Tuesday is supposed to be for tidying up

Not a lot of my planned activities today.  My brain is now totally fried, thanks to Virgin.  The internet collapsed last night, and whatever they did to fix the problem had the effect of disconnecting every WiFi piece of kit in the house.  I suspect I have not finished finding problems that were not there yesterday.

I have just realised that I can no longer adjust my heating as that needs WiFi too, and now refuses to talk to the internet.  That is a job for tomorrow to sort that out.  The PC won't connect either, so I suspect the server will have crashed too but without the PC, I can't sort that for now.

It just shows how dependent we are now on internet access.

Instead at stewing any more about tech problems, I will do some crafting and relax myself.  I have at least six pieces of parchment work that need work, all at different stages, so I shall not be bored.  Hope you have all had a good day.

Monday for Mindfulness

We all need to take time in our busy world to breathe and think about what we want out of life.  Not even to really think but to let our thoughts wander without direction.

Please turn on your sound before watching this.

It is a video from YouTube but I cannot find who to acknowledge, but whoever it is, I am grateful to them.

My favourite place would be on this rock, just sitting and letting the sounds and rhythms of the waves wash through my brain.  It is just so calming and relaxing, and brings my breathing and heartbeat right down. 

I think I find it so relaxing because it is something I cannot control in any way, so I can just sit back and let it do its thing.  At the same time, it washes problems away with every wave.

There is an advert on TV right now asking us to do nothing for 30 seconds, showing a video of rain falling on leaves.  Again, a very relaxing image and sounds to me.  Doing absolutely nothing in a beautiful place is very good for us.

Where would you go to just do nothing and relax?  We live in a very stressful world now, fast paced and relentless.  We all need to programme into our lives some regular time to do absolutely nothing.  It is not a waste of time, but instead can be so good for our mental and physical health.  If you have a special place to go or a special way to relax, please share it with others, and make sure you have that time to do absolutely nothing every single day.

Sunday - Anything Goes

No crafting at all so far today, but it has been a great day.  Once a year, four of us from high school get together for the day, taking turns at hosting the day.  This year, it was at a small village just outside Much Wenlock in Shropshire.

It is a lovely position, down in the valley, but with a glorious view over the Wrekin and on to Wales.  This is the view from their conservatory.  So much bird and insect life in the garden and the surrounding hedgerows, far more than I ever get.  

We had a lovely meal, with lots of chatting, reminiscing and putting the world to rights, and just catching up on everything that has happened since last year.  A perfect day.  Next year's meeting will be down in Dorset, so I might get the chance to see the sea and even have a paddle.

Saturday is for starting something new

I was looking for a Groovi plate to play with, and came cross the Woodland Owls - https://claritystamp.com/products/woodland-owls-br-a5-square-groovi-plate-br-set-gro-an-41094-03

I reckon they will do just what I wanted with a fair bit of thought, mainly on the colouring side.  My idea is to trace very lightly the main outline of the birds, and work on them as Linda has shown us on the fluffy robins at the Open Days.  I need to look at the mix of colours I need to achieve the result I am after. 

I will probably leave out a lot of the branches around the birds as I think it might be too busy.  That is the beauty of Groovi.  It is so easy to leave things out if they don't fit your plans.  

I also need to think now about what to do for this month's PTC swap.  I have a couple of ideas, and might try both to see which works best.  Living not far from the Potteries does bring some thoughts to mind.

Ok, instead of talking about it, I will grab a tumble drier sheet and get started.  What are you all working on at the moment?

Friday - Finishing Off Day

I can show this now that it has been safely delivered.  It is the PTC  (Parchment Trading Card) for April.  The theme this month is Spring Flowers, so I decided that this daffodil plate filled the brief perfectly.

The plate had just the one flower, but with Groovi, it is so easy to add things or take them away, so I added the extra flower at the back.  

I embossed the petals from the front, with a plastic bag on top to avoid the parchment becoming shiny.  It meant that they curved the right way to give shape.  The border was done in a fairly random way using the Charles plate (I think).  I did not want it to be straight lines.

Some of the colouring was on the front, but some on the back as well to get more depth.  I had a real problem colouring inside the trumpet, getting it to show the darker shades deep inside.  However, as I was at the Retreat at the time, I was lucky enough to have some help from the best, Linda Williams.

In the end, I was quite pleased with the result, and then found a small piece of designer paper which seemed perfect to pick up the colours in the flower.  But it did not look quite finished until I added the very thin border of black.  Then it popped.

