A little bit of foil goes a long way

Foil is one of those things I can never get enough of, however I hardly ever use it with fusible web because a little goes a long way.  Today I made some foiled paper.

I started with some brown paper.  I like brown paper because it is cheap and has a bit more strength and texture than Computer paper.

I used some powdered fusible.  This one is super mend, but bonash also make it.  You can also collect all your fusible scraps and grind the web in a coffee grinder to make your own.

I sprinkled the powder over the brown paper, then laid foil strips over it.

Covered it with baking paper, then ironed it.

After it had cooled, I peeled the foil off.  You can see here that the foil is not solid, but more of a sprinkling, which I like.

It is pretty gorgeous just like this, but wait, there's more!

I sprayed it with some ink and diluted acrylic paints.  Then I blotted the excess off the foil with baby wipes and kitchen towel (This will come in handy later)

When my brown paper was dry, I scrunched it up,

opened it out again, and ironed it briefly (not too much)

Then I got out a pad of ink.  This is distress ink - tattered rose, but any flat ink pad will do if you can run it flat over the paper.

Here I am lightly running it over the paper so it catches on the ridges.
After that I ironed it again, using baking paper to stop paint getting on the iron.  Here are a few close ups of the texture.

It's pretty lovely.  Now what would I use it for?  I might use it in my art journal or on a cover, but just to show you that paper is great in mixed media, I made a journal quilt with it.

Here I have a piece of batting, some paper towel and hand wipe I cleaned the table with and blotted the paper with, a piece of my brown paper and some washers that have a nice shape which my hubby brought home from the scrap bin at work and some gems.

I free motioned the paper towel down with some leaves in black, then layered the face wipe and brown paper on top usinf straight lines in a gold thread.  The washers and the gems gave it a focal point.  I just used glue to finish the edge.

On a totally different tack, here is large doily I have just finished blocking.

I am also working on a collage/textile piece which I will probably show on Monday.  I am also videoing my process as I make it!

So happy creating!

A weekend's work

Oh, and a bit more, since I didn't blog on Friday as I meant.
I have been working on a few little things for our quilt group's christmas stall at the market.

This is where I am at with the pansy table runner I cut out in my last blog.

These are two little purses I made from 'omiyage' by Kumiko Sudo.  The pink and blue one is not finished yet.

This is a little painting I did whilst playing around at art on thursday.  I painted a bronze and gold background and then started spraying a dark purple around the edges.  I sprayed a little too much and it started to run.  Serendipity!  I made it run and dribble a bit more and turned it upside down.  I thought it looked like some trees, so I added a few little branches with a skewer by dragging the purple paint.  All up 5 minutes and it looks really good.

Also on thursday, I was playing with making ink blots in my journal and this butterfly popped out, so I went round it in black and added some lines.

This was some butterflies I did a week or so ago using layered stencils.  I went in and added black ink on the purple one and white out on the green one to define them both a little bit.  Now for a background.
This morning, I played with embossing textiles.

This was a piece of wide silk habotai ribbon, which embossed nicely

This piece of satin turned out spectacularly.

A piece of acrylic felt

A piece of batting

crushed velvet worked extremely well!

This was another piece of batting, and after embossing, I ran some pastel gently over the top to bring out the dimension.

This was the piece of lace I used to emboss all the fabrics.  It is just an 8 inch or so swatch that I picked up from some fabric samples.  I like it a lot, and it is quite stiff as I have also used it as a stencil.
My method was to dampen the fabric with a spray of diluted white glue, then layering the lace over the top, covering all with some baking paper and ironing heavily and as hot as possible.  I had been wanting to have a go at this for some time and am glad I finally did it!  I'm sure I will use this in my collages.

So, all in all it was a pretty productive weekend - now off to do some quilting and collage!

more fusing fun

Now that I am back on the mend again, I have been doing some more work with my silhouette, which I am getting pretty proficient at I must say.
Yesterday at quilting group (where I was NOT quilting, but crochetting - as you do), I was leafing through a magazine and saw some pansies.  I thought they might make a pretty table runner for our stall, so I sketched up a few of them, then put them into my silhouette (Digital cutter) and cut out lots.

I made three different ones, just for variety.  I had lots of scraps left over....

And I am sure I will find a use for all of these, lol.
I started a little journal quilt from the tiniest scraps.

I will probably just do some hand embroidery over these strips, but they were so colourful, I just had to do it.

Here is how the little flowers go together.  I put some little yellow bead in the centre just to see how it looked.  These are just laid out, not fused yet, because I can't decide what background to use.

What do you think?  I do like the top left, but perhaps it is a little low contrast, perhaps the bottom right?
I have also been working in my journals, mostly just putting background layers down to add to later.

This one is just a bit of paint on gesso, then had glad wrap (Saran) scrunched over whilst still wet.  It makes a nice texture.

This one is just a few greens dry brushed on (a great way to ruin your brushes, too)

This one is just a bit of left over paint brushed on.

And this one was just playing with a few colours in squares.  The copper is a metallic paint.

These samples are from a while ago, I was playing with different textures and coloured gesso.  I used forks, sticks and laying pages together and peeling off on the first one, stencilling, stamping and tape in the second one.  A comb and a pencil on the third one.

And these two are on fabric, with some stitching.

These are fabric paper samples, with sprayed, dripped and blotted inks.

 these are playing with watercolour on wet paper

These are playing with all types of circles collected around the house.
As you can see, I recycle everything.  Some of the samples are on old flashcards from my teaching days, lol

And just for interest, here is another butterfly

This one was a rubbing over a stencil with soft chalk pastels.
I wonder, is a butterfly a new beginning?

I saw this quote in the quote of the day at the top of my blog (wednesday, it changes each day), and had to make a new digi inspiration!

The dreaded lurgy

Ah, well, all things come to those who wait, don't they?  I have been offline for a few weeks with a very bad dose of the 'flu.  We Aussies call it the dreaded lurgy.  I am on the mend now and getting back into my rhythm.  It is Spring here and the gartden is blooming, but with it comes hay fever - Yuck!  But you have to take the good with the bad.

In my last post I told you of my new toy - a silhouette cameo!  Before I got sick, I did a little work in my journal with some stencils I made.

I layered two stencils, the flower one and the butterfly one on top of each other, so the flower pattern filled the butterflies.

Then I went around the outlines with a very sketchy fineliner to define it.  The page needs more work, but has been sitting for a bit.

We had our monthly quilting day a week or two ago and here are some of the regular ladies in our new community house.  On that day I was working on one of the UFOs in my cupboards.

Obviously still not finished, but getting close.
Since then, I have really only been doing bits and pieces, between lots of resting.

I crochetted this  beanie for my hubby, who has also been very sick (and sooky, as they are)

I started this table mat, I used my Silhouette to cut the applique pieces.  It will be for our fund raising stall at christmas.  It is an adaptation of a free pattern from martingale.

I worked on a bobbin lace bookmark, that had been sitting around for a while.

I did a little piecing practice with my huge stash of charms.

And I did a little quilting practice on the longarm.  (no closeups neccesary).  If you have been following me for a while, you will know that my hubby created my machine for me.  He is very good at that sort of thing.  He is a fitter and turner by trade.  I used to have it set up on rails, but find this sit down arrangement much easier.
And since it's spring, I thought I'd finish with some gorgeous gum blossoms I picked the other day.

Thanks for the comments on the last post. I will get back to you, just haven't been well enough.