Inspirational women - Beryl Taylor

This ATC was made for the theme of 'inspirational women'. I thought about who I found most inspirational in terms of my artwork, and decided Beryl Taylor's work always makes me feel like creating, and I love her style so much that I am happy to create similar work (as far as I am able).

Metal squares 'screen'

I was in a metal squares swap on UKArtSwaps yahoo group, where we swapped 2 inch metal squares, and part of the swap was that we also had to create an item on which to display our squares.

I decided to create a Beryl Taylor style accordion screen. Beryl's original screen was white, and was the subject of an article in issue 10 or 11 of Cloth Paper Scissors.


I decided that the colours of the metal squares would be best complemented with shades of violet and turquoise. I made a sheet of fabric paper by gluing paper napkins onto an old pillowcase, covering with tissue paper, and painting with watered down Golden fluid acrylic paints before the glue dried. I cut the fabric paper into 12 oblongs, and sewed buttons onto 6 of them, before backing them with felt.

I tore some hot press watercolour paper into oblongs, before colouring it with watered down colourwashes. I sewed these onto the fabric paper backed with felt.

I made some 'joints' by dyeing and sewing some of the pillowcase into 'sleeves' for the wood dowel. I coloured the dowels with Adirondack colourwash in Stream. I glued the 'sleeves' to the back of the felt, and backed with the fabric paper, before gluing the dowel in place.

Finally, I glued the metal squares onto the watercolour paper.


I'm really pleased with this as a way of displaying the squares.

Beryl Taylor style wall hanging

I've been making a Beryl Taylor style wall hanging this week. I made some fabric paper using paper napkins/serviettes, I think it's the nicest I've ever made, probably because there is less contrast in the images and colours than using random papers.

I took an old cotton pillowcase, and cut it into 4 pieces. I mixed equal amounts of PVA (white) glue and water together in a pot, and used an old paintbrush to paint the glue mix onto the fabric. I laid cut up napkins on top, leaving gaps between the pieces., and painted with more glue mix. A top layer of white tissue with more glue mix finished the structure, and before the glue dried I added a wash of 3 colours of watered down acrylic paint. I left it to dry overnight, and this is the finished product.


I cut a piece about 7 inches by 11 to use for the wall hanging, and started to use some of the rest of the sheet to make embellishments. Here are a couple of small pieces sewn onto felt, trimmed, and with buttons and beads added.


This heart is made the same way - sewn onto felt, trimmed, then embroidered and beaded.


I sewed the background onto a piece of felt, then added some painted diamonds, ribbons and hand dyed lace. I stamped onto the diamonds with gold paint, and sewed around the edges to make them stand out from the background.


I added another ribbon, and sewed square sequins and beads onto it to break the colour up. I sewed some of my little beaded and buttoned embellishment pieces on, and thought about what to put in the big space!


When I'd made some more embellishments, including one made from Paper Perfect, and sewn them on along with some silk flowers, the quilt was almost finished, but the vertical stripe of turquoise ribbon was too strong, so I broke it up by applying moulding paste through a heart stencil at regular intervals down the ribbon. Once dry, I finished them with Treasure Gold rub on wax. To finish the hanging off, I sewed deep pink organza ribbon around the edges, and backed the fabric with some mount board. The finished hanging looks like this:


This quilt took about 20 hours to make, but I enjoyed making it, and hope the long standing swapping friend who receives it like it too.

Beryl Taylor style wedding album

The young man who helps me at work is getting married. He and his wife-to-be have been planning the wedding for a long time and I know they both want it to be a really special day. I really appreciate all David's help, but I probably don't show or tell him that enough, so thought I'd make them an album as a wedding gift. They can choose whether to send the album around for their guests to write in during the wedding reception, or whether to use it as a photograph album.

I made the covers from mount board covered in felt, and fabric paper. The mount board is in one piece for the back cover, but the front cover consists of one piece about an inch wide and another which is the rest of the cover. Once covered with fabric, the joint between these two pieces will allow the front cover to be opened easily.

The fabric paper is simple to make - take a piece of woven cotton fabric, and glue pieces of printed tissue paper and thin gift wrap onto it, using watered down PVA glue (about half water, half glue). Leave small gaps between the papers so that the fabric isn't too stiff when it dries. Although I usually use random pieces of gift wrap and printed tissue, I chose both the colours and the images of the gift wrap quite carefully for this project - they are all birds, cupids, medieval patterns, romantic quotes, or abstract gold and white patterns. This way, whatever shows through after decorating the covers, will be appropriately romantic.

