Update later and a wee painting

I'll be updating the shop later with one of the capes I made and a wee painting i've been mosying around with today.

It's been funny weather as I said in the last post but I am starting to enjoy the rain. This has happened to me once before about 5 years ago living in London. Some overnight, unplanned for switch occured and suddenly I loved the rain and the dark drizzly evenings. It's happening again at the moment, which is just as well.

Here's the little painting

Some more - capes?

Well, finally this weekend the sun has come out. It was alleged to be raining according to the weather man, but in Britain meterological science might as well be a case of seeing if the cows are lying down(rain), whether the sky is pink at night(sunny), whether you're getting a funny head(thunder) . It's really no wonder we're obsessed by the weather. The last few weeks it's been torrential rain/grey mist/roasting hot/blasting wind/suffocating stillness.

However, after all that, the sun is here and of course I celebrated by not going out at all but instead hunkering over bits of suede and old beads and sewing till my finger tips hurt.


The white cotton is very old, as usual, I prefer old fabric to new, even a bit stained and water-ruined. It's all pleated around a beaded and painted suede neck band.


The full effect can be a bit too much for going out but under a nice tux jacket it's dressed down and looks very nice.Some details. It's not finished, I want to do some more beading and painting and then i'll line it....Lining things is not something I enjoy. For a start I tend to hand sew - I have a sewing machine but I can't stand the noise or the aggressive march of stitches - It's daft I know. So everything takes forever, especially lining, and it has no aesthetic effect on the outside, so for me it's utterly boring.



Detail of the black pleated cotton neck - what? I don't know what to call it at all.


Some attempt at professionalism there. It's actually a nice little technique I aw in the Craft zine. Just take t-shirt transfer and iron it onto ribbon. It really works well!



This also looks nice and quite dressed down under a black jacket, however I don't have a picture of that as my camera started to flash it's 'I'm dying' light. This one is the only one really finished. The others all need some manner of finishing (the dreaded lining!)

Prints

I'm still messing around sewing things, I found some old white and black fabric, good quality though quite faded, I like that quality of destroyed fabric. So lots of pleating and ruffling has been going on :) More pictures at the weekend. In the meantime, new prints have gone into the shop - Natural Dark and the wee Flutter Fish.

Some kind of cape?

This doesn't feel 100% finished yet, it needs a lining, and something else...i'm not sure what. That suede jacket i've been pillaging just keeps going forever, I still have tons of stuff left to make things from, it's quite exciting. I wouldn't mind trying a tunic, they're simple enough shapes for a beginner at sewing.


The front bits are pockets from the suede jacket. The back is actually from the back of it. I painted with some gold fabric paint on the back.


The collar is some very old material, and then some of the cushion embroidery sewn on. The buttons are from a waistcoat .


Ta dah! I quite like it, it's toasty round the neck. I am going to line it in nice soft felt.

The gold detailing on the back, not showing up fabulously in this pic but I think it looks quite lovely in real life.

Detail of the front, please excuse grotty purple top, it's my shameful painting smock thing.

Hat - well, headband

So, these are some photos so far, maybe i'll do more with it i'm not sure...It's more of an elaborate head band than a hat. I have lots more material remaining and an idea, so i'd like to try something a bit more hat-like next.







This bit I embroidered myself and then some silk painting, it's quite pretty up close.


The toggles for tying the back together.


Some of this embroidery came from old worn cushions i've had for years, some bits of ribbon, and the buttons are from a very strange source.

Shop Update soon!

I've been away at the Kyudo seminar, and have just got back. I had an excellent time there, very difficult on the muscles, but always worthwile. Anyway, the shop update is postponed till Monday. I've taken some better pictures of what I already have and also i'm currently making a totally different thing (something to wear!).


It's the last piece which has had me thinking. It's not the same as my usual images, in person compared to previous paintings it seems incredibly different. I thought I would like a hat like that, clothes like that. So I started messing around. Oh first of all, i'm repainting the beautiful marker lines for the Kyudo class as they got somewhat damaged in their journeys to Glasgow. They need reinforcing in black and then they're ready to go.

Back to the point, here's some photos of the materials I had around for making a hat or anything like the painting.

Amazing embroidered ribbon and an old suede jacket
Embroidery I tried on silk years ago. And some feathers
A Rabbit(?) paw with Amber(?) gem which I traded with the lovely and spectacular Lady Lavona, see her shop here.

Old cushions I bought a long time ago with some beautiful faded embroidery
With the feathers and ribbon, it's nice just putting them against each other
Some very old silk which was given to me and has a long history - to be treated with respect.

So I spent today putting things together. It occurred to me that I needed a doll or something to try things on, but there's only me, so I stabbed myself accidentally a few times and suffered for my art :P I've never sewn really, so I relied on temporary glueing a lot and then sewing. So far, I love what I have, I want magic in clothes, magic and history and a story to tell about each bit, and every bit of cloth has it. Some of them have been passed through 3 generations, it feels good to give them a new life, and to make up a new story.

I'll post more photos once it's finished.....and maybe something else, who knows.

Update and a new breed

I just finished off a new creature, and rather than doing a 2D collage style, I decided to go 3D. Each part is hand painted on thick etching paper and then assembled and mounted on the background. I really love how he turned out.



Actually, in the second photo you can see just behind the frame is the old clock carriage which I attempted to do something with. As I was messing around trying to get a good photo (not managed, sorry about that) I realised a large fish of some variety would really work well in there! So, maybe i'll try that soon - so many things I want to do!

I've taken a scan of every part so I hope to eventually be able to offer him and other kinds of creatures ready for people to assemble and frame (or not) themselves. The frame is the excellent Ribba frame from Ikea. So cheap and so simple!

I'm away between Thursday and Monday so i'm going to try and update the shop on Tuesday 15th :)