Petal Play and More

As I was out walking the other day, I decided to pick a few wildflowers to play with.

When I got home, I put some on a piece of watercolour paper, folded it shut, and hammered it. 

and here is what it looked like when I opened it..... well, after I removed the smooshed bits of plants.  Lots of colour, but not too much definition.

I liked how the leaves turned out the best, so I hammered one between this page that I made the other day. 

And then I decided to put it away, and work on things that I was supposed to be doing.  But then my hubby walked in the door, after being away working on a forest fire for the past week.  On the 7  hour drive home, he had stopped and picked me wildflowers.  But because he knows me so well, he didn't pick me a bouquet, rather, the flowers were jammed into a plastic bag.  He handed them to me saying "I am sure you can do something with these". 

So I started right then and there.....

I pulled the flowers apart, and had wild rose petals, bits of wild lupines, and the lovely yellow from some false dandelions. 

I soaked some paper with tea, so the paper wasn't so white, and laid the petals on the paper.

I stacked 4 or 5 pages on top of each other, covered it with a piece of wax paper, and rolled it hard with my rolling pin. 

I then stacked the two bundles up, tied them, put them in my steamer, and let them steam away for an hour or two. 

It didn't look like I was getting too much colour out of my petals, so I found a few rusty washers that I had.  Only 2 of them were flat, so I snuck those between some pages.  The other 3 I laid on top of the bundle, and let it steam for another few hours.

Here is the finished bundle when it came out of the steamer

and the pages laid out to dry.

and the pages when they were dry, and the petals were removed.

The petals worked as a resist, leaving lovely marks on the pages.  Some of the yellow bits, don't want to come off, which is fine.

The inspiration for doing this came from Jennifer's blog.  Check it out here.  Her work is stunning!

And just because he is so cute, here is the little squirrel that is enjoying time in one of our empty bird feeders. 

Creative Play

Thanks to a blog post by Jennifer, I have been in the middle of a creative adventure.

I wet some pieces of watercolour paper,

added some dried bits and pieces of petals i have, and stacked them up.

When I had 4 or 5 pieces stacked up, I folded them in half, flattened them the best I could, and secured them with a piece of string.

 

I made 3 bundles, that I then placed on top of a bowl inside my crock pot.  I put a bit of water in the bottom, with the idea that the paper wouldn't get soaked, just steamed.  I then left if for about 8 hours.

Here is what the bundle looked like after I took it out of the pot.

And some pages when I opened them up, but before they were dry, and had the petals removed.  The brownish pages in the middle of the picture, fell into the water, and are a more all over brown colour.

The pages are mostly a variety of brown colours - good thing I like brown.

I like how I can see where some of the petals were put.

I haven't decided if I will make a book with it or what. 

The whole experiment got me thinking.  When I make handmade paper, and put petals in it, I do get the colours from some of the petals staining the page.  So I took a couple of the pieces that didn't have too much colour on them, and I got them soaking wet, and sandwiched petals between them. Then I just left them to dry.  

   Although some of the colours did transfer,  I didn't really like how the pages turned out.  I may have to try it again, and remove the petals when the paper is still wet... we will see.

Summer Time

It seems like it has been a long time coming, but I think it is finely time for summer in the Yukon.  It is 22 degrees (or 74 farenheit), our warmest day yet. 

I have been enjoying the colours

of the wild lupines.  They are so beautiful and plentiful right now.

I have continued to work on some jewelry,

and finished another messy necklace

a couple of pins

and a pair of earrings. 

One of the pins and the messy necklace will be for sale in my Etsy shop

Drawing With Pen

I made this book some time ago, but like many of the books I have made it has sat empty.

As I continue along my healing journey (from a concussion in February) I decided

 to  be brave and draw with pen in this book.   There is no turning back and no erasing. I was quite nervous at the start, and still am whenever I start a new page.

So with many strokes of my pen I drew my tea pot and cups.  The pages are too long for my scanner, and so this picture goes together with the part below.

These drawings take me a long time to do, but they are meditative, as I was sitting still, quietly drawing for 2-3 hours a day. I really enjoyed it and I have almost finished 8 drawings in my book.

This one has a big bird facing these youngsters on the page beside it. 

But this good thing had to end for a while, as all that repetitive motion hurt my shoulder, and I had to stop.  Now I can draw again, but only for about 45 minutes a day. 

 I decided to play with these two drawings a bit.  I printed them out, added a touch of colour and made them into cards.

I had a really difficult time just adding a swoosh of colour and ended up wrecking a few before I got these ones. I will continue to practice.

And as you can see I continue to enjoy teapots, cups and birds....

My Usual ...Tea Bag and Bird Art

It seems what I am drawn to create lately is tea bags combined with my drawings of birds, and although that was not what I planned to do today, it is what I did.

I was invited to submit an art piece for a cancer fund raiser.  There was no theme, just a request to do it in your signature style.   So this is where I went. 

I transfered the drawings on to tea bags and added some collage and colour.

The pieces are done on matte board that are then mounted on  5X5 inch heavy water colour paper.

I made two in case something went wrong with one of them.  But it turns out I like them both.  Now I have to decide which one to send.   Let me know what you think! 

A Messy Necklace

I just finished making this messy necklace, and I am loving how it looks. 

The bird bit is made out of metal with an image on with a topping or resin and wax.  I then added bits of metal chain, beads etc.

I  wrapped  and sewed the loops on the ends of the cotton cord  to attache the metal hook and links for an adjustable closing to the necklace

I also finished the last of the single pendant necklaces that I have been busy making. 

What fun I have had!