Next, cover the printed papers with strips of plain cheap white tissue, using the same glue mixture. It doesn't matter if they overlap, or crinkle, this will add to the overall texture. Before this layer dries, paint the whole piece with a wash of very diluted acrylic paint. I like to use Golden fluid acrylics, as they are so heavily pigmented that there is still quite a depth of colour even when diluted. I used a turquoise and a violet on the fabric paper. Leave paper to dry - I hung mine on a washing line and left it overnight.

I cut the covers to size, allowing an inch all around for finishing. I decided it needed a touch of glimmer, so gave it a wash of watered down Jaquard Lumiere paint in purple gold. Once dry, I used the sewing machine to add gold organza ribbon, and patterned satin ribbon which I had dyed lilac. I added some frilly turquoise ribbon down the side where the album hinges. I then sewed and glued the remaining elements onto the cover by hand. Each square sequin has a bead and 4 stitches holding it in place, the satin ribbon is decorated with seed beads, there are bugle beads forming vertical interest, a polymer clay key, a heart plaque made using water soluble paper to cast a stamp, punched paper hearts, stamped and embellished with small flowers, fabric flowers attached with gold brads, and the names of the happy couple stamped above and below the heart plaque. The areas where there is no added embellishment are where I have allowed background elements to be seen - there are two quotes - Love conquers all and My heart for ever more, and the birds on the nest in the centre.


The back cover is much plainer, I just added gold organza ribbon around the edge.


There are 15 pages inside the album. My scanner isn't showing the detail too well, but both sides of each page was washed with delicate pink and blue watercolour dyes, and the right hand edge was stamped with Colorbox lavender pigment ink. Finally, each page has part of a text called 'The Art of Marriage' stamped onto it.



The whole text reads:

The Art of Marriage

A good marriage must be created
In the marriage, the little things are the big things.
It is never being too old to hold hands.
It is remembering to say "I love you" at least once a day.
It is never going to sleep angry.
It is having a mutual sense of values and common objectives.
it is standing together and facing the world.
It is forming a circle of love that gathers in the whole family.
It i speaking words of appreciation and demonstrating gratitude in thoughtful ways.
It is having the capacity to forgive and forget.
It is giving each other an atmosphere in which each can grow.
It is a common search for good and the beautiful.
It is not only marrying the right person, it is being the right partner.

I wish David & Laura a long and happy marriage.

Beryl Taylor inspired art

I made this piece for a swap Sweetpea is running on CC Swaps. The swap requirement was that whatever we made had to be inspired by or in the style of Beryl Taylor. I love Beryl's work and have made several paper quilts in the style of her work. I decided to be a bit more ambitious and adventurous this time, and go for a fabric paper and embroidery project.

Fabric paper is a fabulous base for mixed media - and very simple to make (although it does take a long time to dry). You just take a piece of fabric - gauze or fine cotton - and paint it with watered down PVA white glue (the cheaper the better). Lay some scraps of tissue paper or thin gift wrap down onto the fabric and paint with more glue. Leave gaps between the scraps. Add torn strips of white tissue paper along with more glue, to cover the whole thing. While the glue is still wet, add a wash of watered down fluid acrylic paints in 2 or 3 colours. Leave to dry overnight.

I glued my fabric paper to a layer of felt, then cut nine 2 inch squares from the sheet. I machine stitched around the edges of each square, using gold thread. I stamped some medieval text onto the squares using Stewart Gill Metallica bright gold paint applied to the stamp with a colorbox sponge tool. I edged the squares with more paint. I took a square of mount board and covered it with velvet, then mounted my squares onto it with gel medium.



Having created a background, I needed to add the decorative focal point to the piece. I wanted this to stand out from the background, so applied a thin layer of white gesso over my fabric paper. I hand drew a design copied from a medieval tile from Strata Florida Abbey, the resting place of several Welsh Princes, and cut it out from the fabric paper. I layered it onto some deep blue-green fine netting, machine embroidered the centre, and the outer ring, then hand embroidered the cut out using gold thread, and added some beading. The photo below shows the piece with the gold thread work almost complete but not yet beaded.


I cut small diamonds from fabric paper and painted them with a coat of transparent iron oxide, then added them to the circle around the design, with a bead in the centre of each. Finally, I mounted the circular piece onto the squares background. The background squares are much more vivid than the picture shows, and I'm really pleased with the finished piece.


I hope Sweetpea likes it too!

