365 Arty Days

Day 58: White deer on felt

2012-03-05T13:17:00.000-08:00

Ever since I was a child I have been fascinated by white deer myth. It is one of my favourite images and I have made it several times. This one is inspired by a japanese white deer mandala, you can see some pictures below.

For this particular piece I half-felted (partially felted) background and deer separately and after cutting out deer shape from white half-felt I put the two together and did a full felt. A bit tricky as felt shrinks with about 20% so hit and miss with shapes. After it dried I machine embroidered deer shape as well as the cloud it stands on.

I sort of think maybe it needs more work but I can't see what that would be at the moment so I will leave it for few months and then maybe have another look. I would really like to paint the whole mandala but I need to find a good quality print first.

AND I managed to get into kitchen again. I seem to be finding that inner vegetarian cook again. Here we have: a spinach and egg roll with mushroom and creme fraiche stuffing, mm-mmm-mmm!

Day 57: Bake a cake Sunday

2012-03-04T14:28:00.003-08:00

There has been very little time for baking or anything else since New Year. This weekend is the first one for a long time I was able to both knit and bake, yay! Nothing much but a simple, delicious banana bread with sultanas, chocolate and vanilla. Husband liked it very much...

Day 56: Months of labour

2012-03-03T14:06:00.001-08:00

were going to end on this day as I have been knitting this coat for ages and I am not a very experienced knitter. So I only had edging to do and worked away on it yesterday and for about three hours today and the just as I was about to start the final row...I run out of yarn :(

Now I know there is a skein of this yarn left somewhere in the house, but my cat has hidden it, neither me or my husband have been able to find it...I'm sure she is a monkey in disguise...

Day 55: Not my thing

2012-03-03T08:49:00.000-08:00

It is safe to say that pottery is not my thing. This little thrown cup came out of the kiln and it is just bad :( On the other hand I feel quite relieved, it is one thing I can tick off the list and never look back :)

Day 54: Oil-painting thursdays

2012-03-01T15:23:00.001-08:00

My first oil painting is getting on. Today i managed to fill in the darks. Apparently this is a very important step before really getting into details.

Day 53: Skinny-legged Bird

2012-02-29T12:52:00.001-08:00

This bird is tiny and supposedly it would take only about an hour so that suited me today as we spent most of the day on the boat....That is before I got it wrong three times and had to rip and sew again. Then i felt like giving up and posting my miserable little fabric patch but then I thought no, i'll patch it up. So I did. It turned out quite funny with it's tall legs and it can sort of stand...I like it.

If you want to make one of your own, here is how: http://jennysbuttonjar.files.wordpress.com/2012/02/little-birdie-project.pdf

It is a project from Jenny's Button Jar-blog.

More about our boating adventures are available here:

http://littlepearlboat.blogspot.com/

Day 52: Small Bag Tutorial - Superquick

2012-02-28T13:45:00.000-08:00

I like to keep my big bag tidy so I tend to put stuff away in smaller bags, this can be a snack bag, or make up bag or put anything you like in it bag. Takes minutes to make and there are no zips, buttons, nothing just a flap that keeps everything in.

1. Take a piece of fabric, mine is 43 x 16cm (17x6in).

2. Fold on one end. This will be your flap so decide how large you want it to be. Remember to fold in and hem both edges before sewing it together.

3. Fold the other end over the first one, don't think about it, just fold it on top.

4. Sew the edges, the whole sides and zig-zag so they won't fray.

5. Turn it right side out and you will have a bag with a top flap to stuff your trinkets in. Or you could also make a pillow case using exactly the same technique.

Day 51: Hand-Made Book

2012-02-27T13:18:00.000-08:00

It has been aaaages since I made a book, I used to make them quite often but then I just stopped. So here is one to revive old skills. A softbound fabric sketchbook, only about 10-15cm with 10 pages. Here is how to make it:

1. Cut out you fabric in desired shape and apply Bondaweb (it's a type of iron-on fabric straightener, keeps all edges from fraying and gives stability)

2. Hem all you edges.

3. Cut out a piece of pretty paper for inside of book, choose a sturdier paper. Glue it together ( i used spray glue).

4. Cut your white papers for pages and fold in the middle, one by one.

5. Put everything together and run it through the sewing machine on straight stitch, make sure you tie knots on the ends so it doesn't unravel.

