Exciiiiiting!!

Oh wow it is great to finally feel excited about something! I am so excited today and there's no way depression is going to steal it.

                                                                  So what is so exciting??

Pulp Redux goodness is that exciting!

This morning 4 out o5 parts of my Labyrinth book arrived back home. Wow! It's been globe trotting since 2010 and it's so wonderful to hold it in my hands again and too feel the joy flowing from it.

Not only that I was blessed enough to recieve 'something to inspire me' from Lisa Jurist.

Am I lucky today or what? 

No peeks just yet of my book. Us 5 ladies have a collaborative exhibtion coming up this May on the Virtual Tart website plus other wonderful things up our creative sleeves. I don't want to be spoiling any surprises!

Another thing causing me to get all up and happy is this...

The  Art House Co-op has this free project on offer to anyone keen. It's called The Photo Response Project. You can see it here. The aim is too create a 6x4 artwork in any medium that is a response to one of the five photos that they've offered. Currently I am leaning toward the door photo but the rippled water also has me thinking too...

Watch this space:)

Butterfly Effect

The butterfly effect is a collaborative project being hosted by Trudi Sissions of Two Dresses Studios. I stumbled across it when Seth Apter, Lisa Jurist and Kim Palmer posted butterflies that they'd made on their blogs and decided to jump on in.

I thought a butterfly would be easy...but I was wrong! It should have been easy but I kept over- complicating it. I tried loads of different combinations, layouts and colours and hours later (literally hours!) it suddenly occurred to me- stick to what I know!

So....

I started my design with a nest!

Recycled, red electrical wire, beads, cotton string, cotton doily scrap shaped into a nest...bliss!!

FYI:  Lisa J also makes stunning wire nests! See here for just a few of hers. I have a feeling wire nests could be very addictive!

Red wire practically begs to be shaped into a heart!

My butterfly. Recycled beads, fabric, lace, recycled plastic netting and wire.

I think a nest is a perfect addition to the butterfly, not just because it is very 'me' but because the project is about the holocaust and the great cost children paid. Those children needed and deserved a nest made of love and comfort but what they got was in stark contrast. My nest is symbolic of the one they should have had and symbolic of the inner beauty of each child who suffered in the terrible holocaust.

This butterfly will flitter it's way over to Trudi and eventually find itself in an exhibition of butterflies to remember the children affected by the holocaust. To read more about the project or take part in it visit Trudi's blog.  There's loads of time left to play.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post about the birds. Sadly Ang joined Ash in birdie heaven. I don't know why, he/she was chirping away all day and ate eagerly so it was a sad surprise to find him dead in the morning! I trust mother nature knows best...

Coming soon...my 400th post! This is post 396 so I better put my thinking cap on and think of something special to celebrate the big 4-0-0 with!

International Kindness Day- November 13...no kidding, there is a international date dedicated to kindess!

ICE collage #2...currently a work in progress:)

3 things...

Thing 1:
Oh, I need a  picture of thing 1 and thing 2! Never mind! Thing 1 on my list is the giveaway!
Congrats to... ....drum rolll please.....JASMINE of Nature's Whispers! Jasmine won my Blog Action Day giveaway of a Water themed fabric collage. Congrats! It will be on it's way to you soon.

Water themed fabric collage from 99% recycled fabrics.

Thing 2:
I signed up for LaWendula's ephemera swap...and here's what I am sending her.

Fabric bits (lace, vintage lace flower, teeny-tiny daisies...) Paper bits ( hand made paper,nest lino print, vintage cigarette cards, bird book pages...) Odds and ends (Round discs from an old kids game, hero buttons, bottle cap, brads...) The butterflies are fabric and cut out from the print of an old pajama top. Too beautiful for the rag bag! I made the card (with the bird of course!)  from an old photo album page, cigarette card, fabric and papers all either recycled or gifted to me.This will all be on there way to Eliza from Druga Szesnascie very soon.

Thing 3:
It's PULP REDUX! I spent 5 blissful hours buried in the pages of Kim's book yesterday and my final page is not only 99% finished the whole lot is all glued into place in the book. Wahoo! This book is being posted to Debrina's .
Here's a sneak peek of what I did...

My representation of the British flag. I opshop trawled for months looking for the right image for Kim's book. I found souvenir tea towels, scarves and tablecloths from nearly every country but Britain! In the end I conceded and stitched something instead. You know what I will find now I now longer need it don't you? haha.

 

It's been very productive in the land of Pulp Redux lately. Alicia has finished her stunning pages in my book....

A small part of Alicia's contribution to my Labyrinth book.

Artwork and photo by Alicia Caudle.

Lisa Jurist has also been working on pages for Alicia's book "The museum of forgotten things." There are fabulous peeks on her blog and you can see all the work Alicia's done in my book here. It's a bit of a maze to find it all...Alicia decided to keep in with the theme when she posted!

Next post....The big reveal!

