Workshops

Saturday, February 16, 2013

some gelli play - some rugby watching - some....

 I am on a roll with my blog books - 2008 and 2009 arrived yesterday. I am most impressed with them and think they are worth buying - it's intriguing to see my work etc - that is Ken on the right front cover.


I am now onto my 5th page in my Kimberley Dreaming book and because I am working a size, thought I would do some hand stitch etc on flimsie. So I cut two pieces and embellished them together - both sides.


 Second side - I always like the way that the colour works through and hand dyeing of these beautiful prefelts always gives interest. It has a lovely soft feel for stitching onto. I decided to use up all my little offcuts this time so I worked them on the top ready for hand stitching. I spent quite some time this week cutting and rolling our flimsies. I love the ones we have now - they are fine Australian merino but the wool is processed in Italy and then dyed here by Jacinta. I have a big shipment of single colour ones arriving from Italy any day - we only have 7 colours at present and I have been waiting patiently for them to produce the new ones. We will have 21 all up as soon as they are here. It means that you can combine single colours (they are not quite as expensive) and use them not just for wet felting and dry felting but for all sorts of other surface work.


 Looks rather messy and unattractive until you start hand stitching - that makes all the difference. It becomes rather a tactile exercise.


Also been working with cocoon strippings for a purpose - I have made several small sheets of 'fabric'. I like to make it plain and layer it and then work further.

After I made my piece I wanted to experiment a bit so I took the Gelli plate and sprayed it with Starburst sprays. You can see that the spray doesn't sit and move on  the plate like you would expect acrylic paint to.



Then I took one of my new stencils and laid it down on the gelli plate. Picked up the silk paper and laid it on top and used my roller to make sure the colour transferred. I didn't get the sort of imprint you will get with paints but I am pleased with the experimenting. You must always experiment with ideas or who will.


Some of my results.You should be able to see an outline of the stencil. Remember I am not working on paper or fabric but silk paper which absorbs colour differently. I could try coating it before I added the stencil - be an interesting exercise.

Another one with a faint showing of the stencil.


And one I have stitched.  Lots of possibilities here.



In my lunch breaks I have been watching catch up of Rick Stein in Thailand. We love Thailand and have spent lots of time back packing around. We loved the North East and found plenty of hot food to excite us. We have never been to Cambodia but we did see the Paul Keating bridge going there. Love the paw paw salad always hot as. So I really felt like some authentic Thai food the other night - we went to Mae Khong Thai in Morley - we have been there before but not recently  - the first thing we noticed was that the owner had new teeth. the food was fabulous - inexpensive and no corkage. Well worth it.

The Super 15 Rugby has started - watched the Force/Rebels game last night and the Brumbies/Reds tonight (bit of a bore fest). Looking forward to lots of good games. Very humid here.

4 comments:

Julie said...

A thoroughly inspiring post Dale, thank you. I have some of your flimsies here and they are beautiful. Have you embellished the fabrics lightly on to yours? I love to keep a small handsewing project on the go and you have given me some ideas. The stencil work is beautiful too and I love the subtlety of it on the silk paper, more inspiration! Hope you're enjoying your weekend.

Heather said...

Love all your experiments and the colours of your embellished piece really glow. Love the look of your Thai salad too.

els said...

I am following you already a while on your blog and love all the experiments you're doing. Thank you so much for posting.
But I wanted to let you know that thanks to your post I ordered my blog book from 2011 and am anxiously awaiting it. As soon as it arrives I will order 2012 as well.
I've mentioned it on my blog as well and there are more people interested now.
els mommers, saba, dutch caribbean
http://kunamola.blogspot.com

Teresa said...

Dale, I love the silk paper on the Gelli plate. I can see raging bush fires in the 2 pieces before the stitched one. I like the look of not being able to totally define the stencil. Great experiment as usual.

LinkWithin

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...