Tuesday 27 November 2007

Guns, Cars and Inspirations

Hi Margaret - it is good to be back. Jan writes under the name of Juliet Landon. I think they are a bit in the Mills & Boon style. She has sent me one to try.

I like the big black heat guns, Carole. The ones shapes like a small hair dryer take a long time, although they are fine for embossing powder. Don't write off your paint stripper before trying it. I have a ferocious looking one. When Jane Wild saw it she said, 'Wow, that comes from the dark side'. I think of this remark every time I use it and it always makes me laugh. I do add Lustre powders to UTEE sometimes but the ones I was using in the video are the bronze and gold commercial ones. I often mix the colours.

Yes, Kate, - more is much more. Look forward to checking your blog for the results.

Yesterday disappeared in a car hunt. We want to change ours and have been doing lots of on-line research. I have to explain that our usual way of buying anything from a house to a sofa is to see one, say 'that looks good' and buy it straight away. No looking around. This time we wanted a change from our usual VW/Seat purchases, so much time was spent looking. Went out and drove loads of different cars, which is a hairy pursuit with all those different clutches. What did we get? The same model as we have now - a Seat Leon. Just loved it the best. Could have saved all that time and angst. However it is a very pretty grey/blue. We are now pursued by car salesmen offering better deals than yesterday!

Ages ago I said I would look at things to do with an inspiration pack so here is an Oliver Twists one. It contained abaca tissue, yarn, wire, silk pods and silk fibres.

.
.
I embellished the tissue to felt and added the fibres.
.
.
Then added the fancy yarn by embellishing in places
.
.
Free machined some motifs on felt, cut them out and applied them.
Finally rolled the pods over one side and hand stitched them.
.
.
Must rush - off to lunch with Jane W.

4 comments:

Barbara said...

wow...this is so beautiful!!...

Doreen G said...

I love what you did with the Oliver Twists kit Maggie

Carole said...

Maggie: Thanks for the tips. Maybe I will try the paint stripper.
I really liked your Oliver Twist work. I find your site very inspirational and motivating. I am amazed at your productivity. Each blog contains such beautiful creations. However, as you will see from below, I am now on a roll determined to move forward.

Have you ever tried to dye silk matawa hankies without actually using dye? I have tried to spray the very stretched out hankies with diluted acrylic paint, diluted fabric paint (a real mess...doesn't work)and then finally used fabric paint to just squeeze onto them -they now ressemble little worm like creatures! I decided to experiment with them on the embellisher as everytime I walked by them, the silk would attach itself to me. Other than the needles getting a little gooed up by the worms, it wasn't too bad an effort. Your previous tips about using embellisher on both sides saved the day. The "wrong" side looks much better.
I have now cracked open the Melting Pot so am committed. I just did a quick check of your blog to see if you had answered my previous questions about mixing the UTEE before I got started and you had! So, thanks for that...off to my first experiment with the melting pot. Hope you enjoyed your lunch with Jane. Carole

Carole said...

Hi again..later: Wow..the results from the melting pot with bronze UTEE were fantastic. I was tempted to take a picture with the melting pot and your book propped up carefully beside it but I was too busy making sure I got the WS paper on before it cooled. I added 1/2 inch glue stick to melted UTEE but it really didn't melt into the UTEE very well, it softened/melted but you could tell where it was in the pan..and in the end I fished it out and put it out to harden on its own. I know the mfg suggests something called flex but I thought your glue stick idea sounded much more economical. Can you think of what I could have done wrong...I left it to heat and melt for quite a long time.... Maybe my glue stick was too old..do they have best before dates (smile)? However, all in all, I am really impressed with the lovely pieces I created (or at least will take credit for). So, thanks for all the inspiration. I never would have tried this before seeing all your creations. Carole