August part 2

Today, Helen showed us how to do Orizomegami. It's a method of dyeing folded rice paper with water-based dyes to give complex patterns. We each folded rectangles of two different weights of rice paper into small parcels. We dipped them quickly into a bowl of water to dampen the paper, and then dipped the edges or corners of the packets into bowls of ordinary food colouring. (Wear gloves! Food colouring loves to dye human skin!)

Then we pressed the packets between two small sheets of stiff cardboard and carefully unfolded the wet paper using tweezers or a paper knife. The paper can tear quite easily, depending on the weight of the paper. Then we laid the sheets out to dry.

The way the parcels were folded affected the pattern. We were also struggling with Sydney's spring winds, which chose today to arrive, and some drying sheets were splashed with falling droplets, which added to the interest. We also saved the drips from when the papers were pressed between the cardboard, and it gave interesting semi-blended colours, not always the brown that might have been expected. Although we all started with exactly the same papers and colours, it's remarkable how different they all are.

Here are Beverley's:

and Carol's:



These are Helen's own:


These were a collaborative effort for Tricia:

And these were Nola's:


See, all different! You can see the fold marks (this is a feature of this kind of paper dyeing) and how the folds affected the way the colour went into the paper. It's a very interesting technique, and easy to do with the minimum of materials. We talked about ways to use the papers. Obviously, most paper uses would be fine, but you could also adhere the paper to a cloth backing with diluted PVA glue, which would make the paper robust enough for stitch.

August part 1

We've had a quiet time at Fibrecircle lately. Each meeting since June, some members have been away, and we've mostly been working on our own things. But this month, we have made up for it.

Firstly, Beverley taught us how to do a Coptic binding on a book. Carol brought lovely papers for the book outer covers, and Nola contributed some parchment paper for the inner covers. First we learnt a clever technique for making no-glue covers.

You may have to think about this a bit when you do it. You take the outer cover paper and fold it over the stiffening, top, bottom and sides. You trim off the excess at the corners, leaving a small amount to turn under right on the corner. You do the same with your inner cover paper.

Turn in the top and bottom fold of the outer cover, against itself. Lay the stiffening on top of the wrong side, with the side flaps of the outer cover sticking out.
Turn in the side flaps of the inner cover, against itself. Lay it on top of the stiffening, wrong sides together, and tuck the side flaps of the outer cover in underneath it, over the top of the stiffening. Tuck the top and bottom flaps of the inner cover into the pocket formed between the outer cover and the stiffening. Presto! It's quite firm.

I won't attempt to explain Coptic binding, though! Here's what my book looked like:

And this is the binding:
Pretty, isn't it? I could have run the ends back into the book, but after knotting them off, I ran them through to the spine, because I think I will incorporate them into more embellishment on the cover.

Gorgeous things!

Today was an ordinary group day, so we weren't playing with anything special. But almost everyone had wonderful things to show.

Beverley had some quite old show and tell. These pieces were made by her maternal great grandma in Ireland. Just incredible workmanship and in great condition considering their age. She also brought some work made by her paternal grandmother, who was a prize-winning embroiderer. Just incredible.

She also had the clothing from an antique doll given to her by an uncle. They were so detailed, just tiny replicas of adult clothing. I photographed the outfit with the top open, so you can see that it has been fully lined. Underneath is a modesty piece, a sort of blouse front, tied round the neck, to cover the front of the body under the top. Here you can see the back of the skirt, complete with bustle.

Beverley also brought some of her own work. Here is a piece she is working on, inspired by an article in Quilting Arts magazine.
She carved the stamp shown at the bottom, and used it to stamp on the background fabric. Then she stamped the same image onto another fabric and cut the images in half. She applied the cut images over the stamped images, giving a blended image. It's an interesting technique with lots of possibilities.

During the day, she was working on this bag, sewing on the handles. She has just a few stitches to go. It looks just beautiful.

Today, Carol was working on a set of ATCs for a swap, but I'll let her tell you about them. Nola added some text on a book she's working on, but it can't be shared just yet. And Helen had some beautiful books to share but the hopeless photographer didn't record them, or anything else she did today! Mea culpa!

More polymer clay

And some photos from the last playday, this time of Helen's polymer clay work. She decided to focus on buttons. She makes a lot of books, which often have buttons and ties as fastenings.

Playing with polymer clay

Rather belatedly, here are some photos of our last playday. We decided to experiment with polymer clay. Carol brought her pasta machine, having decided that making pasta was a thing of the past, and Prue ignored her jet lag to bring her little oven. Nola was using Fimo, while Tricia and Carol had Sculpey. I'm not sure what the others used now (sorry!).

Nola's main aim was to make a name tag for ATASDA meetings. As far as that went, it was a dismal failure, since she wasn't happy with either nametag. One used transparent Fimo, which turned out not to be transparent at all when baked, and had to be carved off again. The second was made from those inevitable leftovers and didn't suit the purpose it was intended for. But she made some beads and other jewellery things:

She also did some imprints from wooden stamps: These will be painted with acrylics and probably given a brush with gold paint or a little Treasure Gold as highlights.

Carol made some beautiful things, which I hope she'll share here. I have photos of just these few, a barrette and some jewellery things:

Quiet day

Fibrecircle had a quiet day this week, with several members away. It was a bring-your-own-work day. The photographer was also not very efficient, so there's no record of show-and-tell this time.

Tricia was stitching on the work she began at Fibre Forum at Orange a few weeks ago. The class was with Jan Irvine-Nealie, whose work is heavily stitched, and this has really inspired Tricia. This is her class sample, with her own photograph as inspiration. It's a fantastic piece of work, and I'll try to get a photo from her when it's done, to show here.

Carol was making hyperbolic crochet for an art exhibition at her children's school. She likes to contribute something that either the children can do for themselves (last year, it was ATCs using many different techniques)or that stretches their minds (the concept of hyperbolic space should do that quite nicely!). I really love the spherical one.

Helen was embroidering as usual but I didn't take a photo of what she was doing (sorry, Helen!). Hopefully I can grab a photo next time.

Nola was painting with fabric paints, on a piece she's been working on intermittently for a couple of years. She has blogged about it here She now thinks the painting part is almost finished, and soon she'll be ready to add some stitch. She got quite excited when she saw Tricia's hand stitching, so perhaps this piece will have some hand quilting too?

Prue's other activities

Prue spent some time today playing more with sun prints. She produced these beautiful pieces earlier. The green and purple ones were made using Shibori-like bunching and bundling, but using the Setacolor Soleil paints. Aren't they great? The pink one was made with doilies laid onto the wet fabric, but the doilies obviously let some light through while the paint was drying, so the effect is very muted and hard to see in a photograph. It's quite delicate and really lovely.

She also made some pieces for our next challenge, due in June. Carol rescued some coffee mugs that have a space between the clear outer and the inner mug. We decided we would make a piece of art to go in this space, and have our own individual art mugs. Prue made three sun prints today: Aren't they gorgeous? So already she has three beautiful "looks" for her coffee mug. Look out for more finished coffee mugs next month.