Thursday, March 28, 2013

Creative Space: My Space

I have my own space now and I'm very excited :) 


I'm in the process of moving all of my equipment and bits and pieces 
into the room, so it's still a bit of a mess but I really couldn't care less - 
the joy of having a room of one's own!


 It's one of those long thin sleep-out kind of spaces that Queenslander 
houses have... windows down one side and I even have a wall where
I can finally hang some of the artworks and prints I've bought from 
blog friends over the years :)







I still need to find a suitable table for printing - actually I'm thinking about
getting a raised one as all this screen and block printing of late has been
causing havoc with my back. At the moment, though, I have a temporary 
desk there to work on.





And it's nice having all my printable fabric nearby... even if it's not the best 
storage method ;) No doubt over time I will nip and tuck and paint and alter 
many things – I have so many plans for my room :)





Sorry if this is super boring. You can more creative spaces over at Kirsty's.

Thursday, March 21, 2013

Creative Space: Printing frenzy

Have you signed up for the Handprinted Fabric Swap? And have you been in a 
printing frenzy too? It's been madness here. I can't seem to settle on a design.

The deadline is this coming Monday and I hope I make it in time. Here is a glimpse 
of what has been screen-printed and block-printed around here lately...

The first one is actually the very first lino block design I carved way back when.
Revisited in a neon pink (the camera couldn't really capture the neon).

Fan © Paravent

The next two started from an experiment with my brayer, just playing around and seeing
 what it could do. I decided to use it as a background for some other old screen print 
designs and lino blocks that I found when cleaning up my work room.

Golden Penda © Paravent
Retro © Paravent

And the last one is more experimentation with the octagon block. I'd had some
problems with the circle showing on top of the design so I worked out a way to
print all the circles in place first and then layer the octagon block on top.

Octagon Grey © Paravent

So, some printing has happened - a lot of printing - but I'm no closer deciding what to
send to my swap partners. If you're reading this, swap partners, can you tell me 
which you'd prefer please?

To see more creative spaces, visit Kirsty's spot on Kidspot.

Thursday, March 14, 2013

Creative Space: Pouf

I've wanted to make one of these for ages. I did start once with normal yarn but quickly 
gave that up as a joke when I realised I need about a hundred balls to finish the project ;) 
But where to find nice chunky yarn? Well, recycled t-shirt fabric with the strangely 
culinary name of Zpagetti of course!



It started off well - once you get used to the necessary hand aerobics -  and was 
surprisingly quick too. I finished it in two days and the only time I'm getting to crochet 
at the moment is during a couple of TV watching hours each night... ie it takes 
no time at all.

 


So, the body is done and the little lid. All I have to do now is make the filling and 
le pouf will be finished.

My other Creative Space news is I've started work on Maze & Vale's
Handprinted Fabric Swap but unfortunately botched it up somehow... I'm not even
sure how actually, it just printed up with so many blotches. Anyway, I shall soldier
on with this one. I have a couple of theories to try out.


Hope you've had a great week? See more creative spaces at Kirsty's.

Thursday, March 7, 2013

Creative Space: more brooches

A new finished brooch... and a new colour - a lustrous golden wheat with 
wood and a hint of gold :)




There are more on the way. If you've been peeking into my instagram you might have 
seen what's coming... and they'll probably be finished soon as my sewing machine 
is still playing games with me.


Hope you've had a creative week? You can see more spaces here.

Sunday, March 3, 2013

Geo Love Printed

Sorry for the break in transmission... life continues to get in the way around here.
Some progress: I've had a go at printing up my new Geo Love block. 


The circles I added on the computer last time looked so good in the design that I decided 
to carve a circle block to go with the geo... thank goodness I did. Not one for accurate
mathematical planning, it absolutely came in handy for keeping the design in place,
for the most part anyway ;)


I started with white circles and laid the Geo Love block over the top in silver, but it was 
too pale on the natural linen...


So, I decided to overprint again, this time in a darker grey...



Do you see stars or octagons? :)


Then it all started feeling a bit too much like the story of Goldilocks and the 3 Bears
as this one looks a bit too dark to me ;) Hopefully, when I print it again I will find the 
perfect tone of grey that is 'just right' :)


For now, this one is done. I think I'll make it up into a tea towel when I can coax 
my sewing machine into working again (it gets very temperamental in high humidity 
and it's been raining here for days on end). 

Hope things aren't too Goldilocks in your part of the world! :)