Ruin in Baselland, Switzerland

I love old sheds, ruins, etc. and this is the real photo:

And here is what I made of it. I used some acrylic paint for the old stones, various layers of silk and chiffon, machine stiching as well as hand stiching.

The making of......

During the pandemic and the resulting lockdown, we were not able to spend time in our home in France as the borders were closed. We therefore had to spend our time in Switzerland in a newly acquired house.

For us it was like a holiday - we did not have to do anything! The weekly shop was done for us and we just had to pick it up. We were lucky that in Switzerland it was not forbidden to go for longer walks, like in France, Spain and the UK, so we spend our time exploring the country side and were exited about this part of Baselland. Most of the time we met very few people and stayed at home at the weekends.

If my husband had suggested 3 months ago to go for a 10 km hike, I would have asked him if he had lost his mind. Now, nearly three months into the lockdown, 10 km is a short walk and I enjoy it. I have also not felt so fit for a long time.

During our walks, I take lots of photographs and have come to love the many old sheds and cottages we encounter. I try to depict these in textile. I do not copy the original picture completely. I like to embellish on it. 

On weekends and rainy days, when we cannot go for a walk, I cut fabrics, sit behind my sewing machine, handstich and use beads and acrylic paint wherever I think it is needed to make these pictures. 

Original photograph.

Final picture

Draft

Detail

Detail

Final picture

My landscape fabric pictures

I have not written in my blog for a long time. So much has happened in the last 12 months that I just did not find the time! However, the pandemic has changed things.

We normally spend a lot of time in our secondary home in the Alsace, France. However, as the border between France and Switzerland is now closed due to the corona pandemic, we are now spending all our time in Switzerland where we kept ourselves in social isolation.

Fortunately, contrary to a lot of other countries, we can got for long walks here. As we are living at the very outskirts of a village we can walk straight from our house and we hardly ever meet anybody. As we have only recently moved here it is a great way to get to know the area.

I always take photos and I have been translating these lately into landscape fabric pictures.

Here are my latest ones:

Solitary tree

Detail of tree

After the rain

Detail of trees 

Dilapidated shed

Detail of grass and flowers

Ruin in Baselland, Switzerland

Christmas fait at Waterville

I have not written anything for quite a while and I will not write much today but here is just a quick picture of the Christmas fair in Waterville. Had a great day there!

Epoxy resin bangles Part 2

I had to write this article in 2 parts because I had some problems getting all the pictures where I wanted them. I forgot to mention that this bangle has lots of 'glow in the dark' pigments mixed with the colours!

Here are some pictures of the finished product:

Epoxy resin bangles

11/08/18 part 1

I have a whole stack of epoxy resin bangles which I am now in the process of finishing off. I don't like the shiny type of resin bangle - they look too much like plastic (which they obviously are). I prefer them filed, sanded and polished with bees wax to a high shine.

They feel completely different - they feel nice when you touch them, don't stick to you when it's hot. They feel more like, I don't know, it's difficult to explain, I suppose more like wax polished wood.

And they don't look like plastic, they look more like these hand made soaps you see, the ones that smell beautiful of all sorts of fruits.

Anyway, I prefer them that way but obviously it is a lot more work that just putting the resin the the mould, with or without dried flowers, dies or whatever, take them out when they're ready, sand them a bit when necessary and spray them with a resin spray.

These bangles take time, lots of time.

I take them out of the mould and starts grinding the top to get this level. Resin shrinks when it cures so there is always a bit of a channel on the top that you have to get rid of by grinding, filing and sanding. After this I sand the rest of the bangle, inside and outside. There may be some small blemishes to get rid off too. Because of the dust this sanding creates, you have to keep washing the bangle.

Does not look too bad..

but I found some tiny air bubbles on the surface which
were filling up with resin dust

So I had to file them away and sand this area afterwards again.
This may happen a few more times and every time you have to file
and sand them away!

When there is nothing more to find that should not be there
I put bees wax on the surface and polish it.

One part waxed, the other part still to be done!

Open House in Liebsdorf

Had a great day at Catherine's pottery Open House last Sunday:

Making a multi coloured and \'glow in the dark\' resin bangle and how to rescue it when it goes wrong!

And click this link for the full tutorial:

Making a multi coloured and \'glow in the dark\' resin bangle and how to rescue it when it goes wrong!: Making a multi coloured and \'glow in the dark\' resin bangle and how to rescue it when it goes wrong!

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