Website

If you have trouble getting to my new January 2012 updated pages - showing an orange Albatrosses & Archaeopteryx Journal at the top - try either Internet Explorer, or type this URL http://www.christinelinton.com.au/index.html - I hope to fix this problem soon!

Feathers of White Ibis

You may notice I have updated my logo.  It is now the feathers you see on the right, instead of the embroidered bottle brush flower.  This is part of my revamp of the website, which I will be uploading by the end of December.  I decided to go for the feathers as part of my artistic development, showing the things that are more important to me right now, and that I am using in my work.  New Year is a good time for a new look.

Preserving leaves

For my Nature Journal I have been preserving leaves in glycerine.  You dilute one part glycerine to 4 parts water, and stand the stem in it for about two weeks.  I have found this is quite successful for gum leaves, and you can soak the whole leaf instead if it has no stem; however the leaf has to be fully green or it doesn't work.  Not all leaves take to it - geranium leaves just wilt and die within a few hours.  I have used some gum leaves, attached to a machine-made cord and a tassel made of silk thread, as a decoration to my Nature Journal.

The journal cover is a fabric collage which I machine embroidered, then made in the normal way into a cover for the A4 sketchbook I am using.  I also added a machine-made cord as a bookmark for inside, attached to the top of the spiral binding like the decorative elements. 

If you have been experimenting with papers and/or fabrics, try using your results as a book cover.

Albatrosses and long line fishing

Below is the centrespread of my textile journal Albatrosses and Archaeopteryx.  I have used my hand-dyed fabrics on which I linoprinted my fishing boat and attached beading wire as the long lines which attract seabirds but drag them under to drown if they are not quick enough to untangle themselves.  The albatrosses are appliqued, with the focal bird incorporating bits of rubbish and mesh to depict other threats from us they tackle every day.  Fishing line and net waste is a major killer of seabirds.

I enjoyed the making of the book which you can see more of on my website when I have finished updating it over the next few weeks.

Textile Journals

This is a photo of the front cover for my "Albatrosses & Archaeopteryx" journal.  I completed this for my major final project for Cert 3 Visual Arts (Textiles) which I have just finished.  During the time I was working on this project, I became very interested in textile art journals and making books and journals of all types, and plan to continue this interest next year when working on Cert 4.  I will show some more of this journal later.  The concept for the journal is the way that our way of life affects birds; the cover shows bits of litter, especially plastic, caught up in the net around the albatross heads.  The net is lace made on the sewing machine.  The heads are lino-printed on organza and calico layered which I dyed.  The beads on the spine are made of painted recycled paper scraps.

Birds - White Ibis

White Ibis are quite common in my local area where I took this.  I've been trying to get some photos of birds taking off so that I can use them in my textiles without copyright issues.  I'm thinking machine embroidery for the body and head and one wing and then white sheers as a detached wing element for that nearside wing ...

Birds - Archaeopterix, and bird photos too

If you go to
http://www.birdway.com.au/index.htm
you will find a great site with bird photos, and you can join a Google group where Ian Montgomery (from Queensland) will send a free Bird of the Week photo to your email.  This site was recommended to me by the Collections Manager, Ben McHenry, at the Science Centre of the South Australian Museum.  I went there this week to see the Archaeopteryx fossil cast - actually they have three, of two specimens - because of the research I have been doing for my college project.  Ben was very helpful, pointing out that as a member of the public, the Museum and the specimens are mine (and everyone else's!) because our money pays for them; so they are happy to show specimens not currently on display, such as "Archie" as I have taken to calling him.  He explained that all the specimens ever found (I think it is eight) have been found in one quarry in Bavaria.

This is my own photo of a New Holland Honeyeater on the Grevillea in my back garden.  The shrub was a Mothers Day present from my daughter a couple of years ago and has grown amazingly well.  The Honeyeaters love to take the nectar from the flowers.  Tibs the Cat gets scolded by them if she goes out when they are wanting to feed.  Lying about under the Grevillea is her favourite spot.

