Etching metal

I've been etching some metal blanks. I learned to do this in a class I took with Jane Wynn in the US in October 2007, and it is really easy to do, but I didn't find the supplies here in the UK until recently. All you need is metal blanks or charms - brass or copper, some PCB (printed circuit board) etching solution, also known as ferric chloride solution, some Stazon ink, a rubber stamp, a heat gun, some Bicarbonate of Soda/Baking Soda and a small shallow flat bottomed glass or plastic dish. Oh, and tweezers and a bowl of water. And maybe some patina solution, or acrylic paint in a darkish turquoise.

I bought some metal blanks from Fred Aldous, but Beaducation sell them in the US. I prefer the look of etched brass, but could only find copper blanks here in the UK. There are bound to be other places that sell these in both countries, but those are the places I found. You could of course cut your own shapes from sheet metal, you need 18 gauge if possible.

Once you have your metal blanks or shapes, stamp your design on them with Stazon, and heat set. You can stamp on one side, or both. If you only stamp on one side, coat the other side with Stazon, or some sticky tape. This is what my metal blanks looked like after stamping:



Pour about 1/4 inch of the PCB etching solution into your dish, and drop the metal in. Swish it around a little, then leave it in there for ages, checking every couple of hours. It could take anywhere between 2 and 8 hours for you to get the depth of etching you want. I usually find 4 hours is enough. Agitation helps, so give it a swish around every time you pass by. The Stazon acts as a resist, the etching fluid only attacke the areas which aren't stamped. This is what my metal blanks looked like after 4 hours:



When you think they are done, use the tweezers to remove the metal from the etching solution. Dry them on some kitchen towel, then drop in water. Make sure you rinse thoroughly, also rinse your tweezers. Dump a couple of teaspoons of baking soda into the etching solution in your container. It will bubble up and froth, but this neutralises the etching solution to a great extent. Wait till it's done, then scrape the mess onto an old newspaper, wrap and put in the bin. Don't dump it down a drain, it's poisinous. It's worth checking if your local council has specialist disposal solutions for ferric chloride.

Rinse your container out with plenty of water. Now, you can coat your etched metal in patina solution, and leave it to patinate and dry overnight, or if you are impatient, like me, you can give them a thin coat of deep turquoise acrylic paint, wait for it to dry, and then use a sanding block to remove the Stazon, showing the shiny metal. The acrylic paint will have coloured the etched metal, looking like patina. See below, don't forget that you can click on the images to enlarge them.


It took all day to make these, but the actual time you spend actually doing anything is about 5 minutes!

Here's another picture which shows some of the stages -
the charm on the left is etched and sanded but not patinated. The second from left is etched and patinated with Modern Options patina solution, then sanded. The third from the left shows what happens if you stamp and etch both sides of the metal and leave it in the etching solution too long! The one at the right is just as it came out of the etching solution - I haven't coloured the etched metal or sanded the Stazon off yet.

Lutradur book

I decided to use lutradur to create a quick folded book.I also had an uncharacteristic romantic moment!

I painted some lutradur with crimson fluid acrylic paint. Once dry, I stamped all over it with white gesso, and left that to dry. I then gave a coat of nickel azo yellow fluid acrylic to tone it down a little and blend the stamped gesso into the background. I folded the lutradur in half lengthways, then in half, then folded the halves back on themselves. I slit the lutradur down the between the middle two sets of 'pages'. That's probably as clear as mud but you can work it out from the picture below!


I painted some Crafty Individuals images with matte gel medium to dull down the shine and give a kind of 'canvas' effect, then glued them onto the lutradur with more gel medium. I took some more lutradur, printed it with the same colours, then laid it onto a ceramic tile and used a versamark tool with soldering tip to 'cut' it into strips with wiggly edges. I sewed these strips around the pictures to make 'frames'. After gluing a few heart shaped sequins on, and punching two holes and threading fibres through to hold the book together, I just glued the pages together for a bit of strength. Voila, a quick folded book!





For the cover, I made a cupid using air dry clay and a mould. I painted it with white gesso, then the same crimson paint I'd used on the lutradur. Once dry, I rubbed it all over with Treasure Gold in 'ruby' and just touched the high points with Treasure Gold in 'whitefire'.


I hope Claudia likes it!

