Whispering Time Again!

Do you have any idea how badly I want to show you the entire page in Peta's book?

 This round of our Chinese Whispers Collaboration belongs to our fearless leader Peta Lloyd, who created the cleverest pages. This has been so much fun! I can't divulge the theme...but what you can know is that included in this is a silk paper pocket (complete with treasures), handmade paper, a microscope slide, skeleton leaves, paint, stamps and embossing...among other things!

The studio looked like something had exploded in there by the time this was finished. It's possible that every container had been opened and the contents spread far and wide in the hunt for the perfect 'bits' to grace these pages.

Each time I post these snippets, I wonder if it's remotely interesting to any of you...or really only significant to those of us in the collaboration. Yet, the challenge of each month attempting to decipher the latest theme with nothing more than a few visual clues is quite consuming and I'm enjoying the stretch and learning that's accompanying the process. This however means that there's a little less time for producing other work that I can share in it's fullness with you.

The important thing I want to suggest to you is to consider being part of a collaborative process...you will bend, stretch, get a headache and grow! It's a wonderful, fun thing and a wonderful way to get to know people in a way that we don't always get an opportunity to.

Consider yourself encouraged to give a collaboration a go!

Loving these leaves...

A while ago, a photo of a piece of silk paper made an appearance here...at the time, I thought it would make a great cuff, all stitched out with leaf shapes. The stitching was started, and frankly, it looked pretty lame and disinteresting. So much so, that I tossed it in a corner, amongst a bundle of other lame and disinteresting stuff, to be forgotten for a while. (You might be surprised just how much stuff is in that bundle!)

It was rediscovered when I was thinking about creating some special sample pieces for the Exploring Soluble Films workshop in Blackall. It may have looked lame with only stitching, but what about adding machine stitched slips created on soluble film? Hmmm...better!

Many laves (count them!) were patiently stitched on Romeo soluble film. Romeo is a plastic like sheet - it reminds me a bit of the clear, heavy plastic that school librarians were always busy covering books with. Using a slightly different variegated thread in the needle to the bobbin, some subtle colour changes were fairly easy to create. Once the leaves were finished, the whole lot went into a tub of cold water, the plastic dissolved, leaving the thread in these neat leafy shapes, ready to be stitched down on to the base...in this case, the silk paper.

The addition of a handmade bead (foiled black fabric wrapped around a satay stick, secured, and with a little embossing powder added) and a machine wrapped silk loop...and a cuff is born! I'm still trying to decide whether it needs more leaves, some hand embroidery on the silk, or if it's fine the way it is. I change my mind every time I walk past it! So, what do you think?

It's time to go pack my many bags for my teaching (and road) trip... Stay tuned for an update towards the end of next week!

Working on Pieces for Bush Christmas

Aren't these colours lovely?! There's been some paint splashed about onto a variety of surfaces, in preparation for further creative pursuits...in other words, the rapidly evaporating time till Bush Christmas has got me in a frenzy! These pastel coloured chunks are rock salt, that was sprinkled onto some painted watercolour paper while the paint dried...this gives a very cool speckled effect, and the salt takes up a little of the paint colour. It reminds me a bit of the coloured rocks the boys used to have in the bottom of the fish tank years ago. The boys weren't all that into the fish - when the last one died, it was at least two weeks before one of them exclaimed in dismay "Where's the fish gone?" Heaven, my darling, but I promise I gave him a lovely funeral....

Thankfully, my days of fish funerals beside the toilet are long behind me now! Which has nothing whatever to do with this piece...but I'm a great believer in the benefits of gratitude (and expressing same!) The text here says: Success is liking yourself, liking what you do, and liking how you do it. (Maya Angelou) It's a definition of success I respect greatly, and now that I'm no longer needed to perform fish funerals (which I didn't like doing) I think I must be free to feel successful! This piece is worked on a base of tissue bonded to felt, with handmade silk paper embedded with feathers free machine stitched in place. The little collection of discs at the bottom are from the bottom up: an abandoned grinder disc, a bottle cap, and a neat stoneware button. The disc and bottle cap have been painted and embossed to look bubbly and lava like...neat! (and fun!)

Silk Paper & Exhibition Opening

I've been experimenting with silk today! Throwers waste, silk rods and an assortment of sprays from the Moon Glow range (Starburst Sprays, Moonshadow Mists and Glitz Spritz...all from Dale at The Thread Studio) Sadly, the photo doesn't quite show the beautiful shimmer on the surface of these... This earthy green one is begging to have leaves stitched into it and to be made into a cuff. It started whispering to me the second I took the parchment away after ironing it all into one yummy piece of silk paper!

This looks a bit like an old elephants skin with a dusting of shimmer powder. In 'real life' it's much groovier!

Alan and I are heading off to Surat tomorrow for the opening of the "Curves" Exhibition. Remember Cherish? The artist book made from old bras? Well, it's finally time for it's public debut! You can have a gander at the other artists interpretations of the theme at the Roma Art Gallery - there are some painters, jewellers, photographers, mixed media artists...really worth a look to see how different artists have responded to the theme.

"Cherish" is finished!

The book for the "Curves" Exhibition is finally finished!! I've posted each page in a separate post...my computer had a huge hissy fit when I tried to upload a lot of photos in one go!

Each page inside has it's own title, and has been scanned and printed onto watercolour paper, which was bonded to the back of the page, so that I could add a small amount of text to the 'story'.

My warmest thanks to those precious women who entrusted me with their bras...and especially to Jill - trusting me with this has meant the world to me. I can't wait to show it to her in the flesh!

All the pages follow - I'd love to hear which one/s are your favourites!

Fate Knocks At The Door

The first page of the book...Fate Knocks at the Door, takes it's title from a very, very old book cover (the one I snaffled at Reverse Garbage in Brisbane ages ago). This page has a base of woven strips of silk paper, with appliqued and painted pieces of bra cup lycra, foil from tomato paste tubes, a handful of bra hooks and some little artgirlz charms

Kind of says it all, I think!

My Cup Runneth Empty

Page Two! One of my original ideas for the title of the book was My Cup Runneth Empty...I worried that perhaps it maybe a little lacking in sensitivity... But, it persisted, and became the title of this page.

The base is silk paper, with torn pieces of bra cup fabric incorporated into it, with lots of hand stitching, an embossed velvet tree and some buttons. The colours, swirling feel and 'bandage' appearance from the torn bras speak to me of anaesthetic, nausea and the haziness of being plunged into this journey...

Tides of Uncertainty

Tides of Uncertainty is consrtucted from silk paper with velvet pieces free machine stitched into place...

Here it is in place in the book..it reminds me of microscopic cells and scientific stuff, as well having a very watery, fluid, floaty feel...

Showing you the last page first...

The artists book is coming along...all the pages are in various stages of construction, but this one is as good as finished...it's also the last page of the book, so, you're getting the whole experience in reverse! (I like to think the sentiment and idea behind this page is self evident...)

The "Hope" circle is from an old foil wine bottle lid that has been hiding in the bottom of one of my drawers of goodies for years...I don't always keep such things, but that day, years ago, it whispered to me - and now it has found it's perfect home!

A piece of silk paper (a la Dale Rollerson) is the base for the hand and machine stitching, and photocopy transfer of a butterfly (My Mum Carmel told me there should be a butterfly! and I always do what my Mum tells me! At least that's what I tell my boys all the time!).

This is, I think, my favourite of all the pages...as I finish the rest, I'll post them too, and you can tell me which you like the best.