Weeks 25 & 26

have been busy, hence the radio silence. We have had two Visual Marks Sessions: a standard one last week, and then this week an excellent workshop with Cas Holmes. So although I have a lot of Uni work, today was scheduled for two VM activities as well: following up the CH workshop, and this, which  is one of the challenges our mighty leaders delight in giving us. 

 

In case you are wondering, it is a drip mat for a plant pot. Or it was. Not saying what I have in mind to make, but as you can see it involved a shisha/sequin. It is a long time since I sewed on a shisha, and the last time I did it, I cheated and used shisha rings. So, I have forgotten how to do shisha stitch. It took many attempts to get this far.

Then, as you can see, I spilled red bush tea on it.

Fortunately, the other side is OK, so I shall turn it over and have another go when I feel up to it. Possibly after my first drink of the day. White wine doesn't stain.

My Cas Holmes related work for today was to paint backings (below) for what I'd done on the day (above) - I decided they needed one after I got home. I managed to achieve that without mishap. Tomorrow I will attach the collages and try to pluck up the courage to add some machine embroidery. Mishaps cannot be ruled out.

 

The Uni highlight of last week had been the crits (critiques). Yes, really! I can't remember if I wrote about the previous  one, but it was a bit demoralising, so I was a tad nervous about this one, especially as it was a Friday afternoon. But the tutors were really positive and encouraging, with lots of suggestions about where to go from here.

Which led to an outbreak of lunacy in the garden. It was suggested that I think about putting my hands/gloves/prosthetics on poles. (Don't ask. I can rationalise it, but I'm trying not to overthink things.)

So yesterday we pottered off for a walk in the sunshine at the Hillier  Gardens, coffee and cake in the cafe, and the purchase of canes in the garden centre.

And the final task on the list for today was to put the gloves on the poles, stick the poles in the lawn, and photograph them. I was expecting the pole-pushing to be difficult, but one of the advantages of having a lawn which  is mostly moss is that the first few inches are quite soft. (After that it's chalk, and you need a pick axe.)

 

If the neighbours didn't already think I was nuts, they do now.

Week Ten: Coming to Conclusions

Well, sort of. 

The scarf for Babybel did get finished, and was delivered the day after her birthday. She was nicely greatful, and wore it for school. Unfortunately I forgot to take a photo.

This vessel/branch is finished, and blocking on the end of a carpet tube. Except that it didn't shrink as much as I'd hoped, so it will have to visit the washing machine again. I had intended that the ribs would twist round - but as you can see, they didn't. However,  I will not be knitting it again.

This bit of playing around finding  trees on a used colour catcher is finished. It was intended  to go in a sketchbook, but Wensleydale has decided it should be framed. So maybe that isn't finished either.

We had a tutorial on Wednesday and I was instructed to stop farting around with samples and start a trial tree. Well, not quite in those words, but that was the gist. I've done some research into how to hold it up - anyone know where I can buy that tubing they bury cables in? - and I would have started knitting after I'd finished the brown thing, honest, but I can't find the wool. I think it may be in the car, which is in the garage, but I'm too lazy to go and look. So I'm making a s****e, just as a stopgap.

The essay isn't finished either, but it is a lot closer to being finished than it was before the weekend - so close to completion that I am experiencing a great sense of relief. I have no idea if it is any good, but my ambition is restricted to getting it finished and handed in on time. 

So, a better week than last week: let's hope the improvement continues.

 

 

 

 

Living Dangerously.

In my extensive stash I have several rolls of something, bought from a floristry supplier who used to come to college. (She had lots of interesting things: I think she sold more to the embroiderers than she did to the florists.) 

When I bought it, I may have had some idea of what I was going to do with it, but I suspect I just liked the pretty colours. I used some when I was being repetitious last summer, and found out that you can iron it and cut it with a soldering iron: it is non-woven and holey, and from its texture, I suspect it of being lightweight Lutradur.

