Fibre Postcards & Some Lovely Mail

Back to work today after the lovely long weekend - and I am trying to adopt the homespun philosophy that goes something along the line that it is the thorns that make you really (truly) appreciate the beauty of a rose.

Anyway this is my prototype for the fibre postcards I am making at the moment for an Aussie exchange on the theme "Patterns" - they were supposed to be finished and in the mail by today but I underestimated how long it would take the Shiva oil sticks to set or dry or cure or whatever it is they do before they can be heat set, so it was yesterday before I could add the Misty Fuse and blue organza, do some silver free motion stitching and start the beading. I have finished the prototype and the rest will be finished over the next two evenings if I give up eating and sleeping.

These postcards are something completely different for me and I am quite happy with their simplicity. I am also now in love with Shiva sticks - I am doing rubbings next!

Today, in amongst all the bills and envelopes for our local government elections, I received a lovely fibre/mixed media ATC from Diana Bahler in New Zealand. I sent her one as a RAK (Random Act of Kindness for anyone that isn't familiar with the acronym) but she is a purist about the trading bit, so has blessed me with a return ATC - a beautiful collage on calico. I love the stamps that come from New Zealand - they always seem to be beautiful and there was a card in there too (the ATC is scanned on top of the envelope and card). Thank you so much Diana - my ATC collection is growing and looks spectacular!

So that's it for tonight - I'm off to do some beading on postcards!

OK I Think I am Back on Earth Again!

Tissue Paper Study by Michelle Bonds

Well it seems banishing the computer helps me get other stuff done! I think my other motivation was that there wasn't much point taking a day's leave (today) so that I would have more time to do stuff if I then wasted the weekend and had to cram three days worth of stuff into today!

Anyway the house is spick and span (first time for a while that it has had a really dedicated effort!!) and I have finished off a fibre ATC and postcard that I have been working on. Both are substantially made on the embellisher machine and then beaded. The "E" ATC is a trade for Eva in Sweden and the postcard is for Jaslyn in Perth because she was a big part of why I ended up buying an embellisher in the first place. The postcard was my first attempt on the embellisher and it is far from perfect but I have learnt a lot. Seeing the picture here also makes me realize I should have added some more hot pink wool fibres along the bottom but it is too late now!

Yesterday I also did a whole pile of experimenting with Shiva Oil Paint sticks and I had a lot of fun. The main purpose was to try and come up with a nice pattern for a set of fabric postcards I have to finish for an Australian exchange by the end of the month. I really like the various effects and I am just hoping that the suede like fabric I used does not have any treatment on it that will stop the paint from setting. It has a lovely feel to it and the paint was easy to use on the surface so hopefully it will be ok.

I also used a brush to try stencilling with the Shiva sticks and that worked well. I learnt a lot from having a prolonged play - the difference between the stencilling on the black and the blue for example - the black one is very messy as I used the stick straight on top of the large sequin waste whereas using the brush on the blue fabric was much neater! I have the book "Paintstiks on Fabric" by Shelly Stokes - it is a very thin but useful and informative book. If I had read the book properly first I would of course have known about the need to use a brush with the stencil.

As pictured at the top of this post, today's mail included the second of the Tissue Paper Studies from the Surface Design group exchange I have mentioned previously. This stunning piece of art was created by the very talented Michelle Bonds. She has posted information about the techniques she used on her blog (which is well worth visiting!) I love this piece Michelle - thank you!

This afternoon I am going to continue working on my giant jigsaw pieces which also need to be posted at the end of the week. They are fiddly - especially trying to get neat edges on all those curved shapes. Lesson learnt - not something I would do again as an exchange. Working on one or two pieces for fun would be OK but doing 16 pieces on particular themes is hard especially as the images need to be small. I have spent ages looking for appropriate small ones!! I'll post the results when I am finished if they look alright.

My Day...

I don't like to start with a whinge but I woke up this morning with a head cold and an achy body - I hate feeling "off", especially on holidays! Anyway it has meant that I have not been as productive as I was planning but overall it was still a nice relaxed (slow) day.

I finished my first ATC using the embellisher - and wow, this could get addictive! I took a short-cut and used a piece from a previous experiment (first and second photos). I added purple lurex mesh and beautiful Welsh fibres and went wild with the machine. I love the way the top fibres show up on the reverse side in a nice muted way - I can imagine that for some things it would be the side you would choose. I finished this piece by sewing on small seed beads and finishing the edges and it is now on its way to lovely Diana in Ontario. The third photo is the final result and you really can't tell it was lurex mesh that created the shiny effect on one side. I think it is OK for a first effort.

Felt with snippets of fabric and mesh, covered with organza and free motioned stitched.

Sandwich burnt back through top layer (using wood burning tool) and then
painted at either end with various colours of Twinkling H2Os.

Finished Embellisher ATC

I continued working on components of my sister's gift (photos will have to wait until it is finished and posted!) and on a few ATCs as well. I spent ages looking for small images for a jigsaw swap I have to get finished in the next few weeks and in the afternoon when Zach got home from school, we went into town for haircuts and I posted off several arty posts (including one for Peggy which I thought I had posted a couple of weeks ago!).

It was a very cold day here and I decided not to risk making my cold any worse by going to Annie's for our Wednesday evening stamping session - instead I am going to have an early night and finish reading Marlena de Blasi's "Tuscan Secrets" (on loan from my Mum - this is the second in a series of three about Marlena's life and they are just fabulous - a life lived with passion and exuberance!).

The photo below is of lovely fibre ATC from Peggy which I received today (and which made me check whether I had posted mine to her!) - Peggy has fortunately provided me with a translation of the message which goes something along the lines of - "Sometimes you have to open the door to let luck come in". A very timely reminder. Thanks Peggy!