Table Runner and Place Mats

I've had these oriental style squares of fabric in a drawer for a few years so I thought I would put them to good use and make a table runner/coaster. After that I thought I should have made place mats to match but there weren't enough squares. [good planning eh?] I had another search and found some oriental style dress fabric from years back and decided to use that, it's the blue floral fabric. And that is why you see that fabric on the mats but not the runner.

Oriental Sea Transfer Printed Fabric

After doing the swarm picture the other day I remembered about a length of cloth I did similar to the background which has been just sitting in my drawer for a number of years. I didn't have any photos of it on the computer as it was made when I was at college -pre digital camera. It is a transfer print - ie I painted the paper with transfer paints then transferred the design onto man made fabric with a large heat press. Even on a large heat press the fabric had to be moved along as the fabric measures 294 cm x 60 cm. [nearly 3 metres long] To add extra interest to the painting I stitched the fabric and sandwiched objects such as dyed feathers and dyed cord, paper etc between the transfer paper and fabric. Another reason why I hadn't done photos of it is because I couldn't find anywhere to hang it to show all the length. Curtain poles are not high enough, my rooms are not high enough, so I laid it on the floor for the pictures below. The colours start light at the top and then deepen, the darkest being at the bottom. I still like it, but it doesn't go with anything in my house.

The piece was hung in the Durham Oriental Museum with the work of the other college students. Why do I call it oriental sea you may ask? Because the work was inspired by the sea paintings of Katsushika Hokusai.

Oriental Trees

I don't know what these trees are called but they are very unusual. Seen in the Japanese garden in San Francisco