Is this the third easiest stamp ever?

After credit card and nature printing, that is?

When I looked at my photo of the Cathedral tiles, I was struck by the one which looks like a quilt block - on the left of the card here. For this tile I made a corrugated card stamp - I'm not sure where I got this technique from but I have wanted to try it out for a while.

I cut two squares of corrugated card, scored them gently diagonally from corner to corner with the craft knife, and peeled away the top layer of card on one side of each. [These are not long life stamps - as you can see the card is already beginning to peel away where I don't want it to.]

I made two because, by inspecting the edges of the squares before you score and peel, you can get the lines of the corrugation running in opposite directions ...

which increases the number of patterns you can make. Also, because you can't clean the stamps, I wanted to have one stamp for each colour I used. I am definitely in a pink and green phase - must be catching.

If you are a quilter you will know that there are quite a lot of other quilt patterns which use pairs of triangles like this. They also make me think of square needlepoint patterns , or satin stitch borders.

The stamps themselves are quite decorative when you have finished stamping. As we discovered on Creative Textiles last week you can sew into corrugated card - [we made holes with an awl first]. You could also stamp on them!

[I want to put a paragraph break in here but b***y Blogger won't let me. To paraphrase George V - b****r Blogger.]

Finally, I must show you the goodies I received yesterday, the result of a painted fusible swap on a Yahoo group I belong to. Thanks [clockwise from top right] to Tracy, Wil and Kate [the really blingy one, bottom left, is mine - foil and lots of sequins].

Is this a stamp?

You may be seeing quite a lot of this image over the next few days. It is a section of the floor of Winchester Cathedral - which has, apparently, the largest area of medieval floor tiles in the UK, - all waiting to inspire stamps ...

Not surprising since they were made by pushing a stamp into red clay and filling the impression with white clay. [It is the glaze that makes them look yellow.]

I have been intending to do something with these patterns for a long time - so when I was looking for inspiration for today and found this photo - Bingo! [Sorry about the reflection - the tiles are shiny and the Cathedral dark so I had to use flash.]

I shall probably use more conventional stamp making methods on another day - but as I had papers painted with transfer dyes from the Creative Textiles Workshop last Friday - I decided to use them today. So my 'stamps' could also be called 'stencils' or 'resists'.

And as it's February - I'm into hearts.

I enlarged individual tiles from the photo and played around cutting out heart shaped stencils which incorporated part of the design of the tile. This is the one I liked best.

This is on Vilene interfacing - not the really heavy stuff, a firm sew-in type.

As you may know, when you iron the papers some of the paint will transfer to the stencil, which you can then turn over and iron off to get a print of the stencil. Which is what I did here - except that dye had also transferred to the baking parchment and that ironed off too to give a red background/fleur-de-lis. A happy accident, I think. This is on Evolon.

This is a similar effect but deliberate this time. I took the 'holes' from two stencils, the fleur-de-lis and another one, and ironed the dye off over them. Then I took the holes away, turned the dye paper upside down, and ironed off again, which gave this faint pattern on polyester satin. This is probably the one I like best, as it is as subtle as transfer dyes on poly satin can ever be. The texture comes from scrumpling the painted paper while it is still wet.

You will have deduced that Friday's workshop was mark making with transfer dyes [and crayons] We started by looking at some samples of embroidery and then chose stitches to replicate, I kid you not, by embroidering corrugated card with string. [My immediate reaction was 'book covers'!]

Mine was boring compared with other people's, who had the sense to choose more interesting stitches than straight and running.

We then used the card as rubbing boards, covering them with layout paper and rubbing with transfer crayons. We also rubbed over lace, which would have been much more interesting if it had worked - I think I was too light handed with the crayons, rare as it is for me to be light handed with anything. [I usually use copy paper for this - I don't think the layout paper worked any better and copy paper is much cheaper ...]

Then we painted over the crayoned pieces, and blank pieces, with transfer dyes, and had lunch while they dried.

We spent the afternoon cutting, tearing, layering and generally playing with the painted papers, and ironing off onto a variety of fabrics.

This final piece has no connection with the dally photo, but is here because I told A. you could do it. The idea came, of course, from Linda Kemshall's excellent book 'Colour Moves'. Well worth reading if you want to know more about transfer dyeing.

In the section on the right I used a feather as a resist - on the left I turned the feather over and ironed it off. It is faint [I have done it more successfully in the past] but it is there. On satin, as if you hadn't guessed.

A quick bonus post

because I have just discovered this wonderful local website.

Looks like there are going to be several exhibitions of historical textiles in Hampshire this year!

Rising to a Challenge

I tell myself I shouldn't because it gets in the way of what I 'really' want to do [if I only knew what that was] but I keep signing up for challenges.


I have mentioned the BQL challenge before - this is February's. One for the pink and lime green fans out there.


I think it looks a bit boring and probably needs some stitch.

I am also a member of the Textile Challenges Yahoo group, although I haven't, up till now, got my act together to participate. I found February's challenge a bit scary as it required - nay insisted - on spontaneity - to make an ATC in 15 minutes from whatever was available. Then I realised I could use the left overs from the BQL challenge - so I did. Actually it took me 25 minutes, partly because I had machine problems - you can see that the bobbin thread was pulled up to the surface despite slackening off the top tension.

