Halloween

Specially for Halloween I photographed this art piece of mine (A4) which was made some years ago and was quite significant in the development of my work. It has never been exhibited as I know that not everyone shares my taste for death and its rituals, the macabre and strange. In the Victorian era the only time children were photographed was very often after their death to provide a lasting reminder of them. So many children died in their infancy (as can be seen in any graveyard) and for the parents such a photograph must have been worth the money that was needed to take it (almost always by a professional photographer). I've incorporated some of these on this piece (from a collage sheet from Alpha Stamps), as well as other death related symbolism. This piece is close to my own heart and is on show on a permanent base in my studio. So for today I'm giving it a public showing here and as my blip for today.

Happy Halloween

When we were in Lidl some weeks back I caught sight of these fabulous skulls. As John was with me I decided I couldn't possible behave like a small child and buy one but the call of the skull was strong. So I must admit I made my way back (in quite a panic in case they had all been sold!) and bought one. I then discovered that it could be hung from a hook, you could press a button and the eyeballs would start flashing and bulging and there would be a voice with suitable Halloween curses. What more could anyone want?! It reminded me very much of the Corpse Bride (if you havent' seen this film, go and do so, it's great fun),

So glad I bought one. He (or she) will now take up permanent residence in my studio, hanging from my ceiling as you can see. Didn't manage a picture of the action, as the flashing interfered with my focus as did the fact it started to turn around, but I reckon this is scary enough!!

It's a good thing no-one else walks past this window as I managed to scare myself while feeding the birds and looking back!

All Hallows' Eve

The name of this post was the original one for the day we now know as Halloween. Originally it was the day before All Hallows' or All Saints! Day.

But this particular day goes back much further in time as in pagan times it was called Samhainn here in Scotland which roughly translates as "summer's end". It was a day to protect yourself before the onslaught of winter, against evil spirits such as witches, hobgoblins and the like. For that purpose there were bonfires on this day, people hang sprigs of rowan over doorways and sprinkled salt on thresholds. And these pagan rituals were carried forward into the christian equivalent.

In the words of Sir Walter Scott:

On Hallowmas Eve, e'er ye boune to rest,

Ever beware that your couch be blest;

Sign it with cross and sian

it with bead.

Sing the Ave and the Creed

I have to admit I find the old Gaelic name for this day a lot more attractive and today, as well as according to the weather forecast tomorrow, are living up to their summer's end name as the sun was shining brightly in the sky, but with a cold wind.

By one of those wonderful examples of serendipity I am meant to make skinny pages for Betsy in November. She had chosen as her theme Halloweenand what could be better than make these pages in time for the actual day! She wanted her Halloween pages to be fun so not the really dark side, that would have been my own preference. As you can see I used one of my paper - fabric collages on top of green fabric for both pages. This collage uses Alpha Stamps Halloween stamps in the background. I added images from an Artchix Studio Halloween collage sheet to the mix, a Boo ribbon as well as a fierce orange pumpkin embellishment.

Have a scary but fun Halloween!

Fun Skull Quiltie

I love the whole concept of the Mexican Dia de los muertos, or Day of the Dead. There are several great visually stimulating books on this subject and this one is my favourite. The bright colours, the cheerful thought that the dead return for the day to have a bit of a party with all kinds of gorgeous treats, it's so uplifting compared to the way we treat death here in Europe. I particularly love the bright, in your face colours of the sugar skulls made for this occasion, so it was only a small step to make such a skull in my own medium fabric.

Here's how:

I used a sugar skull stamp from Alpha Stamps. Stamp the skull onto a white piece of cardstock and enlarge it to the desired size (mine is 5" high) by either using the Enlarge settings on a copying machine or by scanning the stamped image into your computer and enlarging your image size. Print out a copy of the enlarged version on white paper. Once you have done this, adhere a piece of fabric (I used a bright hand-dyed one) over the skull image and tape it down securely. Then feed this paper back through the printer in the same way as before and your skull will be printed onto the fabric.

Layer the fabric with batting (wadding in UK) and muslin (calico in UK) and machine stitch along the black outline of the skull. Then it's time for hand stitching and embellishing. I used a variegated embroidery thread and a combination of straight and back stitching. If you're unsure of how to do these simple stitches consult a stitch book (check out the second hand book stores as stitches haven't changed over the years!). Add sequins, bugle and seed beads as shown. To attach these I used a beading thread (Silamide).

When you're happy with your decorated skull, cut away the batting (wadding) and muslin (calico) from the machine stitched line and leave a small amount (approx. 1/8" of the hand-dyed fabric.

Now make the background. Cut a piece of fabric (6 x 8"), layer with batting (wadding) and backing fabric and machine quilt. I followed the lines in my chosen fabric and used a toning variegated machine thread. When finished, add a binding of pink transparent ribbon.

Place the skull on top of the background, pin, and hand sew into place using buttonhole stitch. I used the same variegated thread as I used to decorate the skull. Also sew size 11 seed beads around the skull as shown. Add the text which reads: Just because you're dead does not mean you can't have fun. This was done on self-adhesive tape and a Dymo writer, and machine stitch in place, going around it several times. Add the pewter party hat (from Alpha Stamps) by sewing down with a seed bead and also glueing down using Diamond Glaze, so that it does not move. Add further embellishments (skull charms, flower beads and orange pearls) with beading thread. Finally sew on sequins around the border using a size 11 seed bead

Halloween

I'm not that big into Halloween but I always welcome a chance to make some darker art and of course, Halloween is just the time of year to justify this.

I made this Memento Mori (Memory of the Dead) piece as part of one of the Alphastamps kits received because I'm a member of their Design Team. It was made quite some time ago, in September to be exact but I have kept it specially to show it during this time of year.

