Tea dyeing, crafty buying, messing about with beads and clay

Sunday afternoon, another week about to roll into view. I've been for a brisk autumnal walk around a local RSPB nature reserve, coming back with a pocketful of pretty brown feathers and a handful of dried grasses and seed heads, the vague aim being to either sketch them or to make a little stitched piece with them as a reference and starting point.

This tea-dyed white cotton that I just dyed might come in handy for something stitchy, but I might over-dye it as the colour's not especially strong. Some interesting lines from where I folded & tied the material though.

I also dyed this piece, using blackberries, and getting a good combination of pale and darker purples.

I've been trying a few odds & ends of crafty projects this week. I'd a small bag of kilt pins, ordered in error when I should've chosen large safety pins instead, and was wondering what to do with them. Thought I'd make something beaded that might be a bag charm or dangle off the spine of a journal. It's sort-of successful, but not quite right, so I'll have another go and see what I can come up with.

I also had a half-used packet of air-dry clay, so decided to make a cluster of - what can I call them? - pendants? They might be used on a wall hanging or for a wind chime. I pressed a couple of home made stamps into some of them, and leaves from the garden into others. Sage leaves are particularly good as they press well into the clay and you see all the veining on them.

I let the clay dry for about 48 hours, and am halfway through painting both sides in acrylic. I'll show you them when they're finished.

Another experiment has been homemade washi tape. I used lengths of brown packaging tape, the sort that's coated on the back with adhesive that needs to be activated by water. I've used the gell plate and acrylic paint, plus stencils and stamps, and I'll add more detail to these before I'm entirely happy with the effect.

Not too bad for a first attempt.

Maybe I'll try decorating another length of washi tape in festive colours using the printing stamps I bought yesterday. Lucky finds in the charity shop, and less than three quid for the lot. An embossing folder in a Christmas tree pattern, several holly leaf shaped stamps and a large snowflake die cut. It's always worth a rummage around the bric a brac section as you never know what you'll find.

Bye for now, and thanks for stopping by my blog.

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HOW TO MAKE: these decorative birds

I suggested yesterday that I'd run through how to make a fabric bird wall or window hanging (can't think of a snappier title for it than that!) so here goes. I'll start with the first decorative hanging I made. It's something you could make in any colour combination you want, and would look good hanging at a window with translucent beads that'd catch the light I used five birds for this, but you could make it longer if you prefer. (Incidentally, if you're wondering about what's hanging off the bottom on this, it's a metal Christmas decoration, shaped like a lantern. For some reason I thought it looked appropriate to leave it there, looped over the end.) WHAT YOU'LL NEED TO GATHER TOGETHER: Assorted scraps of fabric for the front of the birds - aim for a mix of colours and textures. Silk looks good, as does anything with embroidery or intricate patterns. You might aim for a hippy-ish boho look, or maybe you're more the minimal Scandi

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I'm typing this as snow's falling, and has been steadily all day. It's not settling to any great extent, though I bet by tomorrow morning the paths will be slippery with ice. Which always makes me paranoid about falling over and at the very least looking undignified, but at worst breaking a bone or twisting an ankle. Oh well, it's ideal weather to stay inside and craft, isn't it? I finally got around to listing packs of sari scraps on Etsy this morning. I only made up six bundles as I've no clue whether they'll sell or if I've set a reasonable enough price point. Time will tell. This is a link to the listing, if you're interested. This vaguely pink fabric isn't from one of my Etsy packs. It's from a bit of experimenting I was doing yesterday. I'd seen a post on Instagram showing how a DIY version of batik could be done without using hot wax. The Instagrammer used PVA instead, and I wanted to try this out. The glue's su

Paper flowers, leaves, feathers ...

I had a few requests after posting this photo on Facebook, people asking if I could explain how I made these paper flowers. Your wish is my command, and here's the info. It's all very simple and you don't need any advanced drawing skills. So grab a stack of gell prints, a pair of scissors and off we go! The type of print that seems to work best is one where there's a fair amount of detail, rather than a block of solid plain colour. Prints where you've maybe channelled your inner Elizabeth St. Hilaire and 'layered layered layered' as she's always urging us to do. POPPIES If we start with simple poppy seed heads and stalks, they're cut freehand from paper that's mainly shades of orange and brown. I glued those on to a sheet of white copier paper, then cut them out, leaving a narrow border around each. Backing the gell print with the white paper adds that contrasting border, but also strengthens the piece, especially the thin stalks. I

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