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.