The piece features a vintage picture of a dead child from Victorian times. Of course many children died then as a result of poverty, poor hygiene and lack of antibiotics as well as no vaccinations, and it was considered quite normal to photograph them after death so that they could be remembered. This was also done for adults who had died. It is perhaps not quite what we find acceptable now although I don't really know why not. It did not hurt anyone and provided the only image of what was probably a much loved person. You can read more about this habit here and here.

Here are the instructions:

Start with a matchbox blank (available from Alphastamps) and paint all parts with white gesso and let this dry. Do the same with the inside of the box. Then add layers of black paint till no white shows through. You will have to let the various layers dry in between painting. Do this to the inside too. Finally using a sponge and gold acrylic paint, dot gold onto the black sparingly to give it an antique look.

Add together 3 layers of black batting (wadding in UK) using thinned PVA glue to hold the layers together and add a layer of red felt on top (from Alphastamps). Add the child image (from Alphastamps Sleeping Beauties collage sheet) by glueing onto the red felt. Sew on a piece of rosary chain (Alphastamps) with black thread through the layers of batting and felt. Also add a pink rose bead (Alphastamps).

Glue this whole ensemble to the inside of the matchbox with PVA glue. To the outside of the box add the square cross charm (Alphastamps) with another pink rose, using sewing as well as Diamond Glaze to be on the safe side.

Finally glue on the Dresden scrap black wings to the back of the match cover as shown.

Posada Woman ATC Swap

Ironically the fact that you haven't seen a lot of art on this blog recently means that I have been working away on a large piece of art, in this case a quilt, which is giving me a lot of grief at the moment.

So after being further depressed by a visit to the dentist a treat seemed in order and I duely gave myself one by making a paper-fabric collage using all the images from the Alphastamps Poison Clear Stamp Set as stamps on the background calico (muslin in US speak) as well as the Alphastamps bat stamp. These were covered by vintage French text and spooky images from a paper napkin. I'm always looking for interesting napkins and these Halloween ones are only available at this time of year so I grab them while I can.

After the collage dried I cut it to ATC sized pieces and used these to participate in the Posada Woman ATC Swap run on the Alphastamps Yahoo group. The only requirement was to use the Posada Woman in Hat rubber stamp from Alphastamps. I stamped this image onto a transparency which was then sewn onto the ATC. All the ATCs are more or less the same although the backgrounds and the vintage texts are slightly different on every one.

On this one, which I'm keeping for myself, the text reads: A living death and around it I added sparkly Stickles black glue. I added size 11 green seed beads to her hat as well as a larger lucite bead (also available from Alphastamps. Finally the edges were finished by zigzag stitching. I really enjoyed my journey to the dark lands and now it has to be back to that quilt!

Happy Halloween!

Or not so happy, as the case may be! After all Halloween is not meant to be a happy event and although I'm not mad about Halloween, I do like to have the opportunity to make slightly darker work to suit this occasion. The piece on this post (called Dark Angel) is inspired by the romantic Gothic novels of the 19th Century as well as by all things ghostly!

The piece is 9.3/8" x 10.3/4" in size and here is how I made it.

I create a fabric/paper collage background by putting torn vintage images, and a variety of Halloween themed napkins on calico (muslin), using thinned down PVA glue. Additional colour was added using green and purple Dye-na-Flow paints.

I cut out an 7.1/4" x 8.1/4" piece from this collage, and mounted it on purple craft felt (from Alphastamps), by machine straight stitching around the edges, using purple sewing thread.

I added the lady image (from Alphastamps Parisian Showgirls #2 collage sheet) by gluing it into position on top of a black Dresden scrap wing. I added the fabric cats (cut from a commercial fabric) using Mistyfuse. I added handstitching around the ghostly shape at the bottom as well as around the RIP words at the top. The text comes from a vintage book and was glued on. I stitched around it by machine too and added purple metallic rub-on.

Vintage trim was added at the top and purple satin stich on the 3 remaining sides of the collage. I also added size 11 seed beads by hand to the edges, the wing and the crown as well as to the cats' eyes. The words Dark Angel (the title of the piece) were made using a Dymo writer and machine stitching. The entire piece was then layered on top of heavy watercolour paper and a vintage French trim (from Ebay) was stitched on around all the edges.

Witch Hazel ATC

The new theme for the Craft Stamper magizine ATC challenge is Fireworks and Halloween, no doubt because by the time they will be published it will be in the issues for October (Halloween) and November (Guy Fawkes day here in the U.K. with bonfires and fireworks to celebrate they did not blow up our Houses of Parliament, although I can't quite see what's good about that??? Given the state of our politics at the moment it would not have been a great loss, in my opinion!).

It does seem a strange juxtaposition of elements but I have managed to sort of combine them.

The background is a paper/fabric collage made in the usual way as described before on this blog. It features bits of spooky paper napkins which you can see in the background with a detail of cemetary gates. It also has the word October just visible, from an ancient Books of Days. To this I sewed the paper image from Alphastamps Witch Hazel collage sheet and well as the words Witch Hazel which are actually the titel words from the same sheet. Both the image and the words were rubbed with purple and blue metallic Rub-On, using my finger.

I stamped the Belladonna Drops stamp (from Alphastamps Poison Clear Stamp set) onto a piece of acetate, using blue Staz-On Ink and cut it to size. This was also stitched on along the lines, using purple sewing thread.

To make it look like the witch is making her way through fireworks, I added olive-green Swarowski crystals around her (very hard to see on the scan!) using a hot-tip applicator. It realy sparkles in real life. These could also be interpreted as the Belladonna drops!

It will be on its way to the magazine soon!