Starting to Stitch Surfaces

 The first stage of the embroidery course I'm doing with Karen Ruane is working with scrim (or cotton gauze) and paper to create surfaces suitable for hand embroidery. This is done using a sewing machine, which took me by surprise, as I was expecting to be doing only handwork.

I dusted off the Elna Lotus SP which was my mother's and hadn't been used for some 20 years (really). I learnt to sew on this dear old machine and I've been so surprised and pleased that the old girl (the machine, not me!) works at all, let alone coping with having the foot removed and doing FME (Free Machine Embroidery).

The grids and circles above are all about creating a more robust surface to hand embroider. While others stitched fabric scraps for added interest, I of course, felt compelled to use old book pages. (These are old books I bought specifically for artwork, but I do confess to hesitating quite a while before I managed to pull out the page).

Below are some pictures of sewing on paper. 

This top one is the back, but I like it better than the front.

Paper has so much potential for use with light.

I haven't mentioned my first trial of eco-printing, which I did just after arriving home. A friend had left us a bunch of roses as a welcome home gift. We enjoyed them for a few days and once they began to fade a little, I put them to creative use. I more or less followed this tutorial.

I'm still thinking about how I want to use the results,  so I experimented with some stitching on this example. This is the view from the back again, and illuminated, below that.

I've really been having so much fun with all of this and now I'm ready to add some hand stitching to these pieces.

Custom wedding invitations

Above: centrepiece: paperbark

Cream coloured paper used for edging will also be used inside to print text on.

Twigs from dieing bushes in the front yard.

Here in Australia, while the top half of the planet is sweltering, we are in the middle of flu season. This year the influenza has actually been bad enough that the health authorities are suggesting people wear masks in public (not that I've actually seen anyone doing that - I reckon it would be considered "un-Australian" by many).

My husband and I have both had nasty colds, but not the actual flu, thank heavens! Still with CFS anything extra can put you in bed, and this past week we've been laid low. The house is in a right state, and I haven't done any work on my masters in over a week, so what did I spend yesterday doing? Designing wedding invitations for my dear friend Jodie. She provided the papers and "the brief" - something to give it a natural feel, and so I set to work.

Above some snaps, I apologize for the quality, but by the time I'd finished the light was poor. They are all made with the same papers - the colour is probably closest in the middle one. I added the hairy brown paper from my collection. In the end, Jodie liked them all so much she is thinking of using all three! Now - on to some real work!