I am playing with Lutradur

No pictures yet, but I can tell you that colouring Lutradur with watered down Golden fluid acrylics works very well. Adding a second colour after the first has dried adds depth.

Stamping with gesso after colouring looks lovely. I'll post pics and a 'how to' for my project when it's finished!

Bookmark

I am in a bookmark swap and have been pondering about how to make the bookmark - too many choices - paper, fabric, pelmet vilene, grungepaper, fabric paper....

Eventually I decided to try making some fabric paper using Pattie's method. Pattie starts with a layer of organza fabric, which will become the top layer once the fabric paper's made. I then used pva glue and water (50/50) to stick my scraps of printed tissue down, with the images facing downwards, then layered crumpled tissue paper all over the top, added more glue, then painted with watered down Lumieres and Golden fluid acrylic paints. The finished paper was much thinner and more delicate than the fabric paper I've made before, and the organza layer makes it a little shimmery. On the whole, I prefer the fabric paper I usually make, but there are occasions when this will be more suitable for projects, so I'm glad I tried it out.


You can enlarge the image by clicking on it.

I layered two pieces of fabric paper with felt, and machine stitched the edges. I added Stewart Gill paint to a wooden paisley fabric stamp using a colorbox sponge tool, then printed the fabric on both sides. The pale gold colour makes it look very luxurious. I machine stitched some sari ribbon down the middle of the front, and hand sewed two Prima flowers on, using sequins and seed beads to hold them in place. Finally, I hand sewed some sheer gold striped ribbon down the back to cover the stitching from sewing the ribbon down the front!

I hope my swap partner likes it.

Friendly Plastic wall art

I signed up for a Friendly Plastic swap on CCSwaps. I decided to create a piece of wall art, so began with a 6 inch square stretched canvas. I drew some curvy lines in pencil, and painted dots of Xpandaprint between the lines (see left of pic below) then heated it with my heat gun to make it bubble up. I painted fine garnet gel around the Xpandaprint, and between the lines (see right of picture below).


Next, I painted the areas between the fine garnet gel and the canvas edges with coarse garnet gel.


I used a palette knife to add some gold mica flakes to the inner edges of the curvy lines.


When the garnet gels and mica flakes had dried, I filled the space between with clear granular gel (below).


I add some clear tar gel to the edges of some areas, then painted the fine garnet gel with Golden iridescent bronze fluid acrylic, and the coarse garnet gel with Golden fine iridescent gold. These colours will not show in the final piece, but they will add a sort of glow to the final colour.


Once the clear granular gel was dry, I added more dribbles of clear tar gel, and when that dried, I painted the whole piece with watered down Golden raw umber fluid acrylic paint. I then took some of the paint off with a damp paintbrush.


Once the canvas was dry, I added some aqua Treasure Gold to the clear tar gel and the central texture panel. It is a little brighter than the picture below shows, there is more contrast between the aqua and the background colour.


Finally, I dusted a Krafty Lady lizard mould with PearlEx, and made a lizards by melting gold coloured Friendly Plastic pieces into the mould. I pressed the melted plastic into the mould firmly with wet fingers (don't try it with dry fingers, it will stick to you and burn!) and kept wetting my fingers and pressing the plastic into the mould until I was happy that all the detail would be visible on the moulded piece. I dropped the mould and Friendly Plastic into the water, left it for a few moments, then unmoulded it under the water. I made a second lizard and toned the colour of the lizards down a little with aqua Treasure Gold.

Finally, I adhered the lizards to the canvas with gel medium. I hope Trish likes it!

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.

Woo Hoo

I entered the After Midnight art clock challenge and came second! Doing the happy dance....

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!

Canvases

I've been playing with texture on canvas. I've learnt that working on two at a time is a good thing - while you are working on one, the other is drying and vice versa.

I added texture using a range of Golden products - coarse & fine garnet gel, light moulding paste, clear granular gel, pumice gel, fibre gel medium and clear tar gel dribbled on last - that's what makes the raised 'veins' you can see on both canvases. I am learning that as well as adding texture, each of these products takes the paint slightly differently, adding to the textured effects.


Once the canvases have all the textures added, and all the products have dried (several hours, leaving them overnight is easiest for impatient artists!), I added 2 thin coats of raw umber fluid acrylic paint. For the canvas above, I then added interference oxide violet and interference oxide green fluid acrylics. For the one below, I just dabbed a little bronze here and there. The final touch for the backgrounds was to add a little Treasure Gold to the high points - I used Amethyst on the canvas above, and Onyxite and Classic Gold on the one below.


