Stitched Collagraphs - 'On The Mend'

This is a series of collagraphs I've been working on lately, using a lacey (and racey)  upcycled negligee, ripped up, torn apart then printed. As you do.

The prints were based around feelings of anxiety and negative thought patterns. Feelings such as these can sometimes leave us feeling torn or broken, however, with time, we can be mended. But you are never the same again. I liked the idea of using a personal item, such as undies, and printing them for all to see! Laying it bare. I found this quite hard to do as it is so personal, making me feel quite self conscious. So of course, it makes loads of sense I go post it on the world wide web.

Check out the detail picked up in the lace! The print also has a beautiful slight emboss.

Collagraph plate in prep stage.

The monoprint which started the idea for a collagraph.

Ripped and stitched back together with text.

This went a bit wrong! The paper got stuck to the plate.
I managed to pull off some of the print and put it back together.
 I quite liked the print in the end. The detail in the lace is still so crisp.

Stitched Birthday love

January is such a skint month, straight after Christmas my bank account has been rinsed. Yet, there seems to be more birthdays in this month than any other! It doesn't bode well for the detox either.

Enter the handmade card. I do love a hand stitched item and taking the time to make cards for loved ones shows you love them the most! Not that you're too poor to buy cards at all...

Here's one I stitched earlier. 

hand stitched appliqué card.

Winds of change

How long can I get away with saying Happy New Year? This is my first post for 2014, 12 days in,  surely still acceptable.

New Year, new me! Isn't that the saying? Each year I start out with the best intentions..thinking about exercising, cutting back to just the one bottle.. but this year I have a wedding dress to fit into, so might actually have to do some work!

Although..even if I do chunk up, I'm making my dress, so just add in a couple of fat panels on the side! Problem solved.

Creatively speaking, I'm starting fresh. A new sketchbook is a great way to do this. Its full of blank pages just aching to be filled with goodness! I've been reflecting on themes I'd been working on and they are just SO last year. I'm ready to move on from them and push my work in new exciting areas. Who knows where this will be? Not this girl. I kinda like that though, its nice to be here now, in this moment.

There is that lovely feeling of hope and promise in the air.

Deck the Halls!

With the nights drawing in, I've been enjoying cosying up on the couch, crafting the long evenings away.

Actually it's dark about 4pm, so the evenings feel like most of the day too.



But hey, that's more of a reason to enjoy the warmth of the twinkling fairy lights from the tree.




Each year I like to make an addition for the tree collections of my family. This year its Bells! And what better way to collage a bell than with sheet music.





I covered with a layer of straw hat varnish and added bows and ribbon for loops.

They are best displayed in pairs I think!

Carving the Lino for Christmas

I find Britain quite different from New Zealand at this time of year. Firstly, it's freezing cold! I arrive into work with a red nose and rosy cheeks.

Christmas is such a bigger deal here and it the build up starts on November 1st! The Brits do it well though, department stores competing for the best snow scene window displays, German markets on the Thames, mulled wine and roasted chestnuts, lanterns strung up lining the cobbled lanes. It's all terribly romantic and like something out of Dickens.

Full of inspiration, I've designed and carved out my Christmas cards for this year.

Choosing to try a lino print, I've been loving experimenting with one, two and three colour prints. Layering and layering. It takes ages!
But worth it.

Mixing up colours change the feel of the print, from cold snow scene to dark starry night sky.