Experimental weaving - a string page

One of the experiments I did recently was weaving with plain string.  I made a page for a book by using some old wire as an outline approx A4 size; then I did irregular weaving with string, making sure not to have a neat grid.  I left all the tied off ends loose.  Then I melted some encaustic wax paints, and brushed them over the weaving.  You can see it is sitting on foil I recycled from microwaving potatoes, this foil just becomes discoloured but is usually quite clean and peels off from the wax easily.  Once the wax was dry I sewed on some bread tag beads.

Woven string page, painted with encaustic, bread tag beads - irregular weaving

Now, I have spent ages searching for a link to extend this post for you, trying to find some experimental weaving or weaving with string that wasn't regular and wasn't on a loom.  Spirit Cloth has some very interesting weaving posts, this is one of them.  Apart from Spirit Cloth and Windthread , who also have fascinating philosophical slants to their artwork, I can't find blogs or websites with what I'm interested in which is something different, not weaving on a loom, not nice neat stuff.

Experimental art as a way of life

Having realised that Connotations is not just about a Recycle Cloth but is about experimenting too, I've started some fabric manipulation on it, and then adding beading to that, to nestle in the folds of the gathers.  The lilac strip I stitched along the length but going from one side to the other, that made it twist naturally.  Then the green organza square, I stitched a rough circle, pulled it up and attached with a few stitches, then sewed the beads in to the folds.  I also keep trying different embroidery stitches but keep coming back to the running stitch - it seems to give my wanted effect better. I'm also leaving all the loose ends on top which gives it a very relaxed look.  I stitch in a naive style (varying the length of the stitches) because it sits with my style of frayed edges and roughly cut and torn shapes.  Yes there is a circle there but it was a leftover from a workshop and needed recycling.  Now that I have started to use Connotations as a piece of experimental art, I don't have to think about a use for it.

Connotations - experimental art with recycling

Changing interests

I have just updated my website to better reflect my current interests.  I have deleted all the pattern pages because I have no interest in them anymore; I just work on my own work and look at others work, and leave patterns to those who do want them.  I am now using it to show my work, but still unsure about whether to put PayPal on or not, because I'm not comfortable with the idea of being responsible for other people's money online.  Makes it hard to sell anything though!

Inspiration from nature

Looking at textiles and papers depicting nature.  I found some stunning work on Inga Hunter's website showing work in textiles, hand-made paper and mixed media.  The link here showing this page is evocative of exactly what she aimed for, the accumulation in gutters and hollows of leaves, twigs and debris; it is from her Blue Mountain landscapes.  

My own Australian landscape comes from a mixed media panel I made in which I used applique to make a rainforest background.  Using ribbons in greens and purples, I then crisscrossed them with uneven strips of various scrap fabrics to disguise any straight edges, cut out palm trees from a printed fabric, covered it in tulle to add a hazy effect, used a brown textured fabric in the foreground for a tree trunk, some green fibre stuff for a climber, free-machined in shades of greens ..... had great fun making it, and have always been pleased with the result.

Australian rainforest - applique

Relaxing over the break

One of the things I do when relaxing is to blog-surf.  Looking at my all-time stats for this blog, I found that my thread-painted cat had been posted on http://dmc-threads.com/hot-summer-cool-cats/ with 2 links to my blog - and it has resulted in lots of people linking through to see how I stitched it.  It's great to know people are sharing my blog around.  I found that the dmc website has an extensive stitch guide with clear diagrams and written instructions - very useful.

Here is one of my chookys relaxing.

Synchronicity

Just when I decided to look up Elaine Lipson after reading an article by her about Jude Hill, I went to her blog and found she had posted an entry in September this year after a gap of nine months, and it contained a PDF of her talk on Slow Cloth, which I had been revisiting only yesterday in my Inspiration Folder - how's that for sychronicity?  The link is to Red Thread Studio.

Had a lovely family get-together yesterday, as my children have several families to visit on Xmas day so we have ours the weekend before or after.  Yes it's only water in the glass!  Temp was 34 celsuis, Sunday was 39 celsius so we moved it from Sunday to Saturday.  Phew!  Ok its hot but better than snow for me.

spring water on a hot day

Experimental weaving

I intend to do a lot more experimental art this coming year.  One of the things I have tried out is weaving - I've always thought it was not for me, too regular, but of course that was before I saw pieces such as this one from grace Forrest  and heini karariina too.  I had lots of strips of leftover fabric from dyeing pieces for a college project, which often come in useful for tying labels to things, but I thought I would try weaving them.  Some are different widths or irregular widths which was what I wanted.  It is just an experiment, which I spoiled eventually because I experimented further with it and painted encaustic wax on it - I hated the result, it spoiled the simplicity, and I threw it out.  Sometimes experiments don't give you what you expected but of course from that we learn what we like and don't like.

