Karen Ruane

stitched scraps

Black and white patterned wallpaper, two different scraps of lace, hand embroidery and a few beads....more little scraps, mini pieces of stitch for my artist books. (then there's the centre piece in the last image), a scrap of cream paper, silver running through it with added bullion and French knots. I think I could do this forever. A production line has never appealed to me but a production line of these little bits would maybe capture my attention.

This book is now finished, every page decorated with stitched paper or cloth or both. I will make you a short video show and tell of that later this week. 

 

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Artist book..... - Karen Ruane

beaded loops and tiny stitching - Karen Ruane

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beaded loops and tiny stitching

It's a bit of this and that today. There's a tiny scrap which came away from a larger piece but has now been transformed into a page for a new artist book and there's a new piece in progress. I'm not sure what the new piece will be yet. I started it to satisfy a craving I had to stitch beaded loops onto silk velvet. Who knows where these  cravings come from or why we are compelled....

The artist book is some way from being finished. There may only be a dozen or so tiny pages but what to put on each of those pages requires me to stretch my imagination and ponder for what seems like forever so please don't hold your breath for that to be finished. I'm hoping to make six of those....no pressure then. I'm not going to push it though. If I make six then great, if I don't then no problem.

We are making beaded loops, sample cloths and wonderful things with paper, collage and stitch in embroidery school. It's not too late to join us and you get to keep the videos forever, yes....and ever...so there's no rush to make anything at all, you can merely sit at the back, drink tea, eat cake and watch. You can read more here....

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considering ledgers - Karen Ruane

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scraps becoming sample pieces

Last night I played a little. I took a scrap of stitched cloth and a scrap of stitched paper and wondered how they might live together. Here's the result. It's quite small, 6 x 5 inches....it's precious, delicate, light as a feather too. There are French knots embroidered using pale pink silk thread. There are bullion knots with matt gold bead added to them as a finishing touch and there is a strip of vintage pom pom trim forming the seam between the two pieces used to create this. Matt gold beads are also suspended across an open area.

The area with the patterned cloth, that has a paper base. The other, whiter area is silk Habotai. A tiny piece of this broke away from the main body, you can see that in the top corner of the second image. That tiny piece may well find its way onto a ledger  page..............

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a surface, embellished....

scraps of white, stitch and toggles

This little page was put together over in class, in the ''sample portfolio'' segment of our stitching marathon. Every so often we work a little on paper, a distraction, a change of method, a change of surface. 

This one has the tiniest amount of cloth, a very small off cut from some lace cloth. The rest is comprised of torn and stitched papers, a few French knots, a few green glass beads and a little pin pricking. The little toggles were fiddly and then some but very much worth the effort. They have dangly bits, dangly beads......just because I could.

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lace cloth and glass beads....

French knots and a little bit of gimp

gimp and lace

scraps of cloth and embroidered paper.`

Ledger class finished this week.....or should I say it's supposed to finish this week.....there may be more. However, today, the images, my latest page for class. Scraps of cloth stitched to paper, fabric and stitch added, decisions made about placement and here we are. It needs more work but so far I think it's a winner.

The blue and white piece from yesterday will be getting more attention soon and I have another paper piece started in my ''happy cloth'' class which is also waiting for a little attention. Let's just say I won't be short of something to do in the coming days.

scraps of white

I am still in book mode, putting together little compositions which will live on pages. Last night it was a white one, scraps of white cloth stitched together then mounted on a little square of embellished paper. Working these small pieces is a good way to generate ideas for the big paper pieces which I have been creating lately.....two birds, one stone and all that.

Later today I will be working on more pages but not until I have cleaned up a little bit.....yikes....don't ask me how much dust there is at Ruane towers.

preserving stitched scraps

Yesterday if you remember I was having some kind of mini creative crisis. I still am I think but not as much, I think I'm beginning to see the light. I definitely won't be throwing anything away, I won't be making any drastic decisions. Last night I played with more paper, more white. (not shown here, I will show you soon) I am beginning to think white is always the answer as far as I am concerned. Maybe I was feeling  a little lost and white is who I am so I need to reconnect with that from time to time. That's as far as my self analysis goes for now....I am happy with the paper piece you can't see just yet and have plans to move it on.

So what's happening today? What's this all about? It's a similar thing, white, looking at old white, preserving this, keeping it safe. It's all explained in the video.

 

 

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lace cloth, another page, a video.

tiny scraps equal a tiny artist book

Piles of little scraps, embroidery offcuts, samples, all stored carefully and neatly, kept safe on a shelf. Thing is you can't really ''see'' them, can't be inspired by them as they are stacked up, piled one on top of another. What to do? Separate them in a kind of ''one for you one for me'' way then make two little books, ''one for you and one for me''.

I was going to say shortly......but I don't know if it actually will be shortly so I shall say ''sometime'' in the future these will be finished and one will go in the shop. The other will go on the shelf in the gap left by the scraps....for me.

And....3 weeks from now ''wrapped and bound'' in stitch will begin. A cloth making class, an embroidery class, a fabric, thread, pocket, applique, cutwork, titivation, embellish, adorn......and on and on class. You can read more about that here.

and I must tell you.....one of my neighbours had a baby boy on Thursday.....I visited this morning bearing gifts. You forget how wonderful it is to cradle a new born baby, how comforting and warm that is. He is so tiny, you forget that too. Holding him this morning was all I needed to complete my day.

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triple bullion knots

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scraps of paper and cloth

Saturday afternoon was very productive chez moi. I made more lace cloth for the cross stitch alphabet piece and unlike last time will use the correct colours to embellish this surface. (Yesterday's post was all about using the wrong colours) Fragments of stitched paper were created too, for the long running saga which is otherwise known as my ''sample portfolio''. I have been very undecided and hesitant with that lately....not any more, I'm on a roll. Tomorrow another double page spread may appear on here as if by magic.......

I should really be cleaning my kitchen prior to the arrival of a decorator in a couple of weeks. Yes, a couple of weeks. It's a very small kitchen which needs a disproportionate amount of cleaning, a testament to my lack of domestic goddess skills. However.....I look at the Brillo pads and then glance at my paper, thread, cloth, sewing things and for some strange reason they always win................can't figure it out .....

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the second one

scraps

Yesterday afternoon I gathered scraps of lace. The piece with colour was made some time ago, the piece with the cream lace frill was created yesterday. (I'm not happy with the cream lace frill, it reminds me of knicker elastic). I do have a plan, a plan that has changed since yesterdays piece was put together.

I want to make something in a similar vein to my veil piece below. Not a replica but something light, with an abundance of seams, an abundance of lace edges, buttonhole lace, mirrors....soft and  feminine. 

Tonight I will randomly piece lace, embroider a few seams, add a mirror or two.