Angelina fibres and Needle Felting =)
Last week Claire started me on to something new, adorable and fun.
plus
Do you know how to make such things? I had an idea after seeing it done at Harrogate Stitch and Knit but figured it had to be trickier than it appeared.
All it needed was a sheet of freezer paper, angelina, an iron and ironing board ! And then sequins, ribbon, lace, yarn and whatever else for embellishing.
this is foil-y eyelash yarn!
It all works like a sparkly sandwich…
Just lay out some angelina fibres (I do it quite thinly, Claire does it little thicker, but neither of us use much)
Fold over the freezer paper
Iron
Unfold paper
Lay down some ribbon, lace, sequins… NICE FINGS.
Lay a fine layer of angelina
Fold over the freezer paper
Iron
Unfold
DONE!
Except… then Claire showed me how to needle felt, and felt in to angelina!
oooooooooooooooo!
So, angelina + felt =
and the back?
And it’s really a brilliant, un pricey thing! The needles (huge things!) were two for £1.50ish, the bags of felt and angelina cost not much more than that per colour and £2.something for a cocktail of colours!
And… I made a couple of ladybirds!
First
and then
Two is larger than One, because I couldn’t remember how much felt I had used for ladybird One, and so One has tiny, happy button eyes and lives with Claire and Two has big green bead eyes and lives with me =D
Later, mooore felting and some sewing and free machining =)
Starting new books and Breaking Boarders.
SO! I finally started a book I was given for Christmas =) It was from lovely Carol and is beautiful.
On the first page, something I read on the first page one of my sister’s book… way back when she was in comprehensive school… chaned the name of course =)
Lots to add and lots to do…
I have a few more pages started but shh! 
And at class a week before last Claire had me making a foldy bewk =)
(at the top of the list is rock star)
and
the covers are up cycled from a couple of unsure attempts of pictures from months back =)
Okay, a lesson for you to learn in arts and craft:
On Saturday I had a fantastic day with friends. It started when we met up and started searching for the venue of the event we wanted to attend. From one end of Mansfield Road, to the other, to the center of the street. We checked on the internet for the address of the “Culture Box”. One friend said “It’s at Noel Street” and so off we walked. 20 minutes later another friend rang, “Where are you? It’s not on Noel Street, it’s somewhere near Mansfield Road!” and we walked back, UP HILL to meet my lovely Amy, who had found the venue in MINUTES!
The lesson of the story is that when you nick TWO fliers for an event you want to go to…
…don’t just ruin them for use with image transfer solution, take down the address and number of where you’re going. You know, just so you don’t spend an hour walking in humidity and rain looking for the building.
I don’t know about the friends that walked with me, but I thought it was totally worth it! BBQ, lotsa drumming, dancing, improvised music, laughing, learning some more about circus-y tricks. I’ll try and remember to get some pictures next time =)
Here are some of MarieDrouin’s vibrant pictures from Breakin Boarders a couple of weeks back:
Great times =)
hot damn!
so, we didn’t have class for TWO WHOLE WEEK. So I’ll put here what to do other than craft!
So, I visited the Luminarium (by Architects of Air) at Lakeside Arts Centre. You haven’t been? You should go! Anyway, a Luminarium visits once a year for a week at a time. Last year we got a visit from Levity2 (there is no levity1… I know, I know, don’t ask, I don’t know). My FAVE bit from Levity2 is this ‘ceiling’.
from the outside:
(these pics are borrowed from the architects of air webby)
And, sorry to ruin the magic, this is what it looks like WITH flash:
Look at all the pretty diamonds they piece together! and the dots!
This year we had LevityTHREE (and yet, where’s LevityOne, ay?)
Day one I went with:
Daniel, Amy…
…lovely Zara
Image by Marie Drouin
…and genius Marie who was off taking photographs with her technical camera.
It was 26 degrees that day, even hotter in the inflatable sculpture.
Lovely and relaxing though:]
chillin’, looking up at one of my fave bits of this one
Day TWO:
We posed before going in boats… it was a long queue! We’re boats people.
L-R: Amy, Alberto, Sam, Anna (again!)
Amy : Be a praying mantis!
Anna “what’s a praying mantis?”
Sam”it’s a kind of fish I think”
Me “I’m an evil one with the stuff on the legs who eats the man one”
…and then there’s Alberto’s brilliant ‘praying’ mantis.
Thankyou to Shay Perry from Linby Primary School for his praying mantis obsession, else I might not have known how to pose.
We rowed!
amy and I were purple/lilac pirates in our two person purple/lilac canoe and crashed in to people when we could… only once or twice by accident.
Amy and I sang “Just around the river bend” from Pocahontas and THE song from POTC by Klaus Badelt.
We were speedy and I felt stronggg!
Sammy, Alberto and Amy sang “rock the boat (don’t rock the boat baby)”
After a looooonnnggg wait for Luminarium I really hoped that my beautiful friends would enjoy this thing I’d spent a week trying to convince them to see and over an hour we spent in a queue for. So, I take the billions of pictures as a great response!
through all this amy was having me pose, it was very fun!
then she asked me to look sad, like I would cry. I can cry on demand… as long as I havent had just a brilliant time! So to help the sad thoughts she said “look sad! like you’re going to cry. like a water buffalo died and it’s YOUR fault”
But the intruding camera edging in on my peripheral vision and on my sad thoughts and Amy saying “WAATTTEERRRR BUFFALOOOOO had me laughing til I couldn’t breathe.
moooreee silly smurf coloured poses
we only left when the workers warned us they were closing and about to deflate
Also, we fed geese, ate out
(twice Japanese- this is sweet and sour tofu, once brazilian and twice cake. Mwhahahahah!)
I’d never eaten brazilian food before and by the vibrancy of brazil I was thinking before the restaurant what the food might be like. I had black bean fritters with cashew and peanut paste and salad, Sammy had a meaty curry and Alberto had a prawny curry type dish that was very coconutty and tasted yum! But they had no vegetarian curry option so at home the next day I looked it up and made my own brazil style veg’ curry. Brazilians seem to like two types of meat and two types of sausage all inside one meal… so I did quorn chicken and quorn sausage in my version! Brazilian curry has ginger, lime and coconut as well as curry powder and is very yummy!
Also to pass time there was a Maniere Des Bohemiens album launch! There was a fantastic violin quartet, a sweet band I enjoy called We Show Up On Radar
This and following images by brilliant Marie Drouin!
and… Maniere Des Bohemiens!
These people were also at Sounds on the Downs at Lakeside Arts Centre behind the University, on after a hilarious, brilliant band called Satsuma who most memorably did a cover of “I wanna be like you” from Jungle Book.
Later on it poured with rain at the festival and we had to wait a while, hiding in tents, until we could paddle through huge puddles and find the bus, face paint smudged to hell!
Green Fest:
funnnnnkk
Also I walked the sausage dogs (who are actually cavvies) through sunshine, streams and mud.
… but I crafted too =) LOTS.
And spent money on craft items that have yet to arrive and I’m waiting, excitedly, like a kid before christmas!
… also i bought two pair of handmade earrings, a new release comedy book by Jon Richardson (no relation) and a £1.50 pair of shoes…but we’ll let that go shh!
Mixed media canvas & Studio shoes
Firstly, HELLO! from a rock star wannabe to a real rock star!!! Ms D Thrifty thought you might like that =) I will dig out my alternative tentacles hoodie and maybe sew it and make it look less… well… punk? Sorry but it really is holey baggy (it was my brother’s) and now I know how I should probably fix it =P Then I can wear it again but without fear that it might fall apart =D
Okay! So Queen C (tutor of mixed media canvasses AND art journalling) got us started on a lovely lil’ canvas. And after one lesson this is the result =D
It might look like “WOW! All that in one class!?” because that’s how it feels for me… but an added bit of trivia is that we tend to start the lesson with a nice catch up and chat about our week and a cuppa… so really, look, all that in one session PLUS a lovely big chat! We do good work don’t we =D
Another bit of trivia: Though I could, if I want, shrink down this picture a bit so it fits in the blog better, but I want you to see the size of my hands. I see my hands every day, but I saw this and thought “ooer, tiny!” but then I put my hand to the screen and sadly realised this photo is a ‘actual size’ picture. I’m a bit magic. Like a leprechaun.
This week the canvas turned in to this:
I’m kinda proud of all these layers and the… everything! I luff it! It’s like something finally ‘clicked’. Week ago we each had an A5 piece of card to work with and I was having issues and difficulty with the background anddd the foreground. Ouch. And it felt awkward. But I’m happy with this X-D *happy happy joy joy*
Still not complete but I’m getting there =)
Also we had a stoodio shoe day =D Shoes so dangerous and ouchy that they’re best worn when not standing. Like… when in the studio! We forgot to take pictures though so we’ll be doing it again soon hopefully =D That night I had a spectacularly evily painful cramp in my calf muscle, could the two thing be connected? Maybe I wont stand washing tea cups and stencils while wearing the studio shoes next time- the warning’s in the shoe title!!
Next up, art journalling =)
Sunshine & Art Journalling
Through the keyhole. Whose house is this?
Bill and Ben
I really wanted to add more to Lynn’s white and cream postcard album so with some free time I got to work!
postcard two
three:
Next: Red and Green art Journal for another special Lyn annddd picnic timez =)
Graffiti! I iz well street,blud =]
My friends Heather Towle from Nottinghamshire and Diane Radishat from Seattle were excited to visit New Art Exchange for a graffiti workshop hosted by Oxygen Thievez’s Nathan aka Smallkid.
Here he draws up an example for our friend Anna
First he draws with a finepen Anna’s name, then goes around that line with chunky letter outlines.
Next he goes over that outline with a paint pen and colours in the shapes- no need to be too accurate just yet!
For our eyes only, because I forgot to take more pictures, he showed us how to add more detail- shine, stars, cracks, all cool-looking and very effective.
Here’s my end product:
There were alot of genius kids there (Heather included!!) that sped through their graffiti names and even had time to doodle or draw a monter/ alien creature before the workshop had ended! So I’ll just end my attempt graffiti on this medium/high unfinished note.
=)
my birthday update! (back dated)
twenty threeeeeeeee years old
doing homework and graffiti using knitting old pyjama trousers.
Balloooooooooooooooooooooooooooons
There was a heatwave and it was a lovely day
Alberto & Lily
Sammy
Steve, Amy…
Nick
Ms D Thrifty
NO I haven’t shrunk, but I did take these pictures whilst laying down, sunbathing.
My birthday part two:
Kyla vanilla ice creaming the cakes she made for meeee
99 style cupcakes
strawberries and cream cakes, fudge crispie cakes, lemon zest drizzle cakes, choc’ cherry crispie cakes, cranberry and orange cakes.
and and and non- toxic glitter!!
bestest jelly ever made by kyla
BUBBLLLESSS
Birthday part THREE: art journalling & mixed media canvasses
Cake from Amy D there were stickers TOO!
Birthday part 3.5:
Next to munch cake from Robert!
Full of cake now *flop*
MUSIC! Scanners and Once Upon A Time
Firstly, a pic that reminds me of the brilliant time I had at Ballet Trockadero! Took me ages to grow that facial hair.
On Saturday I’d had 6 hours of rehearsal with the family choir and the family orchestra were sounding freakin’ brilliant, us too =P
warning, LOUD!!
My throat was starting to hurt and Anna (head of our group) told us to drink LOTS of water and don’t talk however, I was due to meet Allanah banana, have lunch and then make our way to Bodega to see Scanners people for the first time in TWO YEARS! There was no way I was going through that gig without grabbing the oppurtunity to belt along to my fave songs!
I forgot to take pics or videos of the gig so here’s a taping from three years ago of Raw (Tom on drums)
I love it but it’s just my favourite thing to hear live- I was knackered Saurday, it had been a long day and I was lacking sleep but I remember going crazy to this song each time I’ve seen/heard it live and Allanah looking at me like I’m daft… not quite as crazy as dancing guy though =)
SO over to Once Upon A Time
ooooooohhhhhh… aaaahhhhh…. I like lights….
Psst, pre show, audience and philharmonic milling in
Voices, high
low voices
Where’s Wally Dad
There were projections, animations (though Cinderella was a bit creepy), a magician who levitated,audience participation and… us! The family orchestra and our Apprentice’s Sauce was grand and had us dancing!
Also I learned that I found cello spinning to look damn cool.
The next entery will be about either… MY BIRTHDAY or progress made in Robert’s Art Journal =)