In an attempt to use it up, I decided to try printing on it. Dangerous! What if it melts? I didn't mention this possibility to Wensleydale, lest he suspect me of deliberately sabotaging the $^<%#>€}<\> HP all-in-one which I hate, in order to justify buying something else. (Would I do something like that? Of course not. Well, not so soon after buying a new car...)

I remembered I had bought Marion Barnett and Dijanne Cervaal's publication on Lutradur, and went and found it, more easily than I expected. From this I learned that:

1. In order not to choke the printer it is a good idea to back the finer stuff with freezer paper, 

2. As the ink tends to come off, it is a good idea to use a pre-coat. (Fortunately I had come across the remains of a bottle of clear Inkaid the other day, while looking for something else. I also found some PrintAbility, so I thought I'd try a comparison and use up some more stash.)

3. The Spunart website suggests only printing in black - just like all those transparencies I've been doing.

To cut a rambling story short:

1. Did I wreck the printer? No.

2. Did the prints come out OK? Yes.

3. Is it Lutradur? Who knows.

4. Which was better, Inkaid or PrintAbility? Who knows: I forgot to make a note of which was which. 

5. Will I do it again? Yes, but not with the Lutradurish material, as I would prefer white to the the pretty colours I have. So I have ordered some of the real stuff from Spunart. I'm thinking tranparencies over Lutradur. Whoops, stash extension.

6. Have I managed to use up significant amounts of the Lutradurish material, Inkaid, PrintAbility, or freezer paper? No, nothing but printer ink.

What did I learn?

1. Printing on draft mode worked fine.

2. The freezer paper looks great, but unfortunately it tends to smear, even when sprayed with fixative.

3. There are differences between the two pre-coats: one lets less ink through, sticks the Lutradurish material more firmly to the freezer paper, and makes the print stiffer but shinier (more on the back than the front). More experiments needed, with careful note taking.

On other fronts:

1. There has been some knitting - the boring but good for subtitle-reading body of the shawl before I get to the exciting but needing concentration lace border.

2. There has been some embroidery - the framework of my latest Visual Marks/Manor Farm piece. (The dots are where the first flowers will go.)

3. A couple of books. I added transparencies to the recycled card book I made a while ago, and made a quick index card book for the latest Daisy Yellow challenge. They should have been ATC’s, but I found these small index cards in a drawer, so decided to use them inste

4. We have had exciting outings, to Manor Farm again, by special request, and to the  Hythe Ferry, which we have only just discovered. If you wish to entertain a transport mad small person, it cannot be beat. Narrow gauge train ride? Yes, times two. Boat trip? Yes, times two. Huge ships to look at, which are loading and unloading cars, tractors and diggers? Yes, times two. An icecream while you watch the Isle of Wight catamaran sail in and out? Yes, but only one, unfortunately. Wensleydale suggested that next time - and I'm sure there will be a next time - we can make it nearly perfect by getting the bus between the ferry terminal and Southampton. Times two.

Next week should be marginally quieter as the little guys go back to school, but I have an invitation to the Mature Students' Welcome Event at Uni. It's beginning to get scary...

Another busy week.

So busy that although I know whose company we were in, I just had to check with Wensleydale what we did this week rather than last. We had a VIB (very important birthday) on Sunday, when the birthday boy received a variety of trains, construction vehicles and tractors. Bit of a theme there, you might think. 

Since then we have been to Basingstoke several times - more times in one week, I think, as I have been in the rest of my life. One was the result of a request to go to Milestones (more vehicles), two were in connection with a VEP (very expensive purchase) (another vehicle). We've managed with one car for all of this century, but the ageing of Honda number three (he had two predecessors) plus the demands of going down to Chichester three times a week, led to the purchase of Honda number 4. We are now feeling rather poorer, but at least we keep Honda in business. (Except that Honda 3 is 11 years old and we would have kept Honda 1 more than 7 years if he hadn't lost an argument with a truck. Fortunately he was the only one that got hurt.) (Honda 3 was sold when we decided we could manage with one car.)

