19 January, 2013

 On Thursday night, my work area looked like this:
 But I also received my shipment of 4 rolls of heat n bond that arrived from the US (4 rolls + shipping= about $5 more than buying one roll here), so I've been tidying up to get back to something a little more manageable.

Then I began to use that heat n bond and trace out lots of animals ready to be made up some time this week.   I had to roll them into little bundles to keep all the bits together.

And I began to work on a new design that I started doing some sketches for the other night.
 My Australian family always comments that I am lacking in making Australian animals.  I think, for me, I worry about doing something very cliched, and I try to steer away from images that are "done to death".   I like to find images of animals in interesting positions.  Positions where their strange feet show, or where I can focus on the different colouring/contouring in their faces.  I think I must have looked at 20 pictures of koala feet to work them out (they have 2 opposable fingers/thumbs).  There is a very fine line between a true representation of an animal and something that is a) doable on a machine and b) aesthetically pleasing.


Here he is just cut out and placed (not yet ironed or stitched which is why the nose is curling up a bit).  I'm not sure about the black eyes, nor whether or not I will use the claws I cut out (not shown).
 I am really lacking in certain fabric colours at the moment.  I had a fantastic wool in dark grey with nice white flecks (would have been perfect for the ears) but that's run all the way down to very small bits.  Very hard to find wool fabrics here, which is what I prefer to work with.  I wash them in hot water to felt them a bit first and they are lovely and firm and have such a nice textural quality.  I used to be able to find fantastic off cuts in my local thrift store in the US...along with bits of velvet etc.

3 comments:

  1. I really should take some photos of the garage when it is in in a glass box making mode (possibly from next month if it starts to cool down a bit) so you can appreciate what a real committed(?) work space really looks like...good to see a Koala making the grade at last....but back to your work room, it is good to see that you have made it looked lived in in a relatively short period of time, in another few months it should really feel at home...what time of the year is the closest to "winter"?
    love
    Dad

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  2. Winter is now, but winter really just means wetter; it rained all day yesterday. I can't make my space too lived in as it is also Ella's bedroom.

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  3. Maybe I could send some woollen bits with your birthday pressie - what colours do you want? I've probably got some bits and peices here too. love mum xxx

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