Experimental weaving piece 1 - I like the trailing ends

Online finances

(Looking for something different, I found these miniature prints by Dianne Longley, the Australian print artist.  I've always been fascinated with miniature anything - my dolls house is an ongoing project - and these appealed to me because of the fine detail.)

I looked at this page because I wondered how other artists deal with finances online.  I'm a bit wary about internet banking for my personal accounts - and this has led to a conundrum with my website.  I would like to give people the opportunity to buy but, especially outside Australia, it's a challenge because Aussie banks don't accept cheques from overseas unless they are bank cheques, and then there's a charge; and so many people like to pay directly online nowadays anyway. Cheques aren't so popular now also.   I notice that Dianne gives her bank BSB and account number for direct payments - I thought I would look into that with my bank.  PayPal is popular but I'm not sure - what do other people do to sell online?  Please comment here - I don't want the expense of setting up a merchant account and shopping cart - do other artists find selling using PayPal is good?

I've added two pages to my blog.

New plans

As the new year looms, I'm planning ahead, and thinking of revamping my website, because I'm really not happy with it any more.  I started it when I was producing textile patterns, and now I don't do that any more but have left the patterns on there because my body of work is still small, which I share on the two non-pattern pages, Book Arts and Textile Art.  I don't know whether to:

• take the patterns off altogether
• leave them but take them off the Home Page, and have a link to them somewhere else

Do any of my readers have any feedback for me?    I'd love some comments from you here on the blog.  To look at the website yourself and decide, this is my website link http://www.christinelinton.com.au/, or go to the feathers at the top of the blog,

 After reading this great book"I'd rather be in the studio" I want to make my website more current but feel a little unsure of the best way to go.   I have made the Home Page more current with recent work.

Also I don't know whether to:

• change the layout altogether, losing the Green Information Boxes on various pages and concentrating on the art work itself only
• or leave the Green Boxes but update them more often
• and is the green background good?

Back to the art.  Here is a brooch I made ......

Glitterfly - made from sequinned glitter fabric (inside out), beads, wire, free-machining on vilene

Xmas chooks

Skeleton Leaves

Skeleton leaves are fascinating but I very rarely find them.  They are also delicate and crumble.  I was so pleased with my latest encaustic experiment because it looks just like a skeleton leaf.  I was rubbing the wax block onto the raised backs of leaves and "ironing" them onto previously waxed paper - in this case, I had found that glossy photo paper works nearly as well as encaustic shiny paper, and I have several free packs of the glossy photo paper from computer ink pack purchases, so I don't have to buy new supplies again.

This leaf had been preserved in glycerine - see this link for information on how to do this; it remains supple and can be reused

This oak leaf was dried and crumbled as I used it

I have continued to look for hand stitching on encaustic, and finally found Sue Tyldesley, on her website - I particularly liked "Connected Flowers", on the right of the first line of photos.  You might like to see her hand stitching on encaustic at this link.

Making books - different approaches

Yesterday I went to the State Library in Adelaide to view the catalogue of an exhibition by local book artist Diane Longley.  Unfortunately I couldn't see the actual books but the catalogue was quite descriptive and although my own work tends to the raggy edge look, I did admire the skill she showed, and the write-ups inspired me to think about my own approach to making books.  My approach is experimental - having arrived at book making later in life, every book is a new experience.  In my approach, I try to incorporate what Keith Smith calls “the whole-book experience”, giving content and form equally serious consideration.  So I might interpret the same concept with different formats until I find the one best suited.

I don’t start a book until I have an overall concept.  I don’t like making a book that doesn’t have a purpose behind it, a starting point.  Often I symbolise the concept rather than realistically represent it, for example, using gentle colours and soft shapes o show peacefulness rather than draw or stitch a sleeping cat.  Such as this:  (scroll down to the second book shown on my web page).

My meditation book - dyed papers, stitching

Inspiration – it always comes back to Nature.  Nature fulfils me, satisfies my soul.

Skies - just love them.