We also went to Mottisfont, where we didn't see much of the children's illustrators exhibition, we were too busy climbing about in the new play area (big wooden things) and in the water play area.  (Get wet! Dam a stream! Get wet! Pump up water! Did I mention getting wet?) Strongly recommended to adventurous children of all ages, but do what we didn't (because we didn't know it was there) and take a towel and a change of clothes.

They loved the fish, too, both the real ones and these.

There has been some needlework. Socks have been finished 

and, for a change, and possibly a gift if it works out, a shawl has been started. Many, many times - I lost count after 8. It is not that it is a particularly difficult cast on, but last night I was tired, due to the stresses of driving back from Basingstoke in an unfamiliar car on the Friday before a bank holiday. Fortunately we know how to avoid the worst bit of the M3!

I had a few more goes this morning and eventually got it right, after I'd worked out that I needed to abandon my preconceptions that for a shawl you increase on every other row at two, or at most four, points. In this pattern there are 6 increase points but you don't increase at all of them every time. I think I've got my brain round it now.

And I have made a book. Instructions here.

It's a very small one, which is not quite perfect, due to some slips of the craft knife. The photos are 1" square. I'm pondering trying a slightly bigger version, but I have a feeling size isn't everything. 

And finally - the second Visual Marks/Manor Farm piece is nearly finished - just some leaves to add, plus framing it - always the worst bit!

Holiday at Home

As I expected, it's been a busy week: Dorset on Monday, Hampshire on Tuesday, Buckinghamshire on Wednesday, and Berkshire/Oxfordshire on Friday. The National Trust membership cards got a thorough workout. 

Now there's cycling this weekend, (great women's race) so no chance of a quiet time. But the little guys are back from an exciting couple of weeks in France, so we should get back to normal on Monday. Well, what passes for normal around here. Mostly we enjoyed our holiday, but we had some glitches and some bad news, and it will be nice to get back to our routine.

Despite the gadding about, some needlework has been done.

So, here is the routine sock photo. It is an even more repulsive colour combination than the last pair, but I reckon if someone notices your socks, there's a fair chance they are grovelling at your feet, in which case the colour doesn't matter. And I'm at the age when warm feet matter more than style.

A snippet of my piece for the Visual Marks Christmas exhibition. One down, several more to go.

And this week's book. Despite the arrival of some more acetates, I felt like making a paper book, so here it is. Instructions here. I didn't have any suitable postcards, so I improvised with a cardboard mailer - now there's a surprise. I think I could probably include some acetates in the format (I like dos-a-dos books), so there may be another one next week. Watch this space.

<span style="font-size: medium; text-align: start;">Warning! Contains Nudity!</span>

We've been away for a few days in deepest Dorset. OK, it's not very far away, but it was nice to go to a good hotel, be cosseted and eat far too much for a couple of days. 

We went to see a giant. Although as W. said, he wasn't very prominent. I think he needs his chalk cleaning. However Cerne Abbas village was beautiful, with one of the prettiest paths to and from a car park I've ever trodden, a nice cafe and a lovely garden behind the church. 

We also visited Sherborne Abbey, which is beautiful, with a stunning altar cloth, fan vaulted to match the ceiling. I forgot to ask the friendly lady in charge of leaflets who made it (the cloth, not the ceiling) though I bet it was the Sarum Group - does anyone know? We also took in Sherborne Castle (no particularly striking textiles) and Montacute, home of the Goodhart Samplers. I much prefer earlier, non-cross-stitch samplers to later Victorian ones, so I was delighted to see a few of this wonderful collection on show, together with a couple of modern ones. 

And that led to a book purchase or two. I jibbed at £40 for a paperback copy at Montacute itself, even if it was for a good cause, but managed to find a secondhand hardback copy on line for half that. The other book was mentioned on a blog (I can't remember whose, sorry if it was yours) and was also second hand. I've got quite a pile of heavyweight reading building up on the coffee table.