6. Ta-daaaa! Give it to someone you love!

Day 50: One for the kids

2012-02-27T13:05:00.001-08:00

I found this little project while browsing internet, looking for ideas and it really brought out the kid in me. Basically take two pieces of paper, draw a cloud shape with a little face. Fill with cotton balls or some sort of stuffing. Curt some papers in ribbons but cut them in sections so they hang together on the top. Staple round the top, insert ribbons (can be in rainbow colors too), staple the bottom together. Don't forget to fill before you staple it shut and take care while cutting shape not to cut ribbons off (i did). And there you go, a happy little cloud to put on a wall...

Day 49: Soap carving

2012-02-27T12:58:00.002-08:00

Always wanted to try my hand at carving, I really wanted to carve in wood but it is not that easy to get hold of so soap it is...This little fellow is a 5cm, carved from half of hand soap. It was fun, I might try something a bit more complicated next time, the key seem to be a small knife..

Day 48: Little Bird Keyring

2012-02-27T07:05:00.001-08:00

In one of crafting papers I got a little kit to make a keyring babuska but I didn't like their design very much. I have made a babuska earlier that I think is much cuter but anyway, would be a pity to waste the kit. So I made a little bird keyring using materials provided with exeptance of yellow felt dots. Cute.

Here is a babuska I made earlier...

Day 47: Oil-Painting Thursdays

2012-02-23T13:15:00.000-08:00

All my previous attempts in painting oils have turned into mud so I decided to go on a course and learn properly. This is my take on a cheeta that has been painted by a canadian artist who's name i cant remember.

I will be doing this every thursday for several weeks now, plenty of time to make a mess out of it :)

Day 46: Toy Mouse Part 2

2012-02-22T13:29:00.000-08:00

Now mouse has a face and some trousers, believe it or not, it took me about hour and a half to figure out those trousers...i did have a pattern...Ambition was to create a small waitscoat as well but that will have to be tomorrow.

Day 45: Toy Mouse Part 1

2012-02-21T12:56:00.000-08:00

3 hours of work equal small stuffed toy mouse....The pattern was new to me and I chose a fabric that was tougher then it's supposed to be so I ended up hand sewing most of it. As I am exhausted now, after full days work as well, I think I will leave mouse clothes for tomorrow...

Day 44: Fox and Bird on tissue paper

2012-02-20T12:00:00.000-08:00

This is one of my doodles that happen mainly while waiting in a cafe for a cup of something nice. This is drawn in pen on a tissue paper as that was all that was available but I really like it. The plan is to make it into something but time is a premium at the moment so we'll see what happens...

Day 43: Boy and Horse

2012-02-19T16:14:00.001-08:00

Day 42: Owl and Mouse

2012-02-18T16:03:00.000-08:00

Owl and Mouse is second version of same little painting. I was looking into Chris Berens' painting techniques and tried some layering. This picture is painted on transparent paper in different colors and then glued together with varnish. The transparency is nice but I don't like the way it creased. Now I have some old fashioned photographic paper, which is what he uses, to further my experiments...

Day 41: Talking to birds 4

2012-02-17T11:23:00.001-08:00

This is a picture in Talking to birds-series. I found this picture of a Squacco Heron hunting and thought that would be really intimidating if birds were that large, looking at us as if we were pray.

Day 39 &40: days away from studio

2012-02-17T11:19:00.001-08:00

Slim pickings for these last two days, I definitely have to put some thought into how to tackle days away as they seem to accumulate. Day 39 I managed to take two photos, this one is a better one :(

On day 40 I drew a fish with kids crayons as that was all that was available. I'm quite happy with that one though :)

Day 38: Star-Dog

2012-02-14T13:59:00.000-08:00

Star-dog was my project for day 38 but as I didn't save it properly, pictures disappeared and then we had to go away and I couldn't rectify the situation. Now we are back and here he is, all toothy and happy. I had starts on my mind that whole day and it reflected in the work.

Day 37: Cat for the girl

2012-02-13T11:07:00.001-08:00

Liked making my art doll that much, I decided to give her a little friend; cat.

