Madly Metallic

Good to hear from the Aussies and that you have some sog as well. You can have ours if you like - we don't want it. My stepson is a water consultant (I'm sure he is called something much posher, like a hydro-geologist) so I know something of the water problems in Oz. Hope it continues wet for you.

I was hoping to do more on my Schism piece today but real life butted in and I decided I had to do my samples for the course on metals that I'm teaching at Urchfont Manor next week. I'm working with Siân Martin and her Distant Stitch class. The following is a technique we shall probably not be doing in the workshop as it's not quite right yet. Working with metal shim is not easy as you have to knock back the shine to just the right level. Too bright and the metal dominates, too dull and the piece goes flat. I started with a piece of ribbed velvet and ironed on Bondaweb and Transfoil.

Added some Markal (Shiva) to this for more colour. Then - deep joy- off to the embellisher to add some chifffon. It's ages since I used this machine. Where the chiffon was a little heavy it was zapped with a heat gun.

Used a design from my Celtic sketch book to draw into the metal shim. This was stitched to felt and had a form of reverse applique worked over the top. A new experimental colour process worked well - using metallic acrylics and letting them dry before using alcohol inks on top.

Then I did a mad wiggly metal piece in the middle, edging cut metal shapes with wrapped pipe cleaners. It doesn't show too well in the photos but you get the idea. The whole thing is completely over the top, but it was fun to do.