A couple of years ago I wrote a post about a new product called Alcohol Lift Ink that enabled you to stamp an image using alcohol ink (that wasn't previously possible) to create cards. In this post I show how that technique can be used to decorate a silk scarf using alcohol lift ink to stamp images onto the silk. Alcohol inks are vibrant, pigment rich inks in an alcohol base and this allows them to be readily manipulated to create permanent designs on non-porous surfaces such as glass and … [Read more...]
Dyeing Silk Scarves using Tissue Paper
Yes you read that correctly: you can dye silk scarves using tissue paper! But don't do as I did and race down to the $2 Shop to buy up lots of different colours of tissue paper - the dye in these is usually designed to be colour-fast (although some may not be so you can test them out). You need to use a special tissue paper called 'Bleeding Tissue Paper' or Art Tissue where the dye is specially formulated to 'bleed out' when wet. See info on where to purchase below. Once you have located the … [Read more...]
Watercolour Painting
It has struck me recently how many creative and talented colleagues and friends I have and I wanted to showcase some of their creations and stories for you. Beth has a beautiful garden in rural Victoria, Australia, and has developed her skills with watercolours to capture some of the amazing nature around her. I hope you will enjoy her journey. How/when did you get into painting? What made you start? Have you always been creative? As a youngster I was influenced by my Mum, who has … [Read more...]
Making Cobweb Scarves
Last year I wrote about award-winning textile designer and artist Barbara Wilson and her cobweb scarf kitsets. Now I would like to share with you my experience making those cobweb scarves. The kitsets come with everything you need to make a designer scarf including water soluble film, various wool and silk fibres and cotton for sewing it all together. You need a flat surface that is long enough to take the full length of the scarf. Spread out the water soluble film and hold it in … [Read more...]
Cards: Distress Inks and Die Cuts
I was looking to get my crafting mojo back after a period of not doing any card-making, and on the way found a new favourite card style using distress inks and die cuts. I started by just making a whole heap of coloured backgrounds. I used Distress Inks because they have so many interesting properties but you could use whatever you happen to have. I tried a range of different cardstocks including Distress Watercolour paper as they all interact differently with the inks and give different … [Read more...]
‘Bottled Glow-worms’ aka Lights in a Bottle
Lights in a bottle is a quick and easy gift to make for friends. They look amazing and always get a good response. Better still, in preparation for making this gift you need to drink a few bottles of wine! Cork Seed Lights are a 2m string of lights connected to a battery pack disguised to look like a cork which fits perfectly in most wine bottles. I bought mine online from The Light Lady. They come in a whole range of different colours: warm white, cool white, red, blue, purple or … [Read more...]
Joseph’s Coat Technique
Joseph's Coat Technique uses clear embossing over a bright background to reveal these colours when a dark colour is applied over the top. My friend Steph and I explored this technique on one of our 'play dates'. There are lots of YouTube videos on the technique that you can watch. They all start with applying coloured ink to a piece of cardstock, whether by using a brayer or applicator. It doesn't really matter how you do this first stage, the idea is to create a background using clear bright … [Read more...]
Making Lampshades
For my birthday this year my friend Teresa gave me a lampshade making kit. It's not something I've ever done before but I remember my mother making lampshades when I was a child. But, as you probably know by now, I love to try making all sorts of different things so this was a perfect opportunity to try something new. This kit was for a 20cm diameter lampshade that is 18cm tall from Made Marion Craft in Wellington and came with everything you need to get creating. It had a self-adhesive PVC … [Read more...]
Learning about Distillation
Sometimes it feels like everything that you’ve learned across a whole range of subjects all comes together in one area. For me right now this is learning about distillation. It brings together my interests from biology and chemistry to gardening and horticulture to history and craft to preserving and making things. I’ve always been intrigued by distillation but assumed that you had to have large expensive gear and very specialist knowledge to do it. More recently I’ve learned that you can … [Read more...]
Life Drawing: reconnecting with creative expression
It has struck me recently how many creative and talented colleagues and friends I have and I wanted to showcase some of their creations and stories for you. I have known Simon Rowell for many years but in his non-artistic life so it was a delight for me to discover this side of him as well. Simon has an absolute talent for Life Drawing - and for writing too: I sent him some questions and he wrote his own story! I hope you will enjoy his journey as much as I did. I loved creating even as a … [Read more...]
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