Hairy Spiders!!!

I never know whether to split things into more than one post!! These were dug out of the A-level bag in the attic. They belong to the same immune defense system project as I showed you before. 

A hairy legged spider with menacing pincers!!!

A beautiful but deadly virus (polystyrene ball pricked all over with beaded pins). This particular virus may end up on next years Christmas tree.

 This did not come out of the attic. But needed to be shared non-the-less.

Inspirational Mushrooms

Sew I stumbled on some of my A-level textiles/art work the other day in the attic. Thought I'd give you a snap shot. One day I will have to photograph all my books and samplers for you. I worked sew hard for it!! 

This project was initially inspired by viruses and the human bodies attempts to defend itself. Along the way, this morphed into mould, funghi and spores and uniform yet random cell structures. 

 As you can see, the above two sampler pieces were made from couching on ruched fabric and wrapped cords with beaded felt balls and silk coccoons nestled into them. I bought cheap petri dishes off ebay to add the medicinal, lab-like feel and filled them with yucky things! Or rather, tyvek beads and wrapped metal washers.

I still love the home died calico and tiny suffolk puffs. 

The final piece was a grand mixture of the two above samplers but with petri dishes on stalks as if they were spores. These petri dishes were decorated in the style of Michael Brennand-Woods ('Twelve dreams within the here and now') which to me felt cellular and chemical (although his intention was use shapes and patterns as mnemonic devices to trigger memories and associations).

I never took pictures of the final piece, which I am still kicking myself for. But maybe you can use your imagination?

What on earth do I do with these?!

I think they're sew beautiful but I don't know what to do with them! I made them 4 years ago for my art A-level, they were part of a big mossy landscape, but are now lonely in the supplies draw!

Any ideas?

They were actually really easy to do - I made felt balls the regular way (attempted using the tights and washing machine trick which definitely did not work for me) and then wrapped synthetic fabrics and threads (e.g. voile) around each ball, secured with a pin and then used a heat gun to melt away layers of the wrappings to whatever level I liked best. I then used the heat gun with embossing glue and powder to add the metallic shine and some were beaded

Other ideas for these were SEVERE melting, wire wrapping, threading beads on said wire, and I even tried to use washers instead of felt balls which did work but needed extreme patience.

If you don't want a felt ball base, these were started off on metal skewers or needles depending on what size hole you want in your bead.

I love all of these and used them last for pretty A-level things...but now what?

Finito!!

Sew whats been happening in life? Well yesterday....(why wasn't this in yesterdays post? Who knows) I finished my Art A-level!! YAAAAAAY!! So glad thats all all over. It's so hard to be creative when you have a title to work to. Anyway, my project titles that ive been working on since September are self chosen 'Conflict' which evolved into work about the Suffragettes, and again, self chosen 'Infection Control' which was mainly textile based.

I chose Art and Literature out of the given list for my exam and used Little Red Riding Hood, looking at its dark side. Anyway, i'm mounting up next week, and if i get it all up on the walls, I'll pop a few pictures up :)

Now a sight such as this greatly upsets me. I love post. LOVE it. adore it. It is my reason for getting up in the morning! Literally. Sew when one of these comes through the letter box, its awful! I have to wait a whole extra day! AND i have to go and get it myself. The trouble is...when I go and collect it, I am convinced the post-lady is going to come while i am out and leave me another one. It's awful. :(

Aaaaanyway on a bright, cheerful, flowery note - look what Mummy Sew made!

We found a PDF tutorial here at Roman Sock. Aren't they cute :D Other cute things of the week - check out what i got in part of a Matchbox swap from smokeyquartz. Her etsy store is fabulous - i just love her headdresses.

The bag is so wow and the buttons are POW. The teeny tiny little book is just wonderful too! The ribbon, i bought myself the other day when i was in Skipton getting myself another teapot painted...pictures later!

Sew I'm a bit late...

...but Happy Easter anyway!

Sew what did we do?? Easter day was a long walk with the man through the beautiful and local Plumpton Rocks with a few pictures for the old (and slightly neglected) A-level...

And then I had a wonderfully childish time in the kitchen and made these, having just been presented with a cupcake book from Mummy Sew.

Then off to work a night shift ...good day though :)