100 Shades of Grey???

One of the builders gave me some of the nails he'd collected so I could use them to rust. I soaked a large piece of cotton some habotai silk and some silk chiffon in some salted white vinegar water, layered them up and put the nails in before rolling up fairly tight. At the end there was a bit of cotton without nails so I popped in some of my keys. The roll was put in a couple of carrier bags and left in the sunshine for a few days. Yesterday I washed them out and was really pleased.

The cotton is to the top, with the keys on the left, the silk chiffon down the right and the habotai along the bottom. Another little bit of the old house immortalised

                                   

I will add them to this bag which has been my 'not sure what to do with it yet' bag for some time. Its one of those clear fronted ones that had a kingsize duvet in so fairly roomy and becoming a bit full! As well as the natural dyed I have some bits from experimenting with Brusho powder and other items like teabag papers.
                                 

I'm just beginning to have a few thought wandering through my head about what to do with them. Other things have to be finished first though!! I'm trying to be strict!

One of the must be finished items had a house added on Friday.

                                               

So it's coming together. You would not believe the amount of interruptions this build creates! I think very soon I will be shutting the studio door and turning the key with me on the inside.

Yesterday we took Elsa and Olivia to the Brockenhurst Needlework Fiesta. I managed to say hello to quite a few people and buy quite a bit. It maybe small but it's packed and on the doorstep of course. Even Art Van Go, Mulberry Silks and The Silk Route make the effort of being there.

A couple of months ago I finally stopped umming and ahing about whether to stop colouring my hair or not. I've been thinking about it for quite some time and had a good talk with my hairdresser and colourist. It's not all about the chemical thing, though I do think as I'm growing older there are better ways I could be treating my skin, but more to do with the absolute annoyance I have every 5 weeks having to go and sit still for four hours. It makes me so up tight I can feel the anger building! Does going grey = grumpy old woman?? Lol Well so far trying not to be grey has made me grumpy!

Of course I could have chosen a better time to do this, my hair is now down to my bra strap and I know I will probably have to have a short cut again at some point but it will grow again, I like having it long. But I am 50 in a couple of years and I'm going to try and embrace it rather than scream like I did when I was 40. Anyway so far I have 1 inch of grey and it looks like the standard mid salt and pepper that my mother had, the 100 shades, oh joy. I can always colour it again but for now I'm sticking with it. If you see me and I look a little stripy you'll know why!

Have a great week ahead.

In All the Chaos

I've only been absent as things don't seem to be getting done.  I'm having one of those times where I am actually creating but not many end results are appearing.  I did do a whole week after Easter of just coursework so that's nothing to show really.  

Another bag finished.

This started out as a sample piece of beaded on quilting I made in a Lisa Walton class a few years ago.  Why let it go to waste?

I drew out and constructed another house, partially stitched and ready for attaching below.

 And a base for the house to sit with.  All will be revealed sometime soon I hope.  It's with the Dorset Art Weeks in mind, one of the larger pieces I want to show.

Another bag has been started this time trying out the Michele Carragher dragonscale technique.  I'm quite enjoying this mostly because the house is freezing cold and I can take this outside into the sunshine to warm up! 

Evening stitching has been a waistcoat for me, sorry no photo, and this little cardie with hearts for Olivia.  The felt it's sitting on is light grey so I will let you try and adjust the colour balance in your imagination!

Finally the partial rebuild has actually started on the rebuild part!! We have the fireplace again, which will come through the floor-to-be on the very right of the photo out of shot, and all the new floor joists are now being bolted in to replace the what were ceiling joists.

On the delivery we were one length of wood short which arrived a few days later with John's name on it.  You can see it in the photo above resting in the middle of the picture.  It is now in the fabric of the building and John has been immortalised with it!

This week has both the Shepton Mallet Creative Craft Show and the Brockenhurst Needlework Fiesta.  I think I will maybe skip the Shepton Mallet as I'm not really after anything in particular but will enjoy the Fiesta one instead as I've picked up some nice bits I didn't know I needed there before.  It's also a nice excuse to say hello to Myfanwy Hart and Maggie Grey too.

Happy Easter Hols!

I undid the erosion bundles yesterday.  I thought two months was long enough.  I did use damp fabric when I rolled them but it has been so dry I don't think any colour travelled as far as it could have had there been more rain. I only found one solitary spider so good on the creepy crawly front.

Anyway, here are the results.  The red is from the madder root chips and the blue from some random squirts I did with a little dye I had in a spray bottle.  There are some great browns from bracken, teabags, rust and walnut and I'm not sure where the greens came from, or the black but I like them. 

They are now all ironed and in the 'I don't know what to do with them yet' pile.


John and I are reveling in having the house to ourselves and quiet for a few days.  It's been quite an upheaval so far. There is now no upstairs bathroom so that means staggering downstairs a couple of times a night.  We leave a light on down in the big hall so we can see but the dogs have been moved into there too as their hall is out of action so they are disturbed as well.  All the furniture has had to come out of the main sitting room and shoved any which way into a spare room and we are living in the family room part.  All a bit upside down but my studio is untouched so I have peace in there!!!

The night of the high winds last week was very hairy.  The whole house shuddered as the cover over the scaffolding expanded and then deflated with a huge snaps and bangs.  The noise was phenomenal, I'm sure the neighbours love us. The sheet men have been around since and strapped it down tighter and, thankfully, the weather seems a little calmer.  At least it's dry up there as we have no roof but the security lights coming on at night make us stand out like a giant lightbulb!  They can probably see us from space.

I am going to an exhibition opening this afternoon of some of our Dorset Artist's Printmakers and Art Books at L'Artishe Gallery Swanage, which I am looking forward too.  Also last week saw the first in an online magazine featuring some of or Dorset Artists and that can be found HERE if you would like a look.  It was all compiled by a Weymouth photographer Sarah Broome who has never done anything like this before and has truly found a hidden talent!

I hope you have a wonderful long weekend doing whatever it is you do at this time of year.