Batik.

I went to a workshop this Friday on resist dyeing. Taught by the brilliant Faiqah Abrahams, it was a great deal of fun.  I tried out most of the techniques taught - folding, tie-dyeing, painting the wax, stamping, bleaching and using the tjanting tool. Here are a few of my efforts:

Mutiny.

Mutiny. (Title pages and endpapers of old books, masking tape, glue)

The Sweet Little Purse.

I am a bit of a recycling nut, as you probably know. A few months ago friends from Swaziland brought me the sweetest little purse, recycled from a tetra milk carton. It was held shut by a rubber band, which unfortunately, after some vigorous openings and closings by moi, broke. The purse has since disappeared in the swamp that is my study and workroom. But luckily I had the foresight, before said sweet little purse disappeared, to have a good look at how it was manufactured, and have now recreated it, and if I may say so, improved upon its design.

The Thens (aka the instructions): To make it you cut off the top and bottom of a 1 litre tetra milk carton, and wash it WELL. That is because you want to end up with a sweet little purse, not a stinky yoghurt maker. Then you kind of concertina the sides in. (If you try to make one you will know what I mean, I'm sure.) Then you fold over the bottom two fifths, or whatever fraction you decide upon, but it has to be less than half, because you need to leave a bit for the flap, see? Then you press down the edges well. Then you cut off the front bit of the top bit, to leave only the back bit which will be the flap bit. (No, no, I am not going to explain that bit again or draw pictures - just MAKE one and all will become clear). Okay, so where are we now?  Oh yes, then you staple the inner two pockets together at the top. And then you punch a hole in the flap and I did the little extra bit of putting in an eyelet with my very special and handy eyelet punch which I got at the car boot sale. And then you you take a button and thread some strong thread through and kind of knot it and thread it through again several times and knot it several times to make sure the button is nice and tightly secured. Oh, and make sure that the thread or yarn that you use to do this is quite long so that you can then
use the same thread to tie around the purse several times and wind around the button to close. Like this:

I forgot to say that it does not have to be a milk carton, you can obviously use a juice carton, as I did. But you still have to wash it WELL.

Oh well, if you do not understand my effort at a tutorial, that is just too bad. (I did try though.)
Have a great weekend, dear friends. Recycle a tetra carton. Make a sweet little purse. Then fill it with money and go out and enjoy yourself. xxx Anairam

Found Objects #1

Dead.

But still beautiful.
(Found in front of our house.)

I will be what I will be.

A few months ago I attended a one-day workshop on bookmaking and altered books. The 'altered book' portion of the workshop was a bit of a disappointment, I have to say. There I was, ready with my book and my paints and my scissors and my glue and the identity document photocopy we were asked to bring along, and all that happened was a long and rather pointless lecture on self-identity.

Anyway, I have now started my book. It is more of a journal of thoughts on self-identity than an altered book. Here are three pages.

Have a great weekend, everyone. Be what you will be.

The car boot sale, the lady and the unicorn.

On my last visit to the car boot sale I found a lady ...

 and a unicorn ...

Only the banners had been done (I've since done the unicorn and other bits and pieces.)

I wonder how long it will take me? Perhaps a decade or two?

Acanthus mollis.

This is the book I made earlier this year.

I have now decided to use it. I prepared the pages with a wash of grey paint, with a tiny bit of silver.

I decided on a tribute to Karl Blossfeldt. Each page will have a drawing of one of his photographs.
Here is #1.

(Blossfeldt Botanical journal: Acanthus mollis - black ink on grey and silver paint)