Day 36: Time for a photo

2012-02-12T11:42:00.000-08:00

I haven't done any photos yet, so I decided to rectify that. We often go to a bird centre close to us, called Gauntlet. Saying that we always choose a really cold day to go on. Anyway they have some great birds but they are also very caring and responsible about their birds. They also happen to feed them chicks so this picture is not for sensitive souls but it is a great picture of an owl (don't ask me what kind). Owls are my favourite birds, I was a bit miffed as at some point I read they were really stupid but they say that for cats too, so I don't believe that garbage. Owls are great.

So great are they that I spontaneously made a sketch of an owl! That turned out a bit cross-eyed...

And then I decided to treat you to this great photo of me attempting to put rollers in my hair for the first time in my life, I'm 32 don't know if that is embarrassing or not, but hey there is always room for firsts. The hair was not looking to bad after that, no re-washing business needed so that was good:) Hair styling is definitely creative!

Day 35: Art-doll

2012-02-11T13:22:00.000-08:00

Since I have been poorly for few days my making has been non-exsisting, fever and sewing machine are not best friends. Today, as I feel better and as my blog has been featured on http://makesomething365.blogspot.com/ yay!! I decided I am well enough to continue. I think I will just add these three days on and if it takes longer then a year to complete, so what...

Anyway, I went back into the studio and already felt that little devil called lazyness telling me that I was maybe feeling too tired and maybe not good enough and maybe I should go back to telly instead. Seeing right through that, I decided to make a clutch bag...yeah, if my fuzzy brain could put instructions together I would have made one. Instructions read as well as hieroglyphs so I abandoned that, instead I decided to make a doll. But not one of those complicated with all the joints and stuff but a one piece one.

This doll, who is still nameless is made in one piece following instructions by Mindy Lacefield, http://www.timssally.com/.

Basically instructions are as follows. Cut one piece of calico and draw a doll shape on it with soft pencil. Paint face with white acrylic and when dry use acrylics to paint in the features. Transfer shape of dress on to a tissue paper and cut out. Then glue scrap paper on top of the tissue paper. ( I used an old National Geographic) When dry, machine stitch paper dress on top of calico. When you are happy with your embellishments add another piece of calico to be back of the doll, sew all around, I did not turn this doll so seams are visible. Leave one side open to stuff through or cut in the back.

When the doll gets stuffed it kind of changes appearance which I was a bit unexpected but fun...

So it has been very quiet

2012-02-11T02:33:00.000-08:00

here for three days as I have been very sick and in bed. But feeling better today so it is time to get going again. Feel a bit split to what to do, should I just get going as usual with whatever I feel like or should I try some more structured approach. I am feeling that kid in the candy shop approach is fading a bit,,,so I will have to think about that...

Day 34: Timmy the Tailless Mouse

2012-02-07T10:43:00.000-08:00

Erhm, this was supposed to be a teddy but then it turned into a mouse...

Day 33: My own mug

2012-02-06T12:01:00.000-08:00

Few months back I had yet another of my brilliant ideas and decided that a shop on Etsy was the right way forward. the problem of course is that I never have anything coherent to sell as I make whatever takes my fancy and have zero patience sticking to one thing. The only coherent thing I do are my icons but they take too long and are very expensive so not really the right market for those.

Anyway, I came up wit this world-domination-idea of painting china mugs and in my eagerness I trotted off and bought about 50 mugs :) ...when I explained my marvellous idea to my good friend Carolin, she only raised an eyebrow...that says it all really.

But I continued with my super plan and got a marker that I thought was black, turned out it was white, then I got a black one, then I got sidetracked with other stuff....

So here it is..tadaaa... a cup with my own design, only 49 to go...But I do like it...so maybe it's not a completely daft idea...

Day 32: Swedish Semla (almond bun)

2012-02-05T12:57:00.000-08:00

Baking is definitively a creative practice. Here we have some Swedish almond buns with cream, it is a traditional cake eaten about this time of year and you get them in all cafes in sweden but obviously I am not there, so I decided to treat my english husband to one. He took the largest one :)

I haven't baked since Christmas so it felt good to be up to the elbows in flour again. Secret to good baking is definitely love. I tend to bake when I feel happy and loved because then the cakes come out right.

