Karen Ruane

rolling soft pages, an idea for a little book of embroidery

The soft embroidered pages I shared on here the day before yesterday have now been lined. Each of them has a reverse of pieced vintage lace and vintage trim. I now have a firm plan for these pieces, a soft rolled book of embroidery. The images here almost exclusively show the reverse of these 'pages' but when it's finished I will show the fronts, the embellished surfaces in more detail.

I speak about the 'putting together' of this and the rolling in the short video below.

(Ledgers girls....you have videos coming in around an hour)

 

 

wrapping pages

Visuals for you today of page wrapping following on from the video yesterday. (I have put the video at the end of this post too)

I love this, really love it.

Ledger girls.....I will be posting your next videos later today.

 

for the cover

This little piece measures 10 x 10 inches although once the seams are taken into consideration it will be smaller. I'm thinking ahead to a cover for when my artist book book is finally put together. (the book you have been seeing pages for in the past few posts)

I'm hoping for a sturdy, acrylic paper cover which I can then wrap with a long piece of embroiderd cloth. Initially I cut a very long piece of cloth to embellish, to add layers to, to add toggles, pom poms and tassels but it was overfacing so I cut it down to this size, a more manageable piece and a good size for appreciating progress as it happens. One embellished section on a vast expanse of white cloth is daunting, with the smaller piece it's much easier to see your progress in terms of surface embellishment.

So now the plan is to make several of these smaller pieces and join them to form my wrap. I'm not sure how many I will need at this stage, I will join them as each one is finished and measure as I go along.

gathering pages

I've started to play with placement of all these pages. This placement will change I'm sure as more pages are created, more inserts finished. I'm loving working with the ribbon especially. Who knew I would become a ribbon addict?

Things are still a little topsy turvy here, workmen, mess, drilling. It will be going on for a while longer I guess. I will just have to keep trying to work round it all. They have been working on my new workshop this week and I'm hoping they'll be finished by Wednesday and I can start to move my stuff in there. Keep everything crossed for me.

You can see a picture of how that's progressing on my Instagram feed here.

This morning I made you a very short video, a closer look at this work.

 

 

colour and contrasts, stitching when I can

There are lots of pictures today. I have been snatching stitching time in between all the goings on. These are more additions for the little artist book I am making for myself and the pieces I am showing you today will be joined to these when the little book is finally put together.

Stitching for both my classes is on hold until peace descends at the weekend. There's too much drilling going on here and I can't concentrate.

two classes and a little self indulgence

This past week has been such a joy. I think it's the first full week I have had since we moved here where I haven't had any disruption, no workmen, no excess noise or dirt. I've been relaxed, progressing work for both my classes and indulging myself with pages for a little artist book.

The work we are doing in both classes really does give me tummy flips and even more so when I think about what's to come. The lace piece here, the strip, that's a new sash for my baby dress which we are titivating in stitch along. You have seen the ledger earlier this week, that's from our first couple of days in ledgers, a record of stitch. The other pages, the stand alone pages as you know are my little gift to mysef, a little artist book.

You will remember how I was undecided, dithering about overlays for that one. I have decided I won't have overlays, I will try something else.....inserts. I will keep you posted.

Tomorrow the workmen are back. There shouldn't be a lot of mess (famous last words). There are a couple of internal doors to fit upstairs and then work to do on the building outside which will become my studio. I may go quiet for a couple of days but it's all for the greater good. (I repeat that to myself hourly)

Meanwhile, both classes are still open for registration. Both are 52 week classes and your access to them lasts forever. You can see them both here in my little shop.

three

I have three pages now. Three pages for my new.....gift to me......artist book.

As yet there aren't any overlays. I do have an idea for those though.

I will work on the overlays a little just as soon as I can stop picking these up and looking.

Ledgers girls.....stand by your computers, there's another set of videos coming very soon.

tassels

Remember this?

I said I might put it in the shop?

If I didn't get too attached?

Well guess what?

It's not even half finished and already I am too attached. It's a keeper.....you were right Jillayne.

The embroidered piece today is sample number three. The page for this one is well underway.

I can imagine you all thinking, 'isn't she too busy for this?'. She has two classes on the go and more builders than is good for her sanity. Well...the builders have had a week off and I have had a week long stitching party. I have made pages for ledgers, sashes for stitch along and still had time to indulge myself with these pages for a new artist book.

It won't last. The builders return on Monday, I'm going to make the most of my weekend.

pages

If you were here the other day you will remember this.

This is what happened afterwards.

There are two pages now, titvated with beads and embroidery waiting for me to decide if there will be overlays or not.

(there has to be overlays doesn't there? Has to be....a crammed book is better than a flat book, a bare book, a thin book isn't it?)

One thing I have decided, there will be more pages.

a new artist book?

What started as an idea for adding a pocket to a page, (here) has grown into an idea for a large paper based artist book. The unmounted piece here will form the basis of the second page. I'm considering creating this one for the shop but that's dependant on me not getting too attached to it as I progress and then if I want overlays that will make it cost prohibitive.

(can you tell I spend almost all of my waking hours being indecisive and debating with myself? It's a curse)

For now I'm focusing on creating the pages. Overlay issues will come later.....something to look forward to?

Don't forget...tomorrow....Ledgers, a record of stitch. I hope you've got your needles threaded and don't forget to wash your hands. (you might also need a brew, or two, or more.)