Coaster, Gelli Prints, Drawings, Flowers

I had my first attempt at foundation paper piecing, a coaster made from some leftover scraps.

I had read that everyone makes mistakes when they first try this but I thought I would be careful. They were right, I made mistakes.

Some gelli plate printing. I did do more than these two sheets but these were best of the bunch. I've been cutting up and collaging in a little book which I'll show at a later date.

Practicing drawing bugs with ink pens in a handmade sketchbook

We've a lot of these popping up in the garden at the moment, they must be spreading because I've not planted that many. It's nice to see a bit of colour in the garden.

Joining in with Paint Party Friday

Kangaroos and Place Mats

Some of my floral place mats were looking scruffy so I thought I would try and do something with them rather than throw them away. I recovered them using contact paper in a marble design. I don't know how long they will last because some of the edges were worse than I thought but they do look better.

Bodysuits for Baby and Hippopotamuses

I bought plain white baby bodysuits and decorated them with heat transfer vinyl.

I cut the animals out on my KNK cutter and then used an easy press to adhere them to the bodysuits.

The model for the bunny was a crochet bunny I made a few weeks ago. The teddy and chick were also drawn from scratch but I altered clip art for the zebra and elephant. 

More drawing practice

Happy Paint Party Friday

Crochet and Racoons

Another attempt at crochet, a jacket for baby. 

I used multi coloured yarn and followed a video on you tube.

More drawing practice.

Pangolin

I've sent this postcard to the TAE19 call for artists to help raise funds for art in healthcare.

[Funds raised by TAE19 will enable Art in Healthcare to develop and extend their workshop programme to benefit more people within the healthcare system. All Art In Healthcare’s workshops bring the power of creativity to people in times of need whether in a hospital, care home, community health centre, hospice or any other health care setting. http://twitterartexhibit.org/call-for-artists/] Submission deadlines are not until the 29th April so you could send a postcard too if you liked.

I chose to draw a pangolin because they are the most traffiked mammals in the world. I'd recently seen a TV program about them which I found fascinating.

My first attempt to draw one was on the computer, which I then digitally painted.

 I wanted something a little different so did an ink drawing of it and painted it with bright watercolours. I liked this version but I thought the painting was very messy. I'd used bristol board which is good for drawing on but not so good for painting. So I drew another one and made patterns in ink as shown at the top of the page.

I'm linking with Paint Party Friday

Sharks

More drawing practice. I've used some of the sharks for the digital collage above. The background is a photo of fabric which had been heat transfer printed. I'd used waste paper and a fringe as a resist.

Mandala Patterns

I used to do a lot of mandala patterns on my tablet o use with my cutting machine. Here I've used the patterns to make a digital collage. I used a page from a vintage sewing book I have. It's the same pattern but one has thicker lines.

Recently I have tried using HTV or heat transfer vinyl to cut on the machine. For my first experiment I used various mandala patterns and ironed them on fabric which I then made into a bag. I chose the  colour I liked the least from the pack as it was an experiment. In hindsight I think my pressing area was to soft as it didn't adhere as it should have. Cover your eyes the [awful] colour is so bright.

I also tried the adhesive backed vinyl. I did some lettering for my storage boxes. I found it a nightmare to weed [that is to get rid of the bits of vinyl not required after cutting]

I thought I would try cutting a piece to use as a stencil on fabric. This weeded better and worked well for one use only as a stencil [yellow fabric paint]. I cleaned the paint off the red vinyl but it tore, but I stuck the remainder onto a box in my study anyway.

I'm linking with Paint Party Friday

Sea Lions and Camels

Camels in Death Valley

Drawing practice, still working through the book.