I have been baking since early childhood, my mother is a marvellous baker and my whole female side of family are known for their baking abilities, but unfortunately my mama tended to be a bit harsh with her expectations so I stopped baking for years. It is only recently I have re- discovered my love for baking and that I'm quite good at it. My favourites are bagels to which I refer to as my chubby children, all shiny and fat. :) I have to hold back on it a bit, otherwise my husband, who is a great fan, will end up looking like a bagel.

Day 31: death of an Unicorn III AND Talking to Birds I

2012-02-04T11:35:00.000-08:00

The first picture is 'Death of an Unicorn" version three, I don't really know wht happened with my first two attempts. it was like I went backwards several years to the way I used to draw and then I snapped out of it. This version is quite Paula Rego-esk, without any intention to make it so, funny what mind retains because I never got her art by I guess my sub-conscioussness did...

Drawing number two is on theme 'Talking to Birds' as suggested by a friend of mine. I have been thinking about it for a while and have tried some other birds then i happened upon this picture of fierce falcons. I wanted the birds to be large and person small but drawing a giant chicken was not really it, although funny..maybe i'll try that. If you would like me to draw/make anything you only need to ask..

Day 30: A small painting

2012-02-03T15:45:00.000-08:00

This painting is actually something I made quite a while ago but I didn't really have the skills to finish it to my satisfaction. Since then my skills have increased so I decided to have another go and sort it out. It is a small painting of happy buddha with turtle, made for my husband. It is painted using traditional egg tempera and 22ct gold on gessoed panel.

Day 29: Polar Bear

2012-02-02T10:25:00.000-08:00

I downloaded a free app today with pictures of wild life and liked this polar bear so much that I made a drawing out of it. It looks kind of stoic, if I may say so :) Otherwise I have been painting whole day long and I am really tired now...

Day 28: Happy Little Horse

2012-02-01T12:14:00.000-08:00

I'm posting lots of drawings at the moment because my work is taking me that way. I am actually working on an important painting, important to me that is, so I don't really have time to drag the sewing machine out as it tends to take up the whole day but it will be back.

Anyhow, here is a portrait of an icelandic horse who turned out like a quite happy little chap, with a smile and all...

Day 27: Drawing on the right side of the brain

2012-01-30T10:56:00.000-08:00

Once I was talking to a friend of mine about drawing and happened to say that I think that any artist should be able to draw. What I meant is that an effort is needed in order to make some sort of representation not that it needs to be a wonderful drawing. A lady that happened to overhear what we said turned to me and said that she can't draw and what I was saying was rubbish. Well, each to it's own.
I am not great at drawing but I do enjoy it and I am trying to work on my drawing skills. I have been following Betty Edward's technique on drawing with the right brain.
Basically, it is a technique that gets the left brain to finally shut up and stop rushing and judging and let the right brain draw what it sees.

I am showing my attempts here in order to share the fact that drawing does not come down to talent but hard work and understanding of what we see. While I am good at drawing and painting my inner world, I hugely struggle with perception and lines as well as shadows and light. I see my self as 'straight-line dyslectic', understanding straight line as well as numbers poses a challenge for me. It takes me a lot of working out in order to be able to put it on paper while other things I breeze through. But in order to be a complete artist I need both so I there is nothing to it then try and improve.

I am particularly pleased with the chair as it was a real challenge to get it together. I started with the small space between chair rest and seat and worked my way out from there piecing it together. The portrait of my cat Missy was much quicker as she moves all the time. I managed to catch her shape on my plastic viewfinder (basically a plastic overhead sheet that I draw lines on while looking through it and it makes 3d into 2d) and then photographed her while she still sat there. From those two items I produced a much more realistic drawing then my previous attempts. This is also first time I have successfully used erasing technique to create highlights.

Day 26: Death of an Unicorn II

2012-01-30T10:31:00.000-08:00

This is my second attempt on the same theme. I have decided that I need to work on my drawing skills so I am battling on. Much more pleased with this version then the one yesterday.

Day 25: Death of an Unicorn

2012-01-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

Determined to get this drawing done today although I am very tired since yesterday. Not my best one, will have to try again.

Day 24: Here's one I made earlier...