Birthday present for Jacqui

I thought I'd make something in the style of Beryl Taylor for Jacqui's birthday, as I know Jacqui loves Beryl's work. I've made paper quilts in this style before, but I thought I'd stretch myself a bit by moving out of my colour comfort zone and have a try at using pastels in the way that Beryl does. Beryl's colours always look so pretty, and I don't do pretty that well!

I used good quality watercolour paper - Fabriano Artistico Aquarello hot press. I cut and tore the paper, then brushed it with water before spraying with 3 colours of Sticky Fingers colour wash sprays - lilac, aqua, and pink. The water helps the colours blend where they meet.

I gave the main background area a very thin coat of watered down gesso, as I thought it was a bit bright. This was nearly a disaster as of course, the base layer of colour is water based, and adding thin gesso was not a good plan as it started to lift the original colour! I dried it as quickly as I could before all the colour disappeared. Once dry, I stamped down each side using Stewart Gill paint and a grungy Fleur-de-Lys stamp.

I cut a piece of the original darker coloured paper to go across the top, then punched flower shapes out of it. I attached the top strip with brads, adding a layer of organza to soften it. I punched some tags and inchie squares from the darker paper, and embossed them in cuttlebug folders, along with a piece for the bottom. I used the flowers I'd punched from the top piece to decorate the tags and added these plus a couple more flowers to the right hand side, using brads. I sewed the squares down the left hand side, adding square sequins and blue beads.


For the main central panel, I coated some of the paper with gesso and added Stewart Gill Fresco Flakes. The white flakes looked a bit stark, so I gave them a coat of watered down aqua colourwash, then sealed the flakes and colour with soft matte gel medium. I made a frame using water soluble paper and a rubber stamp, then painted it with pink paint, and added Treasure Gold in Aqua and Whitefire. I stuck the frame onto a slightly distressed image transfer (made using water and an inkjet print in the Wizard), and added these to the Fresco Flake background. I sewed some buttons top and bottom, adding 3 gold beads to each.


For a final touch, I stamped and decorated some tags, and added them all to the bottom of the quilt, using two eyelets.

I am not sure this quilt is finished yet, I think it may need a thin ribbon down the side and possibly a horizontal element or two on the Fresco Flake background. I'll leave it for a day or so to make up my mind. Please feel free to make suggestions using the comments box!

I did add a few small gold sequins here and there, just to make it look a little more 'finished'. Sorry the picture is a little fuzzy. See if you can spot the difference!

Queen of the extreme

I made a gift for a friend who set the theme as 'queenly'. So, here is the 'queen of the extreme' paper quilt, which will be whizzing round the world as soon as I can work out how to package it safely (thinking it might be packed with foamboard as a lightweight stiffener).

The paper was torn and sprayed with several purple colorwash sprays, and I added gold embossing powder down the torn edges. Some paper was cut into fancy shapes and run through the Wizard in cuttlebug folders, and applied some Treasure Gold to highlight the pattern, and some self adhesive gems before adding these pieces to the very top and bottom of the quilt.


I ironed some fantasy film onto dark cardstock, then cut that into squares and ran those through the Wizard in the cuttlebug folder, and highlighted the pattern with Treasure Gold. I mounted those onto larger plain squares with buttons, and added them to the top and bottom, layered over some purple organza ribbon. I added some punched flowers between the squares.

I sprayed some small tags, and added brads and embellishments, then layered those over some chiffon down the right hand side, with punched flowers in between.

The main image is a transfer onto fabric, and the 'frame' is lutradur, with puff paint stamping, sprayed with colorwashes, and foiled on the high points, before small holes being amde with a fine soldering iron. the little crowns are brass charms, the larger crown is german scrap.

Paper Quilt tutorial

I have been asked to do a step by step tutorial for the paper quilts I have been making. These quilts are inspired by Beryl Taylor, and I would recommend her book - Mixed Media Embellishments - to anyone. Her work is much more detailed (and beautiful) than mine, and involves sewing, fabric, and more complicated techniques. I have simplified what Beryl does and translated it from mixed media to paper.


This is my favourite paper for making paper quilts with - it is smooth, heavy, and feels lovely. It also takes inks and paints beautifully, and holds up well to the quilt making process.



Unfortunately, I had run out of my favourite paper and didn't want to wait for mail order, so went looking for a substitute. this is what I found- it is the same weight, but not nearly as smooth, and doesn't take ink, colourwash sprays, or paint quite as well. It did hold up to the process, but it isn't as flexible as my favourite paper....

