Experiments in rusting.

I've been wanting to have a go at transferring rust to fabric for a while, since I found out it could be done, so now I've finally given it a go and here are the results. 

I mixed three parts vinegar with one part water and soaked my fabric in it. I had some plain fabric, some patterned, some lace and some ribbon. I think you're meant to use white vinegar, but I didn't have any so I used ordinary vinegar instead. It seemed to work very well though. If you're trying this, you might want to do it outside ~ the vinegar can create quite a strong smell.  :o)

After a few minutes, I put the fabric on an old rusted piece of metal making sure it was all in contact with the rust.

I put the whole lot in a plastic bag, leaving it open for the air to help in the process, then left it for a day.

After the day in the bag, I washed my fabric, dried and ironed it and it turned out like this:

It works on cottons and synthetics, so you can rust whatever you want; fabric, ribbons, metal buttons or other metal objects to use in the project. It's quite fun to do as well. Now I just have to decide what to make with my rusted fabric.

Anything rusty can be used to achieve this effect. I think it gives a lovely colour and the patterns it creates on the fabric are completely random, so you don't quite know how it will turn out, which is really exciting.

If you would like to find out more about rusting, you can find it by clicking here: createmixedmedia.com/make/rusting-fabric-and-trims 

May/Beltane and the Herald of Spring

May is here already. Where has this year gone? One minute we're eating Easter eggs, the next we're dancing round maypoles. No, I don't really do that. :o)

May day is traditionally a celebration of spring and the coming summer, known as Calan Mai in Welsh. It is also called Beltane, a name which goes back thousands of years. The native British Celts celebrated the beginning of summer with bonfires symbolising the sun and its growing strength. There were various rituals involved, including one where they would build two fires and drive their animals between them in a cleansing ritual. They saw fire as a purifier.

So, to celebrate this time of year, here are some of my photos and drawings of tulips, as tulips are the first flowers, along with daffodils, to appear. This has lead to them being called the Heralds of Spring. Anyone who saw my Twitter posts this time last year might remember that I had a bit of an obsession with the tulips growing in my garden. :o)

I'd planted loads of bulbs the previous year, so it was wonderful to see them springing up and providing lots of colour along with pollen for bees. Here is one with raindrops on it. I don't know what it is about droplets on flowers but I think they look beautiful.

 

When I was a child, I used to trail behind my parents at garden centres saying, "Can we go now?" My mother would reply with "In a minute." That minute seemed to stretch out for ages.  :o)
It was one quite a boring thing for me at the time, though having said that, I did enjoy helping my parents in the garden when they were planting flowers. Now, I actually like going to garden centres to see all the plants on display and choose ones I like, particularly if they're good for bees and butterflies.

 

 

I love these tulips with the red streaks. They remind me of raspberry ripple ice cream.  :o)

There is a lot of symbolism with flowers. Tulips mean perfect love, fame, eternal life, opportunity, adjustment, advancement and aspiration. As they grow back every year, they are symbolic of resurrection and determination and they also represent attainment of spiritual awareness.

The colours of tulips vary their meaning, for example, red means love; pink means affection; yellow: cheerful thoughts or unrequited love, depending on where you look. Purple is symbolic of royalty; cream means 'I will love you forever'; white is symbolic of heaven and purity. The variegated ones are meant to mean 'You have beautiful eyes'.

You can find more on flower meanings by clicking HERE, HERE and HERE 

My mother bought some cream tulips to put in a vase a while ago and I ended up drawing them. I think the lovely thing about them is that they're not fussy, they have a simple shape and elegant form that let the colour do the talking.

I've begun painting tulips too. This is my first test painting.

 

I'm really interested in the symbolic nature of flowers because it brings more meaning to the art work they're in. It's not just a flower or plant that's represented, it's an emotion or message. The Pre~Raphaelites used symbolism in their paintings, such as the ivy in the image below, which adds to the story they were telling in each picture, showing the situation of the figures involved. Ivy is symbolic of the eternal. 

 

 'April Love' 1855~56 by Arthur Hughes

May this season be a good one for you. 

Influences on my work no.2 ~ Animals

This is the second installment of the things that influence my creativity. If you haven't seen the first, you can find it by clicking HERE 

I've loved animals all my life. I realised a long time ago that they bring light and love into life and now they bring light and colour to my work. 

The animals that grace our world are so beautiful. They have patterns and colours in amazing designs and combinations and offer an endless source of inspiration. The tropical birds, for example, are brightly coloured and are an artist's dream to draw or paint. But even what we think of as dull coloured birds have colour. Starlings and magpies are not just black or brown or black and white. They both have a sheen to their feathers which glimmers an emerald green. I haven't yet painted these birds, but I plan to. In fact, I've embarked on a personal mission to draw as many animals as I can! :o)

I have quite a collection of feathers which I've picked up over the years, most of which have come from the birds that frequent my garden. I have countless woodpigeon feathers, blackbird feathers, a jackdaw feather and even a flamingo feather. No, I haven't had a flamingo in the garden. I got it from the Wildfowl and Wetlands Centre in Llanelli where they have a flock. Years ago, I needed feathers for a project I was working on during my degree so I went there to find some. I had a paper bag full. I couldn't quite reach the flamingo feather, so my mother, who was with me, reached right over to pluck it from the ground (not the bird! They were all feathers that had fallen off). I thought she was going to fall into the flamingo area with her legs in the air and I'd have to pull her out. Luckily, she didn't. Also luckily, she was wearing trousers! ;o)

 This is some of my work from that time. A print of feathers from a lino cut I did.