2012-01-29T05:06:00.000-08:00

naaaa, just kidding, this is an absolute mastery of drawing and it is drawn by Leonaro da Vinci ca 500 years ago. We went yesterday to see the exhibition in National Gallery, London and I didn't make anything at all. My making for that day was looking and looking and thinking, my senses are still completely in an other world. I feel very inspired and ready for new challenges.

Although I publish projects on this blog, my real work, that takes months to develop, I don't show but I do work on it every day. This blog is more about not being lazy and exploring imagination while my painting is about patience and explorations of who we are are as beings. It is about thoughts and ideas being made visible through medium of art.

Day 23: same,same

2012-01-27T14:35:00.001-08:00

I managed another 20 min on my embroidery today while we had some peace and quiet and then things went down hill from there:) going home tomorrow so back to studio. Meanwhile here is a picture of me and my little crafters Sophie and Grace, working hard at cutting some newspaper. As they are only three that was good effort.

Day 22: Horse Embroidery

2012-01-26T14:01:00.001-08:00

Today i managed only to squeeze in about 30 min of work due to various other activities like playing with kids. We are still not at home but visiting relatives so the focus in on socializing. I managed to do this while 4yr old William sharpened all of my pencils, about 20 of them,calling himself the Cut Doctor, since he was cutting them 'taller'.
Anyhow the picture is taken from a book of paintings by Leonardo da Vinci but this work is by unknown artist. The horse head is only a detail of a war scene and it is the mane that i like. Hopefully it will translate into embroidery.

Day 21: Finally a start on embroidery

2012-01-25T15:06:00.001-08:00

I'm actually not a great fan of classical embroidery as my grandmother plaged me with cross stitch. But as i do like textiles and turning my drawings into textiles so i have been wanting to work on my skills for a while now.
I found this book on embroidery techniques in a charity shop and as we are away and i don't have acess to my studio i had a little go at it today.
Not with great results but still i learned two things i couldn't do before: french knot and stem stitch. So i'm happy:)

Day 20: Inner child satisfied - check!

2012-01-24T02:48:00.000-08:00

Some of you might know, some of you don't, but when I was 12 years old, my family and I had to leave Croatia and flee to Sweden due to the war. On the way, we stopped in Germany for three months to catch a breath so to speak.

Being from an ex communist state, we weren't used to consumerism of Germany and especially as a child my eyes didn't know what to do with themselves from amount of toys and art stuff they were seeing. Of course we couldn't afford to spend one single shilling as we didn't know what lay ahead. So looking was about it.

At that time or maybe later, I have seen one of those Scrapefoil Gold engravings and thought that was amaaaazing art :), as kids do, but my parents could not afford it. Years passed by, we arrived to Sweden as refugees and had to scrape on the bottom of society as it is common. Things improved, and thanks to my husband's never-dying optimism and encouragement I have a lot of art stuff now.

So the other day I saw this tiger and all these things came back to me so I thought, damn it, I'm having it, silly as it may be. So here it is...one scrapefoil tiger to satisfy inner child.

Day 19: Stick-man Pop Star

2012-01-23T14:08:00.000-08:00

This stick man is made with papier mache and then painted with guache with some glitter on top. Very pop star..

Day 18: Mystery Object Competition

2012-01-22T10:48:00.000-08:00

Here we have a little mystery object, it is about 10 cm tall and not yet finished. It will be a very lovely beaded something. While I was creating it I thought it would be great to have a little competition. The winner gets this little thing and it will be very lovely, I promise!

Rules:
1. Guess what kind of creature this is and what is the purpose of the object? It does have practical use.
2. Post the answer on my blog as reply to this post. If you don't have a google account, it is easiest to post as anonymous but put your name in the main box!
3. Please share with all your friends!
4. Winner and the picture of the finished item is announced on Sunday 29th.
5. Good Luck!

Resolution of the competition:
my blog has only started so I didn't really have any takers. Closest one was my sister-in-law, Clare, guessing it was a bird broche. In fact it was an owl hair-clip. So I was about to gift it to Clare but then a situation came up so I gave it to Clare's daughter Jo, to cheer her up. I might try another competition soon.

Day 17: Stick-monk

2012-01-21T15:56:00.000-08:00

This little doll is 3in (7cm) tall and my husband decided it looked as a little monk hence stick-monk. He is made of a cotton bud for head and some loose felt for hair and body is wire and masking tape. His clothes are felt as anything else would fall apart. I had to stitch his clothes directly onto the body because of size.

