Skip to main content

Exhibition Countdown 24 : Tea Bags and A Frog

 One of the more enjoyable aspects of  the preparation for this exhibition has been drinking tea and hence, the most labour intensive aspect has been drying and emptying tea bags. Just when I needed more tea bags to choose from, I received this wonderful parcel from my Aunty Jeanie. A lot of people might not appreciate this gift, but this made me very, very happy - lots of dry, clean , flattened tea bags. In almost every piece of work I have included tea bag paper in one form or another.For example, the art which Timeless Textiles chose as the invitation image is a photograph I took in 2012 in Finland  - digitally manipulated and printed on organza embellished with hand embroidered tea bags. At first, I tore quite a few tea bag papers with heavy handed stitching,  but  I have now developed a technique which makes it a most enjoyable and relaxing activity. However, hand stitching on canvas is another matter - yesterday I broke three needles!
But there is always some fun... I had left a few sample pieces of fabric soaking in a cold dye bath of tea, iron sulphate and some banksia cones in the garden Today, I decided a few days was enough, and tipped the dye bath into a  pot plant . I almost dropped the whole pot when I noticed something moving  - and out jumped this little frog. It didn't seem to be adversely affected by the dye elements, but its skin did look quite black. I think the frog looks much better than the fabric! Eco dyeing at its ultimate!


Labels:

Comments

  1. Carolyn Simmons LoganAugust 26, 2014 at 12:57 AM

    Oh, Wilma, I am so enjoying your blog, and today's was no exception. The story of the discovery of the little frog in your tea bath made me laugh out loud on a day that was otherwise gloomy. Thank you : ]
    How you manage to find the time and energy, keep your sanity, and impart such a great sense of humour into these posts, all while preparing for your pending exhibition, I will never know.
    All the very best to you as preparations continue!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Giveaway - Gifts for You on My Birthday

Giveaway Gifts T his week is blog giveaway time! Last week I celebrated my birthday.  I’ve had far too many to count the candles, but I had a wonderful party on the weekend with my family - with an indulgent birthday cake, favourite foods cooked by my husband and great company. ( In case you were wondering about the writing on the cake , Por Por = Chinese grandmother)     I also got great gifts from  my family and friends. There seemed to be a bit of a theme this year – with many of my gifts and cards depicting matryshoka ( babushka) dolls and tea drinking.   As it is also winter here in Australia ,   it was easy for me to  decide what I could offer as gifts  in this birthday giveaway. All the gifts are handmade by me. Gift 1 - two little fabric matryshoka dolls  Gift 2- a little bag made from colourful teapot and teacup fabric . The design is called a jester bag, but it is suitable for carrying s...
24 comments
Read more

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...
3 comments
Read more

Giveaway x 3

As promised, to celebrate and thank you for over 500 likes on the Empress Wu Designs Facebook Page  , here is a giveaway of some of my art - three giveaways, in fact. I have chosen three sets of art gift tags as prizes because they are easily posted worldwide... These tags make great small gifts themselves or as an accompaniment to a gift, or you can even use them as bookmarks. All you need to do  to win a set is leave a comment here or on the Facebook page (or both) and next week on Monday, 6 October, 5pm Australian Eastern Summer Time, I will randomly choose three winners. The first person will have first choice (one of three sets of tags) ; the second person will have a choice of the remaining two sets, and I am afraid the third person will have whatever set has not been chosen before. Here they are:  Art Tags Set A - Marie Antoinette series  (mixed media tags) Marie Antoinette series - 1 Beehive tag( line drawing on tea bag paper, digital image wit...
10 comments
Read more