Colours.

I am getting ready for a new project - something between prayer flags and bunting. After reading annekata's post about dyeing with black beans, I decided to prepare the backgrounds by dyeing them with natural
dyes. I took five white cotton napkins (found at a car boot sale, where else?) and used (from left to right):
rooibos tea, red food colouring (yes, yes, I know, not very eco-conscious, but I had no beetroot and the shop-within-walking-distance had none either), black beans, turmeric, and, very disappointingly, spinach (far right).

























At least I could use the boiled spinach to make a delicious Indian palak sauce. (Well, let's just say that I thought it was delicious. L'Usband carefully ate the basmati rice that was untouched by the palak sauce, and then declared that he was not very hungry. Hmmmmmm.)
PS Update on The Bust will take place soon ...

The Beauty of Numbers.

I made these ...

in order to do this ...

so that I can determine how best to seal and protect my fabric sculpture once it is finished. I have decided on #1 (matt gel medium) or #6 (podge) - they are closest to the original colour and look of the fabric (a cotton dyed with rooibos tea).

They look so cute - I feel like making lots and lots of little cushions and stitching numbers on them! Not sure what I would do with them though - a mobile perhaps.

Numbers are so underrated as a design element, don't you think?

Practical.

A few weeks ago lovely artist Nicola de Jager, she of the stunning sugar skulls, came to visit our mixed media class. She brought along squares of shwe-shwe fabric, felt and buttons for us to play with. I decided to make a pincushion with mine.

Well, I would not want you to think that I only make impractical, weird objects ...

Bust.

I am doing a few more lessons with my mixed-media teacher. She suggested we all work with textiles in some or other way. Some people are knitting lovely bath mats with coloured fabric, others are making appliqued tray cloths and napkins. All beautiful, practical and functional objects. I decided to go in the opposite direction. Completely impractical. (And dysfunctional - like I am. Hahahaha.)

I declared my intention to make a bust. As in sculpture. A big fabric bust and then I am going to embroider and stitch on it. 'Where are you going to put it?' asks L'Usband, anxiously eyeing the few remaining surface areas where he can still squeeze in his wine glass. Oh well, I'll worry about that later.

For now I have made a tiny maquette ...

... with a little bust.

In Reverse.

Despite piles and piles of proofreading to do, I decided to take a day off, and attended a workshop on reverse painting by artist Paul Birchall. What fun I had! And much cheaper than therapy.

First we practised on pieces of shiny plastic.

In the second one I accidentally started painting on the wrong side (the shiny side), so that the matt side ended up being on top, but it still looks pretty cool. Unfortunately I can't claim the man with the fish as my own design; I used a painting by Jan Vermeiren as inspiration.

In the afternoon we worked on a bigger piece on perspex. I added texture by using a comb to scrape through the paint, and using a paper towel on the dress. You can't really see it on my photograph though.

Woman with Bird (acrylic and permanent marker on perspex).

PS Any advice for sore and watery eyes? I average about 8-9 hours of proofreading a day. This obviously does not include the breaks I take to make tea, rest my eyes, etc. The pages are extremely dense, and some are printed in what looks like 8 or 9 point text. I hope I haven't permanently damaged my eyes! Still a few hundred pages to go ...

Contemplating the moon.

We spent four days at Toontjiesrivier last week. Snous came along, of course.

Pepper Tree Cottage

We walked ....

... and visited some friends ...

We ate ...

 ... not forgetting dessert (fresh figs)

We observed the wonders of nature ...

 ... meditated on the meaning of life ...

... and contemplated the moon.

Easy.

I made this easy gift for a friend - ribbon sewn up at the sides, two buttons and a bit of string or leather to close.

You have to put something inside, obviously - I added some incense sticks, but you could use pencils, pens or knitting needles. Anything long and thin, really.

Easy peasy.