If, like me, you're not familiar with the work of artist Rex Ray then here's a brief intro via the wonders of YouTube.
Why am I showing you this? Because, if you stopped by yesterday's post you'll have seen info about Abstractuary. The arty prompt for 2nd February was Rex Ray, and I took inspiration from his collages and tried making my own.
Hmmm ... me and collages don't get along. I tried cutting out painted papers and glueing 'em down, then switched to colouring pencils and tried that. But I always end up with stuff that looks like a primary school kid made it. So instead I took up needle and thread.
It's not finished yet, but it's a fabric postcard-sized bit of stitching, and is meant to represent one of his paper collages. I think I'll eventually make a fabric book based on this Abstractuary challenge, and this will form one of the pages.
Today's prompt is 'print' and as I haven't hauled out the gell plate for ages I got stuck in with that. I didn't make a huge number of prints, but had fun making the ones I did. They'll form journal pages, and I'll also print more on fabric so I can construct a fabric book page from one of those.
In addition to this craftiness, and in between a speedy bit of hoovering and washing dishes - sadly, household chores still need to be done - I continued with sewing my Ann Wood 100 days stitchbook.
I added another scrap of material, this time it's a tiny piece of machine embroidery from an Accessorize handbag I'd chopped up. There's a use for everything when you're upcycling!
Apart from the calico, which was bought from Leeds market, all the scraps are from upcycled charity shop clothing. All bought at bargain prices.
Talking of bargain prices, I snapped up crafty goodies off Facebook marketplace yesterday. A lady was selling two bags full at only a tenner. There was a very generous bundle of blank cards and envelopes, which would've cost far more than ten pounds when they were bought new.
In addition, there were several rolls of florist ribbon, the sort you get tied around a bouquet.
There were also these artificial flowers.
I don't know that I'll keep these as they're a little too sweetly cute for my taste. If I can't think of a use to put them to I'll donate to the charity shop.
These are more bits 'n' pieces, some appeal to me and others might get donated.
I'm certain I'll find a use for these pretties. The purple 'jewels' on wire will look good wrapped around my boho style beads.
I absolutely loved these colourful butterflies. I'm thinking of either fixing them to a mobile, so they can flutter in a breeze, or a wall-hanging of some kind.
Finally, there were more butterflies, all on thin wire stems. Despite trying not to buy more craft supplies this year, and aiming to use up what I've got, I couldn't resist a bargain and that's exactly what I got, don't you think? Are you a Facebook marketplace browser too? If so, what's your best buy?
It's Saturday afternoon, and I haven't done half the things I'd meant to. Partly because I spent most of this morning messing about with paints, stencils and the gell plate. Never mind, everything on today's 'To Do' list will join tomorrow's 'To Do' list ... it's hardly life or death if I don't haul the hoover around the room or pull up weeds in the front garden. I thought I'd show you what I made on Wednesday. I'd gone to my monthly StitchArt group, and this time we did something a little different. There's a project called 'Threads of Freedom' which is working with various community groups across the city. It's about creating little stitched pieces, some of which will be included in a textile panel to go on display at Leeds art gallery. There was lots of fabric we could choose from to sew with, and I picked this vintage tray cloth with the roses embroidery. My own embroidery's not a patch on those flo...
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....
Saturday's rolled around again, and it's not been the most eventful of days. Cleaning and hoovering, a walk to the shops to buy groceries, an hour on the allotment, then home to do some odd tasks in the garden. The strawberry plants are sending out runners, so I've been dealing with those, plus deadheading the perennial sunflowers, and cutting back the gone-over flowers on the sage and marjoram. I'm sad to see those blooms gone as the bees loved them. This afternoon I spent a few hours finishing 'Dawnlands' by Philippa Gregory. It's a really good book, a page turner where you care about the characters and want to be reassured everything's going to work out well for them. Plus you become enraged about the corruption of the so-called justice system at the time of the Stuart kings and queens, about transportation of prisoners to the West Indies, and about the vile nature of the sugar trade in the 1600s and the vast profits made from it....
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