Snatching triumph from disaster

Well thats a bit dramatic...but this

was the mess i made when I tried to transfer a pattern to some vilene.
I'd drawn the thing on tracing paper, so when it tore I was a bit stumped (and pressed for time as always) when it hit me

I photocopied the tracing....

and  put the vilene through the printer, printing it directly to the Vilene

Genius!!!  This I'll do again!!!!













And heres the bag I was trying to make.... I'm pleased with it.

And a peek inside......

Printing on Fabric

Olive attended a "print on fabric workshop" with the Embroiderers guild, organised with Seacourt print workshop

 She says  "I think I could get hooked on printing. The embroidery guild had Seacourt along to do the workshops this weekend and I signed up at the last minute on Saturday morning. - Boy did I enjoy myself - I could get hooked very easily on this. Managed to do some intaglio printing, screen printing and relief printing - all on the theme of linen of course. The thing is now what do I do with these wonderful prints.

At least my family didn't say 'what's it meant to be?' when I came home this time."

  

I

A Grand Day Out

After all the rush of preparing for the show , the Ladies treated themselves to a day out- a trip to the new MAC Artcentre in the Cathedral Quarter of Belfast.

Christine says -"It was great to see the exhibition of William Conor & L S Lowry 'A people observed'   but they wouldn't let us take  photos

'Somewhere but here, another other place'. The installation is constructed from jigsaw puzzles which are displayed on stacked domestic tables of various styles, sizes and shapes. Each puzzle shows a different view of the fairytale Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. Olive is on top of the staicase.

Table and four chairs is by an American artist Robert Therrien - they stand almost 10 ft tall. "

It looks like the ladies had fun_ I'm sorry I missed it

 

LINEN IN THE LIBRARY

We gathered in the Cregagh Library  and began unwrapping and sorting,  gossiping and rearranging, and gradually , with the help of our strong- wristed hero, Irvine Miller, chaos receeded and the exhibition took shape.
I was impressed by the sheer breadth of the inspiration of the work, let alone the high techincal standard....

hanging

thanks to  Irvine

careful consideration

we should be very proud!

Should you find yourself in Belfast during April- Come and see our show.

Olive's work

Olive has also sent images of her completed pieces- some lovely handwork on the story cloth.

Olive found this in "Cloth Paper Sissors"

It has a few useful hints for when the good ideas well is running a little dry....

Challenge Your Ingenuity

It's one thing to be creative if you have an unlimited budget but real creativity happens when your resources are limited.

Necessity is the mother of invention, after all.

Besides, upcycling. and re-using is all the rage right now: it's environmentally friendly and economical.

Here are just some ways you can make it work by upcycling.


 
Stamps and stencils

•   Clean out your junk drawer and use some of those found objects as stamps.

•   Inspect before you recycle: would the bottom of that plastic cup make a good impression?

•   Raid the veggie drawer: half a lemon is better than no stamp at all.

•   Make way for doilies: paper or fabric, these make terrific stencils. Consider using only part of them if you don't want a real granny look.

Paints, dyes, and other colorants

•   Acrylic paints can be used to “dye” fabric, especially fluid acrylics whose pigment is intense.

•   Tea and coffee dye fabric and papers beautifully. Experiment with different kinds of teas and coffee intensity.

•  Raid the kids' art cabinet. Of course there's a difference between artist-grade oil sticks, acrylic paints, blendable markers, etc. and the stuff that comes in a set made for kids for £5. But often— and especially when you're experimenting or messing about in your art journal—the difference isn't enough to worry about.

 Fabric and paper

•   Old pairs of jeans, that embroidered top your teen spilled orange juice on, and wool socks with the worn-out heels can all become fodder for a fabric art project.

•   Receipts, especially ones with lots of numbers, make terrific first layers for collage and mixed-media painting backgrounds.

•   Dryer sheets can be painted, cut, and stitched.

•   Plastic bags can be fused, painted, and stitched into wearable art, wall hangings, and more.

•   Abandoned art experiments can be can be upcycled by using them as art journal backgrounds, cut up and rearranged as wall hangings or used in collage, painted over, and turned into mixed-media jewelry.

•                     Old book pages can be used for collage and art journal backgrounds, folded into 3-D art, cut up for text, and more.

Taken from ‘Cloth Paper, Scissors’

Its all good advice.....but I'm not sure about using my old receipts in my work though... the world does not need to know the extent of my red wine and chocolate habit!!!