Friday Update

Just when I thought the week had been wasted, I got some time and mind-space yesterday to experiment with fabric paper. This idea came from Beryl Taylor's Mixed Media Explorations book. This is not one of the books in my self-appointed challenge. I am getting frustrated with the format of my challenges as my attention keeps getting caught by other books and ideas! May not carry on with it the same way of before, maybe concentrating more on doing something interesting and creative every week out of any book of magazine I feel like at the time!

It was fun to make. I am not sure if I got her definition of 'muslin' right though, for the fabric base. Did she mean what I would call muslin, which is a fairly delicate cotton fabric, or what I would call calico, which is sturdier? I used muslin, and the result is very fragile. Fabric paper is supposed to be sewable through and I think mine would not go well with stitching. However I am pleased with it, I have learned what to do (or not do) next time, and I am going to use it as the basis for some things. I am considering making my first ever ATCs though not sure what to do with them. There is a swap on a group I have just joined but I don't know that my first efforts will be worth swapping. Maybe I will just have fun and see where it takes me.

I used white muslin, slopped lots of gel medium mixed about 2:1 with water all over it, added little cut-outs of vintage papers that I had copied and sealed to make them waterproof, plus glitter; then put white tissue paper on top of it and added lots more of the glue mixture. (Rereading Beryl Taylor's instructions, she actually said to put more glue on the FABRIC and then put the paper on top of it. Oh well, I don't see that it made much difference!) Then I dabbed on some watered down acrylic paint in two colours with a sea sponge, and left if all to dry. While it was still quite wet I decided to spray some iridescent ink on it too - this looks lovely and subtle and shiny in bright sunlight but is hard to see under any other circumstances. When it was properly dry I stamped in various parts using an ordinary black ink pad. Now I am considering what to add to sections of it to make ATCs or whatever. Anyway, it was fun!!

Never got to the cooking thing this week. Wombat has had a delicate stomach so no fancy recipes got tried out. Maybe next week, though George will be away so maybe it will be biscuits rather than the red cabbage dish I had planned.

I suspect the choosing a book a month thing (or other project) may be going by the board. Doing something creative every week, definitely!

To answer catdownunder's comment - yes, it was messy, but not quite as bad as wet felting (which I have only tried a couple of times, I loved it but my wrists are too weak to really do it justice, I am an RSI survivor). I kept plenty of paper towel and a bowl of water to hand and kept it under control. It was fun!!