How to make a reusable fabric gift bag
Step by step guide – How to make a reusable fabric gift bag… Read More
Making print books
Saving test prints in a Japanese bound book I’ve recently been pulling a lot of test lino prints. Whilst OK, they are not good enough quality to sell or even give away, but still too pretty to chuck in the bin! So I decided to make small books from them. Making a book I collected all of my prints and … Read More
Making Gum Leaves from silk threads
posted in: Arts & Crafts, Textiles, Tutorials
Free motion embroidery on water soluble film I recently experimented with water soluble stabiliser, a film that is used in the machine embroidery process. I came across it on an internet wander, and I suddenly realised that I could use it with some Mulberry silk strands I bought nearly 2 years ago at a Halls Gap craft fair, from a … Read More
Painting on laser engraved plywood
posted in: Tutorials, Watercolour Paintings
Watercolour painting on laser engraved plywood Laser engraving a design onto wood such as plywood, creates a wonderfully crisp image, but more importantly if you want to to add colour, it provides a ready made indented work surface, which helps to contain liquid paint colours to each separate element. Essentially its colouring in, on wood. Types of paint Water based … Read More
Frame free watercolour mount method
posted in: Arts & Crafts, Tutorials, Watercolour Paintings
A fresh, modern way to mount and protect watercolour paintings It’s quite a simple process: glue a painting to a wooden board or panel and give it a protective coating. I have used a cradled wooden panel as my mount and protected the painting at various stages of the process with varnish and wax, to create the look of a … Read More
Sticky masking fluid – solution
posted in: Arts & Crafts, Watercolour Paintings
I had a problem recently with masking fluid that wouldn’t come off my paper. I’ve been producing a series of Jacobean flower inspired paintings. Part of my process is to mask off certain parts of the painting to help keep the images light. We’ve had some extremely hot days so far in our summer down here in Oz, and I … Read More
Making pictures from paint splodges!
posted in: Arts & Crafts, Artwork, Textiles, Watercolour Paintings
I’ve always been a fan of painting and drawing exercises to loosen up my work. This is a technique I’ve hit upon to look at some colours other than my usual palette (greens & blues if you hadn’t noticed!) and also improve my pen and ink line work. I used my (very old) Rotring ArtPen – which has a lovely … Read More
using Inktense pencils with an airbrush
posted in: Arts & Crafts, Artwork, Textiles
I have been experimenting with my Derwent Inktense water-soluble colour pencils again. I’m obsessed with their luminosity and intensity, but must admit am finding it hard to maintain those attributes across a large area of work without things getting diluted on every stroke of my watercolour brush. Inktense pencils are easy to use, but I find when activating the … Read More
knitting in the winter
posted in: Arts & Crafts, Textiles
On my morning walk today I felt the first chill of winter, so I came straight home and dug my bag of knitting out of the cupboard. I only knit in the winter, I think its something to do with creating cosiness, and also doing something creative in the dark evenings when I don’t have natural daylight to help me paint or draw.… Read More
How to sew a felt ornament
posted in: Tutorials
This tutorial includes a materials list and easy to follow instructions so you can make a padded felt sun ornament. The finished sun measures 9cm in diameter, and is approx 1.5cm thick, and hangs by a length of embroidery thread / floss. If you have bought one of my Happy Sun Sewing Kits, then you will already have all the … Read More