Catalogue Killing

I am still completely lacking in the creativity department so I thought I would put up the latest photo of one of my catalogues. (This is a project with Maggie Grey if you haven't come across it before).

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This catalogue has been dried out since I took this first photograph but it gives you the idea. I slashed the surface deeply before I put it outside.

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Like a very silly person I haven't kept a note of the processes I went through in Photoshop Elements but I think one was probably "Find Edges" which is a bit of a favourite of mine.

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I like this effect above too. I suspect that this is "cutout" which gives it an illustrative effect and definitely has possibilites. I hope you can't guess which publication it was that I used. I need to play about with this much more, especially as I've been exploring gradients and I've discovered lots more alternatives in the dropdown menu in Elements' Gradient box. The 'invert ' option is exciting too. The trouble is, it all takes so long. Maybe that's why I'm not getting anything practical done!

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I still have an old phone book outside which will probably have disintegrated by now. It was very crumbly and a bit slimy the last time I looked at it. Yuck!

Do you remember the jacket I posted about here? I sent an email to the company that made it and I've had a reply. They've told me that it was designed by Emma and was made on the Altiplano in Bolivia. It was made under the Fair Trade scheme so the person who made it would have received a fair price for their labours. I'm really pleased that I asked about this and I am delighted that I have such a special garment. (I don't have any affiliation to the company).

It's Arrived!

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Look what arrived this afternoon! Maggie Grey had a draw for her 200th post and amazingly I was the lucky winner! I don't know whether my photograph will show the detail fully but there is so much to look at in this beautiful work. You may not be able to see it but Maggie has used tiny, tiny stitches to add texture. The colours are gorgeous as you might expect from Maggie. I love the turquoise and golds and the dashes of red. The arch is metal and has so much detail to it with paper bonded to metal and gold embellishment. I'm sure Maggie has used Lumiere paints to achieve the beautiful lustre of the colours. I took the Shrine Door out into my conservatory to photograph it and it came alive with the sun shining on it so I hope to find somewhere to hang it where it will get good light. Thank you Maggie for this beautiful work, I am delighted to have it in my home. :o))

Bookmarks

I've been a member of the Yahoo Group Fiber Art Traders for about a year but haven't joined in any of their swaps for a while. I thought it was about time I did join in so I've jumped into a fairly easy one - autumn themed bookmarks. As I haven't been using my embellisher much either I thought this was an ideal time to get it out so here is the result.

I have kept the bookmarks simple and let the colours speak. The centre bookmark shows the reverse side which is a lutradur prepared by following Maggie Grey's "Textile Translations" book. It should have been vilene but I selected lutradur by mistake. Hand made papers, gesso and salt have been applied before being painted with dilute acrylics.

Maggie Grey technique

Not very exciting to look at, this is the lutradur with the papers, gesso and salt applied.

The photo shows up more of the gesso than is actually visible in reality but I am quite pleased with this result. I think next time I will use stronger colours but this does look lovely as the backing to the bookmarks.

I'm in the Club!

No, not that club, way too old! I mean Maggie Grey's Catalogue-in-the-Garden club. I've done two because I like to hedge my bets! Ouch! They've both been dunked in a bucket of water and are in varying states of decline. All over the country and possibly the world, otherwise sane ladies (and who knows, maybe even the occasional gentleman or two) are planting catalogues and phone books in their gardens and nipping out in the dead of night to throw buckets of water on them in the hope that a wonderful work of art will materialise in November. Watch this space, and Maggie's blog and if you want to join in you'll need to buy Maggie's wonderful new book. Who me? Course not (hmm) I never buy books! Much!!!

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Glossy brochure.

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Not so glossy brochure.