Sketchbook Work - Beyond the Enclosure

This week for What's On Your Work Desk Wednesday I've been doing a little bit of work in my sketch book - in fact more work on the boundaries and gardens project, using some old gelli prints I did specifically for it.   I also spilled a lovely new bottle of Adirondack Butterscotch ink over the studio table and the front of my sketch book.  Once the swearing had died down and the ink had dried I tried to squish the book closed and found I rather liked the look of the pages with the unintentional splodge - so that explains the bottom photo! 

Silk Paper and Sketchbook Work

On my desk this week are a couple of sketchbook pages I've done using some of the silk paper I made recently - you can see it here.  The ideas are about boundaries and garden history - the background paper is old pianola music - I found several rolls of it in a flea market quite a while ago and have been keen to use it for a project.  The cocoon with the eyelets in it is now squashed since having to shut the sketchbook - should have thought that one through! 

I'm linking up to WOYWW - if you want to see what's on other people's desks this week why not pop over and have a peek!

Teabag Art, Silk Paper and Beyond the Enclosure Project

It's time for WOYWW again and this week I have been using some of the silk paper I made last week, and continuing with an old theme I often come back to about garden history - there are links back to some older work here and here for any one interested.  I have also had a yearning to play about with teabags for quite a while, since seeing a whole table of them drying and waiting to be used over at Shoshi's blog!  

Silk Paper Making

In amongst the chaos of decorating this week I have managed to create some silk paper - I love making it and I'm thinking of using it in the work I'm doing on gardens.  Although there are two different ways to make it, the simplest and cleanest way is to use coccoon strippings (silk that hasn't had the gum removed).  This is laid out thinly, sprayed with water and ironed.   There are good instructions for both types of silk paper making here for anyone interested.

  
In the samples below I've ironed crochet edgings onto the silk to create the embossed effect, added silk yarns and used silk rods to get different effects. 

  

I am linking up with What's on Your Work Desk Wednesday - why not pop over and see what's on other people's desks this week. 

WOYWW - Still Gelli Printing!

I have been continuing working on my gelli prints and have been developing the theme of gardens and enclosures.  I have always had an interest in the history of gardens and I love the idea of them changing from practical enclosures for planting food and keeping animals into areas for pleasure and relaxation. 

The stencil/mask is taken from an image of a Sumerian pictogram on a clay tablet dating from 3000BC.  It's an extremely early representation of a garden with a tree planted in the middle of a triangular enclosure.   

'Beyond the Enclosure'

If any one else is interested in this subject I have found some wonderful information and inspiration from two particular books - Penelope Hobhouse's 'Gardening Through the Ages' and 'The Invention of the Western Garden' by Vercelloni and Vercelloni.

I am linking up with WOYWW - why not nip over and see what's on other people's work desks this Wednesday!

WOYWW and Gelli Printing

At last, after a long period of inactivity I finally have something happening on my work desk, so I decided to join in with WOYWW - why not pop over and see what other people have been up to!

I got my gelli plate out, did some printing, and had a fun afternoon messing about with paint!  I chose a colour scheme loosely based on the two little wooden hearts in the photo - Paynes grey and Neutral grey, Naples Yellow, Burnt Sienna and Portrait Pink - I 'm quite pleased at how they work together.   

The sketchbook page is made up of the leftover bits of prints - I think they show the colour palette quite well.

Some close-up shots of what I have been doing with the gelli prints in my sketchbook.

An almost finished page - it needs something else but not sure what!