Sunset Collage

Where are you missing being able to go? I’ve been missing being able to go to the ocean, so this blog is about how I took myself there creatively. So I pictured a sunset over the ocean and made with a collage of monoprinted strips.

Monoprinting

All you need is a smooth flat surface: glass, laminated sheet, polythene pocket. You can use your tabletop but it can get messy!

You can watch this process in a short 14 minute film:

https://youtu.be/pOVYCeme9q4

I used eco acrylic paint: yellow ochre, vermillion, and also metallic acrylic paint: orange, red, pink.

Spread some paint out on your surface. A brayer roller helps to spread the paint into a thin layer, but you can improvise with an old store card.

You can make marks in the paint, and can use the end of a paintbrush, or how about you look around at home to see what you have to produce a pattern. I tried a fork, a bottle top, and a whisk.

Lay a sheet of paper over the painted surface, press down, and then pull off. You can repeat without adding any more paint and get a “second generation” print off.

I love this organic printing process, as you can relax and enjoy seeing what you get! You can quickly get lots of pages to use in projects.

I already had some pages I had printed in sea colours (viridian, turquoise, metallic aquamarine …). I also had some painted newspaper and some glittery wallpaper sample. Torn tissue paper is also great for this too.

Repeat the printing process above to create pages for the ocean.

Collage

One the paint has dried, tear the printed pages into strips. Irregular works best.

I like to loosely audition the strips to get the arrangement I want.

Take a piece of cardboard and apply glue to the top half. A sponge brush is great for this. Then lay the torn, painted strips down on the glue, pressing and smoothing with the foam bush. So some glue will end up on the top surface, but it will dry clear and help to seal the collage. It is also nice to have some slightly curling edges, as this adds depth to the scene.

You can then fill in any gaps you don’t like with other small pieces of the printing or some tissue paper.

Apply glue as you work downwards, completing the ocean. Leave the collage flat to dry.

Decoupage - Glass Jar

How to design and print your own tissue paper to use in a range of creative projects:

I used some tissue paper that had been on a gift I received so I ironed it first using a low heat setting. It doesn't have to be perfectly crease-free.

To print tissue paper it needs to be supported on printer paper. Spray an A4 piece of printer paper with re-positional (multi stick) craft spray adhesive

Smooth the tissue paper onto the sprayed paper and then trim around to A4 so no tissue is hanging off the paper.

Choose the image(s) you want to use and arrange on an A4 document. I chose some sewing based ones as I want to make a jar for keeping my bobbins in.

Print onto the tissue paper surface you have made and allow it to dry.

Cut the image to the size for your jar. I used a shallow jar so cut the sewing machine image and the word sew separately.

Decoupage: 

Derived from the French word découper, which means “to cut out,” decoupage is the art of decorating objects using cut out designs.

Make sure your jar has any label, glue or dirt removed and is clean and dry.

Use a sponge brush to apply a layer of Mod Podge to the back of your tissue paper shape. Make sure you get an evenly spread coat and do this on a cleanable piece of plastic. Transfer the tissue shape to your jar and carefully smooth out the tissue paper. You can use your fingers or the sponge brush.

Cover the positioned tissue paper with a thin layer of Mod Podge to make sure it is protected. You can choose between glossy or matt Mod Podge. 
Leave to dry. As it dries the white Mod podge will turn clear so you can see your tissue paper design. 

I used a print of one of my favourite sewing quotes: sewing is cheaper than therapy for a large har for stitch utensils. I used a sewing machine and the word "sew" on a smaller jar than I am using for bobbins.

This same technique can be used for regular tissue paper (the non-bleed type is best) or the uppermost ply of a paper napkin. Mulberry tissue which has swirling fibres in can also look great in this decoupage project.

I made a collage of napkins and printed tissue paper on a taller jar to use as a vase. 

I love collecting different paper napkins for using in craft projects. Have you tried decoupage yet?

Helen x

Mixed media Butterfly

If you have seen my Insta feed recently you will have seen the pictures of butterfly in my garden, including one landing on my foot. They are the inspiration for this mixed media post where I use free-machine embroidery with fabric paint. 