The images on these canvases are made of Friendly Plastic - the top one was made using scraps in a mould I made from a milagro ornament, then given a rub of Treasure Gold Amethyst and highlighted with Classic Gold. The bottom canvas has a 'shrine' made from Perfect Paper and a rubber stamp, coloured in the same way as the background, with an art nouveau head made in a mould, coloured the same way as the background.

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!

Last meander

Well, my meander pages are at an end. This has been a really fun project, which made me get my scary sewing machine out and USE it in my art. I still need to try free motion embroidery (which is what I wanted a new sewing machine for 18 months ago LOL) but at least I have dabbled a little by sewing images onto pages, and edging them with a variety of stitches.

Having said that, this page, the last one, doesn't have any sewing on it at all! Jessie sent a lovely textured page in browns and purples, and set her theme as 'vixens'. I thought the other players would probably go for vampish images, and when I looked at what I had I was a little torn between an angry looking vamp and a topless child who was clearly a vixen in training! I decided on the angry vamp, as she had something about her which really appealed to me.

I went for a really simple page design, centreing the image and covering it with a small sheet of mica, held in place with a couple of brads. I trimmed with German Scrap, which I dulled down with Treasure Gold (I seem to use it on every project these days!), and decided it didn't need another thing!


I hope Jessie likes it!

Meander page for Carol

Carol sent me a beautiful shimmery lavender page to decorate, and set her theme as 'faces'. I immediately knew I wanted to use this transparency, but when I laid it onto the page, there wasn't enough contrast for the face to show clearly, it just disappeared into the background.

After playing with a few other ideas, none of which I liked as much, I decided I really wanted to use the transparency so needed to increase the contrast. I painted the centre of the page with some pearl coloured paint, and blended the edges in. I trimmed the transparency, and sewed it in place with gold thread. I sewed the heart on, and added beads in similar iridescent colours to the background. Carol will be binding this page at the left and bottom, so I left those areas clear.


The design is quite simple, but I'm pleased with it! I hope Carol likes it too.

Cemetery angel shrine

Margaret set the theme for her 'It Girl' gift as 'cemetery angels'. Now, I love cemetery angels, and have had many many ideas about what to make for Margaret over the last few months.

I got up early this morning, with every intention of doing an image transfer and making it the focal point on a bag. And then I got hung up on - What kind of bag? What kind of fabric? What colour? How big? With a zip, or not? Handles long enough to go over your shoulder or just over your arm? I decided to forget the bag and make a small pillow using the transfer. I went and got the image of the angel to do the transfer, and while I was reaching for it, I spotted this shrine box....

The rest is history! I wanted the box to look old and patinated, so I painted the front and inside with Stewart Gill Metallica paint in pewter (not that any of it is visible!) and sprinkled with marcasite and also lead patina embossing powders (also Stewart Gill). I heated with my heat gun, and the paint bubbled and the embossing powder melted, and they combined to make a really nice old and weathered texture.

I had a small angel charm, which was very bright brass, so I painted it with micaceous iron oxide paint, and then gave it a rub with Treasure Gold indigo. I really do use TG on every project these days - I don't know how I ever managed without it! I stuck the little angel on the front using polyurethane glue. Hope it doesn't fall off!


Now for the inside - I glued my angel image to some stiffer card and cut her out. I gave her two thin coats of soft gel medium and stamped into it before it dried - using a sort of 'halo' stamp. I gave her a light touch of Treasure Gold in pewter, which picked up the texture. I glued a small piece of torn text form a Welsh Bible and stuck it to the back of the shrine.

I dribbled PVA glue into the bottom corners, and sprinkled it with 'Flower Soft' - I bought this stuff when it came out and have never used it before, but it looks like old dried lichen in the shrine.

I used foam pads to add the angel, holding her a little away from the back of the shrine. I used sticky dots to hold a small piece of picket fence in place (bought in Michaels or Joannes back in 2007!!) and another sticky dot to hold some small fabric roses to the fence.



She'll fly off to California soon, I hope Margaret likes her!