It's not only tropical birds that are colourful, of course. Puffins are gorgeous with their brightly coloured bill. They're also cute in the way they walk! Here's my drawing of a puffin.

And here's my painting of it.

 

As I'm talking about birds, here's my drawing of a barn owl. I think these are amazing birds. They can fly silently but the downside of that is their feathers aren't waterproof, so they can't fly in the rain.

And this is my rough sketch watercolour of a king fisher ~ another beautiful British bird. See? Our country is not dull ~ colour is there if you look for it.

As I said at the beginning, I love animals ~ all animals. To me they are beautiful souls who we should be grateful to share the earth with. I have had the privilege of sharing my life with three cats and a dog. If you've seen my blog before, you'll know I lost my beloved Rusty recently. I still miss him and wish he was still here. I've shown you this drawing before, but here he is again.

This is my other cat, Boots.

I sometimes wish that I could take all the animals which are in danger or are being treated badly in the world and look after them, keep them safe. We have taken over so many of their habitats and destroyed them, but we should be taking care of them. Animals don't destroy their own environment. They live in harmony with it, something we very often fail to do and they only kill to eat, to survive. 

I feel a deep connection with animals. The natural world is wonderful. Watching wildlife reminds you that there are other souls in the world trying to survive and get on with their lives, reminds you that you are part of a bigger picture.

I heard recently on TV that the hunter~gatherer humans who lived thousands of years ago would have considered the animals around them to be almost like brothers and sisters. They were much closer to the natural world and knew they were part of it. They gave thanks to the animals they hunted for giving their lives so the humans could survive. It's such a shame that we have lost the feeling of being among the animals ~ that so many people feel disconnected from nature and see animals as "things" rather than sentient beings which can feel pain and fear. 

We were wild once. We lived within nature, in caves and forests. Now we're cooped up in buildings and unless you're someone who actively goes to spend time in nature, we feel separated from everything else.
 

Yet in a way, those hunter~gatherers were correct: we are connected to animals. To quote Professor Brian Cox from his book Wonders of Life written with Andrew Cohen,

"All life on Earth is related - connected through our genetic code".

We share DNA with all animals ~ 99% with chimpanzees, 98.4% with gorillas, 97.4% with orangutans and with monkeys like macaques we share 94.9% of the same DNA. We're even related to plants. Prof Brian Cox explains further:

"... this journey can continue all the way back in time through our common ancestors with birds, reptiles, insects and bacteria, and no matter how seemingly unrelated to us these creatures become, we will still find sequences in the genetic code that are identical to the sequences in our human cells."

We're all in a big family tree! :o)

So, I hope you see why I love animals so much and why they inspire my art. They are beautiful and as precious as humans. I try to capture some of that beauty in my work.

From my drawings, I intend to paint these animals, as I have with the puffin, and also intend to translate those paintings into fabric to create pieces of textile art celebrating animals in all their diversity. I hope that whoever sees my work will enjoy it and it will inspire love for animals in others. If it makes people consider animals and their importance to us, along with how we treat them and look after them, even better ~ I'd be really happy.




 


Information from 'Wonders of Life' by Professor Brian Cox and Andrew Cohen. Published by HarperCollins.


 

Time Flies ~ Vintage Rose

Here is the 'Time Flies ~ Vintage Rose' version of the 'Purple Rose' I showed you last time. (See here.)

It was inspired by the same ideas as the purple version but this was based on old sepia photographs, fading handwriting in letters and memories of the past, of things that are no more.  

It was basically made to the same pattern as the last one, except I used a distress vintage spray to colour the fabric, the rose was printed in white and I used gold on the petal edges. 

I've also hand sewn the edges with a thread that has some sparkle to it. 

 

I printed the butterflies and script with a deep brown and the words 'Time Flies' with a white~gold mix.

 

The 'old gold' square around the rose was painted with a mix of gold and burnt umber acrylic.

 

Then I dyed lace with tea and painted patches of it with a mix of gold and white to give a more mottled, aged appearance. I sewed the lace on with machine embroidery around the edges of the square with an 'Old Gold' shade of thread and used the same pattern on the hanging strips.

As a last touch before sewing it all together, I painted the lace with Champagne glamour dust, so as the light hits it, it glitters and sparkles. I think you can just about see it in the main image. (I love a bit of sparkle!)
 
 

Finished Piece: 'Time Flies~Purple Rose'

Well, Easter is over and I'm stuffed full of chocolate. :0)

I've also finished my work in progress which I shared with you a while ago, so here it is:

I've called it 'Time Flies~Purple Rose' because it was inspired by old lace, mottled fabric and the timeless quality of the rose. I hoped to represent the passing of time, slightly faded objects, the idea of things that were once new but have mottled and are beginning to wear away. There's also the idea of looking back, wistfulness for the past.