Birds - Archaeopterix

My sample for Archie,as I call Archaeopterix  

 

I am working on a textile art journal with a theme of Birds for my MAJOR FINAL PROJECT for college. This is my sample for Archie's page. Archie is one of about eight fossils aged around 140 to 150 million years old, and is thought to be a link between dinosaurs and birds. However, as he came before any of the bird-like dinosaurs there is quite a bit of controversy - that's all science, I'll just get on with the art! I'm using printed organza, with some orange and blue fabrics (complementary colours) and some albatrosses flying. This may not be the final layout but I do like it.

Embroidering texture with yarn and other threads

This is a sample of hand-couching that I have completed for my college class.  I have used various yarns including crochet cotton, eyelash yarn, plain double knitting, slub yarn and DMC embroidery cottons.  What is it?  It is the bark on a tree trunk; the Bristlecone Pine Tree has this appearance, so I made a sketch of the trunk and this is my interpretation in stitch.  It is very tactile (just has to be touched) which is one of the things that attracts me to textile arts.

Dyeing the Coral Reefd

This is my finished dye project.  The sea was pole-wrapped and dyed shibori-style; the reef components were drop-dyed with a few lines from fabric markers to define a few corals; the fish were made of vilene.  The dyes were cold water Procion dyes.  I very much enjoyed this project and left the border open (just a zigzag finish) because I wanted to show the vast openness of the sea.

Textures in Embroidery

If you look at this side-on view of these ducklings, you will see the fluffy texture, especially compared to the smooth poppies above.  The ducklings have been worked in Ghiordes knots, a stitch also known as Turkey Work, in which a loop is made followed by an anchoring back stitch.  These are worked closely across the area, and the loops cut open when finished.  They can be trimmed or left as they are

This close up of the poppies shows their smooth texture alongside the butterfly, which has both smooth satin stitch for the wings and Ghiordes knots for the body.

This embroidery was worked from an English book called Countryside Embroidery Book by Lalla Ward, now unfortunately out of print but sometimes available in public libraries.

Experiment with different stitches yourself - have fun!

Fabric Painting and Beyond

Since my last entry I have been having the time of my life, learning new techniques, working on a project for my Dyeing Unit - pix will appear when it's finished.  The photo I uploaded last time has a successor - after we talked in class about stitching into our fabric painting, I made another with my daisies more daisy-like by stitching on it.

Next week we start "Embellishment" - lots more fun - now I understand why people study textile arts.

Dyeing

I've just started studying Textile Arts at my local college (hence no recent entries, too busy) and one of the subjects is Dyeing.  This is one of my early efforts, I was rather pleased with it.  I plan to use dyeing lots more in the future in my work, I love the brightness of the colours.

Birds and embroidery

 This is a pic I drew of an owl to embroider.  So far I have done some of the feathers on the wing - it is brown (being a Boobook Owl, Australian) and I am working in cottons not silks and I have tried twice and can't keep up the interest!  If anyone wants to use this drawing and work it themselves, they are welcome - I doubt I'm going to finish it.  If anyone does copy it off, print it and enlarge it and work the design, I'd love to see the result, you can send a photo to my website email at christinespatterns@hotmail.com and I will publish it there.  For more bird embroidery patterns, my website address is christinelinton.com.au

If you go to the website below, you will find some interesting information on birds and birdwatching generally.  This is the British site.
http://www.rspb.org.uk/advice/watchingbirds/

Embroidered Birds

http://birdsinbackyards.net/

Returning to my first love of birds (after a season of butterflies) I have found a great site to look at which you see above.  Birds Australia is a very interesting site, worth taking time to explore, and includes bird calls.  Look under the Birds tab at the top, then About Birds, leading to Bird Calls.
One of the calls is the Kookaburra.  My embroidered kookaburra is on the right - also can be seen as part of a wall hanging in the Gallery Page at www.christinelinton.com.au
I will look at the British site, Royal Society of Birds, next time.