March Past : The Month That Was

A quick over view of the month of March..Plenty of handprinted fabric and thrifted items to amuse.

Happy Easter To All.

I have purchased the biggest spool of yarn ever imagined. Well not quite, but it is enormous. Hunting the  op shops for grey yarn led me to spy this massive beauty for $20. I will have a life time of grey yarn out of it. It is not the softest yarn/wool being a rug wool but utilitarian all the same. Feeling obliged to utilise my purchase I decided I might as well make another rug for winter.I really like the bobble pattern and had been hankering to do a circle within a square so Sarah London s pattern printed in Homespun met this criteria.

Bright flowers in amongst the grey day. I probably should have found a brighter yellow but Spotlight at the time only had this muted colour yellow when I went shopping, so beggars cant be choosers especially when they are tired after work.

And yesterday the neighbour down the road put out this winged back chair for hard rubbish collection. It is still well sprung, no rips and the foam in good condition, just needs a fabric makeover. I'm thinking a fitted slip cover might do the trick and have had a look on line, basically a new chair for $100 dollars OR I could print up some fabric and recover it myself.....but do I really want to pull the chair apart and tackle it with the staple gun???? (Sounds to hard)
If you want to see a fabulous chair makeover look at Brooklyn to West blog - I am in love with this chair and if you have time troll back through her renovating adventures of doing up a restaurant with recycled woods - truly fab -such a clever lass and it all started in her lounge room. Just goes to show where there is a
will there is a way. Find the chair HERE

Monkey Quilt Cover (Duvet) and Natural Dyed Materials

I've utilized the monkey (chimpanzee) print to make a quilt/duvet cover for a single bed.
I utilized the naturally dyed pieces of cotton that I have been making over the last months. The dyed pieces  include eucalyptus with iron (grey material) , eucalyptus (deep brown),  fennel heads  (light brown/green), young fennel leaves (yellow)

The backing is a patchwork of strips of material. I had just enough to complete it

The only thing to add is some buttons and straps to hold the quilt together at the bottom. I've included a pocket to slip the quilt underneath to help stop it from falling out of the cover when in use. I threw it on my daughters bed just so you could see it on a bed.
I'll be selling this one when finished as my boys are too old for this and my daughter wants to stick with her Paris theme. It was a great exercise in utilising my printed material. I'm actually pretty happy with it and really like the effect and colouring of the naturally dyed pieces with the print.

Easter Inspiration

A Happy Easter To All

I'm getting in early, otherwise I might forget. I also put out my easter plates on display today and felt the need to share.

Lampshade and Natural Dyeing Pieces

My thrifted lampshade, that I bought a couple of weeks ago, almost completed with new shade of hand printed fabric. I just need to find some tape to tidy up the inside edges. 

I haven't got a light fitting that I can actually hang it from so the next best thing - hang it in the bush - what any sane person would do!

Once again I had problems getting the leaves to print evenly, but at least you know its hand printed

Some solar dyeing with eucalyptus leaves giving off a nice orangy brown.

This piece of materrial has been an on going experiment and has been roasting on and off in the sun for a month. I was hoping for a leaf imprint but I think that to obtain that you actually have to leave the rolled up material alone and not investigate the material weekly  to see what  is happening.

Some of the naturally dyed pieces waiting for my next project - thought I would utilize them with the monkey prints. That little exercise will have to wait until my next days off.

 And some doilies that have been given a colour treatment in berries. They actually look pinker when seen by the naked eye

Oh and my daughter loved her new monkey t-shirt

Thrift

 I picked up some Christmas ornaments for 50 cents each - little glass birds on a nest. I picked up feathers  on my way into work where the rainbow lorikeets have lost their feathers, I must have picked up 20 feathers in a few minutes just walking across the car park. Mind, you do have to beat the groundsmen whom clean the carpark each morning with big air blowers

they look cute sitting in the tree

Thrifted 3 very large jars to collect things in.

And found this wonderfful cake decorating box (I  would have bought it for the box alone) with cake decorating tools and stand still inside. The large nozzles in a cake store sell for about $7 each so if  I get a piping bag things will be grand for cake decorating with larger swirls. I do have a cake decorating nozzle and plunger set already but not one that does the large swirls.

Also purchased some more blue and white wares for my sister and forgot to photograph them before I gave them to her and the biggest reel of grey yarn for crotchet, well that is my intention anyway. My girlfriend thinks it is rug wool for weaving.

Monkey Run

The first of the chimpanzee run with block ink. Just a quick trial run on brown paper before I went off to work. I am undecided whether I should carve more out of the darker side of the face and risk loosing some of the contrast in colour.

It kind of reminds me of Planet Of the Apes. 

 I think I'll carve the space away above the arms and give the monkey more definition. Yes/No??

The first print below held only very little ink, as is usually the case the third prints are usually the best before the block gets saturated.

The lino carving as is at the moment. Maybe trial printing on fabric before I make a decision.

Monkey Warhol

 My wall of "Andy Warhol " monkey prints. Actually its just my prints drying on the floor but it would look good to have repetitive prints on mount board  on the wall.

I did   a t- shirt  but of course it had to get a blob of ink in the middle of its nose. Cheap t- shirt,so it doesn't really matter

And one for Jordy, but she is away on camp at the moment. Monkey can rest awhile on the chair.

Eye Spy

I've got to say I got a little tired of printing and needed a change of scene for an evening. Added to that my husband gets a little frustrated with the printing equipment spread across the dining table and the general clutter I do generate. So screen printing and stamping is done when no one else is home. 

Saturday night I fetched out my last piece of lino and decided to monkey around for a bit. Chimps are fascinating creatures don't you think and I fell in love with some of the images/ photographs on line of chimps.

So a combination of photos and this little fella is being carved out with particular reference to form from this photo.

I'm really looking forward to meeting this little fella and emblazoning him on a t-shirt

Hand printed fabric swap - part 100 -the never ending story

I started off with base colours of yellow , bright pink, white and black.

A request for magenta and oranges lead me to start mixing colours. the centre of the lotus flower  is yellow and bright pink to yield a rather burnt orange. And then I dabbed the hot pink on the outer edges of the lotus flower. Working in the pattern that I stamped yesterday (but more evenly spaced) has given this rather hot run of material. One of my friends last night suggested that the flower reminded her of Florence Broadhurst prints...I do love her work, high praise indeed

 Random stamping for the next request for muted tones, earthy favouring green, grey, brown or white.
I struggled with this print as my grey leaves would just not stamp evenly and give me a nice impression - always half hearted and missing the middle of the leaves. It was most frustrating. I do like the mix of colours though. The burnt orange above had a little grey added to it to yield a olive/yellow green found on the outside of the flowers. The center of the lotus flower is straight yellow. When I finished stamping the lotus flowers I then added some more pink to give the golden brown.

I've got to say it though that grey was a real 'bitch' to print with and caused me much frustration.
Parts of the print is okay but I might have to try this one again.

And to finish off some of the inks and just play a quick medallion.

Are you sick of the prints yet????