I began by colouring the background fabric, then I splattered paint over it to create the mottled effect. I printed the rose in the centre, then the butterfly and script around it, along with the words 'Time Flies'.

After that, I painted metallic paint on the edge of the petals and hand sewed them with metallic thread to give lustre to the rose. (Also because I like shiny things :0) )

I applied some purple foil in a square around the rose to act as a kind of frame, making the rose the focal point.

I painted strips of lace with varying shades of red, blue and purple, again to give a mottled, slightly faded look.

Then, I machine embroidered the lace in place around the foil square.

I made strips and embroidered them with the same pattern at the edges and then sewed the whole thing together with the backing fabric.

I'm working on another one now in the same style but a different colour; a 'Vintage Rose'. I hope to show you that one soon.

I hope you're having a good start to spring and the sun is shining for you. :0)

Happy Easter

Spring has definitely sprung now. I've seen the first bees of the year buzzing around in my garden. Here's one on a crocus.

You can see the yellow balls of pollen on her legs. They looked like little trousers! 

The birds are still working away at their nests. Monty and Mabel magpie have added their conservatory and now they're bringing soft materials in to pad it out. Their nest is so big, I can't see either of them when they're in it. William and Wilma woodpigeon are feeding themselves up with the seed I put out for them. No sooner do I leave the garden than they're there pecking madly at it. Usually, one flies down first, then the other barges in.

It's lovely waking in the morning to hear the birds singing. Robbie robin is usually the first I hear, then there's the chorus of chattering sparrows. If I named all of them I'd be here forever. 

I've been awake very early to hear the dawn chorus because I haven't slept very well the last few nights due to back pain. That's also why it's been a while since my last post and I haven't able to sew. Fortunately, I've seen a physiotherapist who gave me some exercises to do and I've had strong painkillers from my doctor, which have really helped. I've managed to do some drawing, the results of which you'll see soon.

Meanwhile, here's a bunny to say happy Easter!

 Easter seems to have come around very quickly. For me, it doesn't seem that long since Christmas, but then the Easter eggs have been in the shops since January.

We've also had the Spring Equinox this week, so the hours of daylight will be getting longer, which is lovely. More light, more energy, a time of hope and feeling better, with nature growing and showing us all her colour and diversity. 

I hope you have a happy Easter and enjoy the holiday. (Don't eat too much chocolate!)

Winter Moonlight inspiration

I thought I'd show you something I did a while ago when I was struggling a bit to get any textile work done. I had so many ideas but none of them were making progress because, I think, I was frightened of them going wrong. I'd done a few things but they had come to a halt because I either didn't feel happy with them or couldn't see at the time how to develop them and due to that I think I had this fear that nothing would go right, so I couldn't even touch any of my ideas, even though I really wanted to.

I saw a fabric panel that had been designed by Jill Dian Izzard in the magazine STITCH with the Embroiderer's Guild and loved it so much I had to have a go myself. As it had instructions on how to make it, I didn't need to think about it; I could just follow the points leaving my mind free to enjoy the process.

But, although I followed the design for some things, like the sky being stitched with straight stitch to represent clouds which also rippled the fabric slightly to to add texture, and fraying the fabric to give a soft look, I did change a few things to my own preference.

Here is the finished thing:

The original had leaves on the tree and also a nest with eggs on one of the branches, but I decided to make it a winter scene, so I left the tree bare and, of course, birds don't nest in winter, so I left out the nest.

There was also a shape representing the sun but I left that out too as I wanted it to be a midnight scene, feeling there is something magical about a frosty winter's night.

I decided to make the hills out of pale fabric and added lace to the bottom edge, representing snow, which I stitched over with French knots in white thread.

I painted the lace with silver glitter paint and added clear beads to get the look of frost gleaming in the moonlight and attached some of the same beads to the sky area as well as painting small patches of glitter to look like stars.

Working on this seemed to alleviate my fear, proving to myself that I could do my textile art and, in freeing my creativity by not thinking about it too much, it set me on a path to creating the the things I'm working on now. 

With all this talk of winter and the weather we've been having here, it's difficult to think that it's spring. But the birds in my garden seem to be getting ready for it.

The pair of woodpigeons who have been here for ages still have their nest in the tree. I've named them Wilma and William. They had at least one chick last year. 

There is also a pair of magpies who've been building a nest in another tree for a few weeks now and it seems to be huge. I think they've added a conservatory! I've given them the names Mabel and Monty and it's been quite entertaining watching them fly in with long twigs then trying to get them to the nest through the branches.

Then there's the pair of collared doves I see regularly. Guess what their names are!? Clara and Colin. I can't leave out little Robbie who I posted a photo of recently, and his wife Roberta. They're robins, of course. 

The leaves will probably obscure Mabel and Monty's nest soon, but as long as I can see it, I'll keep an eye on their progress. I don't know why some people don't like magpies so much. In the rhyme 'One for sorrow...etc.' it's only bad luck if you see one. More than that and you're ok. After all, they're only ordinary birds trying to get on with their lives, just like us.