Textile Inspired Paper Lamination

Today, the light improved and I took a picture of my paper lamination piece and for once the colours look pretty accurate in the photograph.

The piece was based on photographs I had taken of another textile piece, an idea which I had not explored before. I have used my trusty grid thermofax to create the laminated piece, which meant that only parts of the photograph were incorporated and the original image was fractured.  The paper lamination was then layered onto one of my 'rejected' pieces of gridy printed cloth. 
 
The colours in the detail photograph below are a bit washed out (normal service resumed!) but it shows the three layers in the piece in a way that you can't see when you look at it with the naked eye.

I used my favourite sections of the lamination and pieced them together with the dusky pink fabric, which were off-cuts from fabric I printed for one of my C&G pieces. There is a little bit of stitching on all of the panels, with the stitching on the central panel using thicker thread. The outer panels are slightly raised by the insertion of wadding underneath.

I've enjoyed my exploration into paper lamination and have another piece almost finished and another piece in the early stages but I think that it will be something that I will come back to occasionally but only occasionally.

A Partridge in a Pear Tree

In November I went on a day course at the V&A to make a 'Partridge in a (gilded) pear Tree'. The course was led by Linda Barker and I had a very enjoyable day. Linda and the staff at the V&A were very helpful and thought of everything, even down to how you took your tree home.

The twigs were dipped in plaster of paris before we gilded them. I chose some mottled foil to cover mine and I was pleased with the effect. The foil was difficult to apply as it didn't come on any backing paper, so it was sticking to me almost as much as the twig. Although I had a very enjoyable day, I wasn't in love with the final piece but had intended to add some additional things to hang from the tree but as my heart wasn't in it, it didn't happen and I only finished the tree yesterday, another sign I wasn't in love with it. 

Many years ago, before I got into textiles, I would spend hours and hours decorating my Christmas cake but now I look for designs that are simple and reasonably quick to achieve. Here's this year's cake. I always use the same recipe but some years it turns out better than others. Why? I have no idea but I have a feeling that this cake is going to be a good one. Fingers crossed.

Our study door insists on closing and my husband wedges it open with an old envelope. Every time I notice the envelope I promise myself that I will buy a nice wooden wedge for the door. That was until recently when I borrowed the Recraft book from the library. The book encourages you to recycle things into new objects and one of the suggestions is to use an old jacket sleeve to make an owl door stop. Well not quite recycling as I made it out of some fabric that I had printed on and wasn't sure what to do with it. Hopefully, the owl will be welcomed tomorrow and replace the old envelope.

The kitchen beckons me loudly, so all that's left is for me to wish you all a very happy Christmas. I am looking forward to some creative time between Christmas and the New Year and  have a couple of textile pieces that I hope to finish. I hope to show you those soon.

Christmas cards in Waiting

Earlier in the year I posted about the Soft Circuit day course that I went on.  I got excited when I read that they were going to run a short workshop to make 3 electronic Christmas cards but my excitement was short lived when I realised that I couldn't go! Fortunately they sell the cards in a kit form and now they have arrived, let's hope that I can follow the instructions and get the cards to light up.

 

  

 

If you would like what the finished card should look like, have a look at the Technology will save us website.

 

Going back to less technologically advanced thumb printed cards, you may remember that I had planned to make robin and reindeer cards with my nephew . However, he had different ideas and he decided to make table name plates for everyone, which were lovely. Here's mine:

 

 

Apparently I am laughing so much that I am crying. I rather like it but it's made me think that I must do something with my hair!

Fun printed Christmas Cards

I am planning to print some Christmas cards with my nephew later this week but I just couldn't wait to try the technique out. So here are my sample cards printed by me and with me! Thumb printed reindeer and robins....

The robins need a bit of refinement but I particularly like the fact that their eyes are not quite in line. I thought that maybe I could do some collaborative cards with my nephew, with my thumb prints being the adult robins/reindeer and his could be the babies.....it could work well.