When I start to make a paper quilt, the first thing I do is decide on the colour. This particular paper quilt is going to be white - an unusual choice for me, as I love vivid colours. I don;t think I can cope with white without any contrasting colour, but I want this quilt to have a 'pure' quality which it would lose if I added a colour, so I have chosen to add touches of gold, which provides contrast and adds to the slightly 'holy' feel I am looking for - gold and white reminds me of churches...

Once I have decided on the colour scheme, I go through my supplies looking for all the bits and pieces I might be able to use. I am trying to use up scraps on these quilts, and long lost and forgotten embellishments, rather than buying anything new. I always end up with a large collection of possibilities, of which I will only use a little. Just getting it all out and looking at it always gets me thinking about how the quilt will look. Here are the things I spread on the table this time....

Brads & eyelets - if I had not almost run out of small round gold brads there would have been more of them on the finished quilt, but I only had 3!!!


Fabric flowers, beads and shells. At this point, I thought I would use the shells, but in the event, I didn't.

Some white picket fence (bought in the US in 2007), some fabrics, some white gauze, some handmade gauze 'paper', and some see through tissue type stuff with gold flecks in it.


A selection of buttons, punches, embossing powder, tags, grungeboard and a wooden stamp.


Some gold thread, pearl trim & ribbon.


A selection of ribbons, lace & trimmings, and some white sticky backed paper ribbon.


Some rubber stamps. I had begun to think I might want a 'harlequin' element in this quilt, so restricted myself to harlequins and some little tiles.


Some air dry clay embellishments and some little white satin flowers and butterflies.


So, I looked at all the supplies and contemplated things. And then I tore 2 sheets of paper out of the pad, and tore them up. I made a wide piece and a narrow piece. I tore very carefully and made sure the torn edges were showing on top of each piece.


I decided I wanted a fancy bottom to this quilt, so measured, drew, and cut a piece of paper the same width as the main section, with pointed scallops at the base.


I cut another piece of paper the same width as the quilt and tore the bottom edge, before running it through the Wizard in a harlequin cuttlebug folder (top left in the picture below). I cut 3 x 2 inch squares and ran those through the Wizard in the same folder (middle left) and finally ran my pointy scalloped edge piece through the Wizard in the tapestry/baroque cuttlebug folder (bottom left). I painted all my base and cut papers with white gesso, as I wanted a chalky finish to the quilt. I also chose two Paper Perfect castings from yesterday's marathon casting session, and painted them with white gesso (right hand side of picture).



I used a Versamark pen to go down the edges of my main and edge pieces, and gold embossed them, then stuck them together with double sided tape.


I gold embossed the torn edge of the top piece and the scalloped edge of the bottom piece, then stuck them to the quilt using double sided tape. I then added a touch of White Fire Treasure Gold to the raised areas of the embossing.


Now I started having fun. I tried various layouts, using the things I'd chosen from my stash. Sometimes this stage takes me quite a long time, sometimes it is quite quick. I never get an idea for the finished article from this, just a basic plan, a kind of framework or template for where I want the main elements to be. I work on the detail later in the process, once I have the framework sorted out. Here are a couple of layouts, which are very different from how the quilt turned out.


From the 2 layouts above, the only thing I really liked was the pearl trim covering the joint, and the elements I thought would go into the final quilt were the little squares at the top of layout 1, the shrine, and the buttons.

I looked at my punches and decided the quilt needed some little flowers, so I punched some out of gold vellum and also out of some baking paper which had caught some gold colourwash overspray.



I added the flowers to the sides of the quilt. If there is something I'd change about this quilt, it's the order in which I did some things - I should have added these flowers right at the end, as all the handling of the piece while I worked on it left these flowers less than perfect!


Then I decided the quilt needed some larger gold paper flowers and white beads at the bottom, and some buttons and gold beads at the top. I have some very fine gold coloured wire (from Rioja wine bottles!) which I used to attach these embellishments, but you could easily sew them on if you wanted. One thing I do is measure very carefully where I place things, and I make the holes in the paper with an awl before starting to attach anything - it makes the sewing or wire threading much easier.

Next, I decided to develop the little squares into slightly more attractive embellishments. Sorry the picture is so fuzzy, my Xmas present camera and I are still making friends. I took a square of the paper which had been run through the harlequin cuttlebug folder, painted with gesso and highlighted with Treasure Gold, a square of some sheer ribbon with a gold design painted onto it, a flower punched from pearlised card, and a small white brad. I punched a hole in the square, and used the brad to attach everything to the square and also to attach the embellishment to the quilt.

