Using Silk

I have succeeded at getting the photos to load. Thank you to all those who advised me. The top photo is a blurry shot of the set of three Silk pieces three I did for our exhibition. The second photo is of the centre piece.

The white silk paper I made using silk and instructions from Unique Stitching. The gold stitched work is a mixture of silk rods, threads and throwsters waste. This was all sandwiched between a sheet of solvy and a sheet of romeo from the Thread Studio and machined all over then rinsed out. I glued it all to the canvas with Chromacry Atelier medium.

I am receiving the Art Quilt Collection from Unique Stitching. I receive a pack each month of a different technique or product and notes on how to use them. This only costs $10.00 a month. Money well spent.
The first month was silk paper, second was metals, third was water colour paper, fourth was silk rods and throwsters waste. Fifth is paint.

Mixed Up Media

I spent some time today driving to Yankalilla and helping with the setting up of the Mixed Up Media Exhibition. I would have liked to have had more finished but the exhibition looks great.

Days like this you need to cruise around some blogs.
Trish Bee's Art Callenge is a blog with lots of stuff on it for mixed media worth a look.

http://trishbee.co.uk//

Also Sue Bleiweiss of Fibre and Stitch http://webpages.charter.net/sbleiweiss/index.htm has a really great blog.

Quote: A truly creative person rids him or herself of all self-imposed limitations.
Gerald G. Jampolsky

What your name means.

I found this on blogthings. I thought I'll look at this it will probably ba a lot of rubbish. Boy was I wrong it is like it was written for me. Except the bit about not rocking the boat, I don't mind rocking the boat if it needs it. Sometimes the boat needs a good rock.

What Peta Means
You are influential and persuasive.
You tend to have a lot of power over people.
Generally, you use your powers for good.
You excel at solving other people's problems.
Occasionally, you do get a little selfish and persuade people to do things that are only in your interest.
You are friendly, charming, and warm.
You get along with almost everyone.
You work hard not to rock the boat.
Your easy going attitude brings people together.
At times, you can be a little flaky and irresponsible. But for the important things, you pull it together.
You are a seeker.
You often find yourself restless - and you have a lot of questions about life.
You tend to travel often, to fairly random locations.
You're most comfortable when you're far away from home.
You are quite passionate and easily tempted.
Your impulses sometimes get you into trouble.
You are usually the best at everything ... you strive for perfection.
You are confident, authoritative, and aggressive.
You have the classic "Type A" personality.

http://www.blogthings.com/whatsyournameshiddenmeaningquiz/

Rain

I can't believe it. I thought we had a leaking pipein the front garden that was hitting the window. I was wrong it is rain, I am being very generous there as it is barely enough to notice and the drops hitting the window aren't even running, but it is the closest to rain we have had for so long. It is so much cooler it is lovely. I have got my Twisted Stitchers Group tonight. We get together once a month. We have to take soemthing to do with lutrador tonight. I have some I've painted and a I used a piece of the metallic lutrador that Alvena Hall gave me to make a litte piece for my Transformation wall hanging or book I am making.

Exhibition

Things are going well for my part of the exhibition. I have not finished as much as I had hoped too. However tough.
The Exhibition is called Mix It Up. It is on at the Yankalilla Showground over Easter. There is also a big Art show on and we are inthe other hall.

Alvena Hall

Today I went to a workshop on Rainbow Paper and Tyvek with Alvena Hall. I have admired her work for a long time. She was an excellent teacher and I now have some very nice bits and pieces to show for it.
I had not used such things as rainbow paper before and while it was interesting and I am quite happy with what I ended up with I will not rush out and buy some. I have gallons of paints and dyes etc and I think I can do a lot of what I want with them.

I have used tyvek before and I don't think I learnt anything new there but the other stuff made up for it.