Despite my best intentions, I didn't manage to get much needlework done while we were away. Too much eating in the evenings. I managed a few rows on the sock, but nothing else. However I finished them today - lots of knitting TV (very exciting cycling which the best men and women won), plus cold feet, hurried up their completion.

Since we got back I've made a start on my embroidery for the Manor Farm exhibition. Some design work and preparation, and four and a half couched lines. 

This week's book would have continued the acetate theme, if I'd had any acetates. However Alisa Golden posted the instructions for this, so I made that instead. For once I followed the instructions almost exactly, just making the pages slightly smaller so I could cut them out of one sheet of A3.

I was looking forward to a quiet week next week, but it is already shaping up to be busy. We have a week off from grandparenting and Wensleydale has an itinerary all planned...

  

Bits and Bobs

It's been another busy week, if sitting on the sofa watching bike racing can be described as being busy. It certainly gets the adrenaline flowing: I've discovered that, when your favourite rider removes himself from the race on the first day,  so you have no-one to will to win, willing somebody (anybody) to beat the one you don't want to win, is just as stressful. (It's the immature, sexist one I don't want to win, and so far I've been successful in getting him beaten.)

That isn't all we've done: yesterday we had a taster meal at the hotel where Cheese Major and his Senorita will be getting married next spring. It was delicious, but we could barely move afterwards!

I went to a Visual Marks meeting at Manor Farm (Babybel was dead jealous, especially when I told her about the baby donkey.) (I wouldn't have mentioned it if we hadn't already planned on going there when the school holidays start!)

We had a meeting there to prepare for our exhibition at the Farm over Christmas. (First, Wartime Farm, soon, Visual Marks. I don't think we will be required to dress up or operate antiquated machinery.)

I took a lot of photographs, and even made some drawings. OK, very basic ones, but fit for my purpose, designing organza appliqués. I want to get cracking on these because when term starts I don't think I'll have a lot of spare time!

I've also been working on another VM piece. Right back at the beginning we had a joint mark making session with a big piece of fabric and some thickened dyes. After some discussion we decided to divide it into nine pieces which we would embroider/quilt and reunite as a series of banners ( I think). I chose to hand embroider my piece, but it is closely woven fabric and very hard on the hands, so progress is slow.

I can't remember how far I had got by last weekend on these two, now known as TOPOKIED (the oddest pieces of knitting I've ever done). Further progress has been a bit slow, because:

a) they need more concentration than I've been able to give while watching adrenaline filled bike races, and

b) I've run out of steam.

So I started some simpler, race watching and subtitle-reading knitting. Another pair of socks. Not my favourite yarn, which is why it was still mouldering in my stash, but it won't show much inside shoes, and hand knit socks are definitely warmer and nicer than bought ones. Not that we need warm socks at the moment, but we will, we will.

There nearly wasn't a book of the week, but I came across a reference to 'acetate books' and that started me thinking.  I printed a tree photo on acetate and turned it into a very simple book. It was a bit bodged because I was in a hurry - the acetate is difficult to fold, and I made a mess of the central cut, but I think the result has possibilities. I love the way you get the printed image, the view through it, and reflections as well. I'm pondering on sewing the pages together to make it more obedient, but I'm not sure it's a good idea. I've stuck it back under my old Singer, a.k.a. the book press, in the hope of disciplining it a bit more before I decide.

Rest day tomorrow for the TDF, but not for us, it's a grandparenting day. Perhaps not as physically demanding as riding 200km, but it feels like it, at times.

Things of the week

Book of the week - a work in progress, when I've decided what to do with it. I'm torn between trees and shoes. The inspiring tutorial is here. 

Note to self (again): measure twice, cut once. On the other hand, the brown paper tape idea worked well, even in my clumsy hands.

Knitting of the week(s) - also works in progress. I have been playing around with adding stitch to some of them, and knitted a few more. Both the tall one  and the inky one are knitted in 2ply, but one was felted following N's advice and one wasn't. I still like the texture of the inky one, but if you want tall things to stand up you've got to felt them harder.

Double entendre? What double entendre?