I love doing these tiny pieces of art.  They are perfect for trying out new techniques and ideas.  Anyone who wants to join in, just keep your eyes open on Groovi Worldwide, where Josie Davidson sorts us all out.  Don't worry if you are a beginner.  No-one is judged.  We just enjoy seeing what everyone else is doing.

Thursday for Tips and Techniques

I nearly forgot to blog today.  I still cannot get my head round what day it is after a brilliant very intense two days at the Groovi Retreat, followed by a two day bank holiday.

I have not long got back from our fortnightly meeting of Bromsgrove Parchers, where we are all working on a new project together, helping each other.  One of the important techniques entailed trying to improve our embossing.  It is possible to get very white white work quite quickly BUT it never really looks as good as it could.

Parchment craft is not a speedy craft if you want it to look good.  In this country, we are fortunate to have Linda Williams, one of only two Master Tutors in the world, who is generous enough to share her skills and knowledge with the rest of us.  Having been fortunate enough to have the benefit of her teaching for the two day retreat, I thought I would revisit the subject of embossing.

One thing that Linda said to us was that if we "finished" the piece we were working on within a couple of days, we would have done it wrong.  It should take us at least a week to get it right.  If you are impatient to get work finished, then what you need to do is to start five or six pieces at once.  By doing that, you have the chance to play a little every day, without rushing it.  If you start a new piece each day, that will keep you busy.  By the end of a week, you could have several really good pieces of parchment work ready to mount and give to your friends and family.

When I got back from the retreat, I was desperate to get to work, so I started two more pieces using the same plates.  (I cannot show pictures until the plates are officially launched on 2nd May.  It is only polite to allow Linda to show her creations herself.)  That allowed me to refresh the knowledge I had been given, but still avoid over working the original.  It did take me just over a week to complete the embossing, five or six times with the No 6 ball tool, before using the No 4.5 ball tool three times.  Then finally using the No 3 ball tool to add the final highlights, using it gently on two consecutive days.  After that, I felt that I was coming close to what Linda wanted from us.  I felt proud of my achievement.

If you can afford it, I suggest you treat yourself to the Pergamano pink embossing mat.  It will help you to better embossing if you are a bit heavy handed.  If you cannot afford it yet, one tip that seems to help, is to put a plastic bag between the soft side of the black mat and the parchment and emboss over that.

In the end, you need to train yourself to be more patient and softer with your embossing and colouring too.  You will be happy with your results, I promise you.

This has been a rather rambling post, for which I apologise, but I hope it will show you that you need to relax and take things slowly.

WOYWW 516

Not my desk today but a lovely view from my son's house over the river valley.  I am , here to deliver birthday presents, rather late, and even a very delayed Christmas present.

Here are my granddaughters having fun with their sticker books, with help from Daddy.

Off now to have lunch at the pub, so perhaps you would like to go and visit Julia at Stamping Ground, where you will find lots of other desks to view.

This is Rosie's birthday card and envelope, using Barbara Gray's Floral Alphabet.

This is Charlotte's card, using the same alphabet.















Apologies for being so late replying and commenting today, but I have been having lots of fun with my youngest to granddaughters, which definitely took precidence today.  Then there was the usual pain of dealing with a very busy car park, otherwise known as the M42.  After that, a nice snooze seemed the most attractive proposition.

Tuesday is for tidying up

My intention for today was to show you the two birthday cards made for my two younger granddaughters.  

However, the "best-laid schemes o' mice an' men gang aft a-gley", which I believe is a quote from Robert Burns.

The planned family get together is now off, due to one of those nasty sickeness bugs.  So, as long as I remain clear, I will now be delivering the cards myself tomorrow.  (Must remembering to get fuel as I only have the dregs left after last week's trip to Tunbridge Wells)

So here is a teaser, the envelopes were made from Clarity designer paper, a necessary job as the cards were none standard size.

While I am thinking about it, I was intending to start a batch of cards, based on the Retreat projects.  Just one problem here.  Did anyone see where I put my extended Jayne Nestorenko frame?  I had my hand on it two days ago, but I suspect this is going to be a major search.  I need Clarity to fit tracking devices to my plates  .  How about it, Dave?

I have started one of those promised cards but with a different shape in the background.  That will be interesting to see how it works out.  I think Barbara left her washing machine head in England when she and Dave went to Wales.  I have so many ideas after the retreat but I need a lot more time to fit everything in.

Right, it is time for me to go out so I will finish here for today.  Have a good evening.

