Nuvo Felt

So, are you ready to have some fun?  Have you collected some papers?  Before you go any further I suggest you choose one of about three different sorts and screw them up.  Yes, screw them up!  Did that feel good?  It soon will.  Prepare your work surface.: Lay out some newspaper and cover it with your piece of polythene.  Find your brush(es) and put some water into your container, you don't want to drench your brush so be frugal.

Choose your colouring media.  I suggest something like diluted dyes, Brusho or coloured inks to begin with.  You can use water colours too, but you must be more heavy handed than usual, you want a good depth of colour.
Start with  a clean sheet of paper and just put some colour on.  This picture shows a piece of the wet strength tissue.  Can you see on the left  how the colour is starting to 'bleed' into the  surrounding area?  I love the way this happens, it makes the transition between colours so much more gentle than on other surfaces.

Add more water to the colour, just a little, and applied with the brush

It will spread and the mismatched strokes become more integrated.  Add other colours and more water until the page is covered

Before leaving it to dry you can take prints from the surface, sometimes two or three, just cover with another sheet (it could be a different sort of paper) and press gently all over with the back of your hand.  Don't worry if these papers aren't fully covered at this stage.

Put them to dry and paint some more.  You can never have enough, you will want plenty to choose from so have fun colouring as many as you have room to dry!  Don't stick to your favourite colours only, mix and match and start to produce a good stock.   Don't forget the crumpled papers too, they will take the colour slightly differently.  When they are dry they can be ironed on the reverse to flatten them.  They will curl initially, but don't worry about this.

Enjoy, and watch out for part three coming soon.

Part one is here

Later today or tomorrow I will post the first in a short series of collage tutorials. The paper that I use most often is a special tissue that is acid free and has good 'wet strength. Apart from using it for collage it can also be used for mixed media techniques including textile/fibre art, altered books etc. IT IS NOT TISSUTEX or TISSUTEXPLUS. It is a completely natural product made using plant fibres.

You can purchase some by using either the button below or the one in the sidebar.

W S Tissue

5 Sheets including carriage £7.50 10 Sheets including carriage £13.75 20 sheets including carriage £23.00

It was my brother's 21st birthday. We had all gathered at a big fancy restaurant for dinner. How fancy? Well, I was wearing a long dress and long gloves! It must have been pretty fancy, but my dress would not have disguised the fact that I was pregnant. Apart from ourselves and my brother, my parents, and two uncle and aunts were there, along with a couple of cousins. We had great fun, lots of chatter, lots of wine including champagne (I'm trying to set the scene here!). The dishes were served silently, coming and going with an effortless ease. We didn't really notice the waiters, it was a really special evening.

I have no memory of the first or main course. They must have been good, or I would have remembered them as bad. Finally the dessert menu was presented, and I chose fresh figs. Well......

It now transpired that the Maitre d' was Greek. He suddenly went into ecstasy mode.! The whole restaurant became silent and everyone looked in our direction. 'Madame! Madame! Madame, she want figs! Madame, she want fresh figs! She want FIGS! She is pregnant and she want FIGS! In my country, we know when a lady want figs when she is pregnant, she is expecting a boy. More champagne! She is expecting a boy.' He went on in this vein for some time, the whole restaurant cheered, and we did indeed get a free bottle of champagne. I duly ate my figs and went home.

Three months later I gave birth to our daughter.

Sometimes we need food for the soul, and also for the spirit.  This week I have been indulging in delicious food, so having had my fill I'm going to tell you how I have been otherwise 'fed' this week!  Sorry if you were expecting a recipe.....

How can you fail to be inspired when you take a course set in scenery as beautiful and serene as this?

This is a true story.

Once upon a time there was a pig. We will call him Monty.

Monty lived on a farm, and, although he was well cared for, he sometimes got lonely because his only companions were cows and turkeys. Sometimes Monty would go for a walk in the hope that he would find another pig to talk to, but the farmer always found him before he had time to get very far.

One sunny day Monty shook the pigsty door until it opened. Walking across the farmyard he pushed yet another hole through the hedge and began to walk along the lane. He was big and fat, so he walked slowly, sniffing the air for interesting smells, especially as his eyesight was poor. He could see a shadow ahead, and as he approached he could tell that it smelt interesting.

It was a car with the boot up, but Monty didn't recognise it as such, to him it smelt like a food trough, for languishing in the boot was a large sack of horse feed. Monty didn't know that the feed was only meant for horses, he thought it had been put there just for him, so with an enormous amount of effort he pulled himself into the boot and began to devour the feed, packaging and all. It was delicious, and he was really surprised when suddenly there was much commotion and the farmer arrived with a very irate man who demanded compensation! Without ceremony Monty was returned to the lonely pigsty.

Holes in the hedge were reinforced and an extra strong bolt was put on the pigsty door. Monty was fed more than usual, but that was no problem, he could always find space for another morsel. But one day he began to feel lonely again, and he knew what he had to do.... With enormous effort he pulled himself over the door of the pigsty. He fell with a bump, but although a little sore he walked towards the hedge. He felt a little like an Olympic pole vaulter, he felt that he had set a record for pigs, the hedge would be easy, in spite of reinforcements.

He began to walk along the lane. The sun was shining, and that shape was there again. Monty sniffed the air. Sure enough, it was waiting with food for him. However, when he got there he discovered that the food was covered up! (The boot was closed). Now what to do? The more he sniffed the air the more he wanted the food. How could he get to it? Monty was a resourceful pig, he walked around the car sniffing as he went. As he got to the driver's door the smell intensified. Hooray, someone had thoughtfully left the driver's window open. Here was a way in.

Getting through the window was not easy, but having done so Monty was in heaven. On the back seat was a sack of horse feed, exactly the same as the one he had eaten before! Such delight! He chomped his way through it. It was delicious! (Isn't forbidden food ALWAYS the sweetest?). When finished he sat for a moment to make sure that nothing was left, the smell of food was still strong, although nowhere in sight. Yes, he could still smell something, and then he realised that the smell was coming from behind the seat. Sure enough, there was another sack in the car boot, but how could he get to that?

The pig who had scaled the pigsty door, pushed through reinforced hedge AND climbed in through a car window knew no limitations. It wasn't very tasty, but Monty now began to tug and tear at the back of the seat, and before long he had access to the rest of the food. Once he had his head far enough through to eat he stopped pushing and just ate. He thought he was in heaven before, but this must be it, because there were two sacks waiting for him. Delicious!

When he had finished, however, Monty began to panic. He was now firmly wedged with his head and shoulders stuck through the back seat and his rear end jammed up against the back of the front seats. He couldn't move... How was he going to get out? He began to twist from side to side in the hope that he could free himself, but this only served to make the car rock, and this rocking drew the attention of a passing postman.

Car owner and farmer were duly summoned. More compensation was demanded, Monty heard the words, but didn't know what they meant. What had he done wrong? The farmer bundled Monty into a trailer and off they went. Regrettably, not to the pigsty.....