Cyanotype printing

 I have been busy collecting the last of the summer blooms and foliage from the garden, and preserving them for cyanotype printing by pressing them.  In contrast to my husband who is head vegetable gardener I am particularly thrilled with the leaves that have been half eaten by pests or struck with disease - the little holes and nibbled and curled bits add so much more to the print in my opinion!

These prints show Brambles, Raspberry leaves, weeds and Tamarisk, and the last two photos show the Tamarisk print before and after rinsing out.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

5 Minute Collages and WOYWW

  This week I've been sorting through art and craft books - some need to go but I have a few that I am keen to read and use as inspiration, so to start me off I have been following the prompts in The Collage Workbook by Randel Plowman.  The first task was to make some 5 minute collages - quite difficult for me as I work very slowly!  However I gathered 'stuff' together - colours that are out of my comfort zone, ephemera that I don't know why I've been keeping, and washi tapes that haven't seen the light of day for years.  I gave myself 20 minutes to make all 4 rather than work on one at a time - I am half way through and should be able to  complete the other 10 minutes by the end of today!  

 I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

 

Making the Most of the Sunshine

 I have been meaning to get some Cyanotype printing done all summer to

replenish my stocks for collage and card making.  Yesterday it suddenly dawned on me as we head towards autumn that I ought to get on with it - the results are better when the sun is at it's highest and strongest, ideally the middle of a summer's day. 

My desk yesterday afternoon was the garden bench and the kitchen sink - I just remembered in time to take some photos!

Out in the sun 'cooking'!

  Foliage removed and ready to rinse

Just starting to turn blue in the bowl of water - the stripes are the shadows of the sun coming through the kitchen blinds!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Card Making and WOYWW

 I've been missing in action for a couple of weeks - nothing interesting going on, just couldn't get myself together enough to craft and post!

However, I have made some cards recently and I also have some leftover backgrounds on my desk waiting to be used up.

I added some foil to a couple of the backgrounds here but it's difficult to see. 

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Enjoying Embroidery

 I've been enjoying the Olympics while stitching - especially now, as anything going on in the Velodrome is by far my favourite and I shall be barely moving from the living room for the next few days!

I have turned a couple of the embroideries into cards and my mini mobile desk is getting more untidy by the day!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

My Mobile Desk!

 My studio has been too hot to work in over the last couple of weeks so I transferred some embroidery bits into a tin lid and that has been my mobile desk!  It's accompanied me around the house and garden letting me settle wherever I want to and although the weather has cooled down a bit, it is currently on the table next to my armchair so I can watch the Olympics!  

In the lid is a jumble of everything I need - embroidery threads in the colours I'm currently obsessed with, some rust printed cotton and cyanotype printed silk that I have torn into squares, plus needlebook and scissors - all set for making card toppers!

I assembled a few cards yesterday with some of the squares but still have quite a few to do. These are in my favourite summer theme of the garden at night. 

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

A Tidy Desk and WOYWW

 It's been an unproductive week craft wise but I have finished sorting through my textiles and pretty much fitted them into the space available - now that's something that doesn't happen very often!  This shelf unit is at the end of my desk where a large trunk of fabric used to stand with a vintage suitcase and decorative baskets on top of it.  Consequently the trunk never got opened as it was such a faff.  This doesn't look as stylish as the trunk but is much more user friendly!  Each box is labelled and despite having a massive clear out you can still see that two large pieces of fabric wouldn't fit anywhere so are wedged around the boxes (top left cube) and the lid won't properly fit on the decorative box (top right cube) as it is stuffed to capacity!  However it's hugely better than it was so I'm happy!!  The tall pile of plastic boxes next to the shelf unit are all for different ongoing projects.

And here's the most boring desk photo you'll see today!  You can see the A1 cutting board and where it  buckled along one edge due to heating something with the heat tool and forgetting to use the heat board - I turned it around and then did exactly the same thing to the other edge - soooooo annoying!

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week.

Moving Away from Neutrals!

 On my desk is a little needlecase I made this week.  Last week I was wanting to move away from the neutral colour palette that I work with so often,  but despite envisaging a bright and colourful week of embroidery, somehow it just didn't happen!   

I'm linking up with Julia over at WOYWW this week