I remember a lady at one of my free machine embroidery workshops being really surprised when I said I wasn't good at drawing. Art takes so many forms, and to be an artist doesn't mean you have to be good with a pencil!
So to help me, I found a non-copyright image of a lovely butterfly (American Monarch Butterfly, Danais Archippus to be precise) and printed it onto soluble paper.

I then laid this onto some cotton fabric and fastened it into an embroidery hoop.
The paper not only guides my stitching but adds stabilisation for the dance black free machine stitch I added.

I lowered the feed dogs on the machine and used an embroidery foot. The butterfly design gave me a guide for stitching.

See this in action 

Once the black was stitched, I ran the fabric under the tap and the paper dissolved.


 Whilst the fabric was still wet I used fabric paints to add colour to the butterfly with a fine brush - lemon yellow and gold. 

You may remember that last month I  made a screen from Tyvek Paper. Tyvek paper makes a great stencil and I used my Tyvek leaf stencil to sponge on a delicate leaf green.

I then used a foam brush edge to add some gold fabric paint. 

Once the design is dry, iron fix the fabric paint on a hot setting for 2 minutes or bake at 140°C for 4 – 5 minutes.

Using Photos for a Memory Quilt

I bought some fabric whilst on holiday and am going to quilt with them. It's been in my "to-do" pile for a while, but since quite a lot of my work has been cancelled at the moment I am going to get sewing!

The quilt will be on the theme of my holiday - nature: leaves, trees, mountains, wildlife. I have been inspired by the quilting of Nicholas Ball from Bernina at the 2019 Festival of Quilts and getting into improv triangle blocks and I'm also interested in his leaf skeleton block 

I then realised that a great link to the holiday memory quilt would be to include some of the photos I took!
It's been lovely to look back through my photos and choose some to print out on my inkjet printer to transfer to fabric.
It is worth remembering:

•  that when you transfer images, they will be reversed, so if you want your photo to be the same as you took, flip it in the image programme before you print. This is especially important if there is any words in your image.
• that the transferred image will be a little muted, so choose images with contrast, and possibly increase the contrast of your image.
• it is best to make sure fabric is washed and ironed before image transfer.
• protect your work surface

First, you apply a coat of image transfer medium to your fabric (or paper if you are creating with paper)

Then coat the image with Image Transfer Medium, and apply it face down onto my fabric

Smooth the back of the image. I used the back of a spoon to make sure the image adhered to the fabric

 Let it dry thoroughly. 
Apply water to the image 

Rub the paper from the fabric to leave the transferred image. Then leave to dry.

I'm going to transfer some more images, work at my various block ideas and then audition them into position to make my holiday memory quilt.

This process is likely to appear on my Instagram feed

I'm booked to teach some workshops at this year's Festival of Quilts and Colourcraft will have a stand. Really hoping this will be able to go ahead from 30th July, but if you do buy tickets or book on workshops, you will be refunded if the festival has to be postponed. 

Hope to see you there!

Tyvek Screen

This week I've made a screen from Tyvek Paper.

I had the A4 sheets of Tyvek paper which I took to my daughter who has a Silhouette Studio Cutter. We selected the Vine Lace pattern and cut four A4 panels. 

You could use A3 sheets or the 10m x 1m Roll which Colourcraft also stock. if you don't have access to a cutting machine then place the Tyvek paper on a self-healing cutting mat. You may want to use a temporary positioning adhesive to hold the Tyvek paper in place. Cut with a sharp cutting knife.

I fancy getting a roll and creating a hanging room divider. 

The advantages of Tyvek cutting are:
ease of cutting, it is durable so you don’t have to worry about tearing and ripping like you do with paper, your finished product is durable. 

I tried out the arrangement I liked linking the A4 pieces.

I chose to sew the pieces together with white thread but you can stick Tyvek with waterproof PVA wood glue.

I used bulldog clips to avoid pinholes and sewed with a fine size 60 needle. I started in the middle of the join and sewed to each end to avoid slipping. As I added more pieces I rolled the length on my sewing machine plate.

