Sandra from Wild Daffodil is organising a monthly photo challenge again (last years theme was windows) this year it’s all about textiles – right up my street! Do follow the link to her post to see lots more textiles.

I’ve been playing today,messing about with paints and paper…

I got a bit behind with the Stitchbook Collective, monthly workshops which are produced by Helen Bellingham of Untangled Threads. They’re great, she sends everything you need to try a new technique and as well as written instructions she provides a really good video too. December’s box was on Joomchi, with Christmas etc I hadn’t got round to doing it, so when January’s box arrived and it was also a messy one I decided to have a messy morning!

Joomchi is an ancient Korean paper-making technique which uses water to mesh several layers of thin mulberry paper together to make one pice, it’s a bit like felting with paper. The traditional mulberry paper is pretty expensive here in the UK but Helen has devised a way of using Thai mulberry paper which is easy to get and much cheaper. Helen sent us half a dozen sheets in the pack of random colours, I also happened to have a sheet of handmade paper which I’ve had for years, it feels like a thicker version of mulberry paper, what I love is the leaves and petals that are caught withing it.

I learnt how to tear mulberry paper accurately – just wet a line – so simple when you know how!! I made four samples altogether, first up is the one with a pink circle. The pink is rubbed gently until it becomes almost threadbare, showing lacy holes. For the second sample I used different colours to make a bit of a collage effect.

My favourites are the last two. I’d saved my favourite papers for these – a lovely soft green paper and a blue/grey one with fibres in it, they blended nicely with my leaf paper. I made one by layering strips of paper and putting the leaf one on top, this one is a little fragile really.

The last one was made by making a ‘frame’ in the darker green and then felting it t the grey with a leaf on top. I really like these two. I’ve just got to put some stitches on them now and create something.

This months workshop was on gel plate printing. Helen had sent a gel plate and a selection of paints together with calico etc. There were three main prints from each ‘painting’, the first is the strongest, a second is softer, then the gel is sprayed with water for the third print which gives a lovely watercolour effect. We could also play around with second prints overlaying prints.

My first attempt was just a sort of moorland scene. I then tried a proper scene. Regular readers may recognise the shape of my favourite fell, catbells. I had to concentrate painting it as everything comes out in reverse!

For my final set I felt I really needed to try some different colours, I decided to do a sort of poppy field, overlaying with extra splodges of red. I was pretty pleased with these but when I popped them on the radiator to dry they immediately marked from the metal lines, I’m hoping I can do something arty-farty with these!!

Now I have to do something creative with them, embroider them, embellish them,, even tear them up and rearrange them!!

Watch this space…