The Tree People

Thanks to everyone who confirmed my theory that it is not possible to be creative without also being messy and untidy. I note that no-one congratulated me on my ultra tidy office desk. It won't be like that for long.

Megan, I remember the dead cat book. It had some very creative ideas and, when I'm fighting to get some medication into Stevens, some of them are quite appealing!

Arlee - I think I'll pass on the suppositories. The stuff that advertises itself as 'Spot-on-cat' is bad enough. In our case it is spot-on-kitchen floor, cat-up-next-door's-tree'.

Hey Julie - haven't heard from Jo for ages. Get in there and play!

Yesterday we had a day off - a momentous event lately. We went to Westonbirt Arboratum, near Bath, and it was just wonderful. The tree colours were fantastic.

I just love this carpet of leaves with undergrowth growing through. We were in a very silly 'let out of school' mood and we giggled a lot, particularly when I was in poetic mood and was describing the effect of the sun slanting through the foliage at great length. Unfortunately Clive was no longer standing next to me as he had crept off with his camcorder, so I was waxing lyrical to a large group of people, all giving me funny looks. I tried to carry it off by looking as though I was the poet in residence but I'm not sure it worked.

I love the effect of the child's blue jumper in this tree.

We did a lot of walking and decided to have a proper restaurant lunch but were defeated by the queue. So, off to the 'barbeque' which had no one waiting. Two papier mache burgers later we found out why. No matter, we were refuelled and were soon walking again.

This pic was taken under the tree, up close and personal, as instructred by Val. Trees are a great subject for a computer design and the one below was developed from the top pic. Coloured edges and Rotating mirrors were used here. I was trying to get away from displacement maps. I like the fringe-like effect at the bottom.

However Displacement Maps are not so easily cast aside and I produced these two studies below from a photo of a bright tree in front of a bank of evergreens. It's given me a great idea for some stitching so I'm going away to do some pastel drawing with a view to a couple of pieces of machine embroidery. Just love the way the pale sky area has given the contrast it needed.

Why are Cats like Washing Machines?

Answer: they don't go wrong when the man comes.

Or in this case, when you get to the vets. Cat Stevens was in throw up mode last week so I made the appointment and of course she immediately got better. Took her anyway and had an interesting experience. All was well until the vet took her temperature - in the usual way. Stevens was horrified. I was holding her back legs but the front ones got away and started climbing up me. She got higher and higher. As she passed my ear, on her way down my back, the vet (by now kneeling on the treatment table) said, 'I can't let go of the thermometer or I might lose it'. This reduced me to hysterical laughter but, luckily, the minute was up and the offending instrument withdrawn. She needs a blood test but none of us could face it, so we have to go back next week. The verdict seems to be that not much is wrong.

Thanks so much for all the advice. Norton have offered us our money back as they can't figure out what is wrong (I think Megan is right). They did suggest reinstalling but we had such trouble last time that we can't face it. We have successfully installed AVG and all is running well. What a lot of hassle.

Thanks for comments - Tassie, good to have you join us. I like the sound of Trev the Wonder cat. Has he ever had his temperature taken?

Megan - with your book list, haven't you read Philip Pullman's Dark Materials, yet? We're looking forward to the film, while hoping they haven't messed it up. I made a sort of scroll, based on the Abyss - here it is.

Arti - no luck at all with the freebie tissue it had all gone! We had to make do with a coffee.

In between the vet and uploading software this is what I have been doing. Clearing my desk

Now I have to start on the workroom, which looks like this (and this is the tidy bit). I want to start on my cave series but I shall have to make a bit of room.

The N Word (& More Shopping)

Thanks so much for all the great comments on anti virus stuff - looks like we shall be using AVG very soon. Lots of people emailed me and suggested this as a good solution. In spite of the hopeful message from Amanda, all that has happened so far is a very polite message from Norton's support service suggesting we enter the renewal code. What the heck do they think we spent all morning doing?

Arlee, I think the Dr Seuss poem is an excellent idea - something along the lines of the Tweetle Beetle Battle, I think.

Carol - no Fibredancing review in this issue (September/October) but there may be another out now. Do you have an American distributor? They are usually good at getting books in the 'over the pond' mags.

Having spent a great day yesterday finishing an article for WoW (which got so interesting that it had to be split in two), I am planning to do a piece on the cave paintings. In preparation I thought I might make a cave book to explore techniques and designs. I think it might be quite big and very messy - I like fat books with stuff oozing out of them.

