Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

  This is my tag for the current theme at Tag Tuesday - Book Print. I like using text as a background for tags and today, I reduced one of my recent  line drawings and printed it on a small book page .... as you can see,  the book's chapter is entitled "Of Holy Living and Dying ( from The Book of Books) .  I thought this was appropriate as this 'Covid man' drawing depicts Nature happily thriving while man appears to be "unravelling " at the edges of body and mind...  Original drawing - Wilma Simmons   Silk screen print on fabric  : Wilma Simmons  Silk screen print on paper : Wilma Simmons  And here are some other tags on book print backgrounds - these are free motion stitched "Nature" portraits done earlier in the year.  

Take a carved wood block, print , sew, cut and stitch.... this is what I did to create some simple but arty flags.  The wood blocks were carved by a local print maker, Bob Seal, for use in works for the annual exhibition of the Newcastle Creative Embroiders and Textiles Artists.  You can see my other work here, in a previous post.   I had three prints left so I made these decorative  flags. The technique is my version of reverse applique. Firstly, I printed onto a cotton fabric and then appliqued it on to the background. Then, I layered other fabrics underneath and cut out shapes.  Usually, in reverse applique, the edges are neatly turned under and stitched by hand, or if raw edges are left, they are embroidered to ensure that no fraying occurs. I did a blanket stitch around the outside edges , but on all the other edges, because I used a strip of fusible adhesive on the edges, I just machine stitched to secure. In fact, I did a lot of ...

Another week of Arty Alphabet ( Instagram challenge #everydaycreativeatoz) .....  J : Jolly Jesters - little handmade dolls from an elinorpeace bailey pattern.   K: Kangaroo -  Australian applique on a background of paper and fabric with an overlay of organza and stitching L: Lino cut print -  only my second attempt at lino block printing   M: Mask - blackwork embroidered mask  N: Needle cases - I own quite a few, some made by me - the beautiful beaded one was made for me by my daughter-in-law.  O: Origami - It took me a long while to learn to do this, but finally got there, with tuition from my mother.  P: Penguin soft toys - Just finished last week for a challenge at Gumnut Dollies Newcastle. We were challenged to create something with a Christmas theme from a free downloadable internet pattern.  The pattern comes from PurlSoho. 

The weather is beautiful today - warm and  sunny, so it is a perfect day for finishing off some canvases and putting the backs on others near a window, with the morning sun streaming in. Most of these are photos printed on organza and transferred to stretched canvases, with  tea bags, stitching or writing  in layers. Only three more to do in one of the series... And of course, I am having a cup of tea to keep up my strength!