door detail from Lisbon

door detail from Lisbon, originally uploaded by Zé Eduardo....

Oh my Goodness, I love this door! Had to share it. Ze Eduardo really is my favorite photographer, taking me places I can't go myself. Maybe a new colour?

Where did all my photos go?

Went camping to Lake Eildon and found this burnt out wreck. So Nadine laid fabric on the parts of the wreck that were rusty and patterned and we covered them over with wet pine needles and dirt. Next day, down I go, get Belle to clamber over the car pulling out the fabric and photograph all the pieces. Somewhere between here and there, the photos fell off my sd card. The only photo there was of the car. Hope Nadine's photos worked out. If so, I'll put them up asap. She also boiled up eucalyptus leaves and silk, can't wait to see them.

Another day, another colour

This photograph was taken by Etsian Wolfyphotography Rae sent it to me. Had no idea rocks were this colour, so of course it inspired a dye job. I don't think I quite got it, but I don't mind trying again.


Not this week though. Rae is off to Halls Gap for the annual Fibre thing they have up there and I am up to my ears in packaging. (Well, up to my ears thinking about it) You don't want to rush into anything.


Best wishes to Dale and Ian from The Thread Studio, their family is safe in Christchurch but they have extensive damage to their homes. Thoughts to to our farmers in the north of Victoria- their farms are still under water.

Working with Kids and Animals

I guess you can see why not. This is Bri, the model clowning around.


Congratulations to Madelen for being accepted into Honours at Latrobe Uni.


And Butterball, likes to be the centre of attention.

Wisteria and Colour Conjuring.

Wisteria - the last of it off my back veranda.



My trusty spoon- I have never used any other spoon when mixing dye. I don't know how I will cope when it finally wears out, trying out colour combination's on scrap wool.
The 'booby trap spider', I work outside in a shed open to the elements. I share my space with spiders, bush mice, beetles, flies, mosquitoes, blue tongue lizards, skinks and unfortunately the occasional brown snake. I don't mind the spiders, I hate the snakes.


My dye. only use KraftKolour dyes. The absolute best and easiest to use. I wouldn't be able to get near the amount of colours I get without this fantastic product.
This is a cool purple. I start with a little of this, 1/4 strength and use some plum to pink it up.


Silk Merino in Wisteria.


Mulberry Silk.

Wool.

When I looked at the Wisteria I found several light shades, so in this there is the dark mauve, pink mauve, lighter shades of both, and just a subtle tint.
If you want to try dyeing, I can recommend the following colours as a great start.
Opal (turquoise)
Wattle (yellow)
Wild Raspberry (deep pink)
Wallaby (brown)
Mustard (gold)
Grevillea (pinkish red)
Waratah (brownish red)
Currawong (black)
Cyclamin (warm purple)
Marine (blue)
Moss (olive)
Check my links for Bonnie and Grahams website.

Gee Bend Inspiration

Covered an old painting by a child( -gosh I am a bad mother) with Gesso. Sketched general shapes, followed light, medium and darks.

Blocking in colour to see how my choices work.


Naples yellow is my favorite yellow.


You can see the splodge from beneath (original painting) is hard to cover.


Detail



Finished! Yay.

Completed painting. I told my husband it was an elephant eating a banana. He isn't much for abstract, poor love.


Inspiration for the painting was a quilt by a resident of Gee Bend, Alabama, USA made from mattress ticking, denim and old work clothes. They colours remind me of Boro- Japanese patchwork of sorts. Same kind of blues and browns. Anyway, the colours and pattern I borrowed from a children's storybook illustrated by Muriel Kerba.
This was painted as part of an online class I am doing called Get Your Paint on.
More about that next post.

Seamless Paris Tunic

BACK.
Close up of embroidered voile. I left the decorative wide hem in.









Could not get good light to take clearer photos but I'm happy with it. Did it with the Paris colourway using pieces of a cotton voile table cloth that was embroidered, vintage doiley, mulberry silk, dyed cotton muslin from Rae and of course, my wool. It doesn't fit Bri so well, she is 2 sizes smaller than me, but gosh she is a good model

Sorry- loaded all the photos in the wrong order of course. This one above is of the seam which I am about to rub out.


The voile.


The not very helpful assistant


Wet and rolled a few times.


it is reversible, Bri and I both prefer the front that doesn't have the large voile piece. I think this is a pic of the front we like before I start felting.

I hate sewing garments and seams, so I like the idea of making a whole garment without sewing.


This is the top I was inspired by. I drew around it free hand and added a BIG hem so I could get most of my shrinkage by rolling the length rather than width.
2/3 of the way through, I spun out the excess water and tried it on so I could hand shape the garment to fit bust size 44 inches.
That's why it doesn't sit well enough on Bri. i like the flared bottom, hides a multitude of sins.