Had lots of fun on the weekend, trying out my new encaustic set.  Bought the lot, after a demo and short practice at college.  Made myself work through my book to learn the techniques first, so after a few landscapes as in the book, I launched into my "own thing" :

Moody - with silver

Luscious - with gold and silver

Translucent - sunrise

When I do skies - which I love doing in any media - I tend to think of red/purple skies as sunrise rather than sunset.  I don't know if this is because I am more of a morning person or if it is because I am a glass-half-full person.

You can see another of my skies in this post - link below:
http://craftconversations.blogspot.com.au/2009/12/machine-quilting-with-thread-waste.html

I was blog-surfing for more textile art skies and found this one which is different but I rather like:
http://fiberfly.blogspot.com.au/2012/10/sea-and-sky.html

..... and blog-surfing for encaustic skies, I found this one which is also rather lovely, with lots of skies:
http://kathleenhooks.netfirms.com/encaustic_paintings/

I am captivated by skies, I've even got my husband taking photos of them, though the photo never quite captures the moment ..........

More on Connotations

Worked on my 3rd piece for "Connotations".    This one I stitched a lot more, mainly running but a bit of chain stitch; also used dyed string couched on top.  This is strong I used when pole-wrapping shibori last year, which of course retained the dyes used so I couldn't chuck it.  So pleased to find a use for it.

I'm wondering if this piece has too little contrast - any ideas?

This is a detail - I actually like it better close up than from a distance, I just don't think it grabs any attention because the tonal values are all the same except for the string.  What can I do?

Textiles or paper?

We all need to spend time without conscious thoughts and labels circulating in our heads, to allow creativity to spring up.  We can think too much.

My whole life I have been a textile fan.  Recently I've discovered how wonderful paper is to work with too.  But I've been trying too hard to combine textiles with paper.  Just because I have a weakness for both (or is it a strength for both?) it's ok to use them separately.  I kept thinking (thinking!) that I had to use everything I like at once.  Too much thinking, not enough being.  Losing creativity.

Paper is wonderful in codex form, and folded books.  Textiles are great in scrolls because of their properties - they still lie flat after being rolled up for ages, unlike paper (except soft paper napkins).  Other types of paper hold the rolled-up effect depending on the thickness and stiffness of the paper.  Paint adds to the stiffness even if diluted, while dyes don't.  So I prefer textiles and papers to have the vehicle to show their own special qualities.  They can be combined, but don't have to be to still be a mixed-media artist.

I made a scroll from wet felting which unrolled beautifully every time.  The cover for this scroll I made from a silk scarf that I bought plain, then dyed with silk dyes, then patched with torn, dyed silk organza pieces.  It is luscious.  I love it.  And being silk it unrolls flat.

Dyed silk scarf with patches of organza, used as a Scroll Cover

To help you let thoughts go, and let creativity surface, please look at this beautiful photo on Sweetpeapath blog - what peace it brings to a mind.  Master the art of doing nothing, to quote someone but I don't know who - does anyone else know where this comes from?

http://sweetpeapath.blogspot.com.au/2012/11/texture-tuesday-dream.html

Connotations

I can’t bring myself to buy any more new fabrics while I have so much already.  My intention is to use up all my stash (4 big drawers full) and now I have a channel for it.

I have been fascinated with Jude Hill and Spirit Cloth lately; her blog has fired my imagination to start my recycle cloth.  My underlying concept is that every piece of cloth I use has a value to me – the significance of its background – why I bought it, the purpose, was it for experimental, for college, for a quilt  – where did I buy it  - charity shop, big fabric store on a day out  – did someone give it to me – is it a recycled piece from family – do I like it, what are my feelings surrounding it and its previous use – affection for it, association with circumstances.

All this leads to the name I have for it “Connotations”, the definition of this word is a meaning in addition to the primary meaning – in other words, for example, my daughter’s old blouse is highly textured fabric that delights me, and that also reminds me of her.

I have thrown out so many scraps of fabric over the years, and in a way this is reclaiming that waste – not literally but symbolically.  Here are photo details of the first two pieces:

Detail of Piece 1, in which I layered my only sheer with text, over the other layers - not really enough stitching on it.

As you see I am using layers of scraps from dye projects in any lightweight fabric, bits of sheers, bits of silk -  I was going to call it Layers of Meaning.  Every piece reminds me of that part of my life, which overlays another part of life ...

In this detail of Piece 2 you can see I have more stitching - and there is a piece of dyed silk with my name on from a college project.