Day 16: Feltie fox

2012-01-20T13:55:00.000-08:00

A feltie fox today, back to foxes I'm afraid. My practice, at the moment, is to find simple designs and recreate them as one offs just to get my skills going. This is inspired by Savannah Caroll's design. Easy and cute.

Day 15: Clarephant

2012-01-19T13:55:00.000-08:00

As the Little K piglet is winding it's merry way to Sweden I have had another request: to make a little elephant for Clare. So here he is, I made one yesterday but didn't think it through and it's not very good but this one is. Particularly pleased because I made the pattern myself :)

Day14: Toy Elephant

2012-01-18T11:30:00.000-08:00

Right, so to make a bit of change from rabbits and foxes I made a little elephant. I saw a picture of one and thought "can't be that hard". Turns out it wasn't. I drew the pattern myself for this one. t's bit rough from close up as I didn't think it through properly but it holds together, I need to try another one, sewing it a bit differently. But I wasn't feeling well at the time, so i have an excuse.

Day 13: Rabbit's Cousin Fox

2012-01-17T12:57:00.000-08:00

Thought that rabbit should have some company.

Day 12: Folkloristic Rabbit

2012-01-16T12:54:00.000-08:00

While looking at different images of a rabbit on internet, I found a card by Karolin Schnoor that I liked. It is basically a cut out card with pins, so I decided to make one taking inspiration from hers. Perfect excuse to use my favourite color combination: super red and super blue with white. He is about 20 cm in lenght, painted with guache on card.

Day 11: HOME

2012-01-15T11:16:00.000-08:00

Cardboard letters and some decoupage, meaning paper and PVA glue. This is a really Kirsty Alsopp-ish peace of work, really easy and childishly fun. The paper I used is some old stamps and an old map from Oxfam shop and some nicely printed tissue paper. Good sunday project.

Day Ten: Fox and Rabbit Dancing

2012-01-14T15:52:00.001-08:00

Today has been about a simple flip card animation, or so I thought considering that I am still working at it. It seemed like a very simple idea. I have a fox on one side and the rabbit on the other, when you spin the card on the strings the motion is supposed to be like they are dancing.

After some fidgeting it seems like it works but I'm not sure. I have tried to google it (the answer to everything) but as we live in hifgh-tech times, all information on animation is actually about computer animation,. No one seems to be doing old-fashion stuff.

Anyway after all that, it is time to go to bed and morning is always cleverer then evening anyhow.

Here is the link to the blog where I got the idea from: http://lucymayschofield.blogspot.com/2011/12/dance-card-fred-ginger.html. Thank you Lucy.

Day Nine: Catapoodle

2012-01-13T12:35:00.000-08:00

A cat knitted with some sort of shaggy wool that is like a poodle fur equals Catapoodle. Made from 50g Noro Silk yarn, which is really expensive but this particular skein comes from a charity shop. It sort of knitted a bit like a rug but the colours turned out nice. This cat is really easy to knit but as the face was a bit flat I did some needle sculpting to bring out features. It's funny how it turned into a male cat.

For all of you who would like to make on, it only takes one evening, here is the link, beware of foul language though: http://geobabe.livejournal.com/227621.html

Day Eight: Sketches for Story Characters

2012-01-12T10:51:00.000-08:00

Recently I have done some work on story writing together with my husband. Nothing much, mainly for fun , but it seems to suit me. In the stories the main characters are rabbit, fox and eagle. As we have recently written a longer story I thought it would be good to try out some illustrations for it. My idea is to do something with either collage or embroidery but it is good to start with life drawing.

The first fox and rabbit story can be found here: http://www.brankavidovicbutler.blogspot.com/2011/12/magic-feather-story-fox-and-rabbit.html

Initially it was for a project an artist was running in America but I, as per usual, misunderstood the concept completely and went off on to one of my own little journeys. But on the way I found these little characters.

