Reply to Susan - LIFT

Susan e-mailed me via this site to say she received 'L' of the postcards I submitted to fiber art for a cause.

Susan, I can't e-mail you because you didn't provide it,but hopefully you will get the answer posted here. :)

The postcards I made in sections. The base is hand-dyed cotton using dala sun colours and salt. The borders along the left is simply off cuts from other projects, coloured paper or interfacing and machine stitching. I have stamped along the bottom with bronze acrylic paint.

The green 'tile' is made by pressing layers of water soluble paper into a stamp as per Beryl Taylor's latest book. It is then painted once dry.

The illuminated letters are made with felt as a backing. I found a font that I liked in Word and the drew it onto the back in reverse. I can't believe I actually did that now!! How fiddly. The letters then had painted nappy liners ironed onto them before free-machining details and stitching onto the backing.

Please feel free to ask me anything else via my e-mail: hannah.katarski at gmail.com (Written like this to stop spam engines.)

Felting

Here is the table runner I felted for a Wedding present. I made two, but the other one was a learning experience. It's a little too thin in places because I didn't get enough wool - last time I follow instructions. :)

So I made a few additions and now it looks like this:

Here are the placemats in action! This is the wooltops laid out.

This is them wet down with netting on top, ready for rolling.

And here they are ready for fulling.

The finished article...

Went to spotlight again today to do a favour. Got there at 7:50, knowing after yesterday that they open at 8am because its Christmas. So they don't end up opening until 8:15. *Rolls eyes*

What I've been up to...

I've been busy making lots of Christmas presents the last few weeks, plus a table runner for a friend's wedding present. Best laid plans, hey? I had such an omb morning. To start I had to go to spotlight. Thought I would get there early so I'm hanging around home til like 8:45. Get to spotlight; they opened at 8. omb. I'm making a table runner as a wedding gift for a friend who's getting married this weekend. (Pictured below) Now I decided its too thin and not long enough - hence going to spotlight. I decide I will buy red, black and white silk brocade for the two narrow ends. I will also buy black felt for the back to make it sturdier and I will buy 4 black tassels for each corner so it is a bit more spiffy. Well, the only brocade they had was green and pink, the black felt was expensive and too narrow so I had to buy double and do you think they had ANY black tassels? non. O. M. B. Here is the clock I have made for my Mum using water soluble fabric. This is the piece I was working on and mangled, then fixed, after conducting a council of war to solve the problem. As you can see, it has elements of the samples posted earlier. Minus the burning.

I have a Camera!!!

Yes it's true! I was going to wait until I got myself a new job, but my Mama bought me one for Christmas. Isn't she gorgeous!! So more pics coming soon - I've been busy like a beaver.

Water soluble

I am madly making Christmas gifts and am making a couple of clocks out of water soluble fabric. I'm going to do one and then put it water. Hopefully al well go as planned and then I can make a few more. Would hate to make them all and wash them all only to have them all fall apart. I am using purple, orange and red for one and aqua, green and yellow for the other.

poo

I told myself I would finish the piece I've been working on today. It's similar to the sample below. I'm fairly happy with it and carry out part B - burning away sections of chiffon, and now I'm disappointed. You know when you feel that it looked better before you did what you thought would look good? I'll look at it again later and I might have a brainwave. I might attack it with the soldering iron - maybe should have done this in the first place - or cut away all the chiffon and embroider, or re-cover with new chiffon. That would be easy. hmmm.

Holidays!!

They're finally here and I can't believe it! I'm sure it'll sink in over the next few days... I've finished up at what is now my old job. Today was the last day with farewells and Christmas lunch. I just have to keep thinking ahead and reminding myself of all the reasons I wanted to leave. It's juts a little hard without something definite to go on to. But I'm sure something will come up that is perfect for me. In the mean time, I have four wonderful weeks to design and create! How lucky is that!! Went to the Fremantle Arts Centre Bazaar on the weekend - lots of work of local artists and some other things too. lots of inspiring felting. Also went to an exhibition of local textile astists' work in East Freo. That was great, so nice to have a feast of textile art all in one place. Lovely. Of course I've gotten all inspired to save money and make Christmas presents - like I try to do every year. However I think I'm managing ok at the moment. There are just a couple of things that I need but can't find... I've been experimenting the the techniques you can see in the previous posts and am feeling happier with it. I am being more selective with my burning (if that's possible) and cutting away the pieces I want with scissors.