I am finding this stitching is bringing me peaceful feelings that put troubling considerations into perspective.  Is this why so many work with hand-stitching?

I wonder how big is the recycling fabric movement?  Can’t just be me and a few others that I know ...

Nature Day

When I logged on this morning, I was planning on posting a photo of my Recycle Cloth, which I started after being inspired by Jude Hill, grace Forrest and others.  First I enjoyed my usual browsing of blogs, and then I found one new to me, Sweetpea Path (link http://sweetpeapath.blogspot.com.au/).   Sweetpea Path has such fond emotions showing in these photos.
       I felt so close to the emotion Christi was expressing I wanted to share a photo of my beloved cat Tibs - which one?  Finally decided on this, because she is so appealing curled up on the chair in my sewing room on a day when it was too hot to be outside.

Then I had to post this beautiful hollyhock growing in a garden nearby, which I passed on my morning walk. It is a deep reddish purple, stunning.  

Deepest purple hollyhocks in a nearby garden

When you are feeling strong emotions about something, nature has a way of calming - shows me the way.   Sometimes you have to go with the flow and change your plans because it feels right - agreed?

Making Changes

This week has been about making changes in the way I look at things.  I started off by understanding vaguely that I was in overdrive on the artwork front, feeling scattered because I was trying to work on too many projects at once.  I re-read an article on Change from ArtBizBlog which I now can't find online but luckily printed off.  Then when I was in Adelaide and stopped for my cappuccino time, I took out my journal and started writing how I was feeling.  As I wrote, I got into the scattered feeling and started to write about my priorities, realising I was not working on those things as much as on unimportant things.  Once I had journalled about it I could change what I was doing.  I looked at Jude Hill's blog Spirit Cloth and grace Forest's blog windthread and found the change I was looking for, that is,  I became conscious that much as I now love and enjoy working with books and papers, I don't want to let go of working with textiles - so I am bringing textiles back into my personal creativity which I will share with you later.  On windthread I found a post that changed my whole concept of weaving.  I always thought of weaving as humdrum, flat, and uninspiring.  This post shows such a different perception that I am utterly inspired by it and want to incorporate it into my new piece - no I'm not scattering, this is the personal piece that I won't be using in a book form.

One way in which I thought I could change would be to try out the Picasa photo program that is on my computer.  I took an old photo, of a silk embroidery from a couple of years ago, and in Picasa changed it to Neon.

Silk embroidered Gouldian Finches and Ulysses Butterfly

 Cool!  How different is that?

The meaning of art and craft

Out for a walk by the river at 6am today (already 25 degrees Celsius, forecast 40, which is over 100 Farenheit) found this piece of bark below a gum tree.  I loved it because it shows that "creased" effect they get around where branches form, where the bark looks like a stocking falling down.  Gums lose bark every year.  It's a great surface for kids to paint on.

Before the day became too hot and I retired to my book to read, I worked on some pages for a book called Layers of Meaning.  I stopped myself from writing what it all meant when I remembered this post by Aloquin, where she reminds us that art doesn't have to have a meaning, it can just be art (or craft).  Aloquin has some interesting posts - I've only just discovered her blog - it's worth going to the link and then catching up on other posts.

Do you, the blog reader, also feel you have to justify what you make with a specific meaning, or a reason for creating it at all?

Hen Party

Couldn't resist it .....

Time to waste online

Now that I have finished at college, I am enjoying having Mondays at home, where I can spend time doing what I want.  In practice, what I want usually turns out to be spending time surfing the net, before looking at my weekly plan (yes, I do one most weeks) and picking out the task I want to do most - usually artwork of some kind.  Other tasks don't always get done or not for some time.  This week I'm making another book, in which I retell fairy stories with my own twist - I don't always agree with the endings of the traditional fairy tales, so when I tell them to children I make the endings fair.  That's what I'm doing in this book.  All the characters in the book are played by my own chooky sketches - I'm getting better at drawing them in different situations so I thought I'd extend that into a book.  This is a paper book but I recently put my chookys into a scroll made of tea-dyed leftover calico; after some reverse applique (recycled blouse fabric)  and colouring with crayons, topped by cretan stitch embroidery, and using dowel found along Linear Park, I decided it was interesting enough to post on my website.  You can see it, with details, here at this link.

Chooky Scroll, detail of the beginning

Being a chook fan, you can imagine how pleased I was in my net-surfing to find this watercolour (scroll through the images at the bottom to find the chicken) of a chicken on the website of Heather Holland, a local artist I met recently through Port Community Art Centre.

