Paper Flower Making Workshop

We had a lot of fun today, making paper flowers. One of the members of the Alcove Art Shop ran the session. The idea was to learn a new skill (for most of us) and to have a social gathering.

I'm not sure I will go into business making paper flowers but I certainly had a lot of fun.

                                  

                                      

                                  

I am not sure I have much use for paper skills. One of the participants suggested making flowers and decorations for wrapping presents. That seems a lot of work that will most likely be ripped off and thrown away!

I think I will stick to textiles and see if I can adapt any of today's ideas to fabric. But don't hold your breath waiting for me to come up with something brilliant.

     

 

     

    

Still fluffing around

I still haven't come up with something to work on. I am going on a long trip and want some handwork but can't come up with a design I like - not that I'm trying that hard.

So today I walked around the garden and took pictures of the lovely spring flowers, in the hopes that something will inspire me.

Silver beet, through the branches of the apple tree. 

My current favourite, eucalyptus blossom. Silver princess, I think.

Love the shadows from this one. 

Nothing so far, I would have to actually draw, or use the photos, but it was a lovely spring day and I enjoyed the garden.

Small Art Exhibition at the Alcove Art Shop

We put up the small art exhibition at the Alcove Art shop last weekend. Not only is the art small, so is the space!
It is an inaugural exhibition for members to make work according to a theme and have it displayed with other members' interpretations.
Our first theme is Full Bloom and we have some interesting works. As our members do a large variety of mediums, the art work reflects that.

We are hopeful that more members will participate next time. And that this one is well-received.

Here is the trial hanging - it may be changed by the time I see it next.
The hanging technique we used is a bit tricky in terms of making the works look horizontal. Live and learn.

It was actually a great inspiration for me. I made three pieces, played around with a newish technique and had a lot of fun. The small size makes it very doable.

Deciding what to do

Our course is finished, the exhibition is up.

The small art exhibition will be on soon at The Alcove Art Shop. I have been playing around with some eucalyptus blossom pieces for that. Am still trying out some images.

I have taken some photos and fiddled with them in Photoshop. Not sure what I will do with them yet, just thought I would play around.
I have printed the photos out onto silk and then done thread painting over them but now I would like to try something slightly different.

I am thinking to paint the base fabric and then sew over it in the sort of machine embroidery I did last year (almost a year ago - where does the time go?!) in the Alison Holt workshop. It probably won't turn out all that differently, it will just be a little more my creation, rather than a photo.

I just used Poster Edges, twice. It made the background nice and indistinct. 

I am going away for a holiday soon. I will involve a long flight and then, perhaps, a long train trip. So I am trying to come up with some ideas for handwork to do. But there is the problem of what they will let you have on a plane. And how much I want to carry around.

I have played around with blackwork (just found this site with some free tutorials) in the past and am thinking of trying to develop an idea for that. So I have been tracing some photos, using a black pen to help me develop some images that I might be able to use. Or I might try some doodling patterns as I did when I did the workshop with Katherine Devine, ages ago.

Then I made it black and white, not sure why. 

I am also thinking that it would be good to dye the base fabric using eucalyptus leaves or bark, just for a different effect. So I have been researching that. The even weave fabric for counted thread work is expensive, so I don't want to mess it up. But I am looking at eucalyptus blossom ideas, so it seems appropriate.

I put the image on a light box and it is ready for me to play around with. 

Art and Design Course exhibition is up

Last Sunday was the day most of us got together to put up our exhibition, the culmination of a year of the certificate course run by the Victorian Embroiderers Guild.

It took much longer than most of us expected. There were some physical issues to be resolved as well as the artistic ones.

I haven 't seen the full display as a couple of people couldn't be there on Sunday, they put it up on Monday. I will have to go over again this month to see it. We take it down on Sunday September 27th.