Alvena showed us some of her machining tricks which I can't really explain. You had to be there.
I have finally downloaded and printed the manual for my camera and my next goal is too master it and teach it who is boss around here. Then photos, lots of photos
Peta

Quick bits

I am treating this as a bit of a diary which I am sure is the idea. Haven't done anything much art wise today. I went to work and then the gym. The Battle with the Big Bottom is going well. I have only lost 100 grams this month but I have lost 12 centimetres and I can actually feel some muscle developing in my arms which is a victory. I feel better too. I have coped really well with the heat. This time last year I was still slightly insane from teflon poisoning and felt like crap. So a big victory.
Art wise yesterday I realised the colours of yesterdays creations blend too much and I need to put in some contrasts. I found a piece of white silk paper I made and I am auditioning that. So far so good. I also pulled out the scarves I made. they need a bit of extra love so the yellow and white one was the guinea pig.I free machined all over it which distorted the nice rectangular shape but made it much more interesting. I am still using only what is in my stash so I have to con sider what to do with the others to make them more interesting.
The learning of the new camera is going alright I managed to get a great photo of Jessica but the photos of my new work are blurry. I have to print out the manual for the camera and read it. Anyway here is a photo of my youngest granddaugter.

Day 2 - Adventures with Stuff

It is cooler here today, the temperature has dropped from around 40 degrees at 3 pm to around 27 now. I am sitting in just the right spot to catch a lovely breeze. This time last night It was still 36 degrees.

I have painted another piece of lutrador as I didn't make the other piece big enough I had a jar of copper paint that I used with the gold.

Greg the Long Suffering has just come in from the shed where the love of my life has fossicked around and found me some excellently rusted nails. Next I am going to ask him to find me some rusty wire but I don't want to push my luck too far today.

The felt dyed really well and the mulberry bark as well. I found a sculpy initial I made for a necklace which was way to big. The colour fits in with my colour scheme. I still have to do something with the purple tyvek but I am not sure what. I also found some dyed cheesecloth (scrim) that fits in with the colours. The abaca tissue has been returned to the stash as an orphan it wasn't quite right.

Working out how to add photos, has proved another adventure. Firstly I have a new camera bought from Ebay and the instructions are all in french, then there is the added lack of photographic talent. So the first photos are not worth putting up here.
Just as I was about to take more photos SIL rang to say he'd cut himself so we raced up the street and there he was bleeding from a fairly major cut on his foot. Ironing boards are dangerous. He was using it too stop the No 2 GD from getting out of the lounge and it was on its side and he managed to cut himself while stepping over it.
Luckily his Mum was on the spot so Greg and I stayed with the granddaughters and She took him to hospital, they patched him and said too come back tomorrow. So now the photos will have to wait until tomorrow as well. I am going to download the english version of the manual and print it off. Of course I am running out of ink so that will go on the list of To-Do's for tomorrow.

First Things First

Here's my First post. I wonder if I am suffering from heat induced mania. But for good or bad I am off for a foray into the wide world of blogging. It is so hot here today 40Degrees Celsius. I have moved the trestle from the family room into the lounge. It is cooler there and DH doesn't mind or so he says. I can see the TV and still talk to him. The kitchen table is covered with paint stuff and the lounge is covered with the copies of Fibre and Stitch. I am waiting for some painted tyvek to dry and I've been searching for inspiration on the blogs. I found some at http://purplemissus.blogspot.com
Which hopefully will get my mind moving. I was going for a purple colour scheme for a diary bag I've been planning. That's changed now as I remembered the orange wool felt I bought a few years ago and hadn't used. I have overdyed it using Jacquard Acid dyes I bought from Unique Stitching in Canberra and I found a silk fibre pack I bought from The Thread Studio years ago and still haven't used. The wol is sitting out on the verandah in the sun, a little experiment to see if it is hot enough out there to set it. I did a small piece in a seperate bag and I'l rinse that first to see if it has set before I rinse the rest. I'll post some photos when everything sets and dries which shouldn't be long in the heat we are having.
We are praying for rain. Which the grape growers may not want as it is nearly their harvest season but too bad to them.