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...
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....
Hello again, and excuse me while I scratch my insect bites. I don't know what it is, but at this time of year I'm invariably itching like crazy because I've been bitten by bugs. It seems to coincide with blackberry-picking season, but whether that's purely coincidental I don't know. Whatever's biting me, I'm obviously a tasty morsel in their world! I might try using a highly scented oil like Tea Tree oil, see if that deters them. Anyway, let's get on to more pleasant matters - I'm having a go at making a zine style booklet. Because I didn't have any paper large enough, I joined together two A3 sheets of sketchpad paper, using torn pieces of book pages for the joining. I thought that'd look less noticeable than packing tape or similar. Having chosen my colour scheme I used acrylic paint and an unwanted plastic bank card to apply the paint. Plus a stencil, sponge and modelling paste. Applying paint with a ATM card wa...
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