More meanderings

More mixed media meanderings. This bluey green page streaked with gold arrived from Rachel, with the theme of 'wings'. I sewed some blue and green organza to the page with gold thread, which added a nice sheen, and then thought about the focal point.

I considered all sorts of options, and decided not to use an image, but to make a butterfly, and sew it on with the wings free of the background.

I sprayed some pelmet vilene with Radiant Rain, and when it was dry I die cut it using a cuttlebug die, and ran it through the Wizard again in a matching cuttlebug folder. I liked the texture, but it was very subtle. I added several coats of Treasure Gold to the high points to bring out the texture. I sewed the butterfly onto the page, then beaded the 'body' with iridescent beads.

To make the words, I coloured some Tyvek with Brilliance ink, and stamped the letters with black Stazon. I chose the words because they are the name of Rachel's blog. I cut the words out and sewed them onto the page, and finished the page off by sewing 3 little butterfly charms on.


This page, for Wendy, came in various metallic shades, including copper. The theme is vintage. I painted the background with Stewart Gill metallica paint, using a doily as a stencil. I darkened some German scrap with Treasure Gold, and stuck it on.

For the main embellishment, I decided to create an old fashioned and weathered looking heart. I sprayed some pelmet vilene with Expresso colourwash spray, and once it had dried I die cut it and embossed using a cuttlebug die & embossing folder in the Wizard. I rubbed over the raised areas with copper Treasure Gold (looks much brighter in real life), backed it with felt, and beaded around the edge.

To finish the page off, I made some shrink plastic charms, and added them with some small copper jump rings.


Mawgan's page was green, with a nature goddess theme. I gave it a couple more coats of different greens, then stamped and embossed some oak leaves in deep green pigment ink.

I made a goddess from Friendly Plastic in an Enchanted Gallery mould, then turned it over, laid the green organza in top and added a hot thin piece of friendly plastic to bond the fabric to the embellishment. Um, this took 3 tries, I tried to use a heat gun to soften the moulded piece so as to press the organza into it. This resulted in one ruined embellishment and two ruined pieces of organza. I decided there is no safe distance for a heat gun and organza!!!

Finally, I sewed the organza to the page using gold thread.


Finally, I worked on Trish's page. This was orange and yellow when ti arrived, but Trish wants her book to be BRIGHT, so I decided to add a splash of hot pink. Somewhere along the way I lost the yellow and some of the orange, too. I hope Trish doesn't mind! I added bright silk paper and paint to the page and decided that although I liked it, it wasn't working as a background, so I turned the page over and began again.

I used some Radiant Rain in a bright pink to spray over a Heidi Swapp mask, which left a pretty indistinct pattern, but as all I wanted was to break the plain orange up with some pink, that was fine.

I painted some glossy cardstock with pink and orange paint, and stamped the text onto it with red Stazon. I stuck it to the page with a glue dot, then covered it with a layer of shocking pink organza shot with gold. I sewed this on with gold thread, then cut the edges in a raggedy style - if Trish wants them neat, she can easily trim this off. To finish, I added a very bright shell button and some beads, using fine invisible thread.

Meandering away

More meander pages, these are 4 inches square with a pelmet vilene base coloured by their owners, and this one's for Fiona, on her theme of 'plants/flowers':


Wales had fantastic weather yesterday, so I sat in the garden and did some needle felting. I used a metal cutter in the shape of an oak leaf, and some blue mohair yarn, and felted inside the cutter. I added some viscose roving in paler blue & green, and felted that in, then spent some time beading the oak leaf. I stamped and embossed the page, added the leaf and finished it off with some tied yarn and ribbons. I hope Fiona likes it.

This one had to be made indoors, as it involves fusing fabrics with a soldering iron:


Pauline H's theme is sea and sky, I cut various colours of organza, layered them and used the soldering iron tip on my Versatool to fuse them together in a wave pattern. I painted the fabric with Stewart Gill Galactica paint in holographic silver (it has a lovely subtle twinkle in real life, like the sun shining on the sea). The sun is moulded air dry clay, and the mermaid is moulded Friendly Plastic. I finished the embellishments off with Treasure Gold, to take the high shine off them and integrate them into the piece, and finished the page off by dangling some seashells. I hope it reminds Pauline of summer seas and skies, and that she likes it.

