and then I'll start adding colour and cutting them up. The book is excellent by the way, wonderful clear photos, lots of inspiration and I'm only about a third of the way through so far.

I used Stewart Gill stencils, Tim Holtz masks and Tattered Angel masks (plus my comb but maybe we won't talk about that!)

This is what my dining table looks like at the moment - most of the samples are white on white so don't show up too clearly but wait for the colour!

More fabric painting

I've started working on a thread holder to house all my DMC threads. It will be the same as the Anchor one posted earlier but I've used red/orange/yellow this time. Here's the material painted and stencilled with Stewart Gill paints. It's much brighter in real life but useless photography is to blame again! The back of the folder is made up ready but the front is waiting on me stitching the band sampler which I'm doing bit by bit in the evenings watching tv.

I went to Newbury Stamp show yesterday and spent far too much money as always. I bought some Glimmer Mists and screens which I have been coveting for some time so I'm looking forward to having a play with those - much more rewarding than cleaning the bathroom which is what I should be doing!

Mixed Media Canvases

Yesterday I went to Rumpelstiltskin at Broadwindsor Craft Centre and did a mixed media class with Tania. Yes, I have nearly all the stuff we used at home already but I rarely sit down for 3 hours to play with it and if I do I'm paralysed by the choices instead of just getting on and making something. Also it means I would have to clear up all the messy stuff myself - much better to have glitter and angelina all over Tania's floor! Here are the pieces finished off at home because I couldn't commit myself in too much of a hurry as to where exactly I wanted to stick each piece!

The green piece is actually half the size of the blue but I scanned them both as my photographs turned out rubbish! We painted small canvases with a variety of paints then stuck down some torn scraps of sari fabric with beading and sequins still on. We painted over the fabric, added tiny beads, glitter and embossing powder and zapped it with a heat gun which made the sari fabric distort. We then heated and painted some tyvek and stuck that on along with moulding mesh and a bit of friendly plastic on the blue canvas. I added some leaf beads to the bottom of the blue piece and a couple of buttons to the green one.

Two other ladies did the class with me, profolly and her friend Jo and profolly has posted one of her pieces on her blog here. I think we all had a fun afternoon.

Thread holder

It just goes to show how good a long weekend is for me - I can actually get something started and finished all in one go instead of having it hanging around for days, weeks, months... Though I have to admit that this is something I have had in mind to do for years!

A long time ago I bought 2 LoRan folders to hold all my embroidery threads and I like the way the threads are held on the cards and ready to use but have never cared for the plastic brown cover so I thought I could make a new one. Well, eventually, here it is, so much smarter than the original shown above:

I used the fabric that I painted and stencilled with Stewart Gill paints (see previous post) and the band sampler that I finished stitching a couple of weeks ago. It holds all my Anchor threads so now I just have to make another one for all my DMC threads. Look out for that post in a few years from now!

Fabric Paint Sample Book

I have finally finished the Stewart Gill sample book that I started over 18 months ago! It's been sat in pieces in a basket looking at me reproachfully all those months, well over half done but somehow I never seemed to find the time to get back to it. But I finally completed the last few pages, punched holes in all the pages and set eyelets and then made a little booklet to fit in the back pocket detailing (as far as I could remember after all this time) the paints and techniques I used on each page. The top picture shows the cover before I put the book together. The machine stitching and basic sewing leave something to be desired and as usual it was beyond me to produce 18 pages all the same size even though I measured them umpteen times, but never mind it's just supposed to be a record of techniques and I'm chuffed that I've finally completed it.

Below is my next project (as I just may be on a roll at the moment!) I want to make a new holder to hold my embroidery threads so I have spent the afternoon painting some fabric with Stewart Gill paints and then stencilling a design on them. Stewart Gill are having a sale at the moment and the stamps and stencils I ordered arrived just in time this afternoon for me to immediately start using the check and flower stencils. Hope to work on this some more tomorrow.

Band Sampler etc.

A couple of months ago I felt the need to stitch something, I was doing a lot of stamping but missed just sitting in front of the telly with a needle in my hand. So I started a random band sampler, using needlepoint canvas sprayed green and a selection of green and blue threads - one of my favourite colour combinations. It was nice to do something completely unplanned, deciding on each row as I got to it by flicking through my stich dictionary for ideas. Not sure what (if anything) I'm going to do with it now. I was thinking maybe it could be on the front of a file folder if I could work out how best to fix it there.


Other than that I've been working on classes for Kraft Crazy at Tidworth. I did a class last Saturday using Tim Holtz masks and I've been making ATCs for my next one. Here are the mask samples.

I've got a week off work this week which is lovely and I've managed to put aside a couple of whole days just to sit and play - bliss. One of the things I've gone back to is a fabric sample book which I started about 18 months ago when I went on a class exploring Stewart Gill paints and we did lots of samples and techniques and were to put them together in a book. I originally blogged about it way back here and posted some of the pages. I have now finally finished all the pages but I still have to punch the holes to add the rings to hold it all together and I'm very nervous that I will ruin the whole thing! I also want to write up a little booklet listing the techniques and paints used so it will still be a while before the thing is finally complete. However, I began to think I'd never get this far so I have a sense of achievement for my week off (and it's more than I ever seem to achieve at work where I also never finish anything!).

Zeggtangles

Following on my last post, Kimmie at art in redwagons showed some pebbles that she drew on that look like painted Easter eggs. Mmm - do you think I will be very conspicuous if I take some pebbles into a meeting to draw on....