Roots-Beneath the layers

Page 1. This page is joined to the back of the last page Lisa did. You can see all of Lisa's fantastic work in this book here. You really don't want to miss it! Her cover has the word 'Roots' and the next page said ' beneath the layers' so I made them part of a sentence by adding ' I see beauty.' Lisa's words are ofcourse the books theme. My first page is a collage of 2nd hand beads, my handmade beads, mutton cloth (thicker than cheese cloth) bits of cut up doily and threads. I still don't know what the red disc thing is! I hope what ever it was from still works without it!

Page 2. One of Lisa's pages features a vintage photo of her Grandmother. This page reflects the era I imagine she came from. A time when things were re-used and re-purposed and no-one thought anything of it because it was the way of life at the time.  Lisa also said her Grandmother didn't get to travel, now we can say she's been to New Zealand! I really love this page, it appeals to the romantic in me!

Page 3. This is stitched to the back of page 2. The white book (formerly the scroll) is able to be full removed from the page and then opened to reveal...a 2 and a half page fabric book! All the shades of brown have been made by dying the fabric with coffee, tea or onions skins. The string around the nest was dyed with real nest dye (sorry, it's a little hard to see that here.)

Page 4 reveals another removable book and that seriously cool rusted bottle cap. A nice little piece of Kiwiana! I have 4 caps sitting in cups on my window sill as I type and I am doing an intentional rust experiment using eco-friendly source. Watch this space if you want to know how that goes!

The book is removed to reveal a pocket and a quote and then opened to reveal another page. This page (as you may remember) was created in collaboration with a bird! I used the non-organic parts of a nest that the kids and I found. The nest was beautiful but when its layers were revealed the true makings of this nest were actually a sad reflection on the environment it was made in. It revealed that although we see rubbish a bird sees as good nest making materials...and I eventually came to see it as good collage making material!

I worked on quite a literal interpretation of Lisa's theme and now my part is done. Soon another artist will be having their turn and the journey will continue. Thanks for being part of chapter 2 with me!

A sneak peek... (or is it a tease?)

It's with a sigh of both satisfaction and relief that I can finally say...I'm FINISHED!!Chapter 2 of my part in the Pulp Redux Collaboration is done. I've been sewing, sewing and sewing these last few days. Every time I thought I was finished something else would show itself, something that had to be there, something that belonged. They say that ignorance is bliss, I often told myself the same thing over the last few months that I have spent on these pages. Usually when I'd decided to do 'just one more thing' and then quickly realised that 'one more thing' was leading to just one more...but that is the way it is with creativity. With flow. With ambition. I really wanted to push myself with these pages. Working in fabric, bead making, dying with onion skins and making dye from a nest. All new things to me. I was so in awe of Lisa J's work that I wanted to honour her art and her theme by giving it my all and despite the sore fingers I've loved doing it! As it so often happens when you push yourself you find that there is a little more there, a lesson learnt and a new self discovery to be made. The rewards are big!
So without further ado...and before it starts to sound like I am accepting an Emmy,lol, here's a sneaky peek at how the finished pages look.

End view of the closed (not litteraly!) book. The book is made from a vintage photo album. The top half of the photo shows Lisa's work. I love how they mingle as one.

The side views. Delicious layers of fibre and thread! The wooden part on the top is Lisa's work, she used parts of a cuckoo clock. How clever is that??

Please click Lisa's blog link and the Pulp Redux link in my side bar to see what else has been going on in the Pulp Universe!

Pretty much everything you see here was either found, gifted to me or bought in a second hand shop.

I'm not even sure what the red disc below is...I found it on the floor while vacumning!

I love how the lace below used to be someone elses net curtains...they look like they were made for this book!

Found roofing nail caps and 'pearls' from Spain. A beautiful partnership! I recieved a broken pearl necklace from the artist that I did my first ever AB swap with. They're here to represent Lisa's Grandmother ( I will explain that later!) The thick string is the only new ingrediant I bought in this whole spread. Gotta love recycling!

That adorable heart was sent to me by Danit (from NZ mail art) I only recieved it yesterday...who knew I needed that? Love it when it works out like that! She gave me a whole bunch of other cool things too and one of her own collages. Thanks Danit!

And just one more.....

Would you believe that's not even all of the photos I took?

Watch this space for the next post, I will reveal all soon!

Pulp Redux Update

I've been busy in my little corner of the globe with Lisa J's book. Mostly it's been 'fine tuning' things that I have already done, tidying a scruffy corner and adding an extra detail here and there. Stuff that can't really be seen but makes the whole thing better. Small is big.

I found a Tui beer bottle cap on the footpath in Opunake. Originally the caps are bright red but this one was wonderfully squashed and rusted. I knew as soon as I found it that it was perfect for Lisa's book!

The biggest change I made was to the layout. My scroll is no longer a scroll, I opened it flat, made a fabric cover for it and turned it into a book that can be removed. Unfortunately I didn't photograph the cover(!) of it but you can see the opened book below. The brown book sits on top and is removed to reveal a 2nd removable book. The scroll is now the page. I did this to make my final page less bulky but I think it looks better too. The white fabric it all sits on is now stitched to the red fabric and the cover.

