Not a Stitchy Week

I've just re-read last week's blog and note that I was going to have a stitchy week. Well, I've used the machine once - and I just don't know what happened to the week. It went. I have had a tidy up in the studio and in my work cupboard.


Will have to get stitching next week as I have to finish the last of the free lessons that go with the book. The lessons will be there for ever but the Yahoo group will only be here for another month or so, depending on how folk get on with the last lesson. Page for page, I think the lessons are bigger than the book. I got a bit carried away.



Cyber Fyber has been a huge hit and I'm so pleased for Susan. She deserves it. She told me that Binary Humanity had been used to advertise the exhibition in a newspaper. I'm thrilled.


Comments on comments:



Heather - lots can be done with black bin bags. Di Goodison wrote a great tutorial in Quiltwow on using them for bags. You'd never guess the origin.


Edie - I did wonder about the reference to soldiers as it's very much a Brit thing. When small children have soft boiled eggs, they have toast with them, cut into strips and these are called soldiers. They are dipped in the egg yolk. Gary's menu described them as soldiers but these were the posh version - sandwiched with melted cheese. Oh Lord, now I'm so hungry - I'd kill for a boiled egg and soldiers. Some people grow out of them but I never have. I am trying to eat healthy food in an effort to move the Christmas bulge.



cowpaddocksjulie - love that name. Hope you enjoy the book.



Cat warning - there's a Smudge story at the end. Optional reading.



Several people asked what paint I used on the cast paper in last week's blog and, as I am making a similar piece, I thought I'd do a Lynda and step-by step it.


This is mostly a Jane Wild technique and I'm painting the casts of the Buddha I made when she brought some paper pulp into class. I remember that someone asked about the mould and I intended to take some pics of the mould-making process. It is just Softsculpt, a thick 'memory foam' which can be heated (with care) and then has something firm pressed into it to make a mould. So it was wrapped around a statue to make this shape. I'll demo in the next blog.


I started by painting the cast paper with gesso to seal it. Otherwise it absorbs loads of paint.
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Then I painted it with Burnt Umber acrylic paint for a deep toned base. At one time, I used black but Jane converted me.
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The next step is to paint with gold acrylic paint. Metallic wax can be used but it's more expensive.
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This must be left overnight to dry out. Then it's on with some of those wonderful Golden fluid paints. plus a bit of interference oxide for greeny tones.

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These paints are very sheer - more like a varnish and I love the way they lay on metallic surfaces. I'm especially fond of the turquoise which leans toward green when the gold comes through.






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I use my fingers to spread and merge the colours.

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Here's the final result, although I'll probably add a little metallic wax, dark or light, when it is dry.


I have three of these and am making three small pieces for my dining room. Something for me, for once. Here are the three - I like it that they are all slightly different.

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This is a piece of Jane's where the cast paper is attached to scrim at the soggy stage. I plan to use scrim, but over some metal and, just possibly, some black bin liner.

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I promised a Smudge story, here it is.


Since Cat Stevens made her great recovery she has been out hunting. Very small mouseskis are sometimes left for us as presents in the morning. Smudge has been watching this process but, as he is not allowed out at night, he hasn't quite got the idea. There was a great deal of noise coming from the cat flap and, when I investigated, he was coming in backwards, dragging something enormous through the hole. My heart was in my mouth - what creature was this?


With great pride he offered me his booty - one of Mr Next Door's very old, very wet, rather smelly, car washing sponges! To add insult to injury, he brought it back in three times after I threw it over the fence. So now it's in our garage and we've stolen it. What an idiot that cat is.



Must go now - I'm off to have a boiled egg and soldiers.

Gary Rhodes

Thanks for all the comments - it's always so good to hear from you folks.

Genie - glad you found your comment. I used all the messages in one or other piece so everyone is there but maybe not easy to see - a bit like the internet, really.

Good to meet you Cathy and Cheryl - hope you drop in again.

Several people asked how I made the Binary Humanity piece and I found this photo of it at the half way stage.





The base is a piece of heavy Vilene with a black rubbish bag over the top. This is because I was stitching on metal shim and the white shows through if you stitch straight on the Vilene. I usually use black fabric but I was away from home and had to use what I could find, so this was the table cover. Then I glued on the cast paper (most of it made by Jane Wild, such a lovely friend) and did lots of machining to bed it in.