Day Seven: Concept for new painting

2012-01-11T11:18:00.000-08:00

So, realised that my previous six days have mainly been crafts projects so I decided it is time to go back to something more artsy and then it became much more difficult. I have this idea for a painting but today has been more about working out how things fitted. It is a painting of a basket, with a girl in it, pulled by five butterflies. My work today was to figure out, if such thing existed, how would it fit together to be believable. Also, a friend of mine, mentioned that she would like something on the theme 'talking to birds' so while I'm working I am also letting my mind wander and think over this concept that I find rather interesting.

Day Six: Piglet called Little K

2012-01-10T10:38:00.000-08:00

Not so long go I was looking through my book with soft toys and thinking will I ever make a pig and then, hey presto, a dear friend of mine requested something with pigs or birds on. Which gave me an opportunity to make a piglet called Little K that is 25cm tall with a cute curly tale. Hope she likes it, I find it one of those ugly-cute things.

Day Five: A Little Toy Fox

2012-01-09T04:50:00.000-08:00

A little toy fox, about 20cm, that I made to try out patterns form a book called 'Make your own toys' by Sue Havens. Pretty straight forward and easy. This little chap will make few re-appearances as I have some more ideas for embellishments.

Day Four: Machine Embroidery

2012-01-08T13:23:00.000-08:00

Today a project I have shelved for ages. My strategy is to work away on all things that are half done first to get up to speed and then surprise you all with my new, dazzling projects.

I knitted my teddy bear since, as a child, I never had one, unfortunately I knitted him before I knew what knit tension was so he is a bit long and thin but lovely to me. After I decided he should have some clothes. I made some felt, made a design for a waistcoat and left it. I always wanted to make some embroidery on it but manana, manana.. So here is a plain waistcoat made of felt.

Here is teddy wearing his plain waistcoat, reminding me of a job undone.

And here it is, all embroidered and lovely. I used machine embroidery and except for the hassle of constantly changing threads and praying to higher powers for the sawing machine not to be in one of it's moods, it's quite fun. And a bit dangerous since it's really fast.

And here is teddy wearing his finished waistcoat, much happier as you can see. Tomorrow....god knows what...

And, oh yeah, a bit of design work thrown in..

Day Three: Owl Pin Cushion

2012-01-07T12:56:00.000-08:00

While I was working on my book cover (day one, http://365artydays.blogspot.com/2012/01/day-one-fabric-book-bag.html) I saw this cute picture in the same magazine and decided that this is the next project. Can't be that hard to make one.

So step one make a pattern. Here is 10 x 10cm cut out.

Next, decide on fabric. I chose some felt for back and mask, a small scrap piece of yellow cotton for the wings (I had it for ages, knew it would come in handy) and some recently bought left over cut from upholstery store that cost a whole £1 :).

And then saw it together. It's bit crooked but it adds to it's homemade style :).

Day Two: gesso panels for tempera painting

2012-01-06T14:38:00.002-08:00

In order to paint icons I have to make panels, so after much delay and excuses I got to it today. To make gesso panels is a very ancient craft, as ancient as icon painting I guess. The materials are very low tech, it's wooden panels, muslin, rabbit skin glue (my cat is constantly trying to put her nose in it) and some whiting. What makes panel making into a dreadful chore is concentration and time. It is non-stop work for about 6-8 hours. I manage to get a cup of tea and a sandwich, that is about it for breaks.

First the gesso is made by adding whiting to melted glue, then this has to be stirred in fashion that leaves no air bubbles in the mixture. After the gesso is applied in 15 thin layers on to the panel with drying time inbetween. I made 14 panels so it was pretty busy. This is second step in the process, after they are dried I have yet to sand but that is not so laborious. The kitchen was a mess but I am very happy with my achievement for today. Not so arty but very necessary for my future projects!

Day One: Fabric Book Bag

2012-01-06T14:38:00.000-08:00

So, I have taken on this crazy task of painting, drawing or making something every day in order to challenge my creativity and basically stop being lazy. I constantly whinge about not working enough, not making enough, waisting my time so with new year, new start. I found out about this type of projects by a fluke and thought why not.

So day one: book bag, found a template in a magazine. Looked like fun and will improve my skills with the sawing machine. As I photographed it quite late in the evening the picture is not the best but will re-photograph in daylight soon. Some blue cotton, few strands of silk sari yarn (can be found in knitting shops) and few machine embroidered birds. Voila! happy with that.