The adventure begins..........

Well....l am now the proud owner of a studio and workshops! Yeh....now just have to make it work. It feels right .....and that is half the battle l reckon. So l am now creating flyers etc...............phew!

THE ADVENTURE BEGINS!

Eco-dyeing paper.

Today, l am creating some more eco-dyed paper for book making. I have used heavy watercolour paper and some Eucayptus leaves from a new tree l have found .   I have used some old broken wooden rulers to keep the papers flat when in the dye.

The first image is of the bundle in the main cooking pot.

Second view is a close up of the wooden rulers and the bundle! Really excited to see how this 2nd "book bundle" will turn out. I have boiled the dye for 1 hour and have now covered and leave it over night to cool down.

The last image is the first attempt l did to create eco-dyed paper. l am now sewing it and decorating it.

Brick Box activities and stitching!

Putney calling.....Good evening.
These beautiful flowers are from the Quince bush...still not sure it should be flowering now but pleased it is!

Self-portrait for today!

Learning to like Green Tea....it is growing on me..l think!Oh..love the colour, must buy some to try Eco-dyeing with. Can hear Tony sighing and saying, "Is nothing safe"?. Hax

This is my bundle that is drying..and still drying....wonder how long l can last?

This is the bundle l have opened because of the rusty items in it..it is now drying after having been unwrapped. Show you once it is dry!

Look what l found in the Charity Shop the other day....yippee! Can use them to hold my small unframed Silk paintings, when l have exhibitions. I think they are so cute!Thank you to who ever made then and then gave them away!

The next few images are of some of the patches l have created....really enjoy making them.

A few weeks ago l eco-dyed some water colour papers, which are now being turned into a book. I have started to decorate it...some stitches and buttons so far. Learning as l go .......

While l was waiting for my bus this morning to go to Brick Box, l saw one of our Wimbledon Common Rangers. Isn't this horse fantastic?

Today at Brick Box,the children and l celebrated Chinese New Year...the year of the Dragon. So we made Dragon Puppets.

 Grandad and children had great fun and made some wonderful puppets.

2 year old learning to glue and ended up making a caterpiller!!! She spoke Spanish and l don't, well a few words but sign/body language is an amazing aid to language! She never sat still, was quite a handful but was so cute! Her father works in the new Spanish food kiosk, which has opened a few space down from us.

This was the temptation facing me today in The Brick Box cafe.......l had a tiny piece and that's all...promise.

 When l was out getting some shopping..look what l saw...isn't it wonderful? Wonder if it was advertising something? There was no writting on the car that l could see.

 What's wrong with this image?

 More dragon puppet fun.

Two young boys ( 7 and 9 l think) who often turn up for my workshops, made their dragons and then went onto other creations!!The results were great.....Evil dragon letters. This is one of the many reasons l love working with children, it is never dull!

The moon and two of it's planets. This is what l saw as l arrived home...beautiful!

onion skins, a few banana skins and my daily life!

I was talking the other day about how l wished l had created a bigger piece of silk, when l saw the results of it being bundled and boiled in banana skins. Well...that is what l did today. A large piece of silk, bundled with about 15 banana skins and then boiled in red onion skins. As you can see from the image below...it does look like a joint of meat! I have boiled it for about 2 hours and will now leave it to cool overnight and then leave it for about a week or two. It depends how long my patience can last! Any bets? Ha!

The weather over the last few days has been very cold and wet...very wet. So l have posted some images below and how it felt. As you will see..l love raindrops!

This next image is what a appears to be a plate or maybe a tile, that may have been dropped on the road. It was under a car, so maybe it was run over because someone forgot to pick it up?... ..either way....it formed a very pretty and interesting pattern on the dark tarmac of the road. "Why did you photograph that rubbish?" l was asked by a man walking by. My answer...It is a beautiful blue, it is unusual to see china on the road and lastly..why not? He just looked at me, shook his head and walked of laughing!

Sometimes simple can be beautiful. This is yet another image to add to the book l am creating called..."On the yellow line".

While l was taking this image in Tooting yesterday, l heard a heated conversation going on behind me. In fact you would have to have been deaf not to hear it! Two white guys, middle aged and one on a phone.
1st guy..."No. l mean today not tomorrow or Friday, NOW!".
2nd guy... Swiped mobile from his hand and shouted out LOUD, " If that money is not here in his hand soon, I'll send the brothers round, no no, no listen, this isn't a f*****g game...I'll send the brothers round. No, you listen to me... Money or legs broken for a warning. And you know the boys, hard to control when they get excited." and so on and so....
I looked round to see if l could see a camera, this must be a film or something. I am not naive but it seemed so staged that l felt as if l was on a film set, mainly because l have heard or seen this "conversation" so many times. But, no... it was real and l was listening in, as were the rest of the people around the station, to a very threatening phone call. What really surprised me was no-one else seemed to be bothered by what was being said. If you actually listened to this very loud conversation, ( it was hard not to ) you would have realised you were listen to a very threatening, violent and dangerous conversation..scarey times!

 Um... nice orange colour... but, how toxic would this be to us eco-dyers? Ha!

Um.... today's self portrait makes my nose look quite large! But l can't alter it just because l am not happy with it because l have to remember why l started this project. To feel happier about myself!!! And it is working and l am actually enjoying the whole project.

One of the many Cherry trees on and around our flats that is in blossom... Nature must be very confused! Hope the frosts, due soon, don't do too much damage to the buds. I love using the red leaves from this cherry tree for eco-dyeing...very easy to print with too.

When our winter days are dark and miserable, this bush always cheers me up. Unfortunately this image was not what l had hoped for. The red part of the stems are not showing up too well, l used too much flash... I should know better but it was raining and l was wet and cold. ...I know..."A bad workman always blames his tools" ..now who said that? And on that thought l will say "Goodnight folks".

Dyeing and the man in the moon!

This is the piece of silk that l stitched without using a ring. The main reason being l didn't have a small enough embroidery ring. I have now got one, as l found the silk was really difficult to sew as it would pucker and l felt it didn't sit correctly. I now back silk with cotton when l sew it, as l find it easier to handle.

This is another one of my "patches" which I really am enjoying making from my many scraps .

This is the latest patch. I am now putting adhesive patches on the back of some them, so those that don't want or can't sew don't have to! I am also designing the labels for these packages at the moment..not easy  ..... all for £12!

The other week l put up an image of a small bag l had just finished sewing, so l thought you might like to see all of it now. l just have to find something for the strap. 

This is the front.

 The back.

.

 Front and back.

 Lined insided with Eucalyptus dyed silk.

As we were walking past this shop in Putney today..Tony started to laugh and pointed out this chest of drawers. 

I have taken a closer image of it and it really does look as if it a smily chest of drawers doesn't it? Ha. So much fun for a child's room but an adult?um........or am l just being boring?Hax

The man in the moon says "Goodnight"