Decay and Repair Embroidery

This week for WOYWW I have done another 4 index cards for the ICAD challenge.  As part of my decay and repair theme I was pleased to find a couple of old button cards which I used as backgrounds - one still had the white circular marks on it where the buttons had been (top right).  

Also this week, with it being too hot to do much I got stuck into my new, updated copy of The Subversive Stitch - Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine' by Rozsika Parker.    It's a fascinating book for anyone who loves embroidery and needle craft, or has an interest in women's history or feminism - it was an incredibly useful book when I was studying for my degree in Textile Art and I was so pleased to find it had been republished and brought bang up to date.

NIGHT MOTHS AND EMBROIDERY

For WOYWW my desk has been busy this week! I have been having great fun trying out a new technique I learnt about from the incredibly talented Morag over at Paper Rainbow.  It involves Citra Solv cleaner and National Geographic magazines, and the process dissolves the ink leaving beautiful background papers.  For anyone interested I found this tutorial here particularly helpful.   The backgrounds on this weeks index cards for ICAD are all from my first attempt at this technique and they led me to work with darker colours and a night time feel - I ended up with a wonderful mix of highly patterned papers and more subtle ones like these - you never know what you are going to get!  I introduced blue as I adore this peacock shade but very rarely use it - I thought the black really enhanced the vividness of it.  I used some pieces of real wings from my old antique collection and I matched them with some brilliant blue embroidery thread  and black lace.

Some close-up details

I love the darkness of this one with the delicate blue spots - so perfect for my theme! 

I used some of the Victorian butterfly wing jewelry I've collected over the years to photograph with the index cards, including a brooch that fell apart when I picked it up - strangely I was thrilled, as I would never have pulled apart a perfectly good piece of jewelry but I love the old, broken look of it and I know I'll put it to good use in the future!

Moths and More Moths!

At the risk of being predictable, here is my work desk for WOYWW this week, and once more I have my index cards for the ICAD challenge - only 4 this week as I have had a lot on, but I'm pleased I managed that many!  I kept them fairly simple and used a combination of machine and hand stitching, with a few very small matt black beads.   On my learning curve this week I discovered that if you sew your stitches too close together on card you end up with the piece of embroidery falling completely out of the overly perforated outline! 

Close up details

OK, so it's a butterfly and not a moth - but what the heck, I love it and I think it goes well with the antique deeds.  This photo influenced my colour scheme for the index cards this week - I really like the simplicity of the black, white and brown

Decay and Repair Project and ICAD Cards

For WOYWW today I have on my desk another six index cards for the ICAD challenge, and once again I'm working with the theme decay and repair.  I used tweed pieces and bits of antique lace, plus printed moth images.  During the often steep learning curve that is my art journey, I discovered that if you embroider a zigzag stitch around anything circular it looks like a sun drawn by a child!  Hence the rather large amount of zigzagging added to the bottom left card to try and detract from the 'sun' - it's an absolute disaster but I decided to keep it in - I am using these cards much as I would a sketchbook, for trying out ideas, so disasters really ought to stay as they are all part of the process!

For anyone interested I have a large embroidery that's pretty much finished now, and some moth photos that are all part of the 'decay and repair' theme on my previous blog post here

I have a real weakness for old teacups, and I thought this one went so well with the colours I 'd chosen for this weeks cards that I just had to photograph them together!

Decay and Repair

 Since last week I have managed to make another six index cards for the ICAD challenge and I have been keeping to the theme of decay and repair. I have used some odds and ends of antique lace that are badly in need of repair and put them together with moth images and hand embroidery.  For anyone that is interested I have some more photos on this project on my previous blog post. 

I am sharing what's on my work desk for WOYWW over at Julia's Stamping Ground.

