Karen Ruane

three new pages

The three most recently completed pages from my latest artist book.....it's coming together. I think I have five more pages to fill now. I shall miss this....but never mind I will just have to start another one.

I definitely want more of the beaded edges, the frothy lace, the scrim and paper mixes whether in artist books or on cloth pieces. I'm inspired.....

 

(I apologise for the rogue hair....I just noticed.....it is mine I can't lie. It has to be mine because my husband hasn't got any hair lol)

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continuing with my ''veil'' pieces

Last time I spoke about this piece on here I only had one surface created on which to hand embroider....I now have two and they are both shown here. Neither piece is finished in terms of surface embroidery but I was compelled to lay them together this morning to get a sense of how this might all come together, how it might look when I have these and more ready to be decoratively stitched together in order to create my ''veil'' piece. (I speak bout the veil piece here if you aren't familiar with it) 

Most likely I will need at least ten of these small pieces before I am anywhere near having enough for my veil so it's double the pleasure.....stitching the surfaces and then embroidering those pieces.

A reminder.....''studies in stitch'' is only in its first week. It's not too late to join us. Read more here.

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five beaded applique motifs

Applique on this swatch header is now complete...five motifs each created using pleated cloth which has then been embellished with bullion knots and turquoise beads. This is one of four pieces which will be combined to create a sample book of embroidered silk panels joined with stitch to form a reference of stitch and technique ideas for various embroidered items such as panels, bags, pockets, buttons, pillows and toggles.

I am hoping to move this idea on over the coming days by gathering all my loose swatches together and refreshing my memory as to what each piece still needs in terms of embroidery and finishing.

 

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bits and pieces

Three images today of bits and pieces which were on my table yesterday, being used in my work, ingredients for classes and which don't normally look half this tidy......I tidied up and arranged them especially for you. 

I don't usually get to appreciate these things properly. They are all normally jumbled up in boxes or drawers. I must do this more often, get some clarity.

I can't hang about today. I am expected elsewhere to put an X in a box.

A reminder before I go...Studies in Stitch began on Monday. We will work up until the end of next week then have a two week break because I am off on my jollies. If you want to read more you can look here....

pages, scraps, stitch....

I know it must seem to you like this is taking an age to come together......it is, these things can't be rushed. Slowly,  steadily, considered, carefully.....pages are being filled, beads are being added as are stitches, buttons, snippets of lace and cloth. Torn paper is being used to overlay delicate areas, to create protective yet pretty coverings for some pages, resulting in a crammed little book full of inspiration and information.

This will be finished before next week.....it will come together unexpectedly, without warning....I love it when that happens.

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a large artist book

New stitching on paper to add to old stitching on paper to create a new page in a new artist book, a much bigger artist book. I bought this A3 sketchbook in order to mount paper based samples safely and make them easy to to see, to view for ideas, for inspiration. I have another one of these which I use to mount fabric pieces, you can see some of that here.

As I add each piece to the relevant book I am trying to add to the pages too, to compliment the samples and also integrate the work into the pages on which they will sit. This is the first piece in the ''paper'' book although there is another page in progress. It feels good to finally be finding homes for these pieces of work, to know they are safe and accessible at the same time.

 

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added turquoise beads and hankie corners

It's still swatch central here, most days anyway. Other things happen too, pages or paper pieces, artist books and the like but swatches are what I have the most of, all requiring headers, all requiring embroidered edges and all eventually needing to be mounted and turned into cloth books. Of course the swatch obsession began in embroidery school. It's continuing in ''studies in stitch'' for me at least, homework for teacher. 

This one....turquoise beads on a seam, hankie corners too and the start of a row of pleated applique with beaded pleats, there will be more of those, a row.....

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the final week

It's a big day tomorrow......it's the beginning of the final week of''artist books'' and the start of my new class, ''studies in stitch''. It's going to be a busy week, I will be stitching my fingers to the bone. There will be two unruly classrooms to keep an eye on. How on earth am I going to manage lol. 

The images today are from the past week in ''artist book'' class. I hope you can see it's developing, it's getting more and more crammed with little bits of stitch and paper and scraps of cloth. This time next week it should be finished......that's the plan anyway.

before I go can we have a group hug? 

stay safe xxx

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ball buttons and bright pink sequins....

Last night was all about pink, pink sequins and pink ball buttons. Another header is taking shape for another swatch and the ball buttons may go along the top edge. I say may because I'm not sure about this one. When I was taking these photographs this morning I thought to myself,

''it looks as if someone asked you to use all the colours you could think of which would never live together in any situation''.

I'm not irritated by that, or annoyed, or in the least bit inclined to discard this. Not at all. I just want to think about it a little longer.  It will become part of my cloth swatch book whatever I decide. The swatch books are after all a reference, a reference for me, for design ideas, for prompts and if nothing else this one could one day prompt me not to do it again.

extending a pattern and a new edge

The gingham piece....I have added to it since you last saw it. One or two flowers, a few cross stitch hearts on stalks, filling blank space and getting my head in pattern mode for ''studies in stitch''. The work I have started in the background for that class isn't really anything like this piece, this piece and the other two you have seen are  more a ''wake the brain up to create pattern with cloth'' exercise as I have been in ''artist book'' mode for a while now. The three gingham and silk pieces I have been working on will all be given headers and titivated edges before being made in to a cloth swatch book.

The sequins here...they follow on from yesterday's post, the first edge of another piece which will be combined with the piece from yesterday (and several others) to create a ''veil'' like cloth.  So, several things ''on the go'', artist book class still running and an artist book for me to finish cramming with all things stitch and cloth.

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