A Blast from the Past

We decided to have a clear out in our loft including my old City and Guilds [embroidery] college work and I came across these two Christmas cards in a file. The spikes were made with wide gold ribbon I think although I cannot remember how I made it. I think they maybe called Prairie points. The green card is only about 3" high.

Another item I came across were these earrings which I quite like although I don't wear earrings so I won't be wearing them. Goldwork - beads, cord net.

I rather liked this little poppy picture, hand painted fabric and embroidery

Another card, also handpainted fabric and embroidery.

Another picture with various textures and embroidery

And this textured tree which has now gone with the rubbish collection today. Layered leaves, wool was used for the grass.

I did get rid of quite a bit of stuff, mainly files with paper, samples and lots of empty boxes.

All that Glitters [Handmade Book] final pages

gold fabric, fancy gold braid, textured and painted metal [puree tube - see Tuesdays post], wide metal braid with large sequins [vintage]

layered fabrics - gold and a sheer speckly fabric, between the fabrics are a section of diamonds [probably not genuine], a shisha mirror surrounded by gold beads, part of an earring with a red gem, on top of the fabrics - metal Indian decoration and a bag charm with beads and metal butterfly

this is the back cover, it is a metallic fabric

I used a book binding technique with a gold braid to keep the pages together, not too neat I'm afraid

and that is the end of this book

All That Glitters [Handmade Book] part 3

Gold foil chocolate covers, the one with the writing and building is from a blogging friend in Russia, Masha, she has a lovely crazy quilt circle on her blog today. On top is a patch of metallic braids and threads. Each braid/thread was wrapped around a rectangular metal frame and when most of the spaces were filled I stitched over them with the sewing machine, then it was cut from the frame. [the frame was made from one of those old fashioned metal coat hangers] 

More of the puree metal, notice the different colours. Gold trim and recycled jewellery.

The silver page. Four milk bottle tops [probably vintage now!], cup cake wrapper, painted plastic shapes, braids, tassel, string beads, sequins, beads, ball chain, sequin waste, Indian embroidery decoration, silver fabric.

More puree metal, the centre was cut out and there is gold fabric underneath, stitched. Tattered braid, beads.

Puree metal, moon embroidery [not stitched by myself]

Woven puree metal, stitched in place.

All That Glitters [Handmade Book] part 2

Continuing from yesterday. On this page there are gold ribbons, three Chinese lucky coins, more tomato puree metal textured pieces machine stitched, two metal moons attached with gold beads, two discs metal.

On this page is a beautiful piece of fabric I acquired from a friend, I think it was part of a garment. The flowers are quite raised up and have a velvety feel and in between them are circles of machine embroidery in gold thread. There is also a satin type of stitch in the same thread.

The purple sequin fabric is holding a buckle, the fabric is held down with bugle beads and decorative trim. a gold button and chains hang down from one side.

A woven piece made from a lot of the metallic trims I have. To do this I just used masking tape to hold the ends down on a work surface while I wove it [it is a bit tricky and fiddly]. Then I machine stitched the woven trims to the fabric and then trimmed them near to the stitching to neaten the edge [without cutting through the background fabric].

The black flower with the copper sequins was from a t-shirt sample design I did years ago.  The other flower  has a two layers of metal [puree tubes again], machine stitched, beads on fabric which I cut from another old sample, ball like trim, leaf charm. Under the flowers is a fancy trim and four rows of sequins in different colours.

Metal sheet - puree tube with lots of different textures and painted with green and red paint, mostly removed. Machine stitched. The attachment is a recycled earring.

All That Glitters - Fabric Journal

Another fabric book finished, this one was made to use up some of my stash of metallic and glittery bits and bobs. All that glitters is definitely not gold in this case. I've attached a beaded tassel from the bottom and there are a few other dangly bits [earring parts and metal beads] along the spine.

On the front I've used a gold fabric, on top is some textured glittery fabric, punched metal, star and a recycled belt buckle attached with faux gold leather.

On the inside cover a piece of turquoise Sari fabric embroidered with metal threads and sequins. This has been stitched under a sheer glittery fabric and sections have been cut out to show some of the embroidery.

The book is 7 inches square and the inner pages are calico. I painted around the edges to try and stop them from fraying.

On this page I have stitched six metal squares of different textures with a piece of vintage embroidered goldwork on top.

The metal is from recycled tomato puree tubes and is very soft to work with. Cut both ends off, cut through the remainder to make a flat sheet, give it a good wash and you are ready to go. Be careful though, they can be very sharp as well as messy. I punched holes in one, gouged lines in two, put a piece thru a wavy paper crimper, bashed one with a hammer and also pressed a metal stamp into it [this doesn't show up very well]. Then they were painted with black acrylic paint then wiped to remove most of it.

This is the 'animal' page. The rodent at the top of the page is cut from some painted leather [still a bit furry] and a metal bead for an eye. The tortoise is made from gold leather with square sequins and a bead for an eye. The bird is made up of goldwork samples I did years ago for a City and Guilds Embroidery. here are also some insect beads and cute little mouse beads [love those].

Buttons - more metal from tomato puree tubes. I've been saving these for years! And they can be different shades which makes it more interesting. There is ribbon down the sides of the last two pages, they seemed smaller than the other pages so I put it on to make them the same size.

Click on the images to enlarge.

Goldwork Sample

C&G sample of goldwork using a variety of threads, braids, beads, sequins, leather, fabrics, net etc