Tuesday 20 November 2007

The Big Drip

Today is a good day - good things come in threes.
1. I broke a tooth on Sunday while eating a soft boiled egg and soldiers. Demanding stuff. The dentist has managed to fix it today, and I didn't even have an injection.
2. We have had a pair of Goldcrests in the garden all morning. Tiny little chaps with brilliant flame coloured heads. Lovely.
3. I think the longer video clip is OK. I'm sure you'll let me know.

Thanks for all the encouraging messages. Sharon - you certainly need a book on the embellisher. I can recommend one (grin). I printed my design on Jacquard Ready-to- Print Silk. I know you can do your own by soaking the fabric in Bubblejetset but I'm always too impatient. It works really well on the embellisher, although you can't always recognise the image when it has been chewed up. Part of the fun.

Today's instalment of the soap opera features one of my favourite toys, the Melting Pot. If you don't have one you can melt the Ultra Thick Embossing Powder (UTEE) in a ladle by holding a heat tool underneath it - or use a gas flame if you cook by gas. Try to find a ladle with a spout to make pouring easy. To make the results less brittle snip a small amount of a glue stick and melt it with the UTEE. I'm using it here to make a roundel for a Celtic book I'm working on.

I love dripping onto a mini Moulding Mat as these are very strong and don't mind the heat. You need a flexible stamp to make removing simple. The problem is always how to fix the resulting treasure to fabric and this is my solution.






Be careful as the melted UTEE is very hot. Allow to dry and remove from the stamp. Then you can stitch through the scrim to attach it to anything. Here is how the 'drippers' look when peeled off.






The water soluble paper has been wetted, 'pulped' and formed into a circle. I have sprayed both drippers with Burnt Umber Moonshadow Mist. You can also see some lovely little hands that Dale sent me - also dipped in the pot. I have cut a circle from a tissue/ felt fabric as a background to my scrim piece.
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This is what the scrim diripper looks like when stitched onto the felt piece. I painted the fabric with blue metallic paint first. I stitched all round close to the UTEE and then snipped off the remainder of the scrim. Lots of french knots that you can't really see.
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Here you can see it on the front of my Celtic book which is not finished yet. I dripped in a zig-zag pattern to make the chevrons.
This is the watersoluble paper piece, below. It had a little wrapped cord stitched on when dry and has been painted with a dry brush of gold paint and some Pearlex.
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Tomorrow I'll show some more drippy stuff on the Celtic theme. Let me know if you've enjoyed this and have found it useful.

16 comments:

Downunderdale said...

I am surprised those hands didn't melt. And the video keeps telling me it is unavailable - maybe that's just downunder????

gilby said...

Hi Maggie,
The video keepes telling me it is unavailable.

Kate said...

Hi Maggie, I'm sorry, but I'm getting the same message too. I'm on a mac, but the previous short clip worked fine. Love your blog - I'm in a habit of logging in daily - kinda hooked! I'm still amazed at the amount of work you produce. Thanks so much for sharing it with us. Shame you won't be coming to the K&S at Harrogate, I was looking forward to saying hello. Hope you get the vid working,
Kate

Maggie Grey said...

I think it was a blogger hitch. Seems OK now. I sometimes have to click twice. Can you try again?

gilby said...

Hi Maggie,
Now working ok.

sharon young said...

Hi Maggi
I too have a mac and the vid works perfectly so I think it was at your end. It's a great teaching aid and extremely useful, especially if like me you don't know anything about the subject.
This will sound like a very silly question, but what's the moulding mat? Is it one you made out of the rubber stamp stuff.
Also is the burnt umber moon shadow mist acrylic paint ?
Sorry for all the questions but this is the first time I've seen this technique.

Moonsilk Stitches said...

Hi, Maggie: Your posts are generally very informative and inspring but this one is absolutely wonderful...I can't wait to try these techniques. Thank you very much, Marjorie (Illinois, USA)

Wendy said...

Like the others I am addicted to your blog and amazed at all the work you get done.
Love the blue metallic paint that you used, what is it.
Wendy

Doreen G said...

These look wonderful Maggie--we tried something similar at our Wowies group but we didn't add the mesh etc.
Must have another go.

Françoise said...

It's great! (I always have to click twice)
I haven't tried UTEE yet, so I'm really glad to see how to use it. Thanks!

Jane said...

Hi Maggie - you really are spoiling us with your blog. The video works fine with one click.

Carole said...

Greetings from Kelowna, BC, Canada. Just discovered your site after reading your Stitch, Dissolve and Distort book. It is a great book and wonderful blog. Thanks, Carole

Anonymous said...

Hi Maggie
What wonderful things you do make!
I am putting a Melting Pot on my wish list this Christmas.
I guess you didn't get my email of a few weeks ago. Just wanted to say what a pleasure it was to make your acquaintance at the K&S in London.

dawn said...

Hi, Maggie:
Your blog is worth its weight in gold. I have been wishing that UTEE was less brittle, so that it would be more useful in jewelry pieces. Your idea to add a bit of hot glue stick to the pot...brilliant! Must go try it now. Thanks so much.

English Rose said...

The videos are brilliant Maggie, well done you for working out how to do them, and how to make the dratted things work for us all. I did the melted utee thing for the first time with Angie Hughes at a workshop with her in Ledbury at the end of the summer - great fun. I ended up with one that somehow looks like a face of a green man - will see if I can photo it and put it on my blog.

Digitalgran said...

Beautiful as usual Maggie. Those colours are wonderful and I need to buy some of the Utee stuff soon too. It seems something very useful to have.