I painted the faces with Burnt Umber acrylic, then copper metallic wax. When this was dry, I floated some Golden liquid acrylics over the top to add colour.






My bum, leg etc. is better, thank you, and I am having a stitching week, starting tomorrow. Hooray. Just a little desk work to edit some Workshop on the Web stuff and I shall be making with the sewing machine for the last of the on-line classes, later this month. I have loved doing these and they've made some wonderful stuff. Here is a piec of Carol McFee's work. I haven't asked her but I'm sure she won't mind. Isn't it great?





Went out to a new Gary Rhodes place for lunch the other day and it was fabulous. I'll tell more next time but I must give yuu the conundrum of Clive's starter. It was a soft boiled egg with a crusty crunchy outside - perfect for soldiers inside (they were rocquefort soldiers, of course). The inside was perfect!! I'm puzzled.

Cyber Fyber

The Cyber Fyber exhibition is going great guns. Look at the link below for pics from the invited artists. Click to enlarge mine and you may see your message to me about blogging. If it didn't fit in BinaryHumanity it will be rolled up in a pigeon hole in the Digital Reliqary. I did use all of them. http://cyberfyberexhibitioninvitationalart.blogspot.com/

I so wish that I could have got to the exhibition - wonderful work and all the postcards and ATCs are magic. My piece is below.

Jane Wild was papermaking at Beyond Stitch yesterday and I borrowed her buddha mould and made three face pieces.

I have an idea for a triptych piece for a blank spot on my dining room wall. Watch this space.

Thanks for all the New Year wishes. I was going to get all retrospective in my last blog and do a mini review of the highs and lows of the year but then Clive brought my tea in and now the moment has passed. Always easily diverted by food.

Julie - who could resist - it's bound to come in handy.

Hippoipi - Is that the mappa mundi cathedral? If so, then I've been there and loved it.

Did the liming wax Heather and it's lifted it. Good advuce.

Thanks for all the feedback on stuff, very useful. Anna - I'm quite determined to buy very little this year - apart from some Moonshadow Mists and other essential supplies.

Don't see Smudge as a 'growing out of it' sort of cat Judy. His latest exploit was to steal a large, wet sponge from my neighbour (who is a builder) and drag it in through the cat flap. I removed it , he brought it back and this went on all evening.

Gill - good resolution - I've been making more stuff lately - some for the exhibition and some for the online class. It's been a great excuse.

Olga - what a great idea - Ready, Steady, Stitch - must work out a way to do it. what about if we all went on-line together and made something? With a Yahoo group to post our step-by steps. Only problem is the timing as we're all stretched around the world.

Hey, Wabbit - another group for stuff? Possibly, or maybe something quite different - I have ideas.

Margaret - today I have no energy but a pain in the bum and leg. Good excuse for a bit of web surfing on the sofa,

Kate - I was thinking of adding some recycling elements to the 'stuff' book. We have a great resource locally - the scrap store. Last time I went I got loads of goodies, but another time it will have nothing to offer.

Must go now as Mr Tesco has arrived with the shopping - the bad bum/leg was a great excuse to order on line.

Happy New Year

Thank you all so much for the good wishes. It felt so good to receive them all. From the things that were said about the church, it seems such a shame that congregations aren't as warm as blogging communities. There is so much conflict in the name of religion.

Loved the Akita pic, but the cats have decided on a 'no dogs' rule so I won't get one yet.

Jackie - I'll nudge Elli about blogging but not sure that she'll get back to it.

I do hope that you all have a wonderful year. I think it will be a testing one for all of us and we'll all have to watch the pennies a bit more. My next book was going to be called 'What to make with what you've got' - all about using the stash and not buying more. Jane Wild suggested just calling it 'Stuff' - a great idea but perhaps not immediately understandable. I've settled for a working title of Slips and Patches - The Essential Guide to Stuff. Not too sure that that is any more comprehensible.

Anyway - to catch you up with happenings chez grey: the pagan lunch was huge fun with lovely food, Christmas was great and the panto was hysterical. Smudge's role was replaced by a guest appearance from Jake's hamster which was a more reliable presence but a worry that it might become the cat's Christmas dinner.

A very happy event was a post Christmas visit to the vet when it transpired that cat Stevens has doubled her body weight and is doing well. The vet was delighted with her. Smudge was a deliquent with the decorations and we had to give up on the tree the day after Boxing Day.