Monday for mindfulness

Although I have been busy doing Groovi stuff, I cannot show any of it as it is all secret stuff untill it is either delivered or plates launched.  There are two birthday cards for delivery tomorrow, so you can see those then.  The other two cards, just finished are the ones from the Groovi Retreat.  I thought it was good manners to keep those hidden until Linda has the pleasure of launching her lovely new plates on Hochanda on 2nd May.  I will just say that you will need those plates. You cannot sit on your hands for these.

Yesterday's post seemed to strike a real chord with some people, bringing back happy memories, which they shared in their comments.  So I thought I would continue that thread today.  All this came from Barbara Gray's blog, showing us photos of her relaxing break with Dave and Mike and Shona Bossom along the beautiful coast of Pembrokeshire.  If you want to see, you can find them at Barbara and Dave relaxing

I told you yesterday about meeting the combines on our journey to Marloes - scary.  We sometimes travelled together with our friends, and whoever was in the lead would warn the others of potential problems using amateur radio.  The radio was also useful in other ways as we could listen in to the coastguard frequency.  That also gave us very accurate weather forecasts which proved very useful. 

We always set up camp at the very top of the field to get the best views but that did leave us vulnerable to bad weather.   If we heard the coastguards say that strong winds were expected, the awnings were dropped instantly and the motors parked in front of the caravans, facing into the wind.  We always rushed round to the tenters to warn them to move to the bottom of the hill under the protection of the hedge.

If you peer into the distance towards the left of the skyline, you can see two little white dots.  Those are our caravans in glorious isolation, with a huge field all to ourselves.  We were able to close the gate to the road and let the dogs run free and have fun in safety.  This particular shot was taken from the Pembrokeshire coastal path.



This second photo does not show much but during the day, we could sit and watch the various tankers making their way to and from the refinery a Milford Haven, and tell the time by watching the Irish Ferry on its travels.

 

A few yards up the lane is the path that leads down to the beautiful beach at Marloes.  It is nearly a mile from end to end, and quite steep in places.  The first section is just passable to cars, as far as the cottage halfway down , but the rest is hard work, especially coming back up at the end of the day.

The little island you can see is Gateholm, which was featured in an episode of Time Team ( Time Team on Gateholm), which was fascinating as all their equipment had to be taken across on zip lines.  The beach itself is huge and always quiet, mainly because of the long walk down and back.

This was Geoff as we walked along the coastal path in spring with carpets of wild flowers everywhere, beautiful perfume too, and loads of bees and butterflies around.

We always made a point of going down to the cove at Martin's Haven at least once during the holiday, always in the evening to see the sunset.  This is where the little boats make the trip with tourists over to Skokholm to see the puffins.

The colour of the sky has not been enhanced here, and I have dozens of similar pictures being a little bit addicted to sunsets wherever I go.

As Barbara and Dave have discovered, this is a truly beautiful part of the country, well worth a visit, peaceful and relaxing.  Lots of birdlife and insects on your walks,

I hope you have all had a good Easter, in beautiful places with lovely people.

Sunday - Anything Goes

I hope you have all had a lovely Easter so far.  The weather certainly has been kind to us.  I had a lovely lunch out, up at Rebecca's house with her family. 

 There were two extra family members there, my cousin's daughter, Beth, and her delightful one year old daughter, Daisy.  She is a happy, confident little soul and a real credit to her Mum.

This afternoon was spent finishing off a few parchment pieces, especially a couple of cards needed for Tuesday.  I also finally finished off both the projects started at the fabulous Groovi Retreat, earlier in the week.  Sadly, I cannot show any of those four pieces.  The first two have to wait until they are handed over on Tuesday, and the other two are being kept back until the plates are launched on 2nd May by Linda Williams.

This week is likely to be pretty hectic.  I am meeting up with my three best friends from school and I usually take all the birthday and anniversary for the next twelve months, to save postage.  So I need to crack on and finish them off.

Looking through Barbara Gray's blog this week brought back some lovely memories of several holidays in Pembrokeshire.  We used to take our caravan in company with good friends, and park in what was just a farmer's field with the absolute minimum of  facilities, but commanding fabulous views.  We were also almost on the coastal path, with a good route down to the huge and almost deserted beach at Marloes.

If the tide was right, we would take out semi-inflatable boats down to the Dale Estuary, and sail or row in safety, provided we made sure we kept clear of the Irish ferries and the oil tankers going in  and out of the anchorage.  Night times were very peaceful and very dark, apart from lights on the oil port at Milford Haven, but there were millions more stars visible than we get in the brilliantly lit town.