Then there are my personal challenges. This is the result of the first lot of snow dyeing. [The lump of crud is the threads I dyed, which, despite putting them in a net bag to wash, still ended up tangled together. Good job I enjoy untangling threads.

The top piece is the viscose velvet which has come out beautifully. Bottom left is cotton jersey, bottom right is UK muslin. I seem to be in a pink and green phase.

There is some bluey purple muslin in the washing machine right now, which may be the last snow dyeing for this year. There is still some snow outside but I don't have time to do more today and it is thawing. More snow was forecast for later in the week but that has been downgraded to rain - can't say I'm sorry.

Speaking of rain - that was this week's challenge on 'The title is ...' if you want to look at my effort and several others.

And my stamp making challenge today involves minimal stamp making. Jackie commented that she liked yesterday's image of weeds in the snow - and so do I. So that is today's image, although it doesn't lend itself easily to stamps because the lines are so fine.



On Creative Sketchbooks we were taught credit card painting - not the type where you smoosh paint around with a credit card, but the type where you print with the edge.

That technique seemed to me to lend itself well to this image.










The current challenge on yet another group is to make a journal quilt which is painted - this design may actually be translated into fabric - white satin, I think.

I added some nature printing, using the seed heads of the plant in the photo - not sure what it is, a long stemmed dandelion-like weed. [My mother, who taught me a lot about wild flowers, would not be pleased with my inability to remember what this one is.]

I also tried using the seed heads on their own - they gradually collapsed as I printed giving some interesting shapes.

Walking in a winter wonderland

to coin a cliche. I didn't build a snowman, though. Perhaps Ronaldo's snowy ball will do instead.

I have done some more snow dyeing today, before all the snow disappears. Or not - the forecast is for more of the same. I'll show you the first lot tomorrow - it is currently drying after being washed. Looks OK but may be a bit pale when it has dried.

I have managed a second stamp, too. When I was looking at the image of the rock church for the first stamp, I was struck by this shape in the roof.

So this is stamp number two. If you think it's a big eraser - it is a fake £5 note/eraser from Hawkins Bazaar. Not quite full £5 note size but still big for an eraser.

I was going to add the stripes of the glazing bars but when I got this far I decided not to.

I tried various lay outs, including as a single image, which reminds me of Mt Fuji.

You'll notice that I haven't completely carved the background away - I think the lines give movement.

I tried a half drop arrangement, having had my memory jogged about such things by my friend A. who is recording her much more interesting stamps on her blog. Check out her travel mug inserts as well while you are there.

This is the very atmospheric scan in inverted colours. Free edge applique with sheers, possibly? If I made a textile piece inspired by this I think it would be a much freer interpretation of a landscape, but with this sort of feel.

Question: what is the opposite of 'Making hay while the sun shines'?

Answer: snow dyeing while you've got snow.

You may never have heard of snow dyeing - I had only heard of it because there are keen snow dyers on 'Dyehards', the dyeing list I belong to. I don't usually take much notice, due to a shortage of one essential ingredient, but when we were affected by a 'severe weather incident' I decided to take the opportunity to try it out.

I consulted the experts on Dyehards and Googled [although several of the hits were from the blogs of members of Dyehards].


There are a number of methods.

You can bundle the pre-soda-soaked fabric [UK muslin in this case] over a grid. I don't have a suitable grid, but I tried this sweater dryer [which usually has drying papers on it]. I did pop another piece of fabric [cotton jersey] under the grid, and some threads, to catch the drips.

Then you spread snow over the fabric and drizzle dye over the top. I suspect this choice of colours may result in several shades of mud.


An alternative method is just to put the fabric into a tray, add snow and add dye. There is a piece of viscose velvet under all this lot.

There is a third method which involves putting the dyes directly on to the snow outside, which I may try tomorrow if the snow is still there. Good job the neighbours can't see into the garden ...

And finally - I mentioned that at the end of January 2008 I had posted a picture of the flowers on our cherry tree.

This is what it looked like this morning.

Please take this as today's photo, although I don't think you will get a stamp to go with it!

And the first stamp is ...

a very simple one.

The photo is one I took when we visited Helsinki. The Rock Church is an amazing place, cut out of the solid rock, and lit, as you see, from above.

I took a section of the glass roof as the inspiration for my stamp.

The stamp is made from an eraser, carved with lino cutting tools. Sorry that the image is a little blurry, my camera really doesn't like close work!

I cut diagonal stripes out of the eraser, and then stamped the resulting image in different orientations and arrangements. The printed image is reversed, of course, which is why it slants the other way.

You will notice that I am not a punctiliously neat stamper - I like the texture that results from being a bit slapdash. [That's my story and I'm sticking to it.]





I also used a found object [a piece of plastic tubing] with the stamp to make a border pattern [top left].

I particularly like the ribbon-like arrangement which suggests weaving or wrapping - or both.

The negative scan suggests gold work to me, for some reason.

And by the way - I realise that I promised to write about the Creative Textiles Workshop last Friday and I haven't posted a word. Things have been so hectic here at Cheese Acres that I haven't even unpacked all my stuff - but I haven't forgotten. Things should get a bit calmer next week - especially if we get the threatened snow. Why go out in snow if you don't have to?