We had an onslaught of grandchildren today (collective noun) and they had a good play with the cats. Clive came into the sitting room this afternoon and found me fast asleep with cats at my head and feet, also asleep. He said it should be turned into one of those greeting cards with a black and white photo - the caption to be, 'The visit from the children had taken it's toll on the household'.

Been busy since Christmas working on my piece for Dale's embellisher challenge (now in the post, Dale) and the six small textiles for the Salisbury Exhibition. here are some of the results.

The timeline begins, of course, with fossils.





And cast paper - can't decide whether to add liming wax to these.

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Also a mini scroll.


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,And the beginnings of a piece on chained libraries - the newspaper was very interesting.

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.I'll explain more in a later blog but Clive has got my tea ready. Back soon.

Not tomorrow but the next day.

I'm sorry about the spacing of this post but I've editied it three times and it still ignores my returns. I've even put full stops in - that usually works. No luck.
However - lots of lovely comments:

Heather - I have a great mental picture of the 'Timber' moment.

Deanna - What is an Akita? I might want one (don't tell Clive).

Pat - the chewing goes on as Smudge has started eating doors. Do cats have teething problems - he's eight months old so it seems a bit late.

Wabbit - we have a 'get off' spray (we call it 'bog off' spray) which does stop some of the carpet scratching but I must confess I've never thought of spraying it on Stevens, That's some inventive mind you have. I remember big wagging tails - no ornament is safe.

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We were talking about my friend Olga, who sadly died and it was good to know that lots of you knew her, too. Thanks for the emails. This is Olga wearing one of her bodice creations.

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And this is the luggage - her C&G final piece. It had all the things you were likely to use on holiday (plus quite a few that you wouldn't) on the outside. Really need a close-up. Olga was a great one for fossicking in charity shops and found some amazing stuff.

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I have been working on my stuff for Salisbury museum exhib in January. I've finished Skulljuggery and facebook and am working on this design which is based on a historic site - Old Sarum - and what goes on beneath it.

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In a minute I will be collected by my friend Jane and taken to a 'Pagan' lunch at Elli Woodsfords - to celebrate the solstice. As a member of the Church of England (who doesn't go to church) this is a challenge, but I like to be ecumenical. I don't think it will involve bacchanalian revels but I'm taking some wine, just in case.

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I was reminded on Sunday of the reason we stopped going to church. We went to the local Carol service. All in candlelight, lovely singing and just when we were all feeling really spiritual the rector preached a very boring sermon for over forty minutes. Talk about turning spirituality into a sore bum!

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Are blog rules the same as dinner party rules - no politics or religion? Apologies, if so, but it made me so cross.

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We have to take a small gift for the solstice lunch and I made some dear little books, in tiny cases. Can't show them, as they are part of the next lesson for the catalogue killers. Will put them up later.

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Yesterday we had all the granchildren here for a rehearsal of the Boxing Day panto, Snow Beauty and the one and a half dwarves (it's the recession). Such a hoot and Smudge joined in by stretching out on Snow Beauty's carefully constructed bed and going to sleep.

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After this, we had a Chinese takeaway for lunch and I found a new way to amuse five children - give them a pair of chopsticks each and put a hazlenut on each plate for them to pick up. Hours of fun.

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I may not be back before the day (big cooking session tomorrow) so I wish you all a happy, peaceful, Christmas with all sermons limited to ten minutes!

More Duck Speech

Glad you all enjoyed the duck speech and just for you, Viv - quack, quack.

Hi arti - good to hear from you. I must try to translate more of the German mag. Perhaps I could illustrate it, got a great idea for duck speech.

Thanks to Christine I have a proper translation and it was a good review and turned out not to have been written by a duck. Very kind of her.


I used to love Stanley Unwin, Heather. It does sound just like him. Liked the H&S comment, too. In fact the drawings were wonderful - Jane had caught the movement and the faces had something of Bacon about them. There's a very rude joke trying to get out here so I will just say, Gilby, that I will try to get a pic for you


Yes, Aussie Jo , I can't believe we're going to do a book with Jean - her outline sounds fantastic and I can't wait either. Will she do a little extra for the site, asks Shirley - I'm sure she will, but it might not be classes. We may have something else up our sleeve.