Getting the caravans to the site could be interesting, along seriously narrow and twisty lanes.  On one journey we went round a blind bend to be met by three huge combines.  Help!  I got out and tried to guide Geoff into what was laughingly called a passing space.  Then we realised that the wonderful combine drivers were backing up to let us through.  They backed at least a mile to where the road opened out at a crossroads.  There we saw about fifteen cars littered over the grass verges to get out of the way of the combines.  That was an interesting experience, preferably not to be repeated.

Once we were on our field, it was just the most relaxing and peaceful place to be.  That peace is something we all need at times.

Saturday - but no workshops today

I lost track of time today and, in fact, I was not totally sure what day it was.  No workshops today, which is good as I have homework from the Groovi Retreat still to do.  However, I cannot show you that until the beautiful plates are launched on 2nd May by Linda Williams, who designed them.

Instead, you can see other new plates being used - Barbara Gray's lovely Floral Alphabet.  Even if you cannot see a use for all the letters, the entwined flowers can fit on any other design.  I need two cards to be ready by Tuesday so there is limited embossing, but a lot of layers of colour.  

Most colour is applied to the front with very sharp pencils to aim to lose the white lines as completely as possible.  I embossed the actual letters with the number one Groovi tool to make them stand out, and the same for the outer frame.  The flowers and leaves are embossed VERY lightly, so they are only just visible before adding colour.

Rather than going for a strong layer of colour, I am blending the colours very softly.  That will give me a deeper colour in the end, and lose those white lines.  I also have the choice of adding extra colour on the back if required.

Once the colouring is finished, I can emboss some areas lightly on the back to add a little shape.  I will post the finished cards once they are handed over.

Meanwhile, have a lovely Easter.  xxx

Friday is for finishing off, or it should be

I had intended to finish off the re-perforations on this challenge piece, but the best plans often get changed.  When I started doing it, my gold gel pen decided it hated me, and began stuttering and scratching, and left me with a messy line.  I finally found another gold pen and went over the lines.

BIG MISTAKE!!

I should have tested it out more carefully before going for it.  Please learn from my mistakes.  The original pen gave a thin line which is what I wanted.  This new one turned out to do thick lines, not the right look for this oriental design by Marina Wiyadharma.  Once I had started, I had to keep going.  Not happy!

That was yesterday.  Today, I found another thin pen and started all over again, right from the beginning.  I was tempted to give up and throw this disaster in the bin.  However, I hate being beaten, so I will try to rescue it later after I have had time to think about it.  I will now work more slowly and carefully on the replacement, which incidentally was number three attempt.  So number four needs to be right.  I can live with the odd misplacement of a hole as there are a load at small flowers to add anyway.

This is where I have got to so far, hard to see as the perforations are not strong and the colour and whitework has not been started yet.

My other finishing off task was to do another layer of embossing on the first project from the retreat.  I have come down today to the Pergamano number three tool, still very gently.  I reckon I still need at least another two days of that to really finish the shading of the white work.  Then there is a lot of cut work to do at the end.  I loved the project so much that I do not want to spoil it by rushing at the last stage.

As there is no workshop tomorrow, I think I will start another couple of replicas, partly to make sure the technique stays firmly in my brain.

Have a good evening, folks.

Thursday Tips and Techniques

Sorry I am so late today and this is a very short post.  My reason and excuse is that my head is still spinning with all the things we learned from Linda Williams on Monday and Tuesday at the Groovi Retreat.

I also have not done any photos today, because what I am working on right now are the two fabulous projects from the retreat.  The plates we used are really under wraps until they are officially launched on 2nd May.

I also started a challenge from Maria before I went down to Kent and I have just irretrievably messed it up.  So I will have a good night's sleep and start again. 

 One tip from this mishap is that you should test everything out on scrap parchment before applying it to your masterpiece, especially flippin' gel pens.  The white ones and I do not get on, they always give up halfway through an important line, or when you are trying to add highlight to an eye or a gem.  Other people find white gel pens they swear by.  Not me!  They all hate me.

 Somewhere last week, I read that Posca pens are good and more reliable, so I got a white one and used it to add a tiny white dot on a very small bird eye.  I am impressed.  It was dry almost instantly, stayed on top and did not sink into the background colour.  This was on parchment.

My gold gel pen was also a disaster and kept stuttering and stopping, which does not make gold outline tracing very easy.  I found another pen to go over the problem lines, only to find that it flooded out, making the lines thick and ugly.  My fault!  I did not try it out first.

However, I am not broken hearted about it as I had made several mistakes with the gridwork.  So now I need to do the job properly without trying to cut corners.  Photocopy the design and attach the parchment still  instead of trying to hold it still with one hand while trying to control a dodgy gel pen with the other.  Then concentrate on the design and count it properly.

