Inspiration in everything!

I'm often asked what inspires my work.  Well, how long have you got?

There really isn't an easy answer to this as I'm inspired by so many things.  Sometimes I get so much inspiration from one thing that it leads to a series of work.  This was so when I began to see rusty objects over and over again and the more I saw, the more I noticed rust in many other places.   This overload of inspiration lead to two series - Corrosion, which was inspired by the rust itself, and Oxidisation, which used fabric and threads dyed with the rusty items.

       

      

I have always had a great fancy for maps which lead to my series Seen From Above.   The inspiration came from contour lines and map symbols as well as the layout of settlements.  In several of the pieces maps were used as part of the design.

        

 

I haven't worked on a series for a few years now although certain images keep coming back into my work.  Beach Huts make an appearance now and then, together with anything connected to the sea.  This has been since we moved closer to the sea which we visit to walk several days each week.

When I look back in my sketchbook to see where the inspirations for each piece of work have come from, I find that most of all it can be just one image seen on that day that has immediately caught my eye and I see how I can interpret it on the page.  Sometimes literally, other times it just sparks something else.

In the last week my sketchbook has continued, although with only a few pages left, it has become increasingly difficult to take photos each day.  The first couple of days used prints from my stash as I wanted some quick days because I was starting a quilt this week so my time was precious.

My stash included several painted papers that I completed during a C&G Creative Sketchbook course I did in 2009.  Inspiration for part of my work on this course was torn and painted layers so the first page was a piece of one of the papers which started as a print of an image which was rubbed with layers of markal wax crayons and then topped with a layer of painted bondaweb.

I find some of my Gelli Prints are inspiration in themselves.  This next page used a gelli

print which was made with stencil of squares in different sizes.  I felt the paper itself was enough on it's own so I just added four yellow squares.

On Instagram this week someone I follow shared a piece of work which included prairie points
 which reminded my just how much I love them and have often included them in my work.  I was therefore inspired to make paper prairie points from gelli printed paper which I placed onto a gelli printed background.  I added the cross stitches as  reminder that they can be stitched in cloth too.

Another page was a 'naked' gelli print made using feathers and lace which was enough not to add anything to it.

We managed a couple of beach walks this week and found thousands of shells had been washed up in great big clumps.  I took photos of the shells and then manipulated them in Photoshop.  I'm not good with Photoshop and tend to just fiddle with the different effects until I get something I like without remembering what I've actually done, so I find it difficult to repeat anything I like!

I found a little saying about shells that spoke to me so simply wrote it over the shell background.

Using another gelli print, I drew several mandalas which I just love whether I am stitching, crocheting or drawing.

I recently treated myself to some Gelli Minis so tried them out for one of my pages, just using the triangle shape and various stencils, stamps and bubble wrap to add some texture and the highlighted using a white Posca pen.

February is Congenital Heart Disease Awareness Month and because my grandson Samuel was born with CHD I always remember it in some way.  This year I made him star of a page with hearts  and background which were printed using my gelli plate and a foam heart  shape.

Back to using my gelli print stash, this time I turned to my wooden printing blocks for inspiration and printed a design using one which I feel is a peacock design.

And finally for this week, today's design came about while I was thinking about designs for some embroidery I am planning at the moment.   I want to use stylised flowers, leaves and trees so this was a way of having an initial play.   I printed the green for the leaves using skeleton leaves to add texture to the gelli plate and for the background I used a print block I made year ago with card and string to live the bark of a tree.

Finished work now mounted

A couple of projects that I have already mentioned, although at the time I was undecided how to mount them, are the cross stitch Mandala Owl and the crochet Mandala.

The owl was finally mounted in a plain embroidery hoop so it could sit on the window ledge amongst the owl collection.

For the Mandala, I mounted it on a stretched canvas frame which I had covered with a piece of my own dyed fabric.

Christmas Cards

Suddenly realised I'd not posted about my Christmas Card makes for this year and didn't want to do it after Christmas!

It's a bit of a cheat this year as I discovered I had a large stock of cards made in previous years that had been left over plus some I'd made to sell and never did.  I decided that I would used these up and just make some new ones this year for the special people in my life who I know really appreciate a handmade card.

I returned to my love of inchies and created some red and green needlefelt that would become my inchies.  So long since my needlefelting machine had been out so I must reacquaint myself with it properly in the new year.

I'm always amazed when I look at the base felt when I make inches and wonder at how they change into little gems of loveliness!

To each little square - just over an inch square - I added combinations of sequins, beads and stitches and then buttonhole stitched around the edges.

 

Each set of four were mounted onto backing paper together with a hand printed "Happy Christmas" and then mounted on to a card.

Really pleased and already had compliments from some lucky recipients.

One more completed project - my November Little Box of Crochet which was a lovely mandala in Christmasy colours that was a delight to make.  Lots of overlay crochet which I love.

It was designed by Amanda Williams (@yarn_house on Insta) and worked in Yarn and Colors Must Have Cotton.

A bonus was a little wooded reindeer who desperately needed a coat so some of the left over yarn was put to use.  As you can see from the photo he is already hanging on the tree!

That really is all for this year so have a great Christmas,

End of another year

This is probably my last chance to post this year as I can already see how busy it is going to be between now and 2019, so it's time to update my creations of the last few weeks.

More Ecoprinting

I had another go at ecoprinting making a slight change to my first try by soaking the fabric and paper in the iron solution instead of painting it.  I wanted to try 'cooking' it in the oven but was unable to find a brick to weigh it down so that will have to wait until next time.

I used a variety of leaves, flowers and onion skins with differing results.  I must admit some of the leaves were very dry and crumbly and the flowers weren't exactly fresh so I feel there is still room for improvement.

I want to make some books with the printing I have done so far and hopefully my next exploration in eco printing will be with fresh leaves and plants and maybe using alum as the mordant.

Winter Display

For the Winter display I made a wreath, all be it a small one.  I've always wanted to make a crochet wreath but just didn't have the time to do a full size one so thought this was the best option.  Yet again I turned to Attich24 for my inspiration and guide, choosing two of her hellebore flowers for the decoration.

A little snowman also joined the display, along with some snowflakes hanging from a twig.  I also stitched a snowflake in cross stitch to display in a hoop. 

  

And put together .....

No sooner was the display up when Christmas preparations began and took over the mantelpiece.

The snowflakes stayed in place and the hoop was replaced with a crib scene worked in redwork plus all the lights and bits collected over the years.

Mandala Owl

The final stitch has been crossed on the Mandala Owl and although washed and pressed it hasn't been mounted yet.   I can't decided whether to put it in a hoop or frame and it will probably end up being the one I can get most easily!

Really pleased with the end result so hope the little people like it too!

Beginnings of an eco home

I've long been aware of how much single use paper and plastic is used in our home and feel the time has come to do something about it.

My first change was to buy cotton fabric serviettes to save us buying paper ones this Christmas.  Available at a most reasonable cost on Amazon, it seemed something much easier to do than I thought.  With more planning I could have made them myself, and my intention is to make another set in a different colour at some stage.

I wanted to personalise them with some embroidery so used some small mandala designs I have in a book Mandalas to Embroider  by Carina Envoldsen-Harris.  I used a blue/grey palette of embroidery threads to match our décor which I feel have given a great result.

These are some of my favourites......

     

There are still creations in hand as well as those planned to get me through Christmas and into the New Year, so I will be back!