Coral Embroidery

For WOYWW this week I've been making my own yarn (or cord) for collages.  My friend Jane showed me how to make it, and I made some in a soft but deep red for the work I've been doing on coral - for anyone interested my last two blog posts are about my ongoing 'coral' project. 

 Using an embroidery foot on the sewing machine you simply zig-zag along a fairly thick strand of wool (or several strands), keeping the wool taut front and back.  It's very effective with contrasting cotton threads, or metallic threads and wools. 

You can see the difference between the thick wool and the strands that have been zig-zagged over - I went over some of it twice as I wasn't very even with the zig-zagging - but it was my first attempt!

Work in progress...

 I decided to use some of my cord in a small embroidery that is going in my sketch book. Using embossed velvet as a background, I then used machine embroidery over pieces of vintage lace and crochet, and then machine stitched the thicker yarn I'd made on top.  I still have beads to add, and probably some more embroidery and lace. 

If you would like to know what WOYWW is all about why not pop over there to see what other people have on their desks this week.

Focus On Life - Capturing Colour

This week over at the Studio Sublime Sally asked us to "capture colour in all it's vivid brilliance".  This suited me just fine, as I have a pretty vibrant project going on at the moment - in my last blog post I showed the gelli printing I've been doing around the theme of coral.  I decided to photograph some of the bits and bobs I've been using to transform them from plain prints into pieces of art.

I am loving the colour scheme of red and lilac - it happened quite by accident, starting off as red and blue but with the paint mixing on the gelli plate and roller the blue turned into a lilac colour.  

 I fell in love with these beads a long time ago and have never known what to use them for, they've been waiting for the perfect project!  I'm very pleased they work so well with the prints - a small justification for buying things I really don't need but can't resist!

WOYWW #246 - Red Coral and Gelli Printing

After a long period of artistic inactivity I decided gelli printing might kick-start me again!      I do love coral and have used the theme in quite a lot of art work over the years.  I used some wonderful coral stencils from the Crafters Workshop that I've had for quite a while but not got round to doing anything with (familiar story?), but I am also in the middle of designing and cutting my own as I also want some slightly smaller, simpler coral shapes.  

Why not pop over to WOYWW to have a snoop at other people's desks - it's fun!  

Focus On Life - Collage of Love

The theme for February over at the Studio Sublime has been cabin fever.  This week is all about beating cabin fever and creating a collage of love.

 I have had rather a long stretch of artistic inactivity, but the greyness of winter, the appalling weather conditions and the dark, cold evenings have encouraged me to nip off to my studio and make things!  So I decided to photograph some of the little areas of my studio (the not so messy areas actually!). 

I love my space, I love working here and I love the bits and bobs around me that I've collected over the years from flea markets and antique fairs.   

When the lid got smashed my great-grandmother's sugar bowl became my new brush pot! I know the bottle is a bit wonky but it is very sweet and I can't bear to chuck it out!

I have a weakness for anything arranged in colour sequence - I think my OCD tendencies come to the fore when I'm sorting and storing ribbons!  I also have a weakness for sari silk and I like to have jars of certain colours on hand to grab when needed!

Focus On Life - Quiet Calm

This week over at the Studio Sublime we were given the challenge to focus on the quiet calm of the world as it re-energizes around us. 

 I rather liked the way the sun was shining through the leaf of this Senecio Greyi in my garden, showing that beautiful vibrant green surrounded by the heavy frost - actually the plant foliage is usually grey so I don't know where the green came from!

Focus On Life - Getting Outside

This week our challenge over at Focus on Life was to get outside and focus on the change cooler temperatures bring to our surroundings.

I took this photo this morning at our local beach - that's the Isle of Wight in the distance.  After what has felt like weeks of torrential rain today we finally saw a small window of opportunity to get out and enjoy some sunshine - it was cold and blowy but very refreshing - in fact I much prefer the beach in the winter rather than the summer!