An Exhibition... and more resin!

At the end of September, I was involved in an exhibition at the very lovely Heene Gallery in Worthing.  There were some wonderful things there, gorgeous jewellery by Jane Pinder (Naturally Silver), beautiful stained glass by Naomi Frances and some stunning photography by Lorraine Lewis Heaysman. There was also art work  from Stella Stevens, she exhibited some amazing oil paintings.

Since then, I have been dabbling and experimenting with resin.  I've been making lots of mess (and quite a few mistakes) but I do love giving this stuff a go!

Fab skull & cross bones mould from Poundland!

Making a piece from a yoghurt lid

A silicone mould I have cast from a starfish

A new mould from Metal Clay.

I have also discovered that you don't need to spend a fortune to get a coloured cast, either.  I have been using oil paint but the best thing so far has been Dylon Fabric Paint!  Lots of choices and really good value for money, too.

Look at that lovely red and sparkly silver resin!

The results are looking good so far.  I've had so much inspiration from fellow-crafter's blogs, especially Resin Crafts and The Skinner Studio. 

Marie x

Brighton Creative Stitch & Hobbycraft Show

Saturday was the first lovely day we have had (weather-wise) for a rather long time.  Great day to be in Brighton!

My initial impression of the show when we first went in, was a bit of a disappointment, to be honest.  My main interest was to see the sewing loveliness and all I could see were stalls and stalls of beads and paper crafts, which of course are great, but not what I had been hoping to see.

Beads, beads, beads...

But hark!  Another hall! FULL to the brim of sewing, stitching, quilting...

I first found the Madeira Embroidery Competition - "Best of Blighty" - WOW

Jennifer May Lehm - Denmark

Sally Wilson

Claire Wood West Yorkshire

Close up of the larger piece above

Close up of the swimming part of the larger piece above

a bit more detail

The overall winner - Michelle Blower, Staffs

I then came across a stand featuring an outstanding piece of work by Karen Casper (click on her name to take you to her blog) who is a Mixed Media Textile Designer, the most amazing dress with soooo much detail in it.  She happily told me it took about 200 hours to do!!

and this is just a TINY part of the detail this dress features!

Byron-inspired work by Barbara Taylor

Beautiful work by Barbara Taylor

And a rather lovely chair by a student at Portsmouth College (sorry - no name!)

Beautiful Quilt by the Quilter's Guild

So all in all, a rather outstanding day! There was so much inspiration around...oh, I almost forgot - a gorgeous machine-embroidered piece by a local designer from Hove called Wendy Dolan (www.wendydolan.co.uk)

Wendy Dolan, textile artist

Marie x

Something FINISHED!!

Kat Von D

I saw this gorgeous photo on Instagram recently of Kat Von D, and really wanted to turn it in to a stencil for some fabric I have...

My Kat Von D stencil

This was the first time I have attempted a fabric stencil, but the freezer paper made it really easy to do (all-be-it slightly fiddly in places).  I really like it!

And I have FINALLY finished the skirt I have been making on my dressmaking course!  Whoop!!!

My very straight top sewing!!

Bias hem!!

The finished article!

And something my lovely little girl made today...

Clay people