Postage Stamp Art

I thought I would have a go at designing my own postage stamps and these are 4 of the results from over 20 that I did - they are quite addictive. But if you are like me and save odd bits of painted paper, then here is a use for it.

Domino Bird

Two versions of Domino Bird

one is a collage on a fantasy game board - paper bird & feather with dangly cord legs

the other is made from fabric which has been printed on an inkjet, then stitched and stuffed, cord legs and a real feather

Alhambra, Spain - Pattern

You can find patterns in all sorts of places, this one was on a wall at the Alhambra, Spain.

Magical & Mystical

This was for a 'Madeira' competition in 2006 [was awarded 'highly-commended']

Mixed Media - painted background, digital printing, applique, machine and hand embroidery, beading, found objects.

Screen prints with dog

Screen printed fabrics, dyes, cut & pieced, applique, machine embroidery. The same screen printed dog is on both samples.

Flowery Doodle

New York in the rain

Mixed Media

Patterns Doodle

Another one from a sketch book. I quite often do a doodle or sketch with just a black pen, then colour it in at a later date usually when I can't think of what to draw. 

Squirrel & Bird Sketch

One from a sketch book - pens

Consumption Poster

Vintage poster at Beamish Museum about consumption, known nowadays as tuberculosis.

New York - buildings and taxis

Another applique from my New York collection - they were actually bag designs [but not made into bags].
This one has screen printed fabrics, dyed fabrics, applique, machine embroidery and has a plastic top layer, hence the strange look on the photo.

New York - Statue of Liberty Applique

In my picture the statue of liberty has finished her shopping and is hailing a taxi in the rain.

The buildings are screen printed fabrics [mainly furnishing fabrics], the statue is painted fabric, the bag & umbrella are painted pvc, the taxi is a digital print on fabric, the background is black velvet.

1st experiment with Coarse Molding Paste

I was eager to start my first experiment with Golden coarse molding paste but couldn't find the evolon or lutradur that I wanted to try it on [found it later] so I used a [new] Sarah Smith microfibre cleaning cloth [which I thought felt like a similar fabric & it was just waiting to be used!]. I painted the paste on with a brush together with golden fluid acrylics, when it was dry it felt a bit like sandpaper. The fabric looked a bit dark on it's own so I decided on the white flowers. As I wanted a crackle glazed effect for the flowers I decided to paint them in emulsion and then add a coat of crackle glaze, however this didn't work [maybe because it was fabric & not a hard surface, maybe because I should have put a base layer of medium or gesso under the emulsion, maybe because my crackle glaze isn't very good...]

The flowers looked a bit shiny because of the glaze so I painted over them with watercolour paints. I then stitched the veining and the french knots in the centre. I was surprised that it was really easy to stitch through even with the molding paste. After I finished the sewing I put some wadding on the back & wrapped it around a canvas frame.

A tip  - on the 3rd picture you will see a rectangular mark around the design [where it would bend round on the canvas] - this was made with a coloured watercolour crayon & can be rubbed out with a damp brush afterwards. It is useful for drawing on a design too, but check how it works before doing it on anything important.

Goose walking in the rain applique

Screen printed fabrics, cut, layered, applique, machine decorative stitches

Altered Book - the most successful way

New York Taxis ATC [Hine]

This idea was inspired by the photography of Lewis Hine

Plump Bird

I had to put this one in just because I love the word 'plump'

Mini House No.2 Collage/Applique

Similar to yesterday's post. [there is a set of 3]  Recycled papers, stitching.

Mini House Paper Applique

Collage/Applique using recycled papers & leftovers from other art work

Elephant Sketch

Friendly Plastic and Embroidery

This is a City & Guilds sample using friendly plastic [it comes in strips & you melt it to make shapes - strange stuff] with embroidered french knots and running stitches.

Tiger Sketch

My attempt at a tiger [one of my favorite animals] sketch using pilot parallel pens  [they are a kind of calligraphy pen with a parallel nib structure and come in different widths]

Simple Running Stitch Sample

Just running stitches across a square of metallic organza [? can't remember what the fabric is called]

Spider & Web

Housing Estate - Flats

Sketch book, pens

Pink - Altered Book

The Natural World - Sea & Fish

This is a layered peice - the bottom layer is a light weight fabric which has been coloured by transfer print [painted paper transferred with heat press], on top of that is very thick tracing paper which has been painted, then it has freehand machine embroidery through both layers. The fish are paintings from a sketch book which have been scanned and then printed on transfer paper.

Hello Sweetie

Sweet wrappers trapped behind organza with machine embroidery and in several layers

Need a new car[riage]?

Beamish Museum

Which shoes shall I wear?

Bayeux Bird

Inspired by the Bayeux Tapestry and stitched in Bayeux laidwork, one of the stitches used in the original tapestry.

Layered Mixed Media Sample [C&G]

This is a sample piece I did for City & Guilds many moons ago [1995-99]. The background layer is handmade paper [probably from egg boxes] The darker red, green & blue shiny stuff is [I think] glass paints applied to plastic, removed when dried and placed under a peice of chiffon headscarf, then handstitching - running stitches and loose french knots were stitched thru the lot. On the lower photograph I have played with the colours as it was a little dull and it makes it clearer to see everything. Which do you prefer?