January projects...

It's gloomy outside, the allotment is underwater and the house looks a little sad without it's winter decorations, so rather than sit down and get on with the terrible pile of paperwork (that I MUST tackle)  I've decided to spend some time printing up some bright, cheery cushion covers instead.

I printed a set of curtains at the end of last year and it is now essential that I fully accessorize with matching everything.  I think as I get older I am more and more confidant in making my house more and more childish and playful and not pretending to be a grown-up...some may say it is not mature confidence at all, but instead yet another delaying tactic to avoid the paperwork, but we shall see...

Today - fun and creative projects
Tomorrow - dull figures and adding up and lots of cups of tea...

don't look if I normally give you a Christmas present...

I've been printing on fabric a lot this week --- I've printed a very large number of birds on my bedroom curtains, which has been good fun and as usual taken over a large part of the house as they've needed a big space to dry/cure for several days.    This project has taken precedence over all other activities as it is very important to have birds on curtains, more so than having meals at sensible times or somewhere to eat them.

Now the birds are done I've moved on to spider lavender bags and padded christmas decorations, which with rain tipping down and a fire in the stove are proving a very addictive way of spending an evening...

I know I've got a lot of paperwork that I should do some time very soon, but I've just got a few more spiders to sew first.

Printing with leaves - it's autumn you know..

I've been printing fabric with blocks made from oak leaves from our local park and it is just such fun!

First, leaf collecting is compulsive - finding the perfect specimens (not too crispy, not too mushy, similar size to all its friends...) and it is really hard to decide that you have enough and should stop collecting now.  Picking them straight from the tree is not permitted, some would say that it is cheating, this is an Autumn leaf project NOT an any old time of year thing...

Second, gluing them all to make printing blocks - that is fun too, do I need to explain?  Gluing leaves to card, theraputic, satisfying and you get to peel all the glue of your skin at the end, keeping you occupied while the leaf blocks dry out.  Maybe have a cup of tea while pulling the glue/skin layer off?

Third, rolling ink all over leaves - this is art all by itself isn't it?  The leaves were a really good colour already but I do like green and making my very own leaf green was a good thing (my picture makes these look greeny black, but they aren't in real life, they are zing green, my very own shade)

Fourth, printing on fabric - good fun, great results and very hard to stop.  How many metres of leaf fabric do I NEED?  But look, every print has subtle differences, little nuances so I must continue all day until the leaves have had enough and I have enough fabric to upholster a tree or maybe a whole woodland.

Fifth, return to woods/park/wilderness to collect more leaves....

Fabric printing - happy fish

Printing on fabric and then filling it with stuffing is very satisfying and also very distracting.  Other work I should be doing is struggling to compete with the thrill of stuffed animals.

I'm sure this fish is very friendly and to me he looks like a happy fish, but several people have commented on his very sharp teeth - it's not his fault and he promises not to use them on your fingers, he really is happy, you see.

I made him in one of those blurry moments of activity when you suddenly think "I'm going to print a bright green fish NOW, even though I should be helping my children with their spellings, and nothing will stop me, even a house with not one inch of clear space to work or the fact that there is nowhere to dry them...it will be done".

Because these are prints I can never stop at one, or even two and now I'm going to spend the rest of the summer sewing up the other members of the shoal (and all his hedgehog friends, we have a LOT of hoglets in our house at the moment - more on that later, because you can have one too...)

But for now I'm going to have to stop printing animals and get on with some REAL work, because the summer holidays are coming, (hooray, hooray) and I have two commissions to finish first. Maybe I'll just sew another fish first, because I have got some really nice watery fabric that will make a great back...

fabric block printing a dress

Last weekend I ran a workshop on block printing fabric at a Bristol craft shop.  As part of the workshop we collaborated on a block printed girls dress and it came out so well, I was really pleased with it!  The dress is still waiting to be sewn up but I couldn't wait to show you how the material came out, brightly coloured and with a rough 'nature' theme on unbleached cotton - perfect for a summers day... when we have one I'll post a piccie of the finished frock.