Rhino

This is the beginning of my latest watercolour of a rhinoceros.  It was done using a controlled wet on wet method.  Specific areas were saturated with clean water and then colour was added to the water.  The colour spreads only where the paper is wet.

I used a picture I had taken at the London Zoo and used more interesting colours than what was in the photo. Playing around with colours is so much fun.

Here is the (maybe) final result.

Colorado

All parts of this doll are machine embroidered. She has beaded hair, as well as beads at the neck and waist.

 

Making Trim and Fabric with a Sewing Machine

I use very narrow trim for my dolls.  It can be  very hard to find trim in the size and colour I need.  I frequently make my own trim using a sewing machine, water soluble stabilizer and thread.

Most sewing machines have a range of stitches that can be used to make a grid of threads that will form the basis of the trim.

On the left of the picture you can see the first stitch I used.  Any stitch that goes from one side to the other will work. You can use a zig zag stitch if  that is all you have.  I then used lines of straight stitches on the each side and  2 rows through the centre of the first row of stitches.

Once the grid was established, I used contrasting thread colours and sewed different decorative stitches over the grid. When I was finished I washed out the water soluble stabilizer and dried the pieces between 2 layers of a cotton towel.

I sometimes also make fabric with the sewing machine.  I did this for Sherry so that the colour of the fabric will exactly match tthe embroidered stump.

This piece is a rectangle but you can make specific shapes that will allow you to make clothes with no seam allowance when you ladder stitch the seams together.

After drawing the shape you want (green line) on water soluble stabilizer, use straight stitches  sewn close together  from one side to the other.

Then turn the piece around and sew straight stitches perpendicular to the first set. When you have finished, wash out the stabilizer and dry your fabric.

Sherry – Time Out for an Experiment

I was having trouble getting the torso to fit and look the way I wanted.  In between versions I used one that didn’t work (and wasn’t finished) to experiment.  I covered the upper part with Golden Absorbent Ground (White), let it dry, and painted it with watercolour paints.  The Absorbent Ground covered body took the paint very much like watercolour paper.  I will need some practice in order to learn how to adjust for the 3D body as the paint likes to flow downhill.  With a body, no matter which way you position it, there is always somewhere the paint can flow.

After the initial painting I used the Absorbent Ground to add white dots over the already painted surface.  I then added dots of watercolour to create the necklace.

The lower section of the torso is painted directly onto the untreated fabric.

The torso finally got done.

I ended up adding darts after it was attached and stuffed. You can see the purple marks of the air erasable pen still showing.   I marked the darts and then ladder stitch them together. there is another dart in the back.

Black on White Iris Thread Tangle

The inspiration for this Thread Tangle was a close-up photo  I took of one of my Irises. However, that is not what most people see. What do you see?

This is the original photo.

Sherry – A Work in Progress

Sherry (working title) will be a stump doll. The “stump” shape is based on my grandmother’s crystal sherry decanter.
The pattern is in 4 identical pieces.

Embroidery in Progress

The pieces are then sewn together by hand as are the darts.

2 pattern pieces sewn together; some darts still to be sewn

The next challenge is to make a body to fit the vessel.

Felted Dogs

My friend Edwina Sutherland asked me to fill in for her at our doll club, All Dolled Up. She was to have given a demonstration of felted animals but discovered that she was double booked. After a short demonstration and some practice at home  I used her patterns and method and showed our members and guest how to make a felted dog. They were all wonderful and all were able to produce dogs that looked like dogs- if not always the dog they were trying to make. You can see some of the results on the All Dolled Up blog .

Felting is a lot of fun and with a little practice the results can be quite satisfying.

One of the dogs above was done before the meeting for practice and the other was done during the meeting as a demonstration. I still need some more practice before I get the dogs to look a little closer to what I want them to look like.

Wink

Most of the Thread Tangles I have done so far are of faces. “Wink” was the first of my Thread Tangle faces.

I soon realized that with a little bit of planning while I was programming  the embroidery  I could have different versions.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I could also embroider them in different colour combinations.

 

Samson

One of my favourite forms of artistic cross training is watercolour painting. I have been painting with watercolour  for longer than I have been making fibre art. Doing it as cross training allows be to concentrate on the process rather than the product which makes it all the more enjoyable. If it turns out well – great – if not, it was fun doing it.

This is Samson, my cat. He is gray with touches of yellow but it was much more fun to use purple and accentuate the yellow. I think I got his eyes.

Christmas Tree Angels

The faces are made from polymer clay, the bodice is machine embroidered and the wings are free motion embroidery.