Woodcut horse

Have been carving out a large woodcut, its rather more hard work than linocut but it prints with the grain subtly showing. My arms ache but there is a curly heap of kindling for the fire.

Shirt New Look Pattern 6010

I was given the Pride and Prejudice DVD for Christmas (the one with the wet shirt) and was inspired to make my own non wet shirt when I saw this fabric in John Lewis.  Jane and Elizabeth seem to waft about in long dresses in this spotty cotton, I am not quite up to that on the school run, so made this. The pattern was very easy to follow, pleats on front v satisfying to make and voluminous sleeves will do for romantic waftyness.

New Look Pattern 6010 and the finished shirt

Paper stencil printing

I have been printing with Year 4 at my daughters school, they had a fantastic time getting very messy with plasticine printing and next week we will be doing stencils. Therefore this morning I felt inspired to do my own stencils and rather enjoyed the effects. All you need is scissors, scalpel ( of course not for little ones) paper, an old lid or plate, poster or acrylic paint and a brush or sponge.

I drew this elephant and then carefully cut it out with scissors

Here it is printed, the bottom elephant is made using the stencil, the middle using the cut out elephant ( looks a bit like a cave painting) and the top two are the bits of stencils

Tried something a bit more complicated using a scalpel as scissors would be too cumbersome

Print using dabbing motions with a paintbrush or sponge. The best consistency for the paint is to have it a bit like greek yoghurt, mix it up on an lid or whatever is at hand

Final result...

Teddy bear bed

This little teddy bed is made by sandwiching some wadding between two long strips of fabric then quilting it together with the sewing machine. Next you fold it into 3 leaving a bigger area at the top for the pillow. Bind the edges then attach a square for the pillow adding a bit more wadding to make it puffy.

Play dough printing

We had fantastic fun printing with play dough. It is very squishy and therefore  easy to press patterns into it and then print. My 3 and 8 year old loved it. Plasticine is also great to print with as a bit firmer but as we did not have any we tried play dough.

You will need.....
I batch home made or bought play dough
newspaper to protect your table and aprons
poster paint
paper
paintbrush
old plate or takeaway lid
Bits and bobs from around the house such as fork, stick, shells, cotton reels, old bit of card - anything to press into the playdough to make a pattern
We also did a bit of printing with an old sponge and carved a few spuds too.

When you have pressed the play dough into a shape or squidged it with a shell, gently dunk into the paint on the plate. Spreading your paint fairly thinly on the plate will mean that you don't get too overloaded. Next print onto the paper, as you go the image will change a bit due to the play dough being so soft - but I think this adds a rather nice random appearance.  We also printed with the side of a piece of card to get lines and a carved potato.

I have been a one person teddy bear handbag factory today. I am making them as the party bags for small persons teddy bear picnic party.  The details are cut out of felt and hand stitched on. The main part is made of 4 teddy shapes, sandwiched and then inside outed together. Just about room inside for a piece of cake, lollipop and little present.

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Printed off the lino fish and it came out really well - so far like the grey lino as much as the brown.