Since I took these pics I've also made most of the back cover/page and started stitching it all down. The spread is now 2 double sided pages joined in the middle with a fabric spine. I've never used fabric before but now I can't imagine not using it! We're all aiming for Feb 22nd to have our books ready to post and then the next round can begin. The next time I post my book pages here they'll be finished so watch this space!
To keep updated with Pulpy Happenings please visit the Pulp Redux blog.

Pulp Redux Update # 3 Lisa J's book.

I have been on a roll these last few days! Today's been especially great, not only did I get lots of time to work on Lisa Jurist's book I also got my nest paper made and attempted to turn my bark into some sort of useable pigment. I got it to dust stage but as with the nest dye and kowhai dye the resulting wash is very pale when dry even though the liquid is not! I need to do some further investigation and work out why this is, the colour will be fantastic if I can pull it off!
Thankfully the nest paper was quite successful, I havn't photographed it yet so that will have to be another post. I have however photographed the work I did on Lisa's book! Here it is below...

Above is the closse up of the embellishement below. I didn't make the embellishement today, it was made last week and was patiently waiting for me to work out where it was meant to go!

The embellishement is a bit like a small book. It has a pocket on the front which can hold a small item but dosn't just yet:)  I've used my own paper beads (the text one says 'see') as well as tea dyed fabric, a found roofing nail cap, ribbon and various bits of recycled fabric. I am really pleased with the difference the red makes to the page and have added it to the first page I did as well.I still need to trim the lace and fabric behind this piece but the embellishement is done. You can see the 'page' inside it below.

The fabric bundle the small book sits on is actually another fabric book! The book is able to be taken out of the spread completely. I love things that can move and be played with!

The cover of the book opens to reveal a lace pocket with a poetry quote..

...and the next page of the book reveals a fabric collage made from 'nest dye' fabric and cotton wool soaked in 'nest dye.' I baked the cotton wool in the oven .Sewn to the top layer are non-organic items found in the nest I took apart (technically known as rubbish to us humans!) to make the dye. It was sad to find this stuff inside the nest. There was actually a lot of it, including plastic and ciggerette butts. Poor bird! My inclusion of these items isn't meant to be a negative statement however, I have simply carried on the recycling process the bird started. He or she thought they were useful and pretty enough to put in their home so why not on the pages of a book? I didn't know it when I picked it up in the car park but finding this nest has resulted in a collaboration with a bird!

For anyone who missed it, Lisa's book theme is "Roots, beneath the Layers.' I wrote above that  I was carrying on a process but as it turns out I've quite literally followed that theme and I've only just realised!

Funny how things turn out!

Nature Experiments and a little bit of photography.

Unopened Fennel flower.

I am in such a FANTASTIC space right now that I hope these pixels turn into little bubbles of enthusiasim and POP all over you!

Spider's nest in the the weeds.

I resolved to participate more on the NING art groups that I belong to and this month's challenge could have been written just for me- to create mixed media paintings from natural and organic substances. Flower dyes, tree bark pigments, vegetable dyes...you get the idea.Everything about this is perfect...except for the painting bit, which as I have mentioned previously is not really 'good' with me right now but I've decided to feel the fear and do it anyway!  I have to get over this painting slump and what more exciting and inspiring way could I find that with the real colours of nature?

I was thinking about the next part I want to do for Lisa J's Pulp Redux book this morning when thoughts of the Ning swap entered my mind and suddenly I had a huge brain wave. Here's a sneak peak of where I am heading....

This nest was gifted to me by Mother Nature just in time for Christmas. It was the most wonderful nest and there's a bit of story to go with it which I will share later. Sadly, when I said 'was' the most wonderful nest I mean this nest has since 'passed on' and is no longer intact. It was dismantled by a cat and left in tatters on the front step. Stink one!

I kept it's pieces because I didn't have the heart to just throw it in the compost and now I am so glad I didn't! Here's what I did...

I took it apart and soaked it in hot water, sieved it and let it settle. It's now a nest coloured dye!Wahoo!

I didn't even see that brain wave coming!

I've been playing around with the dye and I will be sharing a bit more about that on another post too.

All that remains of the nest's remains....washed, chopped and dried nest pieces ready for inclusion in some paper making. I can't wait!

 I was actually sad to pull this nest apart even though it was well thrashed by the cat (not my cat I hope!!) who could no doubt smell the remains of the eggs I found inside. It was still a thing of beauty but it was disentegrating quickly outside and I am quite pleased it has this new life. It was quite an intimate thing pulling apart a nest with my hands, letting the nest dye run over my fingers and feeling the soft textures of it as I readied the bits for paper making. No wonder I am inspired!

We are camping for a few days tomorrow, I have some little bags ready for the nature gifts I hope to find while were there. I will *see* you all when I get back!