Mermaids and Fairies

Last Saturday my daughter and I went to a class with Tania at Rumpelstiltskin in Broadwindsor and had a go with Paverpol.  The whole thing was M's idea as she had seen the samples in the shop and wanted to have a go.  I was way outside my comfort zone as I'm no good at doing anything that's supposed to look realistic (in so far as mermaids can be considered to be realistic!).  But look what we made!  Mine is the mermaid on her rock and M made a fairy sitting on a log - I was amazed that I could produce something like this and it was good fun if very messy.  M is so taken with the Paverpol that she has now ordered a litre tub plus bits and pieces to go with it and is impatiently waiting for it to arrive so she can have another go.  We started off with wire twisted into a vague shape, wrapped with silver foil and then with strips of t-shirt fabric.  Bigger pieces of t-shirt were used to cover the tail and then bits of lace were wrapped round to give texture and pattern.  M draped larger pieces on her fairy to create her skirts.  The material was all dunked in the Paverpol first as this then acts as a glue and as it dries it hardens completly so that the folds in the drapes stay put.It's a very strange texture and I must admit the best bit was peeling the stuff off my fingers once it had dried!

On Sunday I went back to Tania's, on my own this time, and felt much more comfortable playing with silk rods and cocoons.  I did a canvas which is still a work in progress as I feel it needs something else yet, but I did finish this bracelet (modelled here by M).

It's made from split silk rods rolled up and threaded onto ribbon with beads and pieces of sari silk knotted in between.  Great fun!

It's back to stamping now as the two new Christmas sets of Elusive Images stamps that I ordered have arrived and I am making the samples for my class at Kraft Crazy at the end of November.  One down so far and three to go!  The sets I'm using are Damask Reindeer and Harlequin Christmas - both gorgeous.

And tomorrow it's back to Tania's for an altered art club - have to think what to take with me to work on.