Suburban birds in Adelaide

Yesterday I heard a bird chick calling from above - and up on the power lines, an Eastern Rosella was feeding it's chick - you know, the movement they make shifting food from the crop into the beak that looks like they are heaving, then they transfer it into the beak of the chick.  Never seen this species do it before, so I reached for my phone to take a photo - left at home!!!   Blast!!!  Birds are such a constant part of life in the suburbs, wonderful to see so many about.  A fairly new magazine here in Australia is Australian Wildlife Secrets, and their blog has some fascinating information about dealing with bird emergencies, such as birds in chimneys, entangled in string and wire, fledglings falling into crevices, broken legs even.  Scroll down from the paragraphs at the beginning to reach this info.

http://blog.wildlifesecrets.com.au/animal-guide/birds/living-with-birds/

I love chickens and often sketch them, in a naive style, in different situations - anthropomorphic, not realistic.  As I'm keen to recycle rather than keep buying, I rescued a discarded Chux cloth from the washing up and stitched this Chooky running on to it.  I used cotton embroidery floss, 3 and 6 strands; I always used colours for my Chookys.

I drew this one straight onto the Chux cloth though I usually use a sketchbook - does this mean I am becoming more confident in my sketching?

Slowing down

Jude Hill's blog always inspires me to sit and stitch, just quietly, making a point to calm the mind.  Have a look at it here and see what I mean. It is somehow restful.  I think it's essential to sometimes just sit quietly and let our brain have a rest; it takes conscious thought to do that, whereas it is all too easy to let our brains run on and on so that we get fed up with the constant stream of slush going through our head.
Now here is a peaceful scene, on a blog from Grace Forrest.


Time to get back to some stitching.

Feathers

One of my loves and inspirations is feathers.  I spend as much time looking at the ground for feathers as I walk as I do looking up in the trees for birds.  Last year when I was making a bag I embellished it with three types of feathers - beaded, real feathers, and a kantha feather.  Another feather I made a few weeks ago was from a piece of silk.  I drew a line down the centre of an imaginary feather with a gel pen, then cut it out and frayed all the edges with a pin.  It looks really lovely.

Silk feather

This is the "feather made of feathers" ...

Feathered Feather

It is rested on a piece of recycled flanellette sheeting that I dyed for the project - wonderful random warm colours.

Care of Feathers for Collectors:

In search of info on this topic, I found this page on EBay about caring for feathers, and I am linking to it for your interest.  Another thing I was told by someone is to always freeze feathers overnight (in a plastic bag, not on the shelf!) and this will kill any bugs on them - remember that one of the reasons birds shed feathers is because the wildlife on them is getting too itchy.

Another face

After looking through my Dye Unit Folder for more inspiration, I found this mop-up cloth - originally a piece of calico dyed with leftover orangey dye, then I used it to mop up all the little bits of dye left around inside my containers.  I didn't see the face until I heat-set it with the iron.  By the way, if you have an old iron it is better to use that for heat-setting dyed or painted cloth, otherwise you are forever cleaning your iron before using it on your best white blouse - and there's always a dot of red left behind on the iron from the dye or paint anyway, no matter how much you clean it!

Squinting Face

After looking through my "Faces" posts, I looked to see what else I could find online about faces - here is a post about an artist "Terry Grant"  painting faces on art quilts.  It is from 2005 but still rather interesting.  The second link shows some more of this artist's work.

Nature Photography and Encaustic

Yesterday I went to see the ANZANG Nature Photography Exhibition at the SA Museum - stunning photography, and I encourage you to have a look at the Museum page with the entries, link below - the picture at the top changes to show some of the photos in the exhibition.  Seeing the whole exhibition is even better.  http://www.anzang.samuseum.sa.gov.au/ 
My own nature photography is very amateur though I have taken a few good ones - this is one I took of a gecko trying to escape from the house while my husband hosts it.

Another thing I did yesterday while I was in Adelaide was to buy myself an encaustic wax set - has the wax, the special iron, the stylus, the paper - we had a fascinating demo at college recently and I spent a couple of hours using the college set, learning this new skill.  As I used the results in a journal cover for the Pepper Street exhibition next year I can't show you them but on accessing the website listed in the encaustic booklet I found a YouTube video showing cool techniques with a hotplate - oh no, something more to save up for, looks so wonderful to work with ...... here is the link for the video - 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDQaOuWjOLM

New look blog

I've been discovering how to customise my blog - adding pages, altering the sidebar and so on.  I have just this minute redone the two new pages so you might like to browse.

