This week I've been drawing with the sewing machine... I use a darning / embroidery foot and this gives me quite a bit of freedom to move the fabric where I want it to go. Sometimes if i'm sewing material I use an embroidery hoop but often I find these get in the way and can be restrictive.
Last week I tried my hand at making paper from scraps... as pictured on a previous posting my first attempt ended up with a kinda grey slab... but as it dried - which took about a week!! it slowly lightened and then left it in the sun where it bleached further... it was rather thick - actually I've seen thinner cardboard but it has a very rustic feel and more importantly its the first paper I have made so I had to find a use for it...
After quite a bit of consideration I decided its lovely uneven texture and rough edges really lent itself to stone walls - I'm very drawn to stone walls, often beautifully constructed using no cement just clever placement of available stone they can be a source of great inspiration. the walls are sometimes built using local patterns or ancient designs and as they age they bed in and develop interesting lichen and plants growing in them. I love the fact that all the stones are all different shapes and colours and so is my first attempt at hand made paper - so under the sewing machine it went.
I just used plain black thread in both the bobbin and the on the spool and basically just used a picture I had drawn in Ireland and 'drew' it on the sewing machine. As the paper was quite thick and probably a little bit soft it made quite a mess and I had to keep stopping to blow the excess bits away but it was a simple but effective end product.
I have had a few more tries at developing my skills as a paper maker and slowly the paper is getting thinner and prettier - I made some using some red tissue paper so it came out pink, still quite thick but a better overall texture. The last sheets I made I managed to get quite thin and I used only white paper and added some cut multi coloured cotton threads to it - I've also found an old sheet of glass to dry it on which mean my dining table can be used for eating off and also I can move the paper around to dry it in the sun we have finally got!!!
Last week I tried my hand at making paper from scraps... as pictured on a previous posting my first attempt ended up with a kinda grey slab... but as it dried - which took about a week!! it slowly lightened and then left it in the sun where it bleached further... it was rather thick - actually I've seen thinner cardboard but it has a very rustic feel and more importantly its the first paper I have made so I had to find a use for it...
After quite a bit of consideration I decided its lovely uneven texture and rough edges really lent itself to stone walls - I'm very drawn to stone walls, often beautifully constructed using no cement just clever placement of available stone they can be a source of great inspiration. the walls are sometimes built using local patterns or ancient designs and as they age they bed in and develop interesting lichen and plants growing in them. I love the fact that all the stones are all different shapes and colours and so is my first attempt at hand made paper - so under the sewing machine it went.
I just used plain black thread in both the bobbin and the on the spool and basically just used a picture I had drawn in Ireland and 'drew' it on the sewing machine. As the paper was quite thick and probably a little bit soft it made quite a mess and I had to keep stopping to blow the excess bits away but it was a simple but effective end product.
I have had a few more tries at developing my skills as a paper maker and slowly the paper is getting thinner and prettier - I made some using some red tissue paper so it came out pink, still quite thick but a better overall texture. The last sheets I made I managed to get quite thin and I used only white paper and added some cut multi coloured cotton threads to it - I've also found an old sheet of glass to dry it on which mean my dining table can be used for eating off and also I can move the paper around to dry it in the sun we have finally got!!!
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