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.

Stampbord

On Saturday I taught a class at Kraft Crazy in Tidworth using Stampbord and here are the samples:

According to the American blogs Saturday was World Cardmaking Day but as it happens we only made one card (back right), the other projects were a matchbook notebook, a fridge magnet and a key ring.  Most of the ladies at the class hadn't actually stamped on Stampbord before and I think they were all impressed by the quality of the surface and the difference it makes to the stamped image. The Pierrot stamp from Elusive Images really showed that up well.  It was good fun as usual and it's on to Christmas next time!

Beeswax Canvas

Another workshop at Rumpelstiltskin in Broadwindsor, this time using the melting pot.  For the first time I had a go with beeswax and we each painted a mini canvas (just two and a half inches square), covered it with beeswax and added a tiny scrapbook paper image. Here's my result with gold rub n'buff added, a metal photo corner, ricrac and a crochet flower and button.  Quite cute though I'm not fond of the smell of the beeswax.

Playing with metal

A couple of weeks ago I went to a workshop at Rumpelstiltskin in Broadwindsor run by Tanya and we played around decorating metal.  I've had the odd go before but not invested in the tools or done anything large but thanks to Tanya this is what I produced!

As always the photo is rubbish but hopefully it gives you an idea.  I decided to do a sampler for my mirror and cut the metal into 9 pieces which are each decorated differently using as many of the tools as I could.  The top right and bottom left pieces are both done using a moulding mat but the others are all just done with the various tools.  The pieces have been coloured with alcohol inks and the whole piece is really bright!

Of course, I now know I need a set of tools for myself but my house has to be rewired the week after next and that is going to cost serious money so I'm trying not to spend money on yet more stuff.  After all I could carry on creating for about 20 years just using up what I've already got!

Many thanks to Tanya for another fun workshop.  She has a really nice selection of mixed-media workshops between now and Christmas so I have signed up for several more!

Thread holder - inside

Doreen asked what the inside of my thread holder looked like so here's a couple of photos to show you:

And here's what the original beige plastic holder looked like!

Alcohol inks again

I did another class yesterday at Kraft Crazy in Tidworth using the new colours of alcohol inks. I made the projects bright and summery to really show off the new colours and the sun came out for one day at least in honour of the occasion!

The card below uses a technique I found on Patti Behan's blog where she has a video tutorial showing how you can use alcohol inks to make an animal print - very clever!

I love all the new colours, especially the brights, much more my colour range than the original selection (even though I've used them loads as well). Also love the birdcage stamp from Elusive Images on the middle card.

2nd thread holder

I've finished the second folder to hold all my DMC threads. I made it in the same way as the first but with a different colour scheme. Here's the band sampler on canvas I made to go on the front:

And here is the finished folder:

And a picture of the two holders together: