Chicken Bunting and even more Exciting Interiors!

Mirror of Bling

If you loved the chicken wallpaper you are in for a real treat, this week the No Borders art group came up with more excellent ideas and continued to create beautiful things. Having completed her kitchen the lady who made the chicken wallpaper was ready for another challenge. The group are working towards an exhibition and I've always thought of exhibitions as rather celebratory events and what celebration is complete without bunting?

Chicken drawing

Cutting stencils

Cutting stencils

Following a similar process as for making the wallpaper we started by drawing chickens, we then used the drawings to make stencils to print with. One of the aims of working with the No Borders group is to help develop the support workers skills as well as the skills of the service users so I asked the support workers to make the stencils, it is quite a difficult task as it is often hard to visualise what the stencil will look like when printed up and it is difficult to work out which bits to cut out and which bits to leave. I considered this a successful session because both support workers made stencils that will work really well to print with and both hopefully feel more confident.

Printing

Yellow chickens

Red chicken

The mirror of great bling was also completed this week, it looks great in the 'room.' We also made a table covered with beautiful handmade paper and the group member chose designs for her sofa and chairs. It was a really good session because the person was able to start identifying exactly what it was she liked about the chairs and sofas she had cut out of magazines and this really helped her understand the design process.

The room so far

Table with handmade paper

Applique and Embroidery

Applique and Embroidery Sample

I thought I'd share some more of the samples I've been working on for the upcoming workshops I'm doing (see previous post.)

I'm going to be doing some embroidery and applique workshops at Carlisle Library over the next couple of months as part of the No Borders programme which is running alongside the Outside In exhibition at Tullie House. You can find out more about these and the other workshops on offer over on Prism Arts website.

Cross and star stitch on bonded applique

Shisha stitched mirror and basque stitch

Stitch detail and bonded applique

Dorset wheel button in wool

I've tried to use a couple of different applique techniques in this sample including needle turned applique and using fusible webbing to bond one fabric to another. I've also done a bit with raw edges and stitching. I've added some hand stitched shisha mirrors (which was a new technique for me) and a dorset wheel button as well as various embroidery stitches.

Reverse applique sample

Reverse applique detail

Appliqued motif with stitching

In this sample I've cut out and appliqued some motifs from printed fabrics and done some reverse applique, where you put the appliqued fabric underneath and then cut away the top layer. Again, I've added a few embroidery stitches to finish it off.

Hawaiian Applique sample

Blanket stitch detail

Stitch detail

I tried another new technique here, called Hawaiian applique. A motif is cut from one fabric as you would cut a paper snowflake and then appliqued onto a base fabric. I added blanket stitch, chain stitch, running stitch and star stitch for extra surface interest. I like the folk art feel of this sample, especially as I did not anticipate it turning out that way!

Crazy patchwork sample

Stitch detail

Stitch detail

This crazy patchwork sample is one that I started in my first year of University, way back in 2004! I really didn't like doing it as I wasn't a fan of crazy patchwork and I was all rebellious and unreasonable so I never finished it. However, I thought it might be useful for showing off some embroidery stitches so this week I completed it. I'm still not sure about it but I'm pleased to have it finished after all this time.