As the saying goes, you're never too old to learn something new - that includes tearing up bits of coloured paper! I am going to share some of the "tips" I picked up this week. None of them is related to one another, but I think perhaps at least one of these might be useful.
Tip 1: Play with paper to refresh design ideas whether you usually work with paper, textiles, clay and /or mixed media. I attended a mini-workshop with Judy Hooworth (NSW textile artist) at the
Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists . We started off with a postcard of someone else's art - I chose this one, called Pandanus and Pelicans Townsville Common by
Sylvia Ditchburn , I have always liked the subject, the composition and the colours.
Then we enlarged the postcard to A4 size - black and white and made a tracing of the outlines on tracing paper. Here's the interesting investigative bit - divide the tracing in half both horizontally and vertically, and join up points of interest in the art. I was able to "grid" the image to work out how the art was composed.
We then interpreted the image with coloured paper and the last step was to " abstract" it. We then had lots of design images to work from, using our cardboard frames and interpreting them in our preferred media.
Tip 2: In some cases, "uneven" is good! I had been wondering why my temari were not looking as good as some my mother had made .... This week, I bought a second hand book ( for just $3) and not only has it great temari patterns, it provided this tip - when winding the balls with thread as the base, do it as unevenly as possible, that is, no two threads should lie side by side. On closer inspection, I could see that there are threads lying side by side on mine! ( Perhaps this tip should have been search the internet for great bargains in second hand books!)
![]()
Tip 3: Great jam drops have a secret! ! I heard this tip on the ABC Radio show, Australia All Over. When making jam drops, don't put the jam in before baking .... make the recess in the biscuits , cook for at least half the time, and then add the jam when the biscuits (cookies) are partially cooked. For all the years I have been baking biscuits, I had never heard this tip ( not even in the Country Women's Cookbook) and this week, I discovered it works. My family ate them all the same, but I thought they looked better!