D4daisy has had an exciting week with a big package of books going to America. They also wanted copies of a CDROM called Paper and Beyond that Jane Wild and I put together. We'd had such fun with the Paper, Metal and Stitch book that we didn't want to stop and because we decided, while driving up the motorway to the photoshoot that we had too much material in the book and it would make the pics too small. So Jane was tearing out pages from the file as I drove along and some of these went in the CD. It features surface decoration, paper techniques and lots on using embossing powders. Now that it has been re-pressed I may put it on the secure site.


At the end of this post I have included a step by step of gradients in Photoshop Elements - lots of people had emailed me about this as they are a bit hard to find. Have also included Displacement maps in Elements. I've done these before but forgot to label the post and, again have had emails on the subject.


We tried to put up the Christmas tree today - in view of Smudge and his tendencies we've dug out a fake tree. It had to be lashed to several boxes of books to make sure he couldn't pull it over. Fiona says that his sister climbs their tree and goes to sleep in it. Here's the lashing.










First he tried a good ear rub.







Then he had a good chew. Haven't put much on it yet but I think lights might not be a good idea in view of the chewing.







Enough of this wittering here's the Elements bit.

Open a new page and then click on the gradient tool on the left-hand toolbar.



Then choose a gradient from the drop down menu, as shown.








Now drag the mouse down the blank page in the direction that you want the gradient to go. Just experiment.






To make a displacement map you will need to have saved a suitable image as a photoshop (PSD) file. Remember where you saved it. Then go to Filters, distort and displace.



Make the numbers in the two boxes quite high - about 100.
I'd saved a file of this tower with a tree - worked out well.

Skulljuggery

Another hectic week - mostly spent doing all the admin that I've been putting off for weeks. My desk looks a lot clearer now. I've just realised that I failed to comment on the comments from the blog before last so there is a grand catch up at the end of this epistle.

A big d4daisy excitement - as well as Lynda and Carol (I'm so thrilled about their book) we are going to publish a book by Jean Draper. Her work is just so fantastic and we're flattered that she wants to do a book with us. More details later, but it looks as though d4d will be having another exciting year.

My pieces for Cyber Fyber have arrived and, my goodness, but it looks as though Susan Lenz is setting up a great show. She is working so hard. I so wanted to go over for the exhibition but the flights to Charleston are very expensive - no cheapies that I could see.

I've been doing lots of work but it's mostly for the next lesson in the Textile Translation free classes, so I can't spoil the surprise. Here is something I'm working on for an exhibition with Wessex Textiles in Salisbury Museum in January. More about that in the next blog. I am doing a Timeline of Salisbury, which has an interesting history, right back to Old Sarum in the Neolithic times. As space is limited we are all producing six, eight inch square pieces, and this one is based on an artifact - a jug- in the museum collection. It has a face on it and I'm calling it Skulljuggery.

Here's a detail.

There are lots of faces in the museum artifacts and the next piece will be based on a book with a face. What else to call it but 'Facebook'.
We went to give a talk in Somerset on Saturday and met with terrible flooding. It was a bit scary but the Grey's, like Wells Fargo, made it through. Great day but I was so glad to get home. The nervous tension was tiring and I was just wiped out yesterday.

I was sent a copy of a lovely German magazine, Patchwork Professional, which reviewed my Image to Stitch book. It was, of course, written in German and I tried to use a translation site. This is what came out.

Textilschaffede, already long with the topic besschafigen, are many valuable tipsIf they know its lake a mad subjects, however, like them it on New project ubertragen could caused Maggie Grey do need know show in their New book on the basis of many inspiring textile models like one pictures, photocopies, digitally photo, designs ubertragungsmethoden into a simple or one computerntwurf with merges. In the printed picture can be continued working anschliebebd with hand or machine passport. Way suitably best The book is ace if duck speech into the in a modern manner textile technology in the. But therefore .

Here are the replies to some of the comments I missed.

Jolly good yarn girl - of course you can do the classes. Anyone who has the book can do them, and very welcome they are.

I like the gory bit, Kim but I didn't drip blood on it - honest!

Am trying to find a pic of Olga's luggage for you, Lizzie - you are right, she was certainly interesting and we all miss her.

Pot luck not really an option with my kids' cooking, although Fiona makes a mean cake.I love the way Aussies have a traditional Brit Christmas, Doreen. I've met loads that do that. Bread Sauce - one year, when the kids were all going through different phases, we had three varieties of bread sauce. Carnivore, veggie and vegan. How's that for spoiling the little blighters?

Jane W is on her way so I must finish now. She is bringing work from her life drawing class which featured a naked man with a sword. I can't wait.