Something a Little Different!

I have been very lucky to trade postcards recently with Shirley Sherris over in the UK - this wonderful textural postcard arrived for me last week and is a replica of one that Shirley has made for the body of work she is making on an Egyptian theme. Shirley's postcard is not as dark as it looks in my scan but I gave up trying to get it accurate!

I have made these two for Shirley - wasn't convinced the first one was dimensional enough so made the second and then decided to just send both in the hope that she likes one of them. Both were experiments for me -

This one is fabric I have coloured with a variety of colouring mediums until I was happy with the vibrancy (the sparkle comes from the Glimmer Mist and the gel pen highlights). The two focal images are separate stamped images which I have then masked and over-stamped with the hieroglyphic background. I discovered this is a lot trickier on fabric than on paper! Another dilemma is getting a clear and dark enough stamped image. I outlined stitched the images and couched the postcard with a cord and velvety fibre.

This one has a base of a painted piece of a Lutradur type material but I can't remember the name (it is used in curtain making). I've stamped it again with the hieroglyphic background (which incidentally is a very large stamp) and then I have added a layer of papyrus which has been stamped, sprayed with walnut ink and gold glimmer mist and heavily crumpled until sufficiently "distressed" looking. I ironed it and stitched it to the background. The ankh is cut from painted lutradur and has been shaped with a wood burning tool - I love melting things!! Also love the textured edge that results. I added the beading and metallic stitching to the edges to add a bit of zing as it looked a bit flat.

All a bit different for me but it gave me a chance to use some of my Egyptian stamps which have been neglected for several years!