Altered Books

Yesterday I spent a wonderful day creating Altered Books with Laura Kemshall at her Wooden House Workshop.

First of all the venue is superb, set in the very picturesque Shropshire countryside and we had the bonus of a lovely sunny day. It was a pleasure to be able to work in the Wooden House as there was everything we needed to hand with plenty of space to work in.  And the home-cooked cookies and muffins and the lunch provided were just a welcomed and tasty bonus!

Laura gave each of us a book to alter and we have each brought one or two of our own to work on.  She went through each stage, giving us time to work on our books before moving on to the next stage.  Working on two or three books at once meant that we could have one drying and still have another to alter.   We also have loads of examples of Laura's and Linda's altered books to look at and inspire.

Here are some examples of the books I was working on.  They are still "works in progress" so I will post more photos soon with any updates.

 

   

    

    

 

 

          

     

 

 

I can thoroughly recommend Laura's workshops - I for one will certainly be returning.

Wonderful workshop with Maggie Grey

Last Saturday Maggie Grey came to visit Context to give her talk entitled Stitches, Straps and Layers.   She also did a mini workshop for us in the afternoon.

The talk was very inspirational and I seemed to be making notes all the way through as I got ideas from what she had shown us.   As well as seeing all the work on the screen, Maggie had brought loads of samples and sketchbooks with her so we were able to see "in the flesh" much of the work included in the talk and in many of her books.   She was very generous with her knowledge and told us how she had put together her creations and where we could get the supplies for ourselves.

In the afternoon Maggie (and her 'willing' grand-daughter!) had put together for us some strips of silk rods which had been machined together on felt and were the basis for us to put together with insertion stitches.  We first buttonholed around each of the four strips, added any additional stitching we wanted and then, after stitching the pieces to soluble fabric, we joined the pieces together with stitching of our choice.  Mine were joined with a combination of faggoting stitch and herringbone stitch.

Maggie's husband Clive also came with her and he showed us how to make "twirlies" with wire which we used to decorate our strips.

Mine is all finished now but I want to mount it on a gold foiled background and as gold is the only colour I haven't got in my foil box, it will have to wait.   This is what it looks like for now and I will post a photo when it is finished and mounted.

 

 

As I said, I got lots of ideas so watch out in the coming months to see what I create!

Play Day with Thread and Shutter

Once again, Thread and Shutter members have had a day playing with fibres etc - the thing they like most of all.

This time we decided to make some silk paper.  Last year I had purchased some silk fibres to make silk paper at a Context workshop but at the last minute couldn't go, so I was really keen to have a go myself.  Fortunately, everyone else wanted to too!

Several years ago I bought a silk paper kit from a show and had come home and made two pieces of paper straightaway.   This was then put to one side so when we decided to have our own workshop, I found them and shaped them over a bowl and cup to make two vessels.   I did try to machine embroider one of the pieces before I shaped it but it was too thin so I just made the bowl.   What I should have done was use some water-soluble fabric - maybe next time!

I'm pleased with both the results but feel they need some stitching and beads so I will do this at some time in the future.

 

 

 

 

 



 This time round, I made two pieces of silk paper.

This first one was made from layers of silk hankies with other silk fibres, silk rods and gold flower petals added for detail.   Unfortunately I wrapped it in cling film to bring home and when I unwrapped it, the cling film had stuck to the paper and wouldn't come off!  To try and save it, I put another silk hankie on the top which on the whole has worked okay.  I love the edges that the silk hankies give.

Not too sure what will happen with this so watch this space!

The second piece was created with silk tops in red and purple (definitely not my normal colour range!) with sequins added to finish.   I am going to make this in to some form of vessel, lining it with some dyed fabric and sewing it together with beads - again, watch this space.

 

 

Using the silk hankies again, I made another vessel.  I love the edges around the top of the vessel and again, I'm going to stitch in to this one and add some beads.

 



 

The final piece was made by weaving some stripped silk carrier rods with pieces of cocoon added.

 

Again this needs some stitching on it - add it to the list!

 

 

 

A very productive day all round leaving me with lots of stitching to do!





Christmas Cards

Christmas cards all made and ready for writing on!

I used the painting bondaweb/lutradur/foil/sequin method done at the Kim Thittichai workshop in October.

  

 

 

Better get them written on and posted now!

Finished work from Kim Thittichai workshop

As I mentioned last month, I attended a workshop with Kim Thittichai.   Some of the work I started at the workshop is now finished and are currently being exhibited at the Thread and Shutter exhibition at The Hawth in Crawley.

This first piece, Nightime, was created using painted bondaweb applied to coloured lutradur which was in turn cut with a soldering iron and reapplied to more painted lutradur.  Foil, sequins and gilding flakes were also applied at the first stage.

I added simple embroidery stitches using cotton threads.

 

 

 

Detail



The second piece, Skeletal Fragments, also started with painted bondaweb applied to lutradur together with sequins, gilding flakes and some skeletal leaves.   The lutradur was then "cut" using a heat gun.  I also cut strips of organza in the same way.  The strips were then layered and secured to felt using simple stitches.

Detail

Workshop with Kim Thittichai

Spent a wonderful day yesterday with Kim Thittichai  at a workshop organised by  Context.  We were creating "Hot New Jewelled Surfaces for Stitch" by painting bondaweb and Vilene Spunbond, combing the two, adding foils, glitter, sequins (basically anything that sparkled!) and then cutting it with a soldering iron and reassembling in to another surface.  On top of this we also zapped with a heat gun for create even more surfaces!

As I said "wonderful".  Any of you who have met Kim will know how creative she is but she is also very entertaining and it was delightful to spend a day with her.

Now for the end results:

 

 

This is coloured Spunbond with painted Bondaweb applied to it and then gilding flakes, square sequins and foil added to it.

 

 

 

 

This is some Hot Spots applied to some Spunbond and then foil applied.

 

This is painted bondaweb applied to some organza and then gilding flakes, threads and tiny sequins added.

The second part was to take two of the pieces, back them with Bondaweb and then cut shapes from them using a soldering iron.  I took the first two pieces and cut some strips with wiggly outlines and then applied them to some heavier Spunbond that we had painted earlier in the day.  I had also applied some painted Bondaweb to a piece of black cotton so added some of the cut Spunbond to this too.

 

I'll definitely be adding some stitching to this last piece! 

 

 

Another piece of organza was prepared in the same way as before but with some skelton leaves this time:

 

 

 

These pieces were them "cut" with a heat gun and reassembled together with some plain organza.

 

 

 

It's difficult to see the crunchiness of these pieces from the photos, but once again I will be stitching in to at least one of these.

 

 

Not only did I come away with pieces I can work on but also loads of inspiration and ideas for future pieces.  

 

Check out Kim's website for more details of her workshops and the lovely supplies she sells.  http://www.kimthittichai.com/index.html