The Oddjob hat is short because getting it that tall took all the super-bulky I had. No idea why the photo has come out yellow, they are  the same colour as all the other and photographed at the same time.

Squirrel of the week. That is a 'squirrel-proof bird feeder' he is feeding from, but as the little guys helped us refill it yesterday, it is just possible that the lid had not been put back properly.

It has now.

Busy week next week, with an extra grandparental day. However I am expecting to have extra time for doing relaxing stuff. I've mentioned my insomnia on this blog - I've been living with it for about 30 years but just after Christmas it got much worse, so when I spotted a poster about insomnia counselling in the doctors' surgery I followed it up. 

I've found it quite helpful so far - well structured and with a sound psychological basis, as far as this long retired psychologist can tell! I have started a sleep diary, and as a result of the challenging maths involved in that (well, challenging if you are sleep-deprived and don't do spread sheets) I have been advised to restrict my time in bed to 5 hours a night! Asleep or awake. So I stay up till 1a.m, get up at 6, and do relaxing things before bed - knitting or embroidery are fine, but no computer games. :(

As a result, I'm knackered (no daytime napping allowed, not that I ever did before starting this), and finding it difficult to wake up in the mornings - but I do seem to be falling asleep reasonably quickly. And I get so much done when I get up at 6 - some of which is worth doing! 

Little things

The little guys had the week off school, so that although we had a day off grandparent duty on Monday, on Thursday we looked after them all day - exhausting, but fun. Babybel (who is definitely not a little thing any more, she is growing like a sunflower) had a hospital appointment in the morning, which precluded any long trips. (Not a serious problem, just what in my day was called a lazy eye, which has improved enormously.)  

The hospital is conveniently close to the ducky place, so we went there to feed waterbirds and ourselves, followed by a trip to Finkley Down, which is conveniently close to Daddy's new work-place, so we could meet daddy after work, and admire the big trucks arriving, much to the VHC's delight.

Given that we had Monday off, I don't have much to show you - a bit of knitting and three books of the week. That may sound impressive, but two of them are very simple - we realised on Thursday that paper and pencils would fill in the time spent waiting for daddy, so granny has found a small pencil case and made two little pamphlets, all to be kept in the car for future use. 

The other book was a bit more complicated. Earlier in the week I came across a few A5 sheets of hand made paper I don't remember buying, and decided to use them for a book. 

I didn't want to fold the paper, so decided on a stab binding. I vaguely remembered seeing instructions for such a binding with a fold over cover, but couldn't find them in my numerous books. I finally found them in Shereen La Plantz's 'Cover to Cover', found and cut some suitable card for the cover, punched the 72 holes required, selected some unsuitable fibre for the binding, tracked down a needle with an eye big enough to take the unsuitable fibre, (not easy) and sewed up the book. 

It doesn't look much from the outside, but the unsuitable fibre looks OK when you open the cover.

Odd bits of knitting have also taken place. In some cases very odd, like this experiment in felted shibori, which is about to get some beads. (Yes, I know what it looks like.)

I won't tell you what Wensleydale said this looked like, but I pointed out to him that:

a) it is far too big and 

b) it would not be fit for purpose because of the holes. 

In theory it is another 2ply vessel, but longer and destined for more determined felting.

And finally, I decided the previously knit vessels need a bit of colour. The little one was dipped in Quink, the bigger one in something called Prout's Ink, another forgotten purchase, which managed to be both very glutinous and very drippy at the same time. And it smells like the brown shibori looks. Not recommended, even though I like the result.

I nearly forgot. One thing this week was 'really big', as the VHC would say. Winchester Discovery Centre is showing Grayson Perry's 'Walthamstow Tapestry', so we pottered out to see it. Very impressive - it fills the entire wall of the gallery. I especially loved the colour, the patterns, and the birds and flowers, apparently inspired by batiks. And the 'birth' and 'death' sections involve quilts - there's a man who knows his textiles. 

