Ancient stash tags

I made 3 tags for a swap.  

The swap rules were that 'ancient stash' (anything you've had and not used for more than a year) had to be used to make the tags.

I dug out my Modern Options patinating solutions. I wasn't even sure if they would still work, I haven't used them for a couple of years.  I painted one tag with the 'blackened bronze' base, another with the 'blonde bronze' base, and the third with the 'iron' base. I also painted some card offcuts with the copper base.

I painted the bronze and copper bases with the green patina liquid while they were still tacky, and left the iron base to dry overnight before painting it with the rust liquid.

The results were a little patchy - but they often are if you don't get the timings right - so I gave the rusty one another coat, and redid the blackened bronze and green patina one.

Once dry, I ran each tag through the Wizard in two different embossing folders, and highlighted the raised areas with Brilliance ink

I stamped and embossed architectural images down the centre of each patinated offcut of card, and attached these to the tags with brads. I wrapped some metallic thread around the non-embossed 'stripe' I'd left on each tag, and added some air-dry clay embellishments I had made a couple of years ago. I added a touch of Treasure Gold to the embellishments, in colours which toned with the tags. Finally, I threaded and knotted a selection of fibres to the tags to finish them off.

I'd forgotten how lovely the patina solutions make cardboard, I should probably go and paint lots of pieces of card for my stash, to use these liquids up before they lose their potency.

Hope the recipient likes the tags as much as I do, these were a little hard to let go!

Fabric ATCs

I made these for the small international ATC swaps group I belong to.  

September's theme was 'woven', and this is my interpretation.

I used Ranger Adirondack color wash sprays to dye pelmet vilene, before cutting it up and weaving it together. I hand embroidered a 'darned/woven' area, and added small pieces of pelmet vilene with the words stamped on them.  To finish, I cut two circles of card and used a brad to attach them.

October's theme was 'fabric & fibres' and this is my interpretation.

I needlefelted scrim to a wool fabric base, then needlefelted some wool rovings to the back to bring subtle colour through to the front. I couched down some knitting yarn with Perle thread, and added a line of stitches in fine gold metallic thread.  I used toning and contrasting threads for the french knots and seed stitches, before  finishing the ATCs by backing them onto pelmet vilene with machine zigzag.

Another great Celyn Textiles class

I have really enjoyed myself yesterday evening and all day today, learning how to dye fabric, transfer designs onto fabric panels, use perle thread in the bottom of my sewing machine, and sew organza onto wood.  And one day I may even finish my wall hanging!

The class, taught by Sheila, was called 'Twisted', and this is the sample Sheila brought to show us.  The corduroy fabric used for the base, and the scrim embellished to it were hand dyed using procion dyes.

We soaked our fabrics in a mixture of water, baking soda and ash, wrung them dry, then squirted the fabric with various colours of dye (made from procion dye powder mixed with urea).  The fabrics dried overnight, and then we started working on them.  The image below is the back of my panel, and I drew the design for my panel on the back with an ordinary rollerball pen.  I forgot that the design would come out like a mirror image on the front, I wish I'd remembered to reverse it when I drew it!

We then cut the dyed gauze/scrim into pieces, made holes in it, distorted it and generally made it shabby before using the embellishing machine to adhere it to the corduroy.

Once the scrim was in place, we 'drew' our designs with machine stitching.

The next step will be to fill in all the motifs with machine embroidery, but I had forgotten to take my free motion embroidery foot with me so I had to skip that step!

Sheila had the fantastic idea of using florist 'canes' (balsa wood?) as a 'frame' for leaves and shapes made from organza.  

I had a great time in the class, and hope to finish this panel - I'll post a pic when I do.  Meanwhile, the other class members were generous enough to let me take pictures of their half finished pieces to share here, so you can see the variety of pieces which will spring from this class. Don't forget that you can enlarge an image by clicking on it.

Lovely birdie, beautiful colours....

Fabulous colour contrast...

Autumnal rusty shades and beautifully embroidered flowers....

A fishy business...

Variegated threads....

And fabulous free motion work with gold thread.....

Great class with a great bunch of women - and I'm looking forward to the next class in January!