I punched a couple of holes in the top and hung with picture hanging cord.

Although I hung this screen on the inside of my window, as Tyvek is water-resistant, I may well use it as a garden decoration.

I am undecided about whether to colour my screen. I like the simplicity of the natural white but wonder about spraying with Brusho Shimmer Spray(s), for example. What do you think?

Tyvek Tulip

As the storms rage, I decided to dream of Spring and decided to make a tulip 

The first step is to colour Tyvek sheets and some paper covered wire. Tyvek has a distinctive pattern which is ideal for flowers. I used a mixture of diluted acrylic paint and then sprinkled on some Brusho crystal colour. I rolled the paper coloured wire across the wet Tyvek to colour that too. I then left them to dry

The name "tulip" is thought to be derived from a Persian word for turban, which it may have been thought to resemble. I've been experimenting with making different flowers with Tyvek paper. Making this tulip felt a little like creating a turban!

I studied the components of tulips to plan the flower. here is the templates I used to cut out the flower pieces from the Tyvek.

If you copy and paste this template image into a word processor and then enlarge it to A4 you will have the size I used.
I cut out the shapes of the template from the coloured Tyvek as shown:

I added detail to petals by stitching on them with variegated thread. You can do this by hand or machine, or just paint on some brush strokes for detail. 

I used a zig-zag stitch to fasten some coloured wire pieces onto the three outer petal shapes.

Inside the flower is a small, stemlike piece, the pistol, the very top part of the pistol is called the stigma and this was made using the bottom template piece, rolling it up and heating it to get the bubbly shape.  You can see I used a glass worktop saver held the Tyvek with a skewer and applied the heat with a heat gun in a well-ventilated space.

I then wound some stamens on with thread  (the sort sold for cake flowers). Next, I fastened a couple of inner (non-wired) petals with wire and zapped them with the heat gun to create some curling shape.

It needed a few hand stitches to feel secure.

I then arranged the three wired outer petals on, twisting the ends of the wire around the stem wire. A little more heat shapes and firms the petals.

Finally, I fastened on the leaves and finished the stem wire with green florist tape.

You may be interested to read the blog of the Autumn leaf arrangement I made with Tyvek. 

I would love to hear about any creations you make with Tyvek paper, please share them in the comments. 

Puffin Just Chillin'

Is it Spring yet?
I don't know about you, but I'm looking forward to not feeling I'm huddled up bracing myself against a cold wind. I've enjoyed some sunshine in the last couple of days and this inspired me to create a sparkling (if cold) sea around this puffin perched on a rock.

Spending the autumn and winter in the open ocean of the cold northern seas, the Atlantic puffin returns to our UK coastal areas at the start of the breeding season in late spring. They can, therefore, be seen as a definite sign of Spring.

I created my puffin using bondaweb backed black, white and orange fabrics with a low volume print. To set the scene I added some brown print applique. I then put the fabric background in an embroidery hoop and used a couple of variegated threads. 

Using Gutermann Sulky colour 4071 I covered most of the background behind the puffin on the rock. I also used the stitches to secure some small pieces of turquoise net, metallic silver, and white sheer fabrics. I added brown variegated thread colour 4011 to the main rock.

I felt it was a little bland/lacked dimension so I sprayed on a little Brusho Shimmer Sprays in 3 colours: 
turquoise, gold and silver pearl.

To further lift the puffin I added some black free machine embroidery to create an eye and beak detail. If you'd like to know more about using free machine stitching then have a peek at my Helen Moyes Designs website where until 17th February you can enter a giveaway for stitch goodies.

To further lift the background, I used some flexi glue in thin lines, allowed it to dry a little then used transfoil metallic foils, again in 3 colours: Horizon Blue in front of the sea, Pewter on rock and Rainbow in the upper paler sea/sky

A mount really sets this fabric piece off, I don't think this picture really shows the details as I'm using artificial light. I will try to get a better photo in daylight and post on Instagram. 

What indicates Spring has arrived for you? Please share in the comments below