Back in the workroom

It's so good to be 'making' again after the Christmas break. Very soothing and calming to be playing with some rich colours.

On our way back from visiting our daughter and a wonderful lunch in Fortnums in  London last week we called into Artvango at Knebworth, as always we had a really warm welcome from Kevin (and a welcome coffee). It's a dangerous place to visit  especially when basking in a glow of Christmas largesse. I came across some cotton rag paper which I often use as it takes paint and stitch so well. I usually use the 210gsm weight but just had to try out some 640gsm I found on the shelf, it's practically a board so it should take a lot of  abuse with paints and dyes and stitch.

I have had this copper stencil which I found in an antique shop in Cromarty during my last Visit to Scotland. The very knowledgeable owner thought it may have been applied to linen that was imported into Cromarty from Eastern Europe at least a hundred years ago, may be more.

I have used procion dyes, Golden iridescent acrlyic, Inktense and gel crayons to create an image from the stencil. The next part will be to challenge my much abused sewing machine to sew around the edges of the design.

This is all part of my explorations for an Emb.Guild challenge for an exhibition in the coming year. So I really am doing some proper work and not messing about with 'eye candy' although it is a teeny bit glitzy.

Happy new year to all those people who have looked at my blog during the past year I hope to make it a more exciting affair in the coming year as I get to grips with posting and adding a bit more interest and gadgets to the presentation.

Happy crafting to all!