Inklins

A friend of mine calls these "inklins". It's a form of doodling that's very addictive.

Recently she suggested a swap, and these are my contribution to it. Each "inklin" measures 4 x 4 inches. They've been doodled on watercolour paper, using a Pigma pen. Two of the backgrounds have been coloured using a watercolour pencil.

What is it?

Okay, I'll give you a clue. It was taken on a Sunday afternoon visit to Western Plains Zoo. I love the pattern in it...it's an echidna, or Spiny Anteater, the Australian equivalent of a porcupine.



Meanwhile, there was some nest building going on in another quarter...

And this is a Diamond Firetail, native to this area - the Western Plains of New South Wales. Isn't he handsome?
There's a gorgeous flash of scarlet wherever he flies. No wonder it's called a Firetail.

Jan's Birthday Present

Back in January, I started making a bookcover. I finished it today as a birthday present for my friend, Jan. She's recently started sketching and painting, and the cover fits an A5 size sketchbook. The sandwiched fabric has been quilted with straight machine stitching, using a blue embroidery thread, a gold thread and a metallic purple thread. I then added some beads by hand, and finished the edges with satin stitch by machine.



I sat and did this at the art group I've been invited to join, while the others sketched a group of bottles placed on the table in front of them. I learnt a lot about using charcoal and oil pastels as I watched and chatted with them, but I don't think I'll be trying to sketch anytime soon! The colours and shapes of the bottles were pretty though, so I took a photo instead...

Experiments

I've been experimenting with ideas for Artist Trading Pins and thought I'd share some of the results.

Ages ago, I got hold of some brass shim, which I wanted to have a go at stitching into. In the book "Paper, Metal, Stitch", there are some ideas for using it and some looked as though they could make rather nice ATPs. So I decided it was time to have a go. This is the result of my first try. The background is silk paper (yes I know, I obviously have a "thing" about blue!). The shim was heated over the flame of the gas stove to colour it, and then machine stitched. It has possibilities, I think.



In the book, there's a suggestion for colouring parts of the metal with nail varnish. So, I went and bought the cheapest I could find and had a play. The light green blobs are too big, and the purply ones are too hard to find, but this idea also has possibilities. Maybe I also need to buy nail varnish that costs more than $3 a bottle, of course!


This is another thing I've been "going to" try for ages. I took some fabric that already had some thick threads machine couched onto it, cut it into triangles, wrapped it around a thick knitting needle and painted it with Mod Podge. It makes interesting beads...although they're probably not quite stiff enough. Maybe I need to paint them with Mod Podge again?



Hmmm...what can I play with next?