Despite the weather…

I’m feeling a bit more cheerful than I have for quite some time.

Partly because of this lot, made last week.They are more Unidentified Litterlike Objects – and a cat. [I didn’t kae the cat]. The ULOS are, clockwise from top right:

1. three bits of woven, ironed plastic bag;
2. Another bit of Japanese wrapping – rolled newspaper, twigs and plastic bag cord;
3. The leftovers from 2 of the woven pieces, used on my flower looms. [I don’t know why I have both a Clover and a Prymm one, but they do produce slightly different results.]

The odd photos were because I was experimenting with some of the different settings on the camera – this one is ‘pin-hole’.

The better reason for feeling cheerful was the lovely afternoon we had yesterday with Babybel, Babyboy, their mum and dad, Mrs and Mrs Cheddar and assorted dogs. [Quality Control decided not to attend.]

It had been a foul morning, but by the afternoon the sun had come out and we had a great time. We went along to cheer, baby mind, hold dogs, etc. etc. while Babybel and Babyboy’s mum and dad competed in a 4k race. Yes, I did say Babyboy’s mum. To save you backtracking through old posts and counting on your fingers, he was 2 weeks old on Saturday. And not only did she compete in the race, she won! [Well done. L!]

Needless to say, her role model is Paula Radcliffe.

Oh – their dad came fourth. Well done, R!

This afternoon, less excitingly, has been spent making several miles metres of wired plastic bag cord – and very slippery it is. This is for the purpose of experimentation in another Japanese Basketry technique.

After an afternoon off yesterday…

I managed a bit of college-related work this afternoon.

You may remember that I wrote that I’d changed my mind about making books.

Never believe anything I write. In my pattern sorting out I came across some illegible instructions for making triangle books, which I’ve always wanted to do. Despite being unable to read the very small print, even with a magnifying glass, which led to cutting the paper for the concertina too small, I managed this. The photo [same one twice] is of crumpled foil/litter, presumably dumped from someone's sandwiches. To give you an idea of scale, that tinsel-like stuff is a pipe cleaner – pressed into service when I realised the book was not going to stay shut. I covered the cover with what my friendly DIY man tells me is ‘self-adhesive aluminium flashing’.

Then, flushed with success, I did something else I’ve been meaning to do for a while. I’d made and coloured the paper rolls, collected the sticks and made the plastic bag cord – I just hadn’t got round to assembling them.

This – as yet nameless, if only because I'm beginning to have problems remembering the names - was inspired by a Japanese technique for storing chillies in the excellent book Basketry Projects from Baskets to Grass Slippers. Not that the author, Hisako Sekijima, uses anything as trashy as newspaper and plastic.

I’ve come to the conclusion that what I like making most are these woven/baskety/3D things, combining natural objects and rubbish. And I like photographing all my ULOs in their natural environment – too much exposure to land art, perhaps?

Land art for the littering society?

I’ve changed my mind.

Although I said yesterday that all samples were potentially personal cloths – these are definitely samples.

Interesting? Yes.

Odd? Certainly.

Unidentifiable litterish objects [ULOs]? Undoubtedly.

Resolved pieces? No.

 

I got up this morning with the intention of playing with plastic bags. The first one which came to hand was the shrinkwrap off yesterday’s paper, so I slid some nearby detritus [raffia and skeleton leaves left over from a long ago C&G piece] into it and ironed it. Mmm, interesting.

So I did it again with two weights of plastic bag, some cellophane, and some cling film. And then to finish off I tried ironing the lining from a wine box, though without trapping anything inside. [Too opaque – and it didn’t melt anyway.]

Then I tried my Clover mini iron [though not on the wine box lining], my heat gun and my soldering iron, all successfully – though the wine box lining took a lot of zapping before anything happened, and was most affected on the edges.

And while watching the last stage of the TDF [what will I watch for the next 49 weeks?] I tried stitching them. The cling film just ripped, but,  with a bit of care, all the others took stitch.

Some of them look very litterish, so may lead to a resolved piece, after I’ve thought more carefully about the contents. [I want something that looks really disgusting, inspired by this. Nasty, isn’t it?]

 

 

Cadel, Andy and Frank made a break for freedom, attracted by the noise of the party next door, but I caught them before they managed to escape.

 

 

 

And after Mr Cavendish had won the final stage and the green jersey, I did some drawing to calm myself down. I cannot get the top right – looks more like a bottle than a can - but I like the shadowy effect of the bit of collaged hand made paper.

Tomorrow – what happened to the can next.

Another productive day. It can’t last.