Working on another canvas, paper-making and painting on hessian

I'm not going to be defeated 

by my errors, mistakes or failures. 

Thursday morning I had an appointment in 

the morning with a Psychologist and in the afternoon

I worked at The BACH from 1.00-4.30 pm

 so it wasn't until Friday I had time to rinse out the cooked fibre

 I was amazed at how black the ginger went. 

Must be the sodium hydroxide.

I used vinegar to neutralise the caustic soda when rinsing.

I took a lot of water to rinse the fibre clean

so I used my homemade water recycling system

 which involves a couple of rubbish bins

an piece of hosing and the discharged 

water from washing laundry 

(of which I always have)

The pulp is now ready for pulverising

Where is that insinkerator when I need it!

Guess I just have to do it in batches

using my other "leaky" food processor bowl..

...and of course, my trusty supervisor, Kaeli 

....she goes everywhere I go!

My niece asked me if I'd like to go for a walk 

up Mt. Parahaki. in the afternoon with her.

 I didn't really feel up to it (blood tests show my iron's low)

but I knew it would be good for me to get out

and I didn't want to let Kristen down

so decided to use it to my advantage, take my camera

and take photos along the way.

You can see them HERE.

It was lovely, so beautiful among all the

 native bush...the ferns and palm trees

I'm so glad I went and I found some 

art inspiration along the way!

Time: 4 hours (29 March) 

paper-making and photography

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Saturday 30th

 I brushed on some gesso on a piece of

 scrap-booking paper and mixed up this 

pale yellow paint for stamping some words

This is for the blotched-up canvas

I want/need something to remind me to

keep my mind on GOOD things.

More to come...

I didn't want to waste the paint so I used the

 rest of it on an A4 sized piece of hessian.

I've got a plan for this..so watch this space!

I also did a bit of repair work on the mask

just waiting for it to dry so I can took a mold

Sunday 31..got more ginger cooking

 It smells terrible but without the caustic soda

 it would take ages to soften

I found I lost a certain amount of the pulp through my colander so decided with the next batch to used some fine fabric. I couldn't find any muslin in my stash but thought this fine weave mesh type of fabric would work just as well. And it does! I'm off to celebrate Miss R's 20th birthday shortly. She's up from Hamilton for the Long Weekend (Easter)...so best go ice her cake. I look forward to working more on the canvas and hessian... maybe when we get back after dinner?? We will see....

Time: 3 hours (30/31 March)

Learning that "failures" are ok...

I'm not very good at flicking off things

 that don't go right.

Things that go wrong scream

 "FAILURE" 

very loudly in my head!

Tuesday I had another opportunity

 to practice this skill!

I had Miss M come for her weekly craft lesson.

While she was stamping her hibiscus flowers and preparing palm trees

for stamping, I tried stamping another palm tree. 

This time with an old towel underneath the hand-dyed fabric.

The result??

 No bleeding! Or very little...

here it is with the first inked image.

Still got plans for this the stitching

and something else..yet to be determined

Remember my leaf prints?

Well, I love plants, always have...I love their textures, 

their shapes and had a good experience pressing

 them onto fabric with some fabric paint...

...a bit patchy but I didn't mind too much...

But they didn't take to the painted hessian to well at all!

Maybe if I try again??

No...it got "worse"

I had to challenge those thoughts and resisted

chucking the who lot into the bin!

 Instead, I brushed some of the remaining fabric paint

 over the top and PUT IT ASIDE.

I will look at it again another day..

Miss M had made a a ton of paint in a colour she couldn't get. she was trying to mix brown for her palm tree trunks. I tried to help but only seemed to help her waste more of the paint! She ended up with a grey-ish maeve which instead of washing down the sink I decided to use on the canvas I didn't like 

I've got an idea percolating...

I also shopped up a whole lot of this 

while helping Master 13 with his maths homework.

 It's wild ginger and for some reason my 

neighbour had it growing in her garden!

Sue (from TLC) said it made really nice paper so when I saw her pulling it out I asked if I could have. This is the print-making lady who established Te Kowhai Print Trust. Funny, but she KNEW what I wanted it for PAPER!

 I soaked it in this bucket overnight...

 This morning Miss 17 went to Auckland so, 

released from my educational "Supervisory" role

  I decided to do this!

I've also been given some corn stalks/leaves to trial too.

Time: 5 hours (26 March)

(includes blogging etc) 

Be True to You!

I didn't get much art done yesterday.

My niece turned up with her twin boys

and I'm on this new medication 

that makes me really drowsy

i did stamp some words on this

It's going to hang in my bedroom

to remind me to like who I am

or at least, try to...

Time: 1 hour (25 March)

Community Project...and an idea!

Today I was at a function and I noticed a woman 

 wearing an outfit with this design...it gave me an idea!

I am going to do some hand stitching around the silhouette

to make it look like it was supposed to happen....

The function I attended was a workshop.
A Tapestry workshop, held at The BACH
where I work voluntarily a couple of Sundays/
and Thursday's each month.
It's also where a have my handmade soap.

I'm very excited about this project and I have offered to follow the tapestry's progress on a blog and also via Facebook. This morning was about learning about the technique, meeting those that will be instrumental in getting the project up and running. And me?? I got to take photos which will get uploaded onto a blog over the next week or so. The Official Grand Opening is on the 10th April. I'll be there, taking photos!

 The warp threads

..still needed winding on at the base

 There was a LOT of them!

 Tapestry practice

These "mini looms" have been donated
 for people to have a try weaving

 All the wooden bobbins have been donated as well

Aren't they amazing??

I left about 12.30 pm...some stayed on to keep practicing
and a few weavers stayed to continue threading up the warping.
I can't wait for the project to start and look forward
 to follow it's progress over the coming months/year!

Time: 4 hours (23 March) 
Tapestry/Community Project
Photography, editing/
uploading to blog

Adding pastel to paint, silhouettes and paint on fabric

I did a bit more work on the painted torso Thursday, adding pastels from my newly purchased box. I found a paint brush was a good way to brush off excess pastel dust and I'm starting to like this again.

I haven't quite finished yet.

I want to add some text...

Friday I searched online for and printed out a palm tree. 

 I cut around the outline then drew around it 

on some thin foam I had been given.

 Like so...

 I'm using Fastex Textile Ink

 and mixed the red and blue together 

to make this lovely deep maroon.

 What I hope it'll eventually look like

the foam "palms" mounted onto card

 It started off looking great...

 ....but then started to "bleed"....boohoo!

So I put that aside..

and got my next support ready ...hessian!

 Using the textile paints again

I have an idea with this which I'm looking forward to 

working on it once the paint has dried.

Time: 4 hours (21/22 March) 

Paint/pastels on wallpaper

Stamped silhouette/hand-dyed calico

Paint on hessian

Resource 5: Drawing into Paint

My plan today was to sketch and
paint my torso onto some wallpaper.
 I enlarged my torso sketch 

by 250% which was quite easy to do. 

 I divided the page across by 3

and down by 4 equally

Each square was 7cm by 7.5cm

Multiply 7 by 2.5 =17.5

Amazingly enough the wallpaper 

measured 52.5cm EXACTLY

so the 3 blocks fit perfectly!

 7.5 by 3 = 18.75cm each square down

 then I sketched the torso on the enlarged squares

..and started painting.

I'm not 100% thrilled with it...

(I wanted the background more lilac

 in colour and it's turned out grey)

BUT I won't rip it up.

I'll walk away...

leave it to dry 

and revisit it tomorrow.

I'll probably like it again by then!

Time: 3 hours (20 March) 

Resource 5, Drawing into Paint