Decay and Repair and ICAD Cards

Once again I've had a long unintended break from blogging, or doing any arty stuff at all in fact.  I've been waiting for surgery (quite minor), and have been in some discomfort and a rather grumpy frame of mind - I'm still waiting for a date to come through but in the meantime I've felt a little enthused now that the ICAD challenge has started again over at Daisy Yellow Art.  The idea is to make a little bit of art every single day on an index card - nothing precious just whatever takes your fancy!  I must admit I've not managed to work every day but I've done about six cards over a fortnight,  so I'm quite pleased with that achievement! 

Anyway, this is what is on my desk this week for WOYWW.

I'm using these index cards as a way of jotting down ideas about a long term project I'm doing on decay and repair.

Summer Of Color Week 4 and ICAD

Well, this weeks colours of charcoal grey and pink for the Summer of Color challenge have been an unmitigated disaster!  I have long had a love of Japanese gardens - I think the order and symmetry appeals to my slightly obsessive compulsive personality!  To me the colours conjured up the simplicity and tranquility of Japanese gardens, and I tried to capture the essence of it, leaving some areas unworked and keeping the design quite minimal.  However, what was going on in my head wouldn't transfer down through my hands into the work!  I don't think my ideas gelled really - the colours are too 'thick' - maybe a more watery delicate background, like a translucent colour wash would have worked better.  I don't like feeling this is unresolved so I might have another go at it!

I'm also linking up to the index-card-a-day challenge over at Daisy Yellow.

Summer Of Color Week 3 and ICAD

This week over at the Summer of Color the challenge was to work with purple and lime green.  My immediate thought was the Iris and the garden, and I decided to do a series of index cards based on garden design and it's history - a subject I love and keep going back to.  The index cards are for the ICAD challenge over at Daisy Yellow.   

Some close-up shots of the cards

Summer of Color week 2 and ICAD

For this week over at Summer of Color the colour scheme is hot pink and orange.  I decided to combine this challenge with the index-card-a-day challenge at Daisy Yellow.  

I ended up doing six cards based on a coral theme - I had to work hard at not making them red as that is the colour I had been using for my coral based work a few weeks ago.

I used gelli prints for the backgrounds and prepared a selection of cards ready to use each day with the backgrounds already glued on.  The gelli prints looked too dark against the buff background so I painted the cards cream.  I then spent about half an hour a day machine stitching, gluing and hand sewing them.

Some close-up shots

WOYWW #211 and ICAD

  I would like to say a big thank you to Tamara at To Bee Studio who was so kind and complimentary when mentioning me on her blog last week.   Tamara's work is beautifully delicate and has a wonderful vintage feel to it - I would definitely recommend a visit to her blog!

On my desk at the moment are this weeks index cards for ICAD over at Daisy Yellow.  The challenge is to decorate an index card every day for the 6 weeks of the challenge - or in my case 'nearly' every day, as I only managed 6 and not 7 this week! 

I used left over scraps of gelli prints for the backgrounds and added machine stitching, vintage lace, glass beads and scraps.  I thought the flower head (bottom left) looked rather like a pin cushion so I added some tiny little brass pins that I found in my lace-making equipment.   I must also point out that the lace butterfly cut out of a strip of lace was an idea I took directly from the wonderfully talented Terri at art-life-rust, as last week she cut a butterfly out of her strip of lace!  Hope you don't mind Terri - yours was so much bigger and better!

Why not hop over to WOYWW and have a snoop at other people's work desks - it's great fun! 

WOYWW and ICAD

For WOYWW this week my desk is covered in gelli prints I made for the new Summer of Colour 2013.  The colour theme for this week is Citron green and Turquoise.  I didn't know where to begin on this so I've printed some backgrounds and started playing - I thought that might be a good way to find a starting point - and I'll see where I end up!   

Also this week I have been taking part in the new Index Card a Day challenge (ICAD), over at Daisy Yellow.

My idea for the cards started with this gorgeous fern that I planted in the garden last summer while in the throws of the Summer of Colour 2012 - it helped feed my obsession with pollen and spores!

  

It has settled in to the garden beautifully and is looking very lush and quite spectacular - so of course it had to be photographed!  I used the 'design' of it to hand carve a stamp, which became the basis for the 7 index cards.