Collage with lace

I have been playing quite a bit with lace collages of late.   It is very satifying to put the peices down and move them around until  find a composition that satifies me.

I have been trying to declutter and finding all those little lovelies that I thought would be good for something - that something is collage of course and now I am in the mood they have been wonderful to find and revisit.   Sadly the decluttering is not progressing all that well.   I have moved bits and pieces out of my work space and they are now in the lounge - lounging across a couch and its arms whilst I work on a few pieces at the same time.

After a look at the ribbon work catalogue in the Antique patter library and have been inspired to experiment with ribbon flowers,  Now I have graduated to using those men's ties I have been collecting for some time.  I had been wanting to something with a clay face I made some time ago and had been thinking of something Elizabethan in style.  Now I have changed my mind and think that ribbon and fabric flowers will do the trick - along with some embroidery and stamping on the background.

Another Pear

Been struggling to pick a needle of late.  Been busy with other ventures.  I spent 4 days at the Stitches & Craft Show at the Paverpol exhibtion stand and helping out with workshops.  Had a great time meeting lots of like minded makers and people interested in craft generally.  It was a bit of a culture shock being on the other side table but had a great (if exhausting time).   Got to hand out flyers for my workshops too.

Yesterday I spent the day at Marrickville Market as a stall holder - well part of the day.  It thundered, lightening and poured and I packed up and left at 1:30.  The stall haolder next to me said they had been coming for 2 years and it was the first time they had to leave early.  

Anyway - it was a beautiful autumn morning and I got to chat to folk, make a few toadstools and a little lady and listen to reggae.  Can't ask for much more pleasant morning really.

On the stitching side of things, it seems to me the more I should do something (in this case start my part of a joint work for Stitchers Plus group in the upcoming Guild exhibition later this year) the more I procrastinate.  Have done a bit of  crochet and watched quite a few DVD's.  Watched The Artist  a little while ago - an absolute non stitching movie - black and white, no words and a few speech bubbles.  It was good but long - not sure I would have made it through the entire film at the cinema without a few serious wiggles.

Last night I still hadn't prepared any sewing and was not up to crochet so I finally picked up a pencil and drew ... some more pears :-)

GARDEN ART WORKSHOPS STARTING IN INNER WEST SYDNEY

This is Bess - my bronze girl who quiertly watches over the birds in my garden.  I thought I would share this photo with you before telling you my exciting news.

I am starting workshops to encourage you all to make garden statues like Bess.   No special skills are required.  Just a can do attitude and a willingness to have fun :-).  

I have put workshop details below and on the Goddess & Diva page and will be promoting the class at the Stitches & Craft Show in Rosehill - 6/2/14 to 10/2/14,

Workshops are being offered on 2nd and 4th Tuesday and 2nd Saturday of each month.  I have saved the 4th Saturday for a play day where we can play and experiment with small projects that can be completed in a few hours.

I can be contacted donna@watw.com.au or 0407 820 416.  Looking forward to you joining me.

Donna

Workshop  venue:

Dean Callaghan McCarthy Hall

St Patrick's Catholic Church

Gale Street, Mortlake 2137

Workshop schedule - March and April 2014

Tuesday 11 March	SEATED LADY  Sculpture approx. 60cm tall. Seated on a wooden post Completed in a 5 hour class.	Class fee - $135.00
Saturday 22 March	PLAY DAY Play, experiment and have fun in the company of liked minded souls – small project ideas can be completed in a few hours	Play day fee - $10 per hour (min 2 hours) plus materials
Tuesday 25 March	NOMAD Sculpture approx. 60cm tall. Completed in a 5 hour class Options are available for 90 cm tall sculpture or duo – allow approximately extra 90 minutes	Class fee - $135.00
Tuesday 8 April	MOTHER & CHILD Sculpture approx. 60cm tall. Seated or standing options Completed in a 5 hour class	Class fee - $135.00
Saturday 12 April	ELEGANT LADY Sculpture approx. 60cm tall. Completed in a 5 hour class Options are available for 90 cm tall sculpture	Class fee - $135.00
Tuesday 22 April	NOMAD Sculpture approx. 60cm tall. Completed in a 5 hour class Options are available for 90 cm tall sculpture or duo – allow approximately extra 90 minutes	Class fee - $135.00
Saturday 25 April	PLAY DAY Play, experiment and have fun in the company of liked minded souls – small project ideas can be completed in a few hours	Play day fee - $10 per hour (min 2 hours) plus materials

Toadstools in the Garden

“A toad stool is an inedible or poisonous fungus with an umbrella-shaped fruiting body”.

