Karen Ruane

silk chiffon ribbon

It's been a funny kind of week. I have the decorators in and have mostly been hiding in my studio but yesterday I went away for the day to visit my parents so that disrupted my creativity and today I was sent for more wallpaper so nothing creative has happened as yet. More supplies have arrived though and the silk chiffon ribbon is already making me drool.

Once I have finished beading the edge of the page you can see in the second image I am going to play with the ribbon and assess it's suitability for toggles.

adding beads to an edge

This morning was my first time working in my new, as yet unfinished studio. I have been so desperate to get in there, I just can't wait. At the moment it's equiped with an emergency table. It works, it's sufficient. As I've been moving small amounts of stuff in there I've been seeing things which could be worked on more, which although 'finished' wouldn't suffer if I played with them a little more. With that in mind, once I had made one of my videos for 'Ledger' class I began to add danglies to the edge of this page .

(there will most likely be more and more little videos on here now I have a dedicated space to work, free from interuptions)

 

beads and pom poms, a pin pillow

A pin pillow (6 x 6 inches approx).

You saw this in progress a few weeks ago and it's been finished for a while. I got sidetracked with other stuff and forgot to show you.....sorry. There is ribbon across the reverse too but I forgot to take pictures of that............sorry again. It's just two simple strips secured with hand stitch which compliment the front, the pom poms, the big gold thread beads.

This little pillow was made using the same colour palette as my 'wrap' which you have seen a lot of lately. There will be an update on that tomorrow.

(I am gradually moving things into my new studio. I am still waiting for the worktops and cabinets but meantime I will spend the weekend working in there, getting used to the space, creating on an old, temporary table. There's still a little bit of work to do but while I wait I intend to enjoy my new space)

 

Beads and French knots for a seam.

So far I have two pieces which will form part of the wrap for my artist book. I have spoken about this work and the artist book here in case you missed it and haven't a clue what I am talking about. These two pieces on their own won't be big enough, I will need to piece more but meanwhile I couldn't resist joining them. I love to embroider a fresh seam, the temptation here was too great.

This one has French Knots with tiny seed beads randonly scattered. I am actually very disappointed it's finished as I could have gone on forever.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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French knots #frenchknots

A post shared by Karen Ruane (@karenruane) on Feb 23, 2019 at 4:51am PST

stash building

Although my little workshop isn't quite finished I am getting very excited and am buying things to fill little jars which will then be used to fill little cupboards. These tiny pom poms and gold coloured thread beads are my latest indulgence. The threads were ordered as I was running out of those....any excuse.

A few of the tiny gold thread beads will be used imminently to embellish a little pin pillow I am putting together. I don't want to get too carried away with these though otherwise I won't have any for my jar. Then again......I could just buy more.

If you saw my video earlier this week where I pieced cloth I wanted to let you know I have begun to embroider on that piece. I just want to make a little more progress before I show you and in case you missed the video I have put here at the end of this post.

(it's a long one....15 minutes.)

 

 

little pom poms with pale blue beads

These pieces keep on coming, I have so many ideas inspired from this work and once I've created from those ideas more ideas pop up. It's never ending (in a good way) I must remember to refer back to this post next time I have a creative block, remind myself of the day when the ideas wouldn't stop coming.

These pieces will be taken further still in my 'artist book' class, there's a plan unfolding over there which I'm going to share with the girls later this week.

Meanwhile in 'stitch along' we are consumed with pockets. That too is feeding ideas and I'm working on something arising from that inpsiration which I am able to share with you so hopefully you will see that tomorrow.

gathering cloth with linen tape

I created this little piece as I had a need to create a channel through which I could thread a strip of linen tape, yes really. Ever since I finished this piece I haven't been able to get tape, channels, drawing up, gathering off my mind. There are two layers of lace here with the channel defined using French knots and bullion knots. This little piece will be used in some way as part of an artist book, an overlay perhaps or maybe even a sleeve for the edge of a page. The beaded edge has been embellished using bling from a tassel I deconstructed. I am particularly looking forward to finding a home for that large orange coloured bead....

beaded and embroidered paper

More mounting, paper again. I do prefer paper in this instance, it reassures me my embroidered samples will remain pristine. You do know what's going to happen here don't you? An artist book is forming...a very big artist book. You know what comes next too I'm guessing? These large pieces are going to need overlays because it appears I am unable to create any kind of artist book without overlays. That's not a problem, overlays are never a problem. It just means my list is getting longer.....

beads, sequins and a single tassel

A little scrap of stitch or should I say several little scraps joined together and then stitched. This is my latest sample...of many. You've been seeing these forever, what can I say. I'm building a sample library, a resource. The white pieces have been getting a lot of thought these past few days, these ones,

I think I've figured out how I'd like to prepare these for presentation. I'm hoping to start work on that now....this afternoon.

drapery for an artist book

Silk velvet, delicate paper and vintage net, stitched together before being embellished with hand embroidery, beads and pom poms. I love the weight of this, the feel of it in my hands. This will drape over the cover of my new artist book, (these are the pages if you remember)

It's coming together.....