Painty papers, little houses and stains all over my hands!

 

It won't be long until the blackberries are ripe & ready for picking.  Which means that every time I go for a walk along a country lane or down to the allotment, I'll go armed with either an empty sandwich box or a plastic bag.  Before long the freezer will be full to overflowing with berries, and I'll have enough soft fruit to add to my breakfast porridge to last the winter.  But in the meantime ... 

During this third heatwave of the summer I'm largely staying indoors.  Which seems a shame when the sun's shining brightly, but it's so hot I feel like I'm going to melt.  I've started reading this historical novel, set during the reign of Henry IV, and it's very enjoyable so far.  The heroine's self assured and strong willed, and determined to safeguard her family's precarious wealth and social position.  She's not especially likeable, but sometimes characters are more interesting if the reader's doesn't wholly like or admire them, don't you think?  

I've been messing about with watercolour paints and alcohol inks this morning, hence my stained fingers.  I love making these painty papers.  I don't worry too much - in fact, not at all - about whether someone might judge them a mess.  Instead I enjoy playing with colour and seeing what effects I can get.  

I also messed about with using Inktense paint to dye a small piece of cotton, having watched a YouTube video about a DIY version of shibori.  

I sewed lines of running stitch.  

Then gathered up the lines of stitching and used Inktense to dye my material a vivid blue.  

You can achieve some really interesting effects as this little sample shows.  Unfortunately, despite ironing it which in theory makes it colourfast, the Inktense blue still comes off when the material's handled.  (Note to self : buy fabric paint the next time I'm shopping in Hobbycraft.)  I'll definitely try this technique again.  

I made a few more of my silly faux postage stamps, and also - having just seen the idea on Instagram - played around with making fabric tape using selvedges.  It's so simple.  Just stick fabric to one side of double-sided sticky tape.  Yup, it's that straightforward.  You could make short lengths or even whole reels of fabric tape to use on parcels or mixed media pieces or in art journals or wherever! 

Finally, there's something very endearing about making anything that's house-shaped.  It makes us think of home, whether our own dwelling is a house with a chimney or a flat high up in a skyscraper.  I drew a house template on cardboard and used it to make a couple of paper collaged houses.  They can decorate a journal page.  Along with these collaged 'Strange Houses'.  

The lettering at the top of the page is a free bookmark picked up in Waterstones.  (I've no idea what the actual novel's about or who it's by.)  I'd seen Lynn on YouTube, who creates content under the name 'A Bit of Birdsong', make similar houses in one of her beautiful journals, so tried my hand at it.  The alcohol inks were used for this too, which means my hands are even more stained.  Nevermind, it'll wash out ... eventually.

Hope you're having a good weekend.  I'm about to get resume reading about life among the treacherous Plantagenet court, and the rivalries between the Houses of Lancaster and York.  Enjoy your day, and thanks for stopping by.