BLOG 225

 

Just for the record, the ‘birthday tweets’ bird was very well received. It made her laugh out loud and I’m sure she will treasure it (you just know who to make special things for, don’t you?). And what have I been up to this week? Getting on with whatever’s at the top of the pile. I am aiming to completed projects that have been hanging about for a while, adopting a ‘new year, clean slate’ type of mentality. Having said this out loud, well in my blog at least, it will focus my mind and motivate me. I always seem to need a challenge of sorts and I’m always more productive working to a deadline!

First to progress was the Susan Lenz piece. I have been waiting for good weather to do the soldering outside but, as that hasn’t happened when I have been free to do it, I decided to do it in my studio anyway. With a mask over my nose (which fogged up my glasses) and a fan blowing across my work (which tended to cool the soldering iron) I battled on and this is what it looks like now. I have had great fun doing this; being creative and imaginative with my sewn patterns initially has given me shapes within shapes to burn. I just hope it all works out in the end!

 

 

 

 

                                          Soldered hanging

                                                 Detail 1

                                                  Detail 2

                                                             Detail 3

                                                Detail 4

The next stage is to use a heat gun to burn away some of the underlying felt to create a lacy effect between the shapes. I have ordered one now and it should be with me by the middle of the week. Fingers crossed that it does what it is supposed to do.

My next project was a small covered notebook in felt for another of my Gresford friends; poppies again by request. ASIDE: My friend is in London at the moment (Nov 30^th), making the journey to see Remembrance poppies at the Tower of London. She didn’t see one poppy! All she saw was a muddy trench with wheel barrows, and volunteers on their hands and knees picking up coins which people had thrown into the display, breaking some of the poppies in the process. Just why do people feel the need do that?)

                                               Felted cover

 Over the weekend I have been trying to finish the felted wall hanging that will hang in the restless room. I chose a busy backing fabric that reflected the colours on the front and I chose to do the turn-through method so that I could sew all the way round the hanging and not have to close part of the seam afterwards. (I have described this method many times in past blogs, so I won’t go into detail again.)

                                      Turn through method

 

I always do 3 diagonal stitches across the corner and remove the excess fabric to give a good shape. A blunt tool helps with the shape too.

                                      Blunt tool for corners

 

One of the last things I do is to sign my work and date it. I am thrilled with this piece of work and it was through the process of making a dozen book covers to trial different methods that I came up with a way of working that was comfortable for me. I love it! Next week I will show it in situ and explain how I got it to hang close to the wall.

 

                                                     Signed