Serendipity and jars

It has been quite a while since I posted.  During that time I have been having a clear out of my wardrobe and drawers then stripping down all the fabric that is recyclable. This gave me a huge pile of fabric and so led me to create and make a lot of bag totes. They will be posted in the future.

I have also been to Rome so a lot of images to process and I have at last finished my audio-visual of Paris.  I have also made a small start on my Paris textile project. Busy, busy

After I finished my Venice project, I decided I needed to use up some of my serendipity papers and fabrics.  These are created by using paper and fabric pieces as 'mop ups'. I never rinse away paint or inks from my brushes, I wipe them on the paper or fabric.  Then I put them into water and wipe them again on the paper and fabric. I keep doing this until there is no colour left.  I do have a number of pieces of paper and fabric for this and try to use them in colour ranges.  They give some wonderful coloured papers and fabric pieces as you will see in the items I made using them.




 This is a book cover.  It began as the holder for the food on a flight to America.  It was printed but it was lined with a fibre which gave it strength.  I used it to wipe my paint brushes until it was completely covered.  As it was too big for the book I was covering, the piece I cut off became a fastener for the book.  I used a small piece of velcro to close and applied a paper cast of a key for decoration.  Most of the paints on this are metallic but the image here looks a bit dull.  It is actually more vibrant.

This is a notelet pad cover.  The centre image of the cover is a printed image of a Da Vinci  sketch.  It is printed on  metal shim and then embossed. The frame around this embossed shim is a piece of serendipity hand-made paper. These are mounted onto pelmet vilene which was first colour washed then sponged with the colours of the paper frame.










This too is a notelet pad cover.  The front is a piece of hand-made paper which had a leaf spray embedded into it.  It was coloured by wiping my brush onto it as explained above.  Silver leaf sequins were applied.  It was mounted onto pelmet vilene which was first colour washed then stamped with a leaf spray and finally silver transfer foil applied.













This was another piece of serendipity hand-made paper which had a spray of leaves embedded into it.  It was colour washed on the reverse and folded in half. Printer paper was cut and colour washed then stitched into the folded cover.A length of dyed narrow knitted ribbon was used to close the booklet.

Another piece of serendipity hand-made paper folded to make a notelet cover.  Pink printer paper was spritzered with ink and stitched into the cover.  A little bird charm was attached for decoration and a length of yarn which had the same colours as the cover holds the booklet closed.














This piece of serendipity hand-made paper was folded and decorated with a paper cast of a feather.  It was glued to pelmet vilene.  The pelmet vilene was colour washed with similar colours to those of the paper front.  It was then stamped with the feather stamp which had been used to make the paper cast.

This book began as a scrap piece of white satin.  I had used it as a mop up for silk paints and sometimes metallic paint.  When I felt that there was enough colour in the fabric, it was ironed.  I made a stencil of a poppy-seed head.  This was stencilled right across the fabric. The stencilled poppy heads were also highlighted.  Next I machine quilted around the poppy heads onto a piece of wadding.  I cut a piece of pelmet vilene to be the cover of an A5 size book.








This was another piece of the serendipity satin fabric.  This one was decorated with partially stencilled oak leaves.  They were quilted onto colour washed and stencilled pelmet vilene.  Knitted viscose ribbon was machined in stripes over the surface. More ribbon was used to close the book.
 











These three pocket booklets were made using serendipity silk fabric.  They were free machine quilted onto colour washed pelmet vilene. They were further embellished with sequins and beads. Dyed viscose ribbon was used to close two of the booklet  and a crocheted chain stitch ribbon for the booklet on the left.











When I had used up some of my serendipity papers and fabrics I decided to expand on the altering of jars or bottles.  I had completed one of these for the Venice project and had collected more decorative jars to alter.





This jar was painted  with black gesso then cut outs of oak leaves were stuck to the surface and also painted with black gesso.  I then used an interference paint to colour the leaves and the decoration in the glass around the bottom. I hung a leaf charm on a chain around the neck of the jar.









This glass jam jar was covered with molding paste and flower paper casts applied and embedded onto either side.  It was painted with metallic paint and the flower paper casts highlighted with gold gilding wax.  A chain of charms was hung around the neck.









This jar was painted with black gesso then using a glue gun I spread shapes across the surface, then spread a web of fine glue across this surface. More black gesso was applied followed by the interference paint to obtain the green colouring.  The glue was finger highlighted with gold gilding wax.











This jar was also covered with molding paste.  Paper casts of keys were applied around the jar.It was all painted with bronze metallic paint and the keys highlighted with gold gilding wax.  Key charms were strung around the neck on a chain.  The inside of the jar was painted with black gesso.







The inside and outside of this empty tartare sauce jar were painted with black gesso.  Paper casts of clock faces were glued onto the sides.  The jar was then painted with bronze metallic paint.  Small clock face charms were strung around the neck from a chain.









There are a few more serendipity pieces but I think this post is long enough for today.
I have also been indulging in my art quilting so there are a large number of them waiting to be posted too.

Cheers for now.