The Saltwick Bay Poncho

Hi Everyone

We're back home from a lovely week in North Yorkshire. The weather was brilliant and we enjoyed lovely family time. We've been visiting Whitby for many years during October and always find something new. I also managed to knit my Saltwick Bay poncho. It needs a few ends to be sewn in and then blocking. The exciting bit was finishing the item at the place where it was named. The actual bay ie Saltwick Bay was very close to where we stayed. I had hoped to wear my poncho at Saltwick Bay but was suffering with flu (the week prior to our holiday and recovering much of the week) and knitting slowed down so much I struggled to finish.

                                 

It's back to work today and lots of washing. Not my favourite job !!

Thanks for calling in today.

Is it too soon ?

Hi Everyone

I'm quite excited about this little project - the next one for one of our regular Making Workshops. I know it's far too soon to mention Christmas ! However, in the world of Making everything takes lots of time and planning/prep needs to be done early. From now on (in this post) I will only mention the letter C rather than the whole word.

The project is a little fabric C tree. It's the next stage in our printing workshop series. We will print some fabric and make into a little stuffed C tree. The trees will then find themselves planted into little plant pots. I'm going to produce a painted plant pot and a decoupaged version. I have some fake moss to top the planted trees. I need to consider what the trees will be planted in ? The trees are inspired by a Tone Finnanger book 'Homemade & Happy'. Here is a quick peek at the inspiration :

                                 

Our plan is to print some patterns on plain fabric using a home made fabric paint. The patterns could be C patterns or not - the Tone Finnanger trees don't use C fabric but the shape leaves you under the impression it's definitely a C tree.

 I love making stuff from scratch and this is a perfect example of how we can live real creativity. We will have our own stamp, our own paint - in exactly the right colours and our own design on the fabric. I'm going to use a similar shape pattern for the tree but again we can design our own.

 I'm currently working on my samples and will share when I'm there. I think the project will be a few sessions long as there's quite a bit of designing and preparing to take place.

Our workshop Makers are so capable, I'm sure we can create something very special. The trees look great together in different sizes.

Have a great weekend. I'm off for a mini Grand Tour next week and will call in with a few photos - if internet connection permits !

Thanks for calling in today.

Art Dolls

Hi Everyone

I'm hoping I can move on the Art Dolls Project today. I've got the fabric together and thought long and hard about the production of the eyes. I'm going to try and paint the centre of the eyes and develop a liquid acrylic medium eyeball. The painted element will be embedded into the eyeball. My concern is the acrylic medium will dry to a dull finish. I'm probably going to need to experiment and try out a range of products. My initial plan was to buy some glass eyes but I can't find any the right size or the Miss Mitchell eye shape.

The finished eyeballs will need to be built into the face and at the moment I'm thinking about adding more paper to encase the eyes. I will paint the face and hands in a subtle beige colour. The jury is still out on the hair !!

                                   

Mary's clothes are underway and I'm hoping to finish a dress today. I'm looking forward to knitting a cardigan and some kind of stockings. The shoes are in design stage but I'd love to make something quite ornate/ a little Marie Antoinette !

I'm influenced by the great Julie Arkell re my dolls, so will hopefully go for some embroidered words somewhere. Julie makes little aprons with a message embroidered into it. I can't quite decide what I will do ? At the moment, I'm thinking about developing my words around the hem of the dresses. 

I will be doing regular updates on the dolls so keep calling in to check on their progress.

Thanks for calling in today.

Making Workshop

Hi Everyone

We had a great Making Workshop yesterday and I'm sharing some of the images today..

Everyone produced amazing results from our surface pattern design project. The aim of the workshop was to create a range of gift wrapping items using stamps created from scratch.

The enthusiasm and creative ideas flowed -

                                 

We made decoupage papers to cover little boxes and tags, bookmarks, envelopes/blank cards and some beautiful Pillow boxes. The colour combinations are lovely and all the items looked so professional.

                                 

Each item was of a very high standard. The pillow boxes and tags used embossing techniques as well as stamping surface designs. I'm sure every member of the group could make a range of wrapping items for special birthdays and other event - as and when they are needed. Which, I think, is a great option to have. A few stamps and some blank paper is all that's now required.

Well done to all members of the group.

Thanks for calling in.

My New Art Yarn Scarf

Hi Everyone

Today, I'm sharing the progress of my Art Yarn Neck Warmer. I've worked on several versions - Inthink this is version 5 (read back yesterday for more on this) and I'm ready to embellish the neck warmer with the lovely coloured, fine curly yarn. I'm planning on adding extra beads as the design takes form. I'm not sure how this will turn out ? but I'm hoping it will work out well. I don't want to overdo the embellishment but I definitely want to get all the interesting yarn worked into the item.

Here's a quick look at the progress, so far ........

                                  

I've added some small pieces of yarn to resemble flower buds in contrasting colours and textures. I like the effect and think I can keep going with a little more. I'm planning on developing some polymer clay beads in a range of colour tones to highlight the flower buds. I think, I need a button too ? I'm considering making a polymer clay button. I think the button could attach on the back of the flap, this would give a hidden closure and allow the flower bud design to be the focus of the front. 

At the moment, the neckwarmer is a little too not and controlled. I need to get some loose textures going on the surface - possibly ?

Thanks for calling in.