When I realised...

it was Sunday (I'm always hazy about what day it is between our 'work' on Mondays and Thursdays) I found myself wondering where the week went. And then I realised it went into 3 days with the little guys (albeit shorter days than usual) and three evenings of recovering from 3 days with the little guys. Still, we had fun - an Easter egg hunt at Mottisfont in the rain, the 'spin tower' + a return trip on the Gosport ferry, also in the rain, and, for old times sake, the ducky place in sunshine. (For those not in the know, the Gosport Ferry is Portsmouth's answer to the Staten Island Ferry - just smaller, quicker and with more historical but slightly less spectacular views.  I'd say 'cheaper' as well, but I strongly suspect it isn't.)

OK, that's only 3 days out of 7, but other, mostly less interesting but less tiring grown up activities have got in the way of textiles as well.

So I have only made slow progress on the Visual Marks challenge - although the pressure eased a little when I realised that I can't go to the meeting next Tuesday, due to extra little guy minding. 

Not sure about thad odd bit on the right, the primary purpose of which is to cover up some fraying fabric. I think it will have to come out.

And I still haven't worked out how to get some felt into it, as per the criteria.

The weekly book was an insomniac quicky (which sounds a bit like something completely different, but for that you need two insomniacs...). A variation on the 'instant book', it is mostly 'here's one I made earlier' - pre-painted card, an unsuccessful screen print from last week, and a bit of glue. I think it needs some stitch, which might have been better done before I stuck on the cover, but it was 2 a.m. And if I'd measured it properly the pages would not have been bigger than the cover. I could trim one side, but if I'd trimmed the central fold the whole thing would have fallen apart, hence the extra fold in the fold.   

Today was meant to be spent fulfilling a promise I made before Christmas, when I gave the little guys' mum and dad some redundant cushions. As they didn't match their decor, I promised to make some cushion covers for them, but it didn't happen. Fortunately, as it happened, as they have now redecorated and aubergine cushion covers would no longer do.

On Friday I discovered, somewhat to my surprise, that if you go to the right place it is still cheaper to make cushions covers than to buy them. And you don't end up with redundant cushion pads because shop bought covers always seem to come with pads these days. 

I haven't made cushion covers for a while and I thought I could whip up four plain ones today. (I remember how long City and Guilds cushions take, but that involves designing, and costing time and money, and embroidering, and rememebring to do something fancy on the back as well because your tutor will always look at the back and fail you if you haven't...)

I can hear the hollow laughter of experienced cushion makers from here.

I managed one. Partly because I changed my mind part way through, and partly because it was my first experience of using continuous zips (why did no one tell me how wonderful they are, even if they only come in the wrong colour?) and I had to Google them. But mostly because it takes longer than I thought it did. 

And I'm not sure the little guys' dad will like it anyway, so it is probably better to take this one as a sample and get his opinion before I go any further.

My knitting has been more satisfactory. I discovered another advantage to the random stripes pattern - apart from using up oddments of wool, and it not mattering if you miscount the rows in a stripe. If you think you are in danger of running out of the cuff, heel and toe colour (it has been known) you can make the random stripes a little less random so you use more of the other colour. And you would never have known if I hadn't told you.  

Of course you have to be the sort of person who doesn't mind wearing non-matching socks, but I figure anyone who spots that they don't match will only do so because they are grovelling at my feet, when it won't matter.

Book of the Week

A quick and dirty book made from one of the A1drawings I made on Dionne Swift's course. To construct it you fold the paper in half lengthways, into quarters widthways, and then cut three quarters of the way up the lengthways fold. The advantage of this is that the paper can still be opened out to full size. I have found more complex versions called accordion books, snake books, ox plow books or boustrephodon books - take your pick. 

After I'd made it, I realised I didn't need two pieces of string to tie it together, but I rather like the look of the result.

I may do the same with the remaining drawings, as it makes an easier way to store them. And each one will use two of my large humungous pile of book mailers, which has to be a good thing. (My mother hoarded plastic bags, I hoard cardboard. Amongst other things.) 