I took some more of the sheer and gold ribbon and cut it into strips about 1/4 inch deep and the width of the quilt. I laid one strip just above the pearl trim, and sewed some beads and sequins onto it, which also held it to the paper. The gaps between the sequins looked too bare, so I punched some little flowers from white paper and stuck those on top. Then I added the square embellishments.

I decided that my focal point was going to be a shrine. I had made the Paper Perfect cast using a shrine stamp, and painted it with white gesso, and highlighted with Treasure Gold. I found the perfect image on a Christmas card - an old painting of a mother & children. I gave it a coat of soft gel medium, then a second coat, at 90 degrees to the first. When it dries, you can see the brush marks, and it looks like canvas. If you gently rub Treasure Gold over it, the wax catches the high points. You can still see the image, but if you angle ti in the light, it all looks golden. It's hard to catch on photographs, but you'll get the general idea from the 2 pictures below.



Then I had another play with layouts, and liked the layout below enough to attach everything permanently.


When I was done, it still needed something, so I found a couple of german scrap shooting stars and added those. Here is the finished quilt.


It will be going to its new home in March. I hope the recipient likes it!!!

Paper quilt for Chrissy

It was Chrissy's birthday in early December. I started making this a few days beforehand in the vague belief that I could at least get it posted by her birthday. And then I was finding it all took more time and thought than I'd anticipated, and Christmas preparations began to intrude. And sometimes I just sat there and looked at it for a while and couldn't see what I should do next.

But finally, I finished it this morning. And I am really pleased with it. I think this is harder to let go of than Maggi's was. So, why don't I make one for myself? Somehow, half the satisfaction is the fact that it is a gift I am making, and I don't know if I could ever finish one for myself, or whether I would be as exacting - I suspect
some 'that will do' might creep in!

Maybe making one of these for me should be my New Year's Resolution....



This is all made from heavy weight watercolour paper, some cut into pieces and some torn, then sprayed with various metallic colourwashes - a combination of Radiant Rain and those from Outside the Margins. I used about half of the papers I sprayed. I never know what shape these quilts will be until I see the papers together - Maggi's was about A4, this one is about 7 inches wide by about15 inches tall.



Some detail of the top section. As you can see, some of the papers were put through Cuttlebug folders in my Wizard after spraying. The fibre down the left was sent to me in a bag of fibres -I wish I could remember where from because it is lovely - 'raw' space dyed fleece threaded through one of the new 'ladder type' synthetic yarns - and I would love some more of it because this was about 3/4 of what I had, but the colours and texture were perfect for this piece.

The small tags on the left were punched from a handmade background (thanks, Trish!), attached with brads, and the little starry things were coloured using alcohol inks, then attached to the tags with different coloured brads. The gold skeleton leaf has a coating of Jo Sonya gold dust, giving it sparkle. The flowers were two layers punched from black/gold pearlescent card, curled using a ball tool, and attached using brads. The elements down the right hand side of the piece are small flowers punched from the same handmade background paper, with small pieces of dark copper organza behind them, again attached with brads. A quick zap with a heat gun curled the organza up into interesting little cup shapes.


The squares above and below the main image are gold plastic sequins - Guterman - attached with gold thread through organza ribbon, with a pearlised cream bead holding the whole thing together. The image is cut from an old calendar page with beautiful images painted by Helena Nelson-Reed. I painted over it with soft gel medium, immediately gave it a second coat at 90 degrees - this gives the effect of it being woven fabric - then added a little more gel at the corners and stamped into it. A very light touching of Treasure Gold wax over the whole thing picks up the high points and gives a lovely effect (thanks for discovering and sharing that, Karen!). the image was mounted onto dark red card, then given a 'frame' of gold embossing powder. Both edges of the side pieces were also edged with gold embossing powder.


The bottom section has 3 squares of the same handmade background, overstamped in Galaxy Gold Brilliance ink, attached with gold thread, with shell buttons sewn on top, the hands are made from air dry clay in Krafty Lady moulds (in Zeb's studio in October '07), painted gold with acrylic paint and then coloured with Treasure Gold Onyxite. Not that I hoard things in my stash, you understand, I just keep things until i find the perfect use for them. Sometimes a long time after I acquire them.

I really enjoyed making this piece, even though it sat on my table for 5 weeks, and I hope Chrissy likes it too.