Not everything works well

As you know I love to make things and show you the pieces in progress and finished.  But sometimes things don't work out as I might wish.  That has happened to me this week but I thought I would show you anyway.

I made these large collages last year at Committed to Cloth.

They have lived on the spare bed since last October!  Last Saturday I was watching a video from Hilary Beattie in the Saturday Sketchbooks online course and she was making books with large collages she had made.  And I thought it might be a good idea to use the collages I had made.

Wrong!

Two reasons!  

1.  I made them on thin card rather than cartridge paper and it really didn't want to fold.

2.  I used a glue stick rather than gel medium and as I folded the card some of the collage papers came adrift.

To make the books you fold the paper into 4 in one direction and then into 4 in the other direction so that you have 16 rectangles.  Then you cut along proscribed lines.The red ones in this diagram.  Then you fold it concertina style starting from the bottom left rectangle.

I made the first one.  The edges weren't straight.  The folds damaged the collage papers.  I was disappointed.  I managed to salvage it by putting washi tape along all the edges.

I used doublesided tape to tape the pages together.

WIth the second one I cut the original collage down to a square.

Folding this one was even worse.  And I have given up on it.

I was rather reluctant to fold and cut up the third collage but the paper seemed to be stuck down better than the others had been.

I cut it and folded it and stuck the pages together.  What a mess!  It was all skewiff!  The pages don't line up.

And they're not all the same size!

However, I persevered.  I trimmed the pages top and bottom in attempt to tidy it all up.  I found a copy of a gel plate print that I had made some time ago and made it into the cover.

I think the photos probably flatter the last book a bit.  It's not bad but it's not excellent.  However I shall keep it so that when I am demonstrating this technique I can show people what happens when it doesn't quite work out.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Eclectica Exhibition

This Weekend is the British Quilt & Stitch Village show at Uttoxeter Racecourse.   It opened yesterday and closes at 4pm tomorrow.  So plenty of time for you to visit!

I spent yesterday stewarding the Eclectica group's work.  Sarah and her husband did a great job of putting up the exhibition and all the work is fabulous.  Sadly my photos don't do it justice.

And finally my two Venice pieces.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Spring

This month's theme for the ladies photography group was Spring.  The weather has been really odd during these weeks - it's been hot, cold and everything in between.  However I have managed to get outside and take photos rather than use ones from the archive.  Hooray.

I hope you are enjoying the Spring weather.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

A Day Out

Oh yes!  We had a day out.  We really haven't had many in the last 2 years.  We had been inivited to a get together for a friend's 40th birthday in Sheffield.  He and his family live in Munich so it was a great opportunity to catch up.

So we made a day of it.  Roger drove us to a pub in Derbyshire where we had an early lunch and then we visited Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet, an old industrial site which started in the early 1700s.  I have wanted to visit for years so this was great.

And as a bonus, there was lots and lots and lots of rust.

And then there were waterwheels and cogs.  Seventh heaven!

And even an old sewing machine

There were buildings too.  But I'll save those for another post.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Notice What You Notice updates

I'm astounded to find that I haven't updated you on how the Notice What You Notice course with Christine Chester is going. I discovered I haven't updated you this year!

Since that's several months, I'm only going to share photos with notes rather than a full on report.

I made a zizag book using images I had manipulated on the computer. 

 I covered both sides

We looked at the work  of different artists using photographs in their work.   One of the other students found the work of Diane Meyer.  You know I would be instantly drawn to her Venice work.

Then I had a go with my photos printed on watercolour paper.  I used a preset stitch on my sewing machine

I printed a photo on Lutradur but when I heated it the photo disappeared.  I layered it on top of some painted paper and then onto printed fabric.  I started handstitching it but decided to machine instead.

We looked at the work of Ismini Samanidou and interestingly each one of us on the course chose a different piece of work that attracted and inspired us.  This is a weaving although to me it looks more like inscribed concrete.

During the class session I worked on dark and light and the idea of using heavy and light amounts of stitching.  However rather than actually stitching I played with crosses on the computer.

Next we are looking at artists and particularly textile artists who use metals in their work.  I'd better go and do my research for it.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice