I've been experimenting again,

trying techniques from Maggie Grey's 'From Image to Stitch'. I have decided that one of the reasons I have felt unsettled is that I want to play but also feel I need to work in my compost heap - er 'studio journal' - for the class on Friday. Solution? Experiment - but use themes from the journal. Obvious really, isn't it?


I bought some Inkaid at the Knitting and Stitching Show, so, at last, I got round to using it. [We won't mention the bottle of Bubble Jet Set I bought - er - several years ago and have only opened once. That is 'opened'. Not 'used'.]

Now you may have noticed that occasionally I use black in my work. [I wear it too, although I shouldn't, without a tastefully arranged pink or apricot scarf. Unfortunately I don't do tastefully arranged scarves. Chic I ain't.]



So I was keen to try out printing on black paper, as suggested by Ms Grey. The Inkaid bottle suggests two coats but my Yorkshire genes [I tend to keep quiet about those, but I do have some] suggested I try just one. So does Maggie, but as you will see I am very good at skim reading and then working on the basis of what I thought I read ...


I learned that:

• Inkaid is white. It shows on black paper if not covered with print. Of course Maggie points this out but that only registered with me after I had printed.


• The brush marks show.

A bit of judicious tearing removed the white bits from this one, which was one of these. I backed it with black felt and practiced FME on. Not the greatest piece of work in the world, but as Wensleydale pointed out, you can't get samples wrong.


It has just occurred to me to wonder whether it would have looked any different if I had printed on white paper. Maybe I'd better experiment some more!


I also tried printing on brown paper [no Inkaid]. I learned from this:

• Print first, scrumple second. Trust me, the other way round is not a good idea. This piece is this size because that is how far it got before the printer threw its hands up in horror and refused to go any further.













• Brown paper is dark. So if you print a dark picture on it it will get darker. Which is what happened to this guy. So I made it worse by ironing shreds of black FuseFX over him.

A scan in inverted colours looks quite spooky.


I have also returned to Dunnwewold at al's 'Finding your Own Visual Language' which I enthused about last year, worked partly through and then lost interest in. I think it was being asked - again - to draw lines expressing emotions. [I know I could skip that bit but I am a linear thinker and I have difficulty giving myself permission to do things like that.]


Looking at the book again prompted me to try some of the ideas with pots, starting with chopping them up. I do like the starkness of black and white.