Philippine finale!

Here are the final couple of pages in the Philippines set...

....the first has a silhouette of one of the dragons sitting atop the Taoist temple in Cebu City (our first stop en route)...

I did this onto Brusho-sprayed watercolour paper with Indian ink then sprayed over it again when done.

Rubber stamps for Yin and Yang...and a yin-yang surrounded by the I Ching hexgrams.

...and the added bitties are some chinese coins and 3 polymer clay pieces I did some time ago (these are impressed with wooden chinese printers block - typeface)

The second is done with a Colouricious Hmong print block (onto hand-dyed and Brusho-sprayed abaca tissue)

Another couple of pages...

Finished and stuck into my sample/scrap book.

The first one done in much the same way as before...

....but no wrapped elements this time....

...and a small-work page done with a wooden print block and another strip of that pre-Hispanic script.

(Print blocks, as always, from Colouricious. Paints from Colourcraft)


There's one more page-spread on my desk....

...when that's finished, I'll sail on to the next destination.

Glad to have you along for company! :-)

x C

Philippines tags - 3 & 4

Here are the final 2 tags in the Philippines group....

....again, strips of prepared pares, fabrics and some Angelina fibres.

I added a Fimo piece in my book sample simply because I liked the look of it... :-)

The finished 4 tags were strung with some hand-dyed silk thread...

...which were then plaited to tie the set together.

I'm minded to do another couple of page spreads for the Philippines....

....maybe I can blog those on the weekend...

Have a great day.

x C

p.s.

I didn't want to do a second post today...

...but you WILL forgive me if you follow this bit down to the YouTube vid!

Going a bit senile lately, I can't remember who I was telling about this, but I KNOW it was someone who reads this blog so ...

...I've just had a snoop around on YouTube for this snippet from the early 90's..

...and FOUND IT! Yey!!!

(YouTube is such a miracle - I thought that I would never have the utter pleasure of listening to this bit of program again!!)

I remember crying with laughter when it was going out live....

...and the day after when they played it again on the same show...

...and it happened again this morning when I listened to it again!

I make no apologies for the exclamation marks!!!!!!!!!!!!

This proves beyond doubt that a completely-losing-it- good belly-laugh is better than anything else to lift the spirits and blow the bad-weather cobwebs away :-)

ENJOY

X X  C

Philippine-inspired tags 1 & 2

I've had to think quite carefully about the items folk will actually be making during the two hours that they spend with me as the ship travels from one port to another.

I decided on a "tag book" from the start...

...as it IS a holiday and luggage labels seem like  suitable things to carry holiday memories.

I have to take most of the bits and pieces with me, but I'm hoping to pick up things like local newspapers, paper bags, wrappers, till receipts, postage stamps, low-value paper money etc on excursions.

These bits'n'bobs can then also be used to ground the memories as it were.

Obviously, luggage tags are only relatively small...

...therefore nothing TOO ambitious can be planned (and to be done in a couple of hours as well!)

So, I've gone for colour combos for the Philippines part of the trip...

...collaged, printed and stitched...

...using hand-dyed and prepared papers and batik fabrics.

Here are 1 and 2...

...blue skies, turquoise seas, shining sandy beaches...

The squiggly writing on the first one is a pre-Hispanic filipino script that I found on the net...

...I thought it would help to "place" things a bit...

3 & 4 to follow soon...

x C

Happy New Year!!

I know it's already 2 days in...

...but I'd like to wish everyone a very happy 2014.

I've been pootling around doing some samples for my cruise classes...

...and have adapted one of the "page spreads" to suit the message in this post :-)

I'll have a few more "Philippines" samples to show over the next few posts...

x C

(...and this year I'm attempting to "Facebook" a little bit more than before!...)

Penguin post

The rather oversized tag tied around it's scarf says "Straight from the North Pole .....well....the North of England anyway..... X  X"

Sweet eh?

Postie rang yesterday morning....

...had a parcel "Special Delivery" to be signed for....

...cardboard box about 10' x 10' x 8' (ish)

(25cms x 25cms x 20cms for those of you who need translations...)

...and as light as a feather.


All taped up...

...nice and secure....

...so I took a knife to it....

...cut through the side bits...

...then (carefully) along the strip on the top seam.


As the last bit of tape was cut....

...the world disappeared....

...or rather went white....

Must have had a face like Santa in a snowstorm!

What do you get when you cram LOADS of polyester wadding into a small box?

An IMPROVISED EXPLOSIVE DEVICE!!!!!


No nasty stuff thrown out at you this time though....

....no....

...just the cutest little penguin you ever did see! :-)

The person previously cussed for packing the bloody box was IMMEDIATELY forgiven....

...and I set about giving the little critter a name.

First task - ascertain gender....

...not so easy when not a penguin expert...

...AND when it's tights are on real tight!

Had to give up in the end - it remains an "IT".

"IT" had to have a name beginning with "P" of course....

...but having seen "Auntie Jane" do SUCH an ABSOLUTELY BRILLIANT penguin waddle at Harrogate....

..."IT" is therefore officially named "Petunia Jane" (PJ for short).

I may, of course, now have a penguin with a bit of a gender issue, but PJ looks happy enough sitting atop the pressie pile like an overweight tree fairy!


There is quite a long story to this "penguin thing"...it involves a neoprene suit....and I may tell you one day...

..but for now...

...I just have to thank the lovely folk who sent me my new little friend....

...my very best mates at Empress Mills...

(..from the left...Charles, Christine, Auntie Jane & Jamie...)

...not forgetting Vikki and all the rest of the Drivers and their passengers.

I'd also like to wish everyone a very  VERY "HAPPY CHRISTMAS" ...

...here and out there!

See you in 2014  :-)))))

x C

..time consumed.....

I have been a very, VERY bad blogger lately...

...and I'm REALLY sorry....

...but after coming back from Harrogate...

...sorting out all the "stuff" that had piled-up in the living room....

....and getting my head into gear for the next push....

...the time-consuming fairy has been around BIG TIME!!

Mostly because what I'm doing now is very time-consuming indeed....

...and also felt very strange when I started.

Usually, the holiday/travel sketchbook gets prepared before I go...

...and then filled up "on location".

However, because circumstances dictate, I've had to do the "on location" bit here at home...

...seeing as I need the book done to inspire folk in my classes when I'm there!

Thank the Rusty Plank for the internet ....

...and kind friends with photos I could use to work from!

So, as you know from here I had sprayed and splattered my pages with Brusho powders and sprays...

...slopped on some gesso....

...and then sprayed some more, making delicious now-non-blank pages to work into.

I spent AaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaGES mooching through photos looking for suitable ones that I could use both on paper and then on fabric afterwards.

I found plenty!......probably enough for more than one sketchbook actually...

...and made a start...

Man! Have I LOVED doing this!!!!!

It's like.....I'm there already...before I go....and there for ages....instead of a few hours!

I could NEVER get this amount of detail down on pages on location, without losing time really looking at lots more.

I've totally immersed myself in the art and gathered as much info as I can, and then spent many wonderful hours at my desk with glass dip pen and Brusho paints. Pure enjoyment - and lots of it!

OK....gush over now.....

After sorting out how I wanted the pages to look, I then had to get the same effect on fabric....

....so, after applying some surface treatment to Empress calico ...

...I used Brusho sprays to get the "sketchbook page look" to stitch onto.

Thank the Rusty Plank for Pfaff machines too...

...don't know how I EVER managed without that "needle-down" facility, especially for doing this kind of tight stitching.

It took hours, but I love the result.

I'm in creative heaven...........:-)))))

(Hope you are too)


x C