Simple colors

Back in time, just before the weekend - and still fighting with paint and chaos *sigh*. But at least, I am progressing - *yay* for that :). And I am keeping the promise, and will show you what I have been working on just before I took my vacation in Chaosland.

All of them are fabric prints on natural, unbleached cotton, made with all kinds of materials I had at hand: potatos (released my inner child), rubber stamps, cardbord rolls, buttons, foam and plastic packaging, cork from a wine bottle - see, really anything works. Although I am not sure yet if I dare to cut the prints down or use them as whole pieces ... Anyway, here are some colorful candies for your eyes - the icy blue, light pistacio green and light purple ones are my favorites, what are yours?

Have a colorful weekend :)

Typo toy

In-between the sawing and screwing I am doing at the moment, I simply needed some distraction in form of *surfing* ;) And of course, I spent a lot more time with clicking than I should have. But at least, I came up with this - it's a really cool toy, easy and simple to use, just fun:

You can make your own *wordle* using any text or source you like, just head over to Wordle.net. Happy playing :)

So slow

Hello again, out there. Everything around me feels just like a blank canvas which needs to be filled, same way as with this blog which I have been slightly neglecting during the past few days. Posting was postponed because we are (still) figuring out and building a new workspace for me - besides throwing some new paint onto the walls. All my stuff has been crammed into a tiny corner, so that I won't be crafting anything anytime soon. I'd like to show you our 3D Tetris (for those who still know this game - it was one of my favorites ...) - literally piles of boxes and boxes - but, ahem, my card reader is somewhere in there ... So, no photos for now, maybe later.

I also will show you some fabric printings I have been doing before the *big chaos* started which were inspired by the fabulous Elizabeth Hartman from Oh, Fransson! I so much want to bring more color into our home, and her new quilt along would be just perfect to do so, only, I am lacking all those bright colors. So I came up with my own solution, but more of it (hopefully) next week ;)

For now, I will be taking a break - at least from crafting - diving back into the fumes of freshly painted wood and walls.

Have a nice weekend everyone, Denise.

Sorting and shibori

I am currently sorting all the stuff in my *studio* to fight the overwhelming mess and chaos - it is quite chaotic even for me. And anyway, isn't it a good thing to start the new year sorted and tidy? Unfortunately, I started with those embroidery threads - something I don't even use that often at all ... All of them were tiny bits and pieces left from mums old or never finished projects, knotted into one (yes, really one) big mess. But since the mess was a gift, I can't complain, right? I did cut all the paper spools to size to fit them into a small drawer of a well known little IKEA chest. And I sorted them by color to finally know all the threads I now own. If anyone had told me it was that much - I guess I never would have believed it. Luckily, I am close to finish with the threads ... So, just the rest of the *studio* left ...

In-between all the sorting, I simply had to do something *more creative*, so I crabbed a simple piece of white cotton fabric, one of the threads I was sorting and dyed the piece with things I found in my kitchen. I dyed the fabric in very hot water, to which I added some concentrated vinegar and ground curcuma - et voilá - bright yellow. Although the fabric is not ironed yet, I think the result is okay for the very first try to dye things like this. I don't know yet, what I am going to do with it, but since I am a *fan* of japanese art and culture, it is always interesting to actually learn new things related with this culture.

The contrast of the original white and the bright yellow is not very hard, but I don't mind, because after all, the yellow really brought a dash of color into my day as a contrast to the snowy white outside :)

Looking back

Again, another year has passed by far too fast with all the small and big changes, it brought for all of us. One big thing for me was that I discovered - and still am discovering - the joy of bookbinding. Having put bookbinding away for nearly one and a half month now, I am trying to motivate myself to resume it by reminding myself with all the books I made in that past year. And yes, it's really for self-motivation ;) since I tend to be easily carried away with different and new things I am learning and discovering (prooved by the accusing looks the unfinished bookcovers are always giving me when I see them on my shelf o_O). However, I think bookbinding is the ideal project to combine so many different aspects of paper work, drawing, painting, sewing... within one object of not only decorative but also funtional purpose one can actually use every day.

Beginning with a quickly done book with nearly no knowledge of what I was doing back at the end of July and ending with - hopefully - better ones in November ...

If you are interested in the appropriate links, just klick below.

Happy New Year

I am just stepping by to wish everyone out there a happy New Year. I hope your holidays were joyful and peaceful and you had a great New Year's Eve.

All the best for you in this fresh and upcoming new year!