So says the free dictionary I looked up on my web browser.  But that is not the case!  Toad stools can have no stem, no apparent cap or be misshapen.   Colours and size can vary too.

These toadstools are not poisonous and are definitely inedible.  They are also a little on the tall skinny side. I gave them to my partner in life to celebrate our 35^th wedding anniversary. 

A perfect quirky gift of toadstools arranged in a bouquet and subsequently transplanted to the garden – in a literal sense for they are made of weatherproofed fabric with a stem from a sacred bamboo bush.

I.

Woodland Imp

Wire armature of my Woodland Imp

I was trying to put a couple of mediums together to create a female form.   I made a wire armature, covered it and then made a head and face with air dry clay and some beads for eyes.   I think its a fact that some people are gifted and/or skilled in working small to miniature.  I'm not one of them!  Note to self - work bigger! The face came out decidedly masculine.

I put it aside for a while and picked it up the other day and decided to just play a bit.  I used what was close to hand and wrapped  the arms and legs with overdyed thread, used a little paverpol and acrylic lace and created a vest.

The loin cloth is a scrap of silk gauze I purchased ages ago from a very small boutique dress shop that had a hand written sign saying "Quilters will be surprised".  I went in to discover offcuts of delicious bits of silk - this is the last remaining scrap.

The hair is more like a turban and made from flower thread.  The best use I can find for it as it is very fine and not what I like to stitch with as a rule.  The bit of wood I picked up at the beach at Cabarita Park. (He is nailed to it if you were wondering).  I often find lovely bits of worn wood that has been tossed around the Parramatta River for quite a while and of course I always come home with some shells.

This little guy is definitely not my best work  and I see heaps of faults in it but, despite all of that, it has a charm that comes from being created by hand.  And I have had the satisfaction of using those bits and pieces that I had been hanging onto for way too long.  A sort of destash in reverse - I have used my materials but now I need a place for the end result!   Cheers

Green Man & New Pages to Cloth Garden

green man

I have been quietly playing with fabric sculptures for some time now and not put much up on Cloth Garden about it.   I have now made two new pages - one which has a collection of photos of fabric sculptures and the other foreshadowing classes to be offered in March 2014.

In the interim I have uploaded some photos of my Green Man in progress here.   The face is made from Apoxie Sculpt and done under the tutalage of Lex Sorrintino.

I hadn't done any sculpting with Apoxie Scupt before and Lex was very generous in her time and instruction.   If you ever get the chance to visit her studio in Canberra I highly recommend it.  She runs both formal classes and a drop in at her studio - you could work in a visit on a Saturday and go to the National Gallery or similiar on Sunday morning before heading back to where ever home is :-).

The 'arms' are a wire armature and covered with Paverpol dipped fabric.  The leaves are actually florists wire with a very light fabric hardened with Paverpol.

Taped wire before wrapping in fabric

 This the wire I use  - the samller roll is galvanise steel and is rather hard to bend with my fingers and I use pliers .   The other wire is made from aluminium and is very soft  and easy to overwork if I am not careful.

After creating the wire armature I wrapped it in alfoil to give it some bulk.  Then I taped it.  After it was taped I wrapped it in the fabric strips whoich had been dipped in coloured Pavorpol and left it to dry.  While it was drying I shaped the leaves out of florists wire and added the leaf with more fabric.

It was all very satisfying to do as a project and I am sure I have a couple more Green Man lurking in my imagination.    They are a very medieval thing and I am looking forward to creating some more as well as some gargoyle type creatures out of paverpol and clay at some stage in the future.

Green Man  completed and hanging on my garden fence

Books for Christmas

The family was kind to me this Christmas and gave me a few craft related books.  The photo is from a Batik Design Book given to me by my son – it came with a CD of printable images.

I also received two books on doll making – one was crochet dolls and the other more a contemporary mixed media number.  Having poured over the book I have made one crochet doll so far.   My daughter gave me a heap of buttons which I have played with but reached no decision about which ones to sew on : I think I need to make more little dolls J. They will make great broaches.