Karen Ruane

considering

The piece from yesterday, the piece with gingham ribbon is still very much on my mind. More pages will be added including below the pages already present. I'm hoping for a multi layered appearance so have had the gingham piece laid alongside finished artist books this morning in the hope of inspiration striking.

The logistics of adding pieces below the circular pages isn't an issue, I already have that figured out it's what to put on those pages which needs thought. I already pulled out some lace and trimmings so will play with those in circular form and just keep going until I'm happy with the results.

 

 

 

 

 

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A post shared by Karen Ruane (@karenruane) on Jul 16, 2019 at 4:36am PDT

design sheet or back page for a new artist book?

This one was crying out to be created. It popped into my head and took up permanent residence. Initially it was going to be a stand alone design sheet but now I am considering another option. There's an awful lot of empty space on the left hand side which definitely could be filled as this design sheet develops but now I'm thinking a little booklet might live on that side, making this the back plate for said little book. What do you think? You know how much I love a little book.....

books, pages, design sheets...

The most relevant piece here, the most current piece is the circular piece which is prominent in the last image. (It's in the centre of the first image)  That piece which was worked yesterday evening is again from my current ledger class, work from which you have been seeing a lot of recently, yesterday's work was from the same class.

The reason the other work is here is because I'm pondering, kind of reminding myself what's going on round here creatively as it's easy to lose sight of things, of particular pieces. This is a good way to refresh the brain cells.

What has happened though and what nearly always happens when doing this is it inspires, creates an urge to begin a new piece from the imagery and the composition here.

Ledger girls.....pay particular attention to the next bit....

can you imagine a large design sheet which is inspired by and loosely replicates the first image?

Oh well, I can't complain about having too many ideas because it certainly beats having creative block.

extending a page

I'm back with the bright, colourful stuff today after the white yesterday. The little page I created earlier this week has been extended with patterned tissue, a little doodling and a little stitch......

this page....

It's a brief visit here for me today as I have ironing and packing to do.

I will be back in around ten days.

Miss you already x

a combination

I have three online learning progrmmes running at the moment,  an embroidery one, a ledger one and a story book one. Occasionally I get mixed up and almost work a piece for embroidery class into one of the other two and vice versa....I spend a lot of time confused...as you can imagine.

Inevitably, whilst working on my classes I am inspired by all three of them, ideas form which include elements from each class. In order to clear my head I have decided to do this, pieces like you see today, little compositions in little sketchbooks which incorporate elements from each class. It's also something I can tick off the mental list, it's satisfying, it also informs and consequently reinspires. The circle of creativity goes round and round.

hand made artist book with embroidered wrapping cloth

There are lots of images today and in truth there could have been a lot more.

This one has been a long time in the making and now it's finished I am missing the opportunity to work on it a little more, missing the excitement of picking it up to stitch on it. On the plus side I do have it to fondle.

There is a brief show and tell video at the end of this post along with information about my new class which strats on Monday....

 

Stitching Stories

Begins June 17 for 8 weeks.

Online format.... Private password protected blog.

No deadlines. No set tasks. Lifetime access to all resources.

No prerequisites.

Suitable for all skill levels.

**this online learning programme is not a repeat of my ''stitching a story'' programme.**

A return to playfulness, to stories, fairytales and imaginary tales. Join me as I enhance a story book with stitch, cloth, jewels and a sprinkling of imagination.

Work in a printed storybook or create your own magical daydream using blank pages and doodles.

Using playful imagery we will doodle pattern, enhancing our simple pencil lines with stitch and pretty additions in the form of cords, beads, sequins.....using simple pattern and image sources as our starting point we will be inspired to let our imagination run away with us, adding our own interpretation to an unfolding story.

Any 'doodling' will be basic. Please do not be afraid of this aspect of the course. I doodle in the simplest form.

Doodling on a blank page is not compulsory. You can choose to work exclusively in a printed story book.

Exploration and stitch work can take place in a childrens fairytale book, a blank sketchbook or both.

I will be enhancing a printed storybook with stitch, I will also be creating my own story in a blank sketchbook using pencil to doodle pattern.

On registration you will receive access to a short video where book choices are discussed.

Register here.

embroidery catch up

There's a video catch up today, an overview of what's happening here creatively. I'm still hemming the lining of my wrapping cloth, my cloth pages continue to be embellished as do the pages for my paper based artist book......and I bought myself some rather lovely Swarovski buttons. Lucky me!

If you are registered for my new class 'Stitching Stories' you should have received an email from me this morning. If you didn't can you please let me know.

 

playing with pages

There's a new piece here, a new composition of scraps for a page in this artist book. This one has lace, scrunched tissue, pom poms, ribbon and hand embroidery. Making these little books requires a little restraint, restraint from binding pages even though I am definitely someone who can't wait to see them put together but if you bind them too early it is tricky to then work on the blank spaces.

Having said that.....this morning I bound the pages I have so far......but only temporarily, these can be 'unbound' easily. The reason for doing that is so I can get an appreciation of what I still need to do, how one piece lies against another and how the page sizes might affect the finished appearance of the little book. Now I've done this I can move on with a better understanding of what I need to do next.

I'm going to be missing tomorrow and Sunday. Someone who lives here and who isn't me is having an operation tomorrow. (nothing serious) and my little girl is coming home on Sunday so we are having an afternoon get together.

There will be cake.

pages

Pages, sketchbook pages, ledger pages, artist book pages. There are two separate things going on here. The large sketchbook is my ledger from my current online class  'ledgers, a record of stitch'. The brighter work, the piece with the pink floral ribbon is a page for a smaller artist book I am putting together. That piece will go with these.

Aside from these particular book based projects I am working on pages for my new class, 'stitching stories'. Those pieces will be different again. With ledgers class we have boundaries, colour matching and pattern studies, with stitching stories we have no boundaries. Colour and pattern matching is not important, we are creating our own story.

I'm going to have to put this work away for a day or so now. I have embroidery on cloth to progress, small pages for a cloth book.

 

more paper and ribbon

The next piece, white pages, ribbons, padded silk habotai, French knots and beads. This one will fit somewhere as yet unknown. I tend to create lots of pages before I decide which one goes where and which piece will sit best where. I'm going to have to leave this for a while now though. I have a baby dress to stitch and charm squares to embellish not to mention the exciting things happening in Ledger class. I will keep you posted on all that as and when I can.