Flower for August.

This is my flower for August, I think that it's called a Peacock Lily, although I'm not sure, must look it up. They are very hardy plants and are used extensively in parks and roadsides. This one was growing and flourishing alongside a local football oval. I forgot to take progress photos this time (see previous monthly flowers) so I'll just say that it's applique, machine stitching and acrylic paint. That's 7 flowers finished and 4 still to go for the year.

Working on the Pots.

      I've now carved stamps to add a plain colour to the outlines of some of the other pot stamps.

It's really quite tricky to line up both the outline and the filling accurately, as you can see by the white paper showing through on the right hand image. In a way it just doesn't matter, but it is a challenge!

A Fun Cow!

I spotted this fun metal cow when out walking this morning. Someone with a sense of humour has assembled it from all sorts of bits of metal. Even the legs are all painted different colours.

The Brass Jug.

 I have already carved a smaller version of this jug, but now I want a larger image and one that I can add colour to, so here I'm just starting to work on it.

 Carving the shading and removing the central part to allow for colour later on. I made a mistake in the pedestal of the jug, but for the moment I'm not too fussed.

                                                                     This will do for now.

 This shows the comparison in size between the earlier version and this new one. The picture also shows the differences in the stamps, one solid colour and the larger one clear to enable colour to be added.

                              This shows the solid stamp which I'll use to add the colour.

                The finished colour version, a little bit rough and ready, but it will be 'fit for purpose'.

Carving the Urn/Pot.

 I'm not sure if I'd call this brass pot an urn, but the shape does suggest an urn to me. Here I've outlined the pencil drawing of the 'item' and have started to work the shaded sides. Immediately it's obvious to me that I've made a mistake with the top, oh well I'll just keep going and see what the first prints are like.

 A bit more carving and the background is cut away from the stamp. Plenty of scope for further mistakes here!

   The bulk of the front of the urn is removed and the shaded sides are blended into the middle.

The first images from the new stamp and I'm not too fussed with the dodgy top opening, as it fits in with the previously carved stamps. I intend to make much larger stamps of all of these eventually, so I can make notes on the errors and try to avoid them on the second time around.

Carving the Pots.

 This is my first effort at carving the little brass teapot. I hadn't realised just how difficult it would be with the interesting attachment of the handle and the wooden grip on top.

            Another case of deciding what to leave solid colour and what to carve away.

 Much more simple to carve is the bigger of the 2 copper pots, although I have got the outline a bit lopsided! I'm not too worried actually, as it's all very folk artsy and as such, a bit of lopsidedness doesn't really matter.

    So far not too bad, although the teapot does have a few missing bits from the top of the handle!

Assorted Metalware.

This is my collection of brass and copper utensils, two teapots, two small pots, a jug and a vase.
The copper teapot on the left top I've had for decades, with the most recent purchase being the small pot at the front right that I bought to boil up with eco dyeing to use as a copper mordant.

These are the ones that I want to make some art with, stamps, screen prints Thermofax prints, not sure yet which technique I'll end up using. I'll start with a stamp of the tall elegant jug first I think and go from there.

 The difficulty is to decide which areas are to be coloured and which blank in the final print. This is only 13 cm high, so it's a bit difficult to carve out the centre and to leave room for the inscribed decorations on the jug.

    I'll leave it at this for the moment, as I can always go back and carve out the inside later.

My work book drawings of some of the items with the jug stamp. Perhaps I would be better to enlarge the scale of the stamps to allow for the fine decorations on them all.

Just a Little Bit of Stitching.

I think that this is all the stitching that I'll do on this piece, now called 'Beachcombers'. I've done an enormous number of tiny stitches in the background, each section being closely matched to the printed colours, with larger more prominent stitches in the foreground. I did intend working some seaweed or plants in front, but I decided that the existing colour scheme really didn't need the addition of more quite different colours.

Another Version.

 I decided to use my Curlew Sandpiper stamps for another project, and after printing the background and using the carved water stamps and two of the bird stamps, I realised that I had an old frame that was just the right colour and size for this new work

 Although I intend stitching on this piece, I fitted it into the frame to check the size and colour, perfect!

Here I've started stitching, just a simple running stitch to emphasise the water and to delineate the birds. As the bird stamps are just outlines, the water and sand was visible where the wing pattern isn't, so I  painted the bird bodies with white fabric paint.

Another Step Further.

 Although I haven't as yet received the 'official paper' for the project, I've mocked up more or less what my final print will be on plain copy paper. Here I've cut out the bird stamps with just a tiny margin around each one.

 I've placed each one where I want the stamp to go and sprayed an iridescent grey onto the paper using the cut out shapes as a resist.

 The paper showing the white resisted shapes where I want the stamps to go, if I can line them up accurately that is!

                                I've added my carved water stamps prior to adding the birds.

The birds are more or less accurately placed within the white spaces, although I need to cut away a bit more rubber for a more accurate placement in the final piece.

Concentration!

It takes quite a bit of skill to get the ice-cream onto the spoon as it's slipping around on the top of the jelly!

Curlew Sandpiper Project.

                  After carving one more much smaller bird, I declare all elements to be done!
                                         Here are the 3 bird stamps plus the 3 for the water.

                   I have a lot more in mind to do for this piece of work, but so far so good.

Very Strange Fruit!

                   I found a very odd lemon on the tree this morning, a totally weird formation!

Another Little Bird.

 I needed another bird in the series to make a total of three, and as this one is to go in the background, I needed it to be smaller than the other two. I also carved it facing the other way for yet more variation.

                                                  All carved and ready for the test print.

                                                A few adjustments needed here I think!

Another Bird Stamp.

 I need another couple of bird stamps for my Shorebird project, so here is the starting point for bird No. 2

                   Those narrow feet are always problematic, as is the sharp pointy beak.

                                                          Ready for the first test print.

                                                     Not much tidying up to do at all!

Flower for July.

 While up in Brisbane in July I spotted a large Poinsettia in flower in a park. It's ideal for the series of flowers that I have been working on this year, so the Poinsettia is my flower, or group of flowers, for July.

 

 I've ironed an old leaf patterned scarf onto the A5 sized piece of heavy stiffened Vilene and after cutting out several leaves from another piece of cotton fabric I ironed them into place and satin stitched around them all, adding a central vein.

 I decided not to cut out each petal (not petals really, but coloured leaves) separately, but to cut several at once and stitch the outlines to designate the separate petals. I've used 2 different reds for variation and to reflect the different light falling on the flower head.

 The central small petals (leaves) aren't really pink, but the light in the original photo suggested a paler colour and I had some polished cotton with both the red and a pink in it, and I like the effect.

     The centre of the original flower is more open than this, but I've used artistic license again and then I machine embroidered the actual small yellow flowers.

The backing and the label are now on and I've finished it all off with a border of satin stitch and  indicated some veins with light reddish textile markers.