DVD REVIEW: MAKING YOUR MARK WITH CLAIRE BENN & LESLIE MORGAN

If you want to take up surface design but don't want to buy every book and DVD out there (er, does that sound like me?!), buy Making Your Mark.  Sorry scrap that.  Forget the reasons, just rush to Amazon or Claire and Leslie's website and buy this book.  You won't regret it, not for a single infinitesimal moment,  Yep I love it!

DVD REVIEW: EXPRESSION SESSION WITH ALICIA BURKE

This is a Quilting Arts Workshop DVD.  It costs $19.95 and is 62 minutes long.  The link is here.  

Subtitled making vivid mixed-media fabric, they may as well call it, playtime for those of us who can't really paint.  Using acrylic paint, fabric paint sprays and shoe polish for goodness sake, Alicia swipes, stamps and dribbles paint across the surface of the fabric or paper she is working on.  Clearly a 'more is more fun' sort of girl, she aims to get as many techniques on the surface as possible.  

For those who are looking to get into mixed media or just colouring the fabric surface, this is an easy way to do so.  There is nothing she shows you that takes any fancy tool or any great skill, in fact the skill may be in when to shout "ENOUGH!".

I really enjoyed this DVD.  I have been inspired to just grab a doily off the cake stand and spray a bit of paint through it.  And finally, thank goodness, someone has shown me a fun way to use shoe polish!

Thai Massage

Well at least you will be under no illusions as to how sickening the masseuse will look!

BIRTHDAY BOY BAZ

What do you get a coffee addict for his birthday?

What can it be?

Latest on Unc!

I have been asked for an update on Unc, and I have been scratching my head for stories that are repeatable, or rather, won't get him into trouble with my aunt, should she happen across this post!

Unc likes railway models.  He restores old toy trains.  Actually I'm not sure if technically they are toys, since it appears to be grown men who spend hundreds of pounds on them.  Maybe I should call them models!  He also makes those set ups, where a train track is built into an interesting environment.  I am sure you know what I mean.

He has been working on a couple of such set ups, which are often used for various shows.  He builds the models, moulds figures to go with the set up etc.  This is a model he has made recently.

Fabric Dyeing

I spent last week dyeing fat quarters, about 72 if my maths are correct.   I am so pleased with my new stash!  Oh, and the fabric is sitting on a large piece of fabric that I dyed when I lived in Africa, which I now use to cover my print table when it isn't in use.

Print Paste

Alternative studio, aka the top of the dishwasher!

You know I thought the hardest part of doing surface design was going to be getting the table set up.  Actually I didn't think that would be hard.  Hum, I should have thought about that as I blithely set about trying to make my print paste. Okay, maybe I should roll back a step and explain print paste.

I want to print, draw, stamp etc on fabric, using dyes rather than fabric paint.  In order to do this the dye powder must be turned first into liquid, and then thickened up, which is where the print paste comes in.  If you don't thicken the dye, it will of course run all over the place, not hold shapes or marks and just, well dye the fabric with a big splodge (which may be what you are trying to achieve anyway).

I used what appears to be the standard print paste recipe.  First I made the chemical water.  This consists of two optional chemicals, ludigol and metaphos, neither of which I could get hold of, so it was a good job they were optional!  The non optional element is urea.  That's sheep's piss to you and me!  This stops the dyes from drying out too quickly.  This is mixed approximately 1 lire of warm water to 100g Urea.