Karen Ruane

scraps

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)

stash building

More tiny stitched samples to fill pages and build up my stash. This was a good choice of pastime in the days leading up to my London trip although if you could see the state of my house you might disagree. There are scraps of paper and cloth everywhere. Every time I move I trail thread behind me. I keep stepping on dropped beads and seeing glistening all over the floors from dropped sequins. I'm not bothered though..maybe the elves will come in and clean up when I'm away...probably not though.

When I'm working on these little things they give me so many ideas for using the technique, the process on other pieces. The folded corner of a hankie....that's one I have used before many times. I have used it here too and it's given me another idea as has the use of silk velvet alongside embroidered paper. That one in particular has gotten me very excited. (4th image) I think you'll be seeing a lot more of that.

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white cloth, dotted paper - Karen Ruane

making sense of scraps

Following my little ten minute play which I told you about yesterday I thought it was about time I took some of my ''scrap'' pile and made them into something a little more substantial. It's something I have done many times, occasionally spending a whole day creating mini design sheets with the bits of things lying around here. The last two images include one of the last pieces which evolved from a similar exercise. I had completely forgotten about it until I was looking through my 'piles' of work and scraps. That piece is one of my favourites. 

The piece above, the latest piece with the pom pom trim isn't fixed yet. I am going to think about it for a while. I could well change my mind.

Embroidery School 2018. Begins Monday...that came round quickly!! You can read more here.

layers and sequins

I'm managing to spend a couple of hours every day creating pieces for my own ''artist book'' the first one of my collection. Please remind me in twelve months time that I had plans for at least six little books of my own especially if I don't have six..... It's quite a scary prospect as I know just how long each of these little books takes to create to a point at which I am happy with it. I prefer crammed, every spare inch holding information of some kind be it a button or and edge of lace or a little scrap of stitched paper. The rest of my little collection will be created in the upcoming ''artist book'' class. The format isn't going to be exactly the same for each one although they will be similar. 

For this page I layered papers and delicate cloth with a little lace cloth and after a little embroidery added the what seem to be ever present at the moment sequins. The pom pom edge was already on this page having been added a few weeks ago. I definitely think all these pieces fit....

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bits and pieces

Three images today of bits and pieces which were on my table yesterday, being used in my work, ingredients for classes and which don't normally look half this tidy......I tidied up and arranged them especially for you. 

I don't usually get to appreciate these things properly. They are all normally jumbled up in boxes or drawers. I must do this more often, get some clarity.

I can't hang about today. I am expected elsewhere to put an X in a box.

A reminder before I go...Studies in Stitch began on Monday. We will work up until the end of next week then have a two week break because I am off on my jollies. If you want to read more you can look here....

pages and stitched scraps

Lace, paper, collage, stitch, beads, pages and a safety pin. Not bad ingredients for a little bit of play are they?  Can you tell I am in ''artist book'' mode today? I am gathering, thinking, stitching, tearing, titivating. You wouldn't believe the number of pages I have to fill, each page needing a special little stitched composition or a scrap of collaged paper. 

I had my ''up to now'' pages in front of me earlier and although they are looking crammed, looking embellished to death, when you look closely there are spaces, gaps and I have more pages to cut too. I am hoping it will all come together quickly, that the spaces will fill with ease once the final pages are cut and the pages are stitched within the cover. 

In other news.....I had planned to visit a couple of exhibitions in London earlier in the year. Because of family stuff however, because I was playing nurse of the year too I didn't get there. Hopefully I will rectify that in July because this morning I have booked tickets to see this and this......I am very excited.

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torn paper and a page

embellished scraps - Karen Ruane

embellished scraps

Artist books, always stitching scraps, always layering and adding bling. Sequins, beads, gimp, embroidery.....

Over the past five days or so these little pieces have been put together using lace like surfaces, stitched paper and scraps of cloth. I don't yet have all my pages ready, I don't even have my artist book put together but I am building a slowly growing collection of tiny embellished paper and fabric pieces which will be used to fill pages.

Artist books are a long time in the making. It's a slow process, a considered process, a careful process. 

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Embroidered pockets, human cloth. (doodle, embellish, wrap)

an edge of buttons and a sequined scrap

Foggy? No and I can't explain why the pictures look as if they were taken through mist....or is it just me? Maybe I need to clean my glasses. 

Yesterdays piece with a pretty button edge and a tiny scrap embellished with sequins for an ''artist book''. I worked on both of these pieces last night, sequins, buttons.....happy time, playing and adorning. I am very taken with the ties from the buttons on the reverse of that embroidered swatch and that follows through with what I was saying yesterday about embellishing the reverse of these pieces, giving equal recognition to the back as well as the front. That means double the edges, more seams....more embroidery.

I can't decide, when my chores are done this afternoon, whether to play with pages for ''artist books'' or think about edges and the reverse of swatches. Maybe I can do both......

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a sequined edge - Karen Ruane

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little samples, compositions, crammed artist books

It's all about scraps here at the moment and it will be for some time. I am part way through creating my second ''crammed'' artist book in the manner of this one. (there is a video in the link which some of you may not have seen)

There is something very satisfying about gathering little scraps which may otherwise have been discarded, adding stitch, a few beads maybe, complimentary papers and little bits of lace, turning something insignificant into a decorative piece of sampling and securing that safely within the pages of a hand made artist book.

Monitor update.....I think it's all in the tilt. This new monitor is bigger than my last one, tilting seems to help. It's either that or I buy a very high chair!

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scraps

You saw these little samples last week I think. Since then they have been added to little pages for a new artist book, artist book number two. There is a little pile of other scrappy bits which is growing too, they need a little more attention before they can be placed on pages, before this book starts to take ''real'' shape. 

When I was in London I bought lots of beads and buttons....they will be making their way into this work I am sure of it. The first thing I need to do though is figure out how to store them properly, how to store them so I can lay my hands on them easily and not have to scour the whole house for hours trying to find them. With my track rec0rd it won't be easy but at least the will is there....it's a start.

 

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