"Tribal" amulet neckpiece

This is a bit of a break-away for me...

...one idea that's been brewing for a while...

...but has only just found it's way into reality!

Indigo fabric printed with de-colourant and stitched with my favourite Empress Mills metallic thread.

The block was one of a set from Colouricious...

...and I shall be using a few more over the next couple of months I'm sure! :-)

Have a good weekend...

x C

Print playtime!

I just couldn't wait...

...so got out some Klona cotton fabrics and paints...

...and made a start with some of those lovely blocks. :-)

First using some de-colourant on Dark Navy...

.....I wanted a vaguely ethnic-chinese look....

...and it has worked (I think).

(I've not used this stuff before, so wasn't sure how it would work out. But, WOW...how it works! Takes a little while to dry so that you can see the pattern....but a bit of speeding up with a heat gun helped a lot. The one I've used comes from Mulberry Silks......who happen to sell the most AMAZING silk threads as well!!)

Then...with some paint on a couple of brighter colours....

...that got machine-stitched with some of my most-favourite Empress Metallic Gold thread!

Just look how fine you can get the stitching done.....and no snapping either! I LOVE IT!!!

These sample pieces have, of course, given me an idea (or a clutch of ideas actually!)...

...so I've printed some more...

...and the machine will be whirring all day today :-)

Ah! Happy, happy, happy......

Hope you are all happy too

x C

E.S.P - aka Earth Spirit Projects

I've had to leave a few other projects as UFOs for a little while...

...and get down to finishing off these pieces for an up-coming workshop.

It's been good to get back to my "Earth Spirit" theme....

...and I've had a lovely time playing with Colourcraft Brusho Sprays and  Markal Paintstiks on Egyptian cotton and calico dyed with Procion dyes. (From Empress Mills.)

Fabric was first dyed in plastic bags or beer glasses....

...then sprayed with Brusho Sprays - Dark Brown; Shimmering Charcoal & Shimmering Copper.

I drew my designs and scanned them into my Brother Scan'n'Cut to make the stencils...

...that were then done using Markal Paintstiks.

Finally I stitched around the designs on the sewing machine with some variegated threads...

...again,  from Empress Mills.

Now, because I am who I am...

...seed stitching is covering the background!

Why?...do I do this to myself?

Then I made a start on another Earth Spirit Figure...

...again on calico sprayed with Brusho.

This time the design was drawn on before stitching....

...then painted in with Inktense blocks.

Oh....the fun I do have!!

I'll be off up the M50 with this lot next week :-)


x C