Another chooky

Fascinating - shells upon shells upon shells ...

On Saturday I had the opportunity to visit my eldest son's new home which is close to an Adelaide beach.  After a tasty lunch we went for a beach walk and one of the shells I found is called a razor shell.  It is a sort of triangle with rounded edges.  I have put in a link so you can read about it.  The fascinating thing about it was that it had a clam shell adhered to it, and small other types of shells adhered to that, and so on for several layers.  Then when you turn it to face you, there is a monster face!

Razor fish shell

Look closely to see the sea monster - once you pick out the eyes you can see the face

Chookys and thread waste

After looking at the bag of thread waste hanging off my sewing table, seeing it get so full and I have another full bag in the drawer - decided to use it in a pic.  I've been sketching my Chookys again and have just sketched Singing Chooks - see below.

I traced this sketch onto tracing paper as a pattern and free machined it onto some tea-dyed calico.  Two layers for stability.  I used various colours of thread to match my sketch.  I always draw my Chookys in different colours each time; partly to give them all individual characters but also because I want to.  The last 2 years that I have spent studying Visual Arts at Marden have freed me up from artistic constraints.  This is the Singing Chookys in free-machining and waste thread.  I like the way they dance and the thread waste gives them movement, looks like it's flying around.

I have already made one book of Chookys, which you can't see until the Marden Cert 4 Exhibition next April at Pepper Street Gallery, but I am thinking of making a textile version now.

Browsing through some lovely hand-made artist book sites - love this:
http://www.cecilia-letteringart.com/artistbooks/dineke_basscoastdog.htm

Dyed paper

This is one of the papers I tie-dyed below, with a random string tie - I think one of the images looks like Catwoman and the one before it on the left, which was the sheet that I unpeeled from Catwoman, looks like a splayed-out cat!  Any one else think the same?

Making a journal from recycled papers and covers

First, another bird photo from Linear Park, Adelaide - an Eastern Rosella.

Just a thought - birds are inspiration - birds keep moving - keep the inspiration moving by watching birds - I used to go roller skating like Cherry the Chook but now I go for walks along by the river and get my inspiration from all the birds there.  Such beauty in everyday sights.

Cherry the Chook on roller skates - Cherry is my personal phoenix, a chook that I draw in many different poses.

This is the front page/endpaper of a journal I have just made.  This one I decided to make entirely from recycled things.  I bought a hardcover children's book in the charity shop and removed the text block to use later.  The cover is in good condition.  For the paper inside, I took from my recycle box old A4 notebook pages with notes I no longer need, and A4 paper with stuff I had printed from the computer but that I had now updated and again, no longer needed.  I can't throw away paper only printed on one side anymore.  The notepad paper was a bit thin but by the time I had painted it all with acrylic paints that I had leftover from last year's Fabric Painting class, that thickened it up a bit.  Some sides I left unpainted for variety.  I used lots of different colours and let them mix, and let them pick up paint that had transferred to my plastic sheet.  I used rollers for all of it.  The effects were great, and I will post more pix on my website when I update the Book Arts Page - currently working on that and hope to have it up and running by the end of October.  I still made it using Flat Back instructions (for strength) from Keith Smith, my favourite book artist, in his book "Bookbinding for Book Artists".  I have used this book so much since I bought it, it is very detailed and not just instructions in it but also photos of artist books.  Worth every cent of $35 U.S.

I will have more pix on my Book Arts Page once it is updated, hopefully by the end of October.

Bread tag art

I'm not the only fan of recycling bread tags as you will see shortly.  First a pic of my bread tag emu -

I used only white bread tags on a background, with black tissue paper on a piece of card; from that I cut out my emu running shape and placed over the tags.

http://www.smh.com.au/entertainment/about-town/artist-finds-beauty-in-the-plastic-bread-tag-20110701-1gtxt.html This link goes to a page that is fascinating - have a look.

Another Tuesday post

David the (possible) Goliath Stick Insect

A bit more on my visit to the Adelaide Zoo - I'm not absolutely sure (there was no sign on it) but I think this is a Goliath Stick Insect.  It was certainly big enough, about 20cm/8" long.  Quite fascinating.  I gave him a name which was a bit obvious but he is rather cute.

