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

Dorothy Rowe

Tuesday 22 December 2009

If life gives you lemons, make lemonade.

If it snows, do snow dyeing.

I had forgotten all about this fun technique but fortunately I was reminded about it by Wil. Of course, I should have been going to the gym, but – mmm, slippery footpaths, dangerous for a little old lady like me. [Stop laughing at the back, there!]

Unlike Wil, I haven’t nuked it in the microwave [did too much] so fingers crossed it turns out OK tomorrow.

december 20094I took these just before the snow finally melted – that’s snow, not ironed cellophane …

It’s batching now next to the central heating boiler.

 

Speaking of ironed cellophane – this was the wraIMG_9849pping off some Sainsbury’s chrysanthemums. It’s eat  my words time – sort of – I like these, but I can’t imagine how one might use them as they are very fragile.

 

IMG_9407

No ironed cellophane here – this was the point in C&G when woman-with-flowers-in-her-hair morphed into man-with-leaves-in-his. We’d been told to make a 3D piece with silk paper [one of the techniques I do like, as I don’t think it overwhelms the stitch]. One of the suggestions was a mask – which was what led me into the Picasso portraits, as I thought, mistakenly, that he’d painted a pierrot with a mask. And that led to the woman with flowers.

And then I thought ‘Green Man!’ I’d always wantedIMG_7514a to make a Green Man, but never found the right technique.

This is the result, which I’ve probably shown before. I moulded the silk paper over a plastic mask, and over real leaves. I left tendrils of silk paper round the edge of the mask, and held the whole thing down on some hand dye with couching, and beading. He’s still one of my favourite pieces. 

1 comment:

JP said...

wow you hav edone some fabulous work lately - where are you doing this course - I so admire your dedication!!!!!perhaps you are right - retired people snuggle down too much!!!!