I have some ideas that I want to play with - one of them being to extend the method used for this textile. It is also based on wall paintings, of Buddhas, and I like the way the cast paper is 'growing' out from the wall. I love using water soluble paper like this, so often the cast pieces just look plonked on. Fine at times, when you need a focal point, but I like to integrate.

The base was paper bonded to Vilene with gesso and various texture mediums added and painted. The paper was then applied and the edges wetted to squash them into the background.

Today I am off to Bournemouth again. As this is with my two girls, it will be SERIOUS shopping - not the dilettante version with Clive. Christmas has been mentioned and Boots are giving double points, so off we go. Might just pop into Starbucks, though. With three of us it could be a good haul!

Nasty Norton Nincompoops

I have steam coming out of the ears as we have spent all morning trying to renew our subscription to Norton for our anti-virus, security thingy. 'Click here to renew' it said beguilingly and, trusting little souls, we did. I won't bore you with the details, suffice to say that they have taken our money (that part was easy) but the renewal code they gave us keeps being rejected. Then they said turn Norton off. You've guessed it - it wouldn't turn on again. Eventually sorted that out and now we wait for the email from the helpline (please allow 2 days for us to respond). Anyone know a better way? I bet the Mac fans are smirking!

Barbara - not much in Bournemouth itself but there is a Hobbycraft at Longham (near Ferndown, north of Bournemouth) which is quite good for paper and beads. In Bournemouth you'll find Fabricland which is a good source of cheap felt, velvet, organza etc.

Aussie Jo - I like the trainee shopper. Clive would be with your husband on the clothes front - Claire used to say to me, on shopping trips, 'Shall we buy him a jumper and ruin his day'.

Daniela - good to hear from you. You do such lovely work - I especially like your monoprints on your blog.

Chrissythreads - you must get into walnut inks. Just buy the basic crystals and then add food colouring to get a few different colours going. Experiment; red gives a good terracotta and blue goes green.

The shopping was good on Sunday and the best thing to do on such a wet day. I bought a copy of Belle Armoire, as someone told me they had a good review of Stitch, Dissolve, Distort. It was good, but described Val as 'the author of several craft books' and me as the embroidery expert. She would not have been amused.

In Starbucks they were giving away lovely, crumpled, printed tissue paper. Oh what a dilemma - how much can you decently take? Would anyone else appreciate it as much as me?

Here is a piece of it, bonded to Vilene and waiting for the ink and bleach to hit it. What a good freebie.

I'm glad you all liked the Shopping piece. I'm working myself up to a new big piece but need to work through a lot of design stuff. I usually work on several themes at the same time (recent ones have been Icons and Fruit) but feel the need of a new direction. Clive gave me a super book for my birthday - Return to Chauvet Cave. All about cave painting in southern France and very inspirational. Looks good for the inky stuff - watch this space.

Of Ethics - Blogging and Shopping

Thanks for the feedback on PayPal, Julie. It does seem to have improved a lot.

Margaret R - so good to have you back. I have to confess that I was so worried about where Margaret had gone, that I emailed to see if she was OK. This blogging lark raises interesting ethical considerations, such as the fact that it is not fair to expect people to keep blogging all the time, but how do you then find out if they are OK? Your bug sounds horrid, Margaret - much worse than my pathetic little cold. Do hope that you are both soon very much better.

I'm still musing on books and thinking how good Val was at recording all her experiments in them. From the drawing stage through to all the stitch experiments they are all in books, files or folders. I think this will be next year's resolution.

When I did Val's C&G course, Historical Heirlooms (at Urchfont College a couple of years ago), we did lots of ink experiments and I made a book called The Little Book of Walnut Ink. You've probably seen it before, but here it is again.

I have found this so useful, not only for 'recipes' but for scanning in individual pages to make colour schemes. This page is one of my favourites. It is walnut ink with a squirt of Adirondack colour wash sprayed into it while damp. Then I spattered black ink to get some spots.

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I used this page, together with a design put together from catwalk photos and logos, for my piece called 'Shopping is the New Religion'. A detail, below.

The design was used as a displacement map on the coloured ink scan. The piece is based on an Islamic prayer shirt and my musings on what people did on Sundays nowadays.

The conclusion was that they shopped. The disintegrating water soluble paper on top represents the old religion slowly fading.

I do like my 'fat little credit cards, puffed up with debt'. This is a print on cotton, placed on felt and stitched. Then the felt is zapped to puff up the cotton.