Just some of a large quantity of dyed paper

I took advantage of our spring weather to dye some paper last week.  Some was white tissue paper and cardridge paper and some was brown paper bags (mainly Subway).

I wanted some solid(ish) colours which was the brown paper bags, and with the sheets of white tissue I dropped drops of contrasting colours on the dye-painted sheets to give random effects.  I started dyeing paper after I bought a little book from the charity shop called Tie-Dyed Paper, by Anne Maile.  It took my previous dyeing experience of fabric a step further, and as I now make books, journals and bookmarks, this technique is getting used quite a lot.  I tried to find out more about Anne Maile but couldn't.

I used Procion dyes which I get from Kraftkolour who I find to be extremely helpful, over the phone or email, and quick to deliver your order.  Remember these are not natural dyes but chemicals so you must be careful to use gloves; having said that, I have never had any problems with them.  You must wear a dust mask when making the dye powder up into liquid to avoid breathing the dust, but once in liquid form just wear gloves.  It takes ages to wear off skin - I speak from experience!  Procion dyes have wonderful bright colours in many shades.  I store the excess in plastic bottles left over from liquid soap, and it lasts for ages, ready to reuse.  I think there is a time limit once it is liquid but I have stored it for months and used it and it's been fine.

Inspiration at the Adelaide zoo

A trip to the Adelaide zoo produced some beautiful feathers on the ground - and a close encounter with a very tame Red-tailed Black Cockatoo, one of our native beauties.  This parrot flew close to all visitors and perched next to them until they stroked him.

Birds are such inspirational creatures to me; I have often embroidered them in a traditional manner and now I'm looking at ways to interpret them in a more contemporary fashion.  I have started using the larger and longer feathers that I find as bookmarks, by stitching some strong thread through the quill twice, and sewing the top to the book itself, on the spine, or if a spiral bound journal, attach to the spirals easily enough.

The three middle feathers are Eclectus parrot; the others I don't know

Sustainability

One of my most important concepts in my work and my life is the issue of recycling/upcycling.  Apparently someone called   Reiner Pilz of Pilz first used the term upcycling as opposed to recycling, because recycling often means smashing up items to remake them into something of less value.  Upcycling as a term means giving an item more value by reusing it in a different way.
With recycling/upcycling comes sustainability - for our own personal resources and cash, for the beautiful planet we live on.  There is much in our daily art and craft practice that we can reuse.  When we experiment with a technique and hate the result, we can use that as the backing layer for something else.  If we print an article that we decide is irrelevant after all, we can upcycle those pages into a trial run for a folded book.  You get the idea.  My own favourite is using bread tags as beads - yes those little plastic things around the top of the plastic bread bag.  More and more plastic, but this is something I collect and use to hang from the spine of my journal.  Use heat-protective gloves when heat-gunning; they curl up beautifully, singly or in groups.  Or use them as they are because even a small heat gun uses up electricity.

Bread Tag Beads, heat-gunned

I have been inspired often by re-reading the following post on "Slow Cloth".
http://www.handeyemagazine.com/content/slow-cloth
Jude Hill (Spirit Cloth) and Elaine Lipson (Red Thread Studio) are two artists who use and promote Slow Cloth principles, which you can read in HandEye above.

Phoenix - am I obsessed?

How much time do I spend thinking about the phoenix before it is classed as an obsession?  It's been in my head for months though this is only my second (I think) post about it.  When I was working on my Bird Art book for my Visual Arts Cert 4 earlier this year, I wanted to go more into the phoenix but didn't have time right then.  Now I do have time and I've been making sketches, and researching the myths.  I think one of the things that I found quite wonderful was how it used to be believed implicitly that there was such a bird, just that no-one you ever knew had seen one.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoenix_(mythology)
This was one of the first sites I found when I started researching.  The symbolism for rebirth and renewal is something that I find fascinating, reflecting as it does my own artistic change from traditional to contemporary, and from set ways of working to being much more open in my attitudes to different approaches to art and craft.  Bookmarks - I have collected them for some time, being an avid reader, mostly they are card rectangles; after finding some online websites for bookmarks exhibitions such as
http://www.miragebookmark.ch/be_0_exhibition.htm
I started experimenting - letting out my Inner Phoenix - and produced this:

Hand Made Silk Paper with Bouganvillea bracts and running stitch in silk floss

Hand Dyed Silk and Organza strips, running stitch in silk floss