This is Jacqui's page, she has chosen the them of 'vintage', which is something I always struggle with. At least with paper I have learnt that Distress Inks make things look vintage, but fabric is another matter. This is my take on it:


I stamped and embossed the grey/brown background Jacqui sent me, using Moonglow copper obsidian. I created a frame out of purple fun foam - heated, stamped into while hot, painted with Stewart Gill fabric paints, rubbed over with Treasure Gold - and stuck a transparency and the frame onto the page. I finished this page off with a dangly heart. I'm not sure if this is the kind of thing Jacqui had in mind, but it's my take on vintage! I hope she likes it.

Finally, Pauline C chose 'nature' as her theme, and sent me a lilac page. Hmmm. My nature is rather unnatural! I sprayed the back of the page with a deeper colour, using some flower shapes as stencils, but it didn't inspire me, and it was too strong to use as a background. So, I covered the front with lilac organza, and made some flowers and leaves using fusible film. I sewed the leaf and flowers onto the organza, added some bead flower centres, and then took some gold Stickles and added a glittery gold edge and some random dot patterns. I hope Pauline likes it.

More meandering

Here is another meander book page - also for Annie, whose theme is 'play on words'. Annie provided the ready coloured background, which is textured with embossed writing.

I cut out some heart shapes from felt, laid them on larger organza heart shapes then needle felted silk, mohair and synthetic fibres onto the hearts. The words are stamped onto tyvek with Stazon ink, and coloured with Brilliance ink. I did get the needle and thread out to sew some small gold beads around the edges of the hearts. It was quicker to make these needle felted pieces than do all that embroidery!!!

Meander book pages

I'm involved in a round robin meander book swap. We have chosen to use pelmet vilene or canvas as the base of our 3.5 inch pages, which are mixed media. Each player has coloured their pages, and set a theme, and sent two pages out to each player. When we get our pages we are to decorate both, keep one and return one, so we will each end up with two meander books - one of our own pages for everybody else's books, plus one of everybody else's pages for our own book. Make sense? See Cloth paper scissors issue 5 Winter 2005 for mixed media meander book example and instructions.


Eva chose her theme to be 'rainbow' and has sent a different colour to each player. I got red. Eva wanted texture, but no words. I painted a paper doily, and stuck some of that on the page, then added some Stewart Gill gilding flakes (very shiny!) and made two textured hearts from Friendly Plastic (ironed between silicone baking paper till thin, then stamped into, and finally re-heated and cut using a small cookie cutter). I covered the wholepiece with red organza, and used french knots and fly stitch to 'trap' the hearts and hold the layers together. It's been a while since I embroidered!


Annie send some very subtly coloured pages, and set her theme as 'birds'. I printed a bird I created earlier in the year, and ran the print (coated with gel medium) through the Wizard to create an image transfer.


I used gold machine embroidery thread to sew an eye, the beak, and an outline - all by hand.


I added some green and purple organza 'feathers' to the tail.

I added 'feathers' to the wing, fly stitch to give the body texture, a few french knots for interest, and blanket stitch all round to finish the edge off. It took me AGES. I managed to tangle all the threads. I now remember why my interest in embroidery didn't last too long last time I dabbled!!


I hope Annie likes it.

Polymer clay brocade jewellery

Just a couple more simple pieces of jewellery that I made form my polymer clay brocade sheet and some silver findings. These are on their way to Debra & Pattie. I hope they like them.

Birthday gift mini canvas

I've been playing with texture here. I took this mini 4 inch by 3 inch canvas, and dribbled some clear tar gel onto it. I also added clear granular gel, and some fibre paste. I left it all to dry overnight, then painted it with a coat of burnt umber fluid acrylic. Once that was dry, I painted it with interference green fluid acrylic, and a few areas of interference violet. Finally, I stroked Treasure Gold all over the canvas, bringing out all the high points. I used heavy gel medium to add Da Vinci's self portrait in the polymer clay frame, which was made in a Krafty Lady mould, dusted with Pearl Ex.


I hope Liz likes it!

Old & new swap

This piece was made for an 'old and new' swap on CC Swaps, where we needed to use something that had been in our stash for a long time (in my case the jump rings, memory wire and clasps) with something new (the pendant I made) and include stamping (on the pendant).



I'm not telling you how I made it yet, it's a bit of a mystery!!!

It's off to the Philippines, where I hope it's new owner enjoys wearing it.