Having delivered that lecture on religion and worship, guess where I'm going? That's right, I'm off to Bournemouth to do some shopping and lounge around with the papers in Border's cafe.

Dribbly Glue and Embellishing

Chrissythreads - I think the time to stop working on a piece is usually, in my case, just before you actually do. I am fine when I'm working on a big piece as I almost always design these before I start. It may not be a fancy design - often it is just a working drawing - but this, I find, is the best way to satisfaction. My problem comes when I am working on 'intuitive' pieces, where you just play and see what happens. That's when I get carried away. I think your method of stopping and looking is the best way for these. Anyway, disasters can be cut up and stitched into other pieces, so it is all about recycling.

I do think that crumpled pages are quite good, Artisbliss. I usually use PVA glue or Golden acrylic medium as adhesives. I paste lots of pages together and then l place non stick paper either side of them and put a weight on top. This does help. Here is another of my book pages with a little bit of shrinking plastic on the left and some glue gun dribble on the right. The glue is painted black and then gilded with wax.

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Nanouanne - very odd that you're having trouble with the Quiltwow site as it has been quite busy this morning. It won't go wrong for me! I'm talking to the site people and have emailed you, so I'm sure we'll sort it out. Have always been pleased with the Protx people as the site has been very stable for the several years we've been using it. How do people get on with Paypal? I've had trouble in the past but I think it is better since Google took it over. Do let me know what you think.

Today I finally feel better. Went to bed really early and woke up ready to do some serious work. I love doing the products page for WoW as it's lots of fun trying all the new stuff. I even did some dyeing (which I don't usually like) and it worked. Then I got to play with the embellisher for the first time in ages. Here is a little sample from a pack that 21st Century Yarns have come up with. I have always liked their thick wool rovings as you can make shapes with them and embellish the edges. In the pack were two squares of felt with a matching roving and it really looks as though the felt is carved with these rovings protruding.

I did a whole piece with the pack but will save that for my product report. This is just a taster.

Next on the list is some new ink from Dale - how much more excitement can I take!

Books and Stuff

Hey - thanks for all those lovely comments, they really cheered me up. Glad you all liked the book.

Dale - I think I've already shown my best distressed wall , so I'll let you have the glory. Hope the journey home was OK.

Virobirdie - thank you (I think). My grandchildren do call me 'Granny Cool' to distinguish me from their other granny - I think this is a compliment.

Doreen G, I'm stuck for another hand word, but I'm working on it.

Pat - yes, Ian has lived in Newtown for about twelve years so we know it quite well (and I know just the shop you describe).

Yes, I know what you mean Jacqueline - it's a fine line between integration and a vanishing act. Jan Beaney has a great saying that goes something like this 'Look at a piece of work from a distance and if something is shouting 'Yoo-hoo, I'm a piece of Tyvek' then it needs working into'. I use gesso or Paper Perfect on papery surfaces and lots of stitch on fabric ones. This pic, also a book uses gesso to bed in a piece of cast paper. I did gild it with metallic wax so, although the edges bed in, the centre is quite bright.

Keep looking at the work, too. Val always used to tell me off for putting too much onto a piece of work, but was also the first one to admit that she did it, too. We would often crit each others work and that is a useful aid.

Penny - glad I'm not keeping you up at night. I can't go to sleep without reading a novel but I'm so exhausted these days that I only read about a page. Then I can't remember who the characters are and keep going backwards. My life will settle down a bit in December, I hope. Meanwhile, I think I'll keep reading the same pages, over & over again.

Hi Ann. Good to meet you. Yes, that is just what an altered book is. I had great trouble finding a book to alter as I know how much angst goes into the writing. However, my book was called 'Railways of Kent', so I thought it deserved it.

I stick the pages together until I have a really robust surface and then paint it with gesso, to cover the print. Leaving some print showing is good, too. You can carve great holes out and set things in them.

I also use board books. This is a child's story book. Again use gesso. If the pages are very shiny rub them down with sandpaper.

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Dorothy - we're all into rust dying - perhaps you've just invented mildew dying!

I am doing some Procion dying for the December Products page. I have to confess that I find dying messy and would much prefer a quick squirt of fabric paint.

We had an exciting morning as one of Grandaughter Lauren's friends was on Nickelodeon kids TV, doing a challenge. My son in law filmed him on a web-cam and he had to do all kinds of daft things - like making a hat from mashed potato and sausages. He was great and won a Wii and a camera but lost, very narrowly, in the final vote.