Weaving silk.

While in lockdown Liz has been doing all sorts of creative things.

Here she has separated silk cocoons, carrier rods into layers.

Then she has woven them together while damp, this activates the natural glue ,sericin, so that when gently ironed they stick together forming a fabric.

Not content with leaving them she has painted them with tea then

has placed metal washers on top to rust dye.

The tea gives the darker tone and the lovely dark  grey where the washers were placed.Finally she has begun to add stitch.

Where will this take her next?

Three dimensional puzzle

When Viv saw the new and free pattern release by www.tessuti-shop.com for a wraparound apron she lost no time in downloading the PDF and printing it out.

Next on the list was sourcing and buying some fabric to make it.She chose some lovely linen from  www.linenoholics.co.uk They trade on Etsy but you can also go direct to their website.

Viv chose this lovely mid blue.She added her own appliqué heart to the pocket as this is to be a gift to someone special.To complete the apron she topstitched in red to link with the heart fabric.

We loved the result so much we think we might put in orders! 

With thanks to Rod for the photos, and Liz for explaining how to get it on and off.

Time in the garden.

Jenn has started working into her second concertina sketchbook, using KarenStamper's Gardens and Allotments course as the starting point.

Karen uses all sorts of media and techniques to prepare the pages.Here Jenn has used printing with bubble wrap and edges of corrugated card, printing from leaves and plants directly, spraying wet ink and allowing it to run and using string to twang against the page as well as in a ball.

She has added collage from gardening magazines and tried to integrate it into her own drawing.She has made use of Posca pens, Artgraf , and Inktense pencils along with graphite and fine drawing pens.

She has found the process very interesting but wants to try to be much freer in her interpretation. The tendency is to be too literal, she feels she needs to work larger and not worry about if everything is in the right place!

At least the good weather in lockdown has afforded opportunities to enjoy being in our gardens.

Observed during lockdown.

Kirsten has been putting her observational skills to use again.

This magnificent owl sleepily staring us down from his perch in the tree

and this Wood Pigeon.If you listen closely you might also hear the coo-coo and

too -whit-too- whoo !

Lace in Lockdown.

Viv has been looking through her stash of fabrics to see what she might use up in lockdown, reviving the 'Make do ' mantra.

Using some teeny, tiny scraps of floral cottons she has applied them to a ground then machined a meandering stitch to attach them.Using the floral background as a theme she has raided her stash for floral lace and created these lovely bouquets.

It's quite inspiring to see what can be done with some inventive and creative thought.What might she put to use next?

Garden.

Sally has enrolled in the second Karen Stamper Concertina Sketchbook course as has Jenn. It looks at using Gardens and Allotments as inspiration, the first was Buildings.

Sally has a lovely garden so is using it to develop ideas in her sketchbook.Karen shows ways of preparing pages in the book to get over the blank white page and encourages artistic licence to add to the pages.

In these first pages she has used printing with ink and bubble wrap, adding collage and using grids, adding prints from leaves and drawing with sticks.

These pages are concentrating on the structures in the garden so may not yet have many plants.It is a good look at what happens in a real garden.It will be interesting to see how she goes along.

Fungi and tree relationships.

Carol is continuing her series of pieces on different fungi.

This is the second showing a Chanterelle constructed from a piece of chamois

which perfectly takes the pleats on the stalk.The tree it is closely associated with is the Beech.She has chosen a beautiful russet toned fabric for the leaves and added in handstitch for the ribs.Take a close up look at the tiny stitches in the undergrowth beneath.We wonder what will delight us next?