A great four days running mini workshops in collage and stitch at the Brisbane Stitches and Craft Show. Using our hand dyed and printed fabrics as a base, we created cords, motifs, thread skeins and paper prints for exercises in design, colour, contrast and scale - sharing laughter and creative fun! Thanks everyone!
Discovered this fungus / lichen at the base of some old stumps we are digging out. Now brewing in a sunny spot of the studio for a few weeks, along with another jar of avocado skins - for thread dyeing to be used on my soul stitch project.
Glorious sunshine and a perfect day to use sun dyes. Today is basic - wet cloth, paint like there's no one watching with a foam brush in each hand and musical accompaniment of your choosing. Scatter found objects over the wet surface. Wait until the cloth is dry then remove objects - heat set and wash as per instructions.
Getting into the rythm of printmaking - a quick exercise is to get out the student acrylics and the gel or glass plate and play on a roll of brown paper. Several metres later and there are heaps of ideas popping around - crumple and recrumple to change the structure of the paper, fuse to a felt background and stitch, cut out pieces at random and applique or fuse to other pieces, cut into strips then weave before fusing to another background and stitch. Overprint. If you dont like a section - overprint with another design. If nothing else, unique wrapping paper for 2016.
Fabric trimmings make great cord - roll one length as tight as possible without it buckling and hand to a trusty assistant to hold while a second piece is similarly rolled. Place the two pieces together, ends together and without either piece unravelling, before rolling them together in the opposite direction. Roll tightly then let the newly made cord relax. Knot each end. Uses include: couching and adding texture, creating shapes such as spirals, use zigzag stitch to couch rows of cord to a background and frame / mount on a canvas, edge pages of a stitched journal, join to make length suitable for crochet or knotted shapes .... endless possibilities for repurposing what would have otherwise been rubbish. Short pieces? Tie together to make lengths suitable for rolling. Organic. Simple. Beautiful.
