'If you make happiness your goal, then you're not going to get to it… The goal should be an interesting life."

Dorothy Rowe

Friday 20 February 2009

Never say 'Never' ...

On February 12th I wrote 'There are these sort of heraldic ones, which I don't think I will be trying to reproduce'.


OK - I was wrong. I have been re-reading Campbell-Harding and Grey's 'Celtic Inspiration for Machine Embroiderers', which seems oddly relevant to my non-Celtic tiles. They use animal motifs - and I like this insouciant griffin [?] - so I had a go.


This is the stamp, carved in some of that stuff for carving stamps, whose name escapes me. [It is 10 cm square and I don't think you can get erasers that big.]



And here is the result. Nominally this is gold ink, but I think I need a new gold ink pad.
I have also been working on my Stitched Textile Design group challenge, 'Hearts'. You may remember the quilted poly satin. Well, now it has transfer dyed hearts on it.
I cut the hearts out of the painted paper and stuck them on a blank sheet of paper, before ironing them onto the satin. If you try this, be very careful where you get the Pritt stick. Fortunately it came out with a little water on a cotton bud...
The ironing also flattens the quilting. Funny I didn't think of that before I tried this. Luckily I didn't melt the wadding.

I used polyester thread to quilt the piece and as I expected the dye transferred to the thread as well.
I think I am going to outline the hearts in stem stitch or couching - but I'm still pondering on the thread. Yes, that is an orange metallic. I'm feeling experimental.


While I had the iron out I used up the dye left on the paper on a poly sheer. I put a piece of Vilene under it becks I knew the colour would go through and I didn't want it on the ironing board.

Moving the sheer slightly gave this ghosting. I tried the sheer over the poly satin [right way up and upside down] but decided not to add it this time.

I realise that my 200th post has come and gone without me noticing it. I definitely talk too much ...

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