I also managed to have a quick go at the second week of Dionne's course.

Inspirational drawing on the left, two sides of the Embellished and sttiched version on the right. Being me, I think it needs some colour - preferably red. (Note to self: try using some other colour with black and white. You know it makes sense.)

Thanks to Sandy for saying I make her laugh. That is sometimes my intention. 

Life has its little ups and downs.

The week started badly when our child minding journey took nearly three times as long as it normally does - overturned lorry. At the moment, luckily, we are going later and not taking the little guys to school, so there was no desperate need to get there on time, but then if we had been doing our customary silly o'clock trip, we would probably have missed the worst of the congestion. 

The second down of the week was this. I do know how to turn a heel, honest: but when you get too engrossed in wildly improbable British detective series you can end up turning it twice. Yes, I confess, we were watching 'Midsomer Murders'.

For those not au fait with sock knitting, 'turning the heel' is the process which changes a vertical tube which fits the leg, to a horizontal tube which fits the foot. Working two heels, as I did, would give a sock which turned through 180 rather than 90 degrees. I'd already pulled it out once because it was too narrow, so it took three attempts to get it right. 

The pattern is an adaptation of this one with different heels and toes, but the errors I made are all mine. 

However, those downs were more than balanced by the ups, chiefly the completion of numbers 3 (well, in part) and 4 on last week's 'to do' list.

1. Dionne Swift's course.

2. The book of the week.

3. My piece for Visual Marks, plus making some stamps, both for next month.

4. The self-imposed nine part series for Contemporary Textiles Workshop, for after Easter.

5. Knitting.

Here are the stamps, and my test stampings.  The image in the centre shows the cloth we painted at Visual Marks, which inspired it all. What we are going to do with them will be revealed at the next meeting...

And this is my 3D, fit-in-a-coffee-cup series. (Yeh, right. Individually, maybe, sort of.) From top left to bottom right, washers, paper coils, laced broken chopstircks, knitted worms I cord, embroidery (!), wrapped pipe cleaners, gathered cloth, sprayed paper balls, buttons.

 

I realised that although my original intention had been to represent everyone's marks from the original exercise, (see left), I'd ended up mostly doing circles and lines. So I converted the sort-of-leaf shapes into spirals, made some more lines and circles, constructed an outer box and called it done.

I enjoyed doing it, which is probably why I let it take priority over more urgent things. I've made odd little things in boxes before, and there may possibly be more in my future, when I've decided what I want to do when I grow up - apart from being Scandinavian, which is already decided (or Welsh). (Indecisive, moi?)

Today I've started my challenge for Visual Marks - the thing which has to be a 16" oval collage, including lace and felt, inspired by the sea, and sea green in colour. 

The first two criteria were my biggest problem - I usually work smaller or much bigger than 16", and the thought of a 16" oval was very scary uninspirational. But then I realised that A3 paper is just over 16" on the longer side, and if you fold it in half you get A4-ish book pages. So I could make a book and put a sea themed oval cartouche on the front. That was a step forward, but I was fixated on the idea that the cartouche would have to contain a representational image of the sea - you know, beach, sea, sky, waves, maybe a dinghy and some seagulls - and I don't do representational. Plus I had a bit of Shakespeare running through my head - this bit.

    Full fathom five thy father lies; 

              Of his bones are coral made; 

    Those are pearls that were his eyes: 

              Nothing of him that doth fade, 

    But doth suffer a sea-change 

    Into something rich and strange.                 

My problem was solved when I decided that 'something rich and strange' could be silks, satins, beads, maybe a few pearls - in crazy patchwork. Well, crazy patchwork is sort of like collage, isn't it? So, after Googling how to draw an oval, I started. 

So now my list looks like this:

1. This week's work for Dionne's course -which I intend to tackle tomorrow.

2. The Visual Marks crazy patchwork for next month.

3. Book of the week - also for tomorrow, unless I run out of time, when number 2 will have to stand in.

4. The other sock. Preferably without three attempts at the heel.