My tiny little ledger from Alchmey 2020 is getting fuller by the day.
It doesn't close properly. A good thing.
It falls open at random pages. A good thing.
There is paper and lace, there are doilies, pom poms and sequins.
There is a lot of hand embroidery.
It's a joy to work on these little pages.
The images today show progression of the work you saw here.
This work has also inspired new pieces which aren't yet advanced enough to show on here.
I do hope you can see the link from the ledger to the stand alone piece and vice versa.
If you like these works on paper you may also like these,
This isn't new work but hopefully these pieces will inspire more work using these techniques.
I have been looking at this work today in order to progress my own sampling for Alchemy.
I remember making these pieces, how excited I was. That excitement has returned now I have handled them again and considered these processes in relation to developing new pieces for my own design explorations..
I will start those new pieces today and share them with the Alchemy group next week in the hope they will be inspired too and amend this process to respond to their personal design collection.
First today, a question. Does anyone know where you can buy metal patchwork templates in the UK?
I used to have a source but it appears they no longer trade.
Thank you!!
OK, last time I was here, this post, I spoke about the stages of creating this veil like piece. There was a piece in the hoop almost ready to be attached and that's where we are today.
As I came to attach that piece yesterday I remembered the design work I am doing for 'Alchemy 2020' as this veil like piece is forming my inspiration for that sampling.
One thing fed the other and here we have a new piece attached to my veil like piece using the thick white cord present in the design ledger.
(I hope you can make the cord out in the images)
I think this work will progress in this manner.....allowing the ledger to inform the work and vice versa.
Progress with my veil like piece. I thought a silk habotai flounce would be nice along one edge. As yet it's unfinished, I am adding beads and sequins, scattering them along it's length.
I'm undecided as to whether this edge will be an outer edge or whether I will attach another panel 'underneath' it, falling from it.
In the last image you can see the various stages of this work. I begin by embroidering on my lace cloth with white, I then add sequins. Once the sequins are added I cut that piece from the large piece of cloth and attach it to the main body of my 'veil' like structure, the piece with the flounce.
In the last and second to last image, as you can see, I am part way through adding sequins to one piece (in the hoop) which lays alongside a piece which has been embroidered prior to sequins being added.
I'm hoping to make headway with this work so it's likely you will see this again next time.
Embroidering onto paper surfaces is so very satisfying. Couple that with lace cloth and it's a dream.
These pieces have been joined, combined, composed to create a cover for the little artist book I have been working on recently if sporadically.
There is still a bit of titivating to do here and of course I need more embellished and adorned pages before this one is finished but it's a joy to work on these little pages, these little books.
Up to now I have been placing lace or vintage trim in the seams of my veil piece as I join newly hand embroidered sections. In this image, where three pieces meet I have added beading instead. I had a need for the repetitive. I'm so glad I did.
(Alchemy girls, your first critique videos are now live on the class blog)
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I had a little trip down memory lane this morning, a little break from Alchmey things, a little 'keep in touch with lace cloth' five minutes.
This four minute video popped up from 2017, memories of Spain, (I had just come back from holiday), memories of this piece which I now must find to see how it turned out.....yes really, I can't remember.
These images show some of the stages I go through when creating my lace 'veil' like pieces.
First of all I create the lace cloth, in this instance with snippets of silk velvet too.
Those little silk velevt 'islands' are then edged with buttonhole lace before sequins are added.
I will occasionally cut holes in the lace cloth too and edge those with buttonhole lace. That results in an even lighter piece of cloth.
Once I have several pieces embellished I then join them. Sometimes I place lace in the seams or a vintage trim, sometimes self made cords.
As you have probably noticed I'm also partial to stitching shiny things into notebooks too!
This morning has been about lace cloth. More pieces have been created on the sewing machine using silk velvet for my ongoing piece from lace class and the final titivations have been added to a brighter, more colourful piece which was created using patterned fabric.
August 2020 Lace cloth, the class which has just finished is now listed as a work on your own class. You can read about that here.
Included is access to thirty four videos which you can view at your liesure.