A new piece

Last month I showed you how I had added printed layers to my fabrics for Text Texture Textile.  On Thursday at the session at Littleheath Barn I started a new piece of work using the fabrics.

I started - let's all say it together - by cutting up the fabrics.

Then I started sewing them together - just picking randomly from the pile.

After ironing them I cut them into 6 inch wide strips and 4 inch wide strips.

As each strip grew I pinned them on the wall.

When I got home I pinned them onto the design wall - actually a drop cloth hanging from a wardrobe!

I cut up the larger pieces I had machined together (on the left and right of the above picture) and finished machining all the pieces together.

I'm going to leave it  hanging up for a while so I can think about what I shall do next.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Tips for making a book

When I was awake in the early hours of Saturday morning, I was trying to work out how to make the pages I've made that I showed you in A Venetian Return into a book.

I realised that I don't really do things in the most logical order so I thought for my benefit, and for anyone who finds it useful, I would jot down here a more useful and logical way to go about things.

Make decisions before you start!
I tend to just start without really thinking what I want the end result to be!

Size and shape
Decide what size you want your finished book to be.  A4, A5, A6?  Do you want it to be portrait or landscape?

Paper
What sort of paper are you going to use?  Or maybe you're going to make a fabric book!

Pages
Do you want the pages to be all the same size?  Do you want neatly cut edges or torn and distressed edges?

Colour scheme
Are you going to choose a limited palette or use whatever comes to hand?

Theme
Is you book going to have a theme or just have random pages?

Binding
How are you going to put the book together?  Use signatures sewn together?  Use book rings or ribbons through punched holes?

Make the book first?
Are you going to make the book first and work into it?  Or just make pages and put them together?

There are many other questions to ask yourself, but this is probably enough to be going on with.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

A Venetian Return

I found this blog post by Jenny Marples on the Paper Artsy blog.   It spoke to me.  I loved it and had to have one of my own.

But as I followed along I realised that actually I don't like things to look like something.  I don't 'do' realism.  But I started off the way Jenny suggested.  I put gesso on A4 watercolour  paper.

I used my gel plate to print on deli paper

printer paper

wet strength tissue paper

I glued whole pieces of the painted papers onto the watercolour paper that will be the covers of my book

I tore up bits of the painted papers and glued them on.

However everything looks a bit too green. And there's possibly too much gesso!

I moved on to using stencils and rubber stamps.

I used an Inktense Charcoal Grey water soluble pencil to suggest stonework and added water.

I added a piece of something I found in my stash - I'm not sure what to call it but it's sort of string!

When I'm working on something like this, I tend to do little bits to each page rather than work only on one page until it's finished.  In addition, I will stamp or stencil or whatever I'm doing on each page and then go away and do something else.  Usually Facebook or read a book.

It maybe several hours or even the next day before I come back to it.  And frequently the pages go through an ugly stage when I don't like them at all.   However I know I can always gesso or collage over a bit I don't like.

At the time of writing this blog the pages look like this:

In an attempt to stop everything looking green, I used some blue paint.  Which is too blue!

The next two photos show the inside of the covers.  I used a heavier weight watercolour paper for the covers.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice