After another tidy up of the craft corner I have set myself a challenge - to use up some of this collection. The main issue I have is that I don't want to waste things... I don't want to use this really nice stuff and make something not worthy. I guess it's a confidence thing.
We used to go on a class trip with A-Level Textiles to an embroidery and textile show at the Harrogate show grounds. This was basically a room filled with silks, beads, wools, felt, ribbons, buttons... A crafters heaven! We went just before we started our practical coursework to get a collection of materials. I then went again after A Levels and had no reason to buy anything, not that that stopped me!
One of my favourite stalls was Oliver Twists, a company that dyes silks and wool with stunning colours. Now I'm sure I've looked for them on the Internet before and there was no website, but I did a quick google and found them on Etsy! Great for them, not great for my purse if my willpower gives out! I bought an experimental pack, containing abaca tissue, silk throwsters waste, carrier rods and a selection of threads, and two lucky bags, full of random goodies.
These were my starting point. I had a lot of fun making this necklace for my Etsy store and I haven't really done anything like it since. I had an afternoon and two days off so put them to good use, entirely devoted to crafting! Thinking about how to tackle my stash, I decided to just go mad and see what happens, as all the lovely stuff is more of a waste sitting in the cupboard where no one can see it.
My results:
Garden
Inspired by the view from my kitchen window! Some random plants in a giant planter. I used voile to make the flowers, again a selection pack of various colours. I used seed beads in the centres. These were then fixed to a felt background on to which I had couched some silk throwsters waste. And then added some beading and hand embroidery.
The Finished Necklace
Stormy Sea
I started this when the weather changed from the ridiculous sunshine to the kind of grim clouds. This was part of an experimental pack in 'Oil Slick' and a raid on other parts of my collection. I wanted it to be in waves but it didn't really turn out like that, more straight lines! I machine stitched down some fabrics and ribbons to start the lines. Then to fill in the gaps I couched some silk throwsters waste, straight stitched textured embroidery threads and beaded. I added two buttons to secure the ribbon fastening.
Clouds
This is a collection of felt, beads and embroidery threads. I used freehand machine embroidery on the black felt, people do amazing things with FHME, I just like to do swirly patterns :) I hand stitched embroidery thread around the edges of the light grey and then used tiny seed beads on the other grey, this came from one of the lucky bags, it's actually grey with hints of purples and blue and has a nice texture to it. I then used some coloured copper wire to create some rain drops
I've had a great few days, it's been a treat to just make things, just to play around and do something different!
