I haven't spent as much time on this work as I had hoped over the past week due to nanna duties and nanna duties are always the best use of time so no worries there.
Small details have been added to both these sheets. There is a new small piece taking shape (top right, last image) and I have been sticking torn strips together for a little weaving I have planned.
It's still baby steps and time deficient due to babies so it's very cohesive ha ha.
Last time I was here I mentioned how I was trying to fit some time in working on this little book in between embroidering pieces for lace class.
I also mentioned a couple of artist book classes which are past classes and are now listed as work on your own programmes.
That post also contains images of past artist book work and if you are interested you can read that post here.
There has been a huge amount of interest both in those classes and in my artist book work so once again...thank you!
The work shown today is from yesterday afternoon. The tiny toggles were fiddly and then some....but worth it.
Stay safe folks. Stay home and create. x
This morning I've been taking a little time to play around with placement, composition using little fragments of lace cloth.
Very often it's not the lace cloth which makes a piece.....it's what you do with it that's important.
Pages, playing with putting little compositions together, seeing how they live on a page, how they might be manipulated, altered in some way to add more interest.
I swear my brain is overloaded with ideas but lacking a plan. The best thing I think is to just keep playing and hope it all falls into place.
And a memory from when all this seemed so much easier, less angst ridden. Where did those days go?
I acquired three of these pretty little vintage cigarette cards a few weeks ago and have just been enjoying them up to now, admiring the detail and imagining their history. I do have more of these, a few that I have had for many years but the latest three came with their original little paper cards crammed with information about each flower, my others don't have those.
When I started to put this page together I was determined to include the card too.
This tiny sketchbook is getting crammed already, splaying open rather than closing neatly. That's a win in my opinion. To remind you...these are the other pages already worked in here, not many at all. Imagine how this little book will look when it's been worked on some more.
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
There are always scraps lying round here, scraps of paper, cloth, ribbon...my motto? never throw anything away. These little pieces are variouys scraps which have been gathered together and embellished with stitch, beads and ribbon. If you look at the first image where they are laid on a sheet of white paper............ try and imaging more being added to that sheet. I'm aiming for a mini design sheet here so there could be stitch, collage or more scraps I haven't decided yet.
(the paper is A3 size, the scraps approximately three inches long)
Yes, still practicing, sampling, sewing litle bits together and adding beads, buttons, ribbons. It's fun, you should try it. I'm cramming my head with all things embroidery and making the most of the inspiration whilst it's here. I could go on and on and on.....not sure if my fingers agree and they certainly don't work quick enough to keep up with my head.
Practicing.
You are probably thinking after my post yesterday 'she said these wouldn't be rushed'. They won't, it wasn't. This has been several days in the making but one of my new tiny artist books is indeed finished. I think these might become addictive. This has half the pages of my 'white book' and those pages are half the size too, only three inches square. Compared to the white book this one did come together extraordinarily quickly. Part of the reason for that will be the size of my stash, lots of 'bits' to draw from, stitched papers, stitched cloth all created over a long period of time.
When I was putting this together I had everything strewn out around me, so much to choose from, decisions, decisions....only problem is I started to fall a little bit in love with this last night and if I'm not careful I will get to a stage where I can't bear to part with it. I am going to keep it for a little while longer though....just to gaze....I hope that's ok.
When I posted about ''the white book'' earlier this week I was completely shocked with the response, the positive response. Thank you so much. The most asked question last week was 'is it for sale'? It's not sorry, it's for me. What normally happens with my artist books is I make them, I sell them, I don't allow myself to fall in love with them as they are going to be for sale before I even begin. That one however was always going to be for me. I have fallen completely in love with it and couldn't part with it for anything.
But....I had a thought...yes, I have those sometimes. Make more for all those who have asked. I don't mean I am taking orders or accepting commissions, rather I am working on these just to have some 'available'. Having said that, don't hold your breath. These are tiny, three inch by three inch pages and in theory should come together quickly...in theory. Thing is I can't rush these, I can't rush the bigger ones and I can't rush these either. I could never work in 'production line mode' churning things out quickly, after the quick sale. I can't chase the money, won't ever chase the money because embroidery means more to me than that.
So, the first one is here. It's not complete but as I said...rushing isn't going to figure anywhere in this. I did think about explaining to you how amazing I find working on these but I don't think I have the words, am unable to express just how much of a joy it is to compose these little pages with embroidered scraps. Hopefully the images illustrate that in a small way.
The following images and very short video are of the pre book stage, the search through my stash and the creation of lace, paper and stitched surfaces to embellish with hand embroidery and use on these tiny pages.