So what I am trying to say is that unless you are a real expert like Linda Williams, Tina Cox, Josie Davidson and the others who have been doing it for a long time, do not try to cut corners.  It rarely works.  Try your pens and pencils out first.  Test your tools to make sure they are giving you the design you want.  Do not rush your embossing.  You will not be really happy if you do.

Have fun.

What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday 515 - well, sort of!

I hope you will excuse me, but I have no desk photo right now, having only just got back from a fantastic, full on two day Groovi/parchment retreat down in Kent.  This photo has already been on my blog this week, but it was the best I could do.  It also shows some of my very good friends from the Clarity community, getting together the evening before.

This is a sneaky peak of our first project.  I am keeping it under wraps till it is

finished and the plates have been officially launched.  Suffice it to say that both the projects were just so beautiful, and I am looking forward to putting in the work to finish them properly.  The embossing needed will take the rest of this week at the very least, but it is worth doing properly.

The second piece is also in need of a lot of finishing work to complete.  We learned so many techniques from Master Tutor, Linda Williams.  Everyone in the 80 strong group tackled the same two projects, no matter what level they were at,  but it was possible to stop at any point and still produce a lovely piece of work.

I will be bringing my parchment things to the forthcoming WOYWW Crop, and if anyone fancies having a go, you will be welcome to try. 

As I am very late to parade this week, (not easy to write a blog during past Heathrow),  I will finish now and try to visit a few people this evening before crawling to bed to recover from the journey back from Kent.

I do have one more thing to mention, the dreadful fire at Notre Dame.  I am sure I am not the only one to feel shock and disbelief at the devastation of a place I visited many times in my youth.  I do hope that it can be restored.

Sunday - Anything Goes

Not very much to read tonight and definitely no photos.  Did not have time to take any today, and after that, I was too tired.  We had another fabulous day at The Spa with Linda Williams on another great project.  I will not tell you anything about that yet, as I believe that part of it at least will be demoed by Linda on the next Pergamano show on Hochanda, and I would not want to spoil your surprise.  I will say that it is well worth the wait though.

Quite a number of the 80 strong group have already left for home and the rest of us will follow suit after breakfast tomorrow.  Hopefully, most of us will meet up again at the Clarity Open Days at the new venue at Ditton.

Thanks to all the Clarity team, who made these last two days such a huge success.  Barbara and all the Elves, Paul Church, Tina Cox, Becca Kempster,  and everyone else, and especially to Linda for creating such beautiful new plates, and the fabulous projects for us to work on.  Time to catch up with sleep, all of you.

Monday is supposed to be for Mindfulness

Not sure how mindful I am today.  Tired - definitely.  Happy - for sure.  How could I not be, after a day of beautiful fluffyness and teaching from Linda Williams.

I am not going to show what we did today.  You will either have to wait till it is finished or peer very hard at the bleary pictures.  Suffice it to say, it is so beautiful.  I so love it, and there will be many more made in the near future.  We learned so many techniques, tips and tricks.

Linda and Barbara make a great double act, making it all fun.

In a few minutes, we are all off down to the Chandelier Restaurant to have our evening meal together, tiaras and all.  Then I reckon it will be bedtime.  I am tired now. 

Since posting the above, I have been horrified to see the dreadful destruction of the glorious Notre Dame in Paris.  It has a very special place in my heart from my youth, when several of us from school wandered the streets of Paris as we wished.  Notre Dame and the Ile de la Cite were a favourite place to visit.  It does not seem possible that that beautiful stained glass and other treasures have just gone.

Sunday - Anything Goes

One more sleep before we start work.   I finally got here about 4.00pm after a mixed journey.  For once, I came across the Cotswolds which should have been quiet but there were hordes of powerful motorbikes, thirty or forty at a time, very fast and very loud. 

I did quite well on most of the dreaded M25, which was good.  The first person I saw at the hotel was the lovely Barbara, then there were loads of friends sitting in the foyer, having cups of tea and coffee and lots of chatting.  It was at least an hour before I finally got up to my lovely little room.

We had decided that a party of over 20 of us might be a bit much for the Brasserie in the hotel, so our catering manager had booked a large table at our usual pub.  Lynne Bishop was given the title of Queen of the Table by the waitress.

Queen of the Table

We were a generally well-behaved lot, but there was lots more chatting going on.

Here is our Queen again, checking her economy, I think.  I reckon her clipboard was the wrong colour.  It should have been red to reflect her status.

Thank you, Lynne, for sorting it all out for us.

Now, it is time to put the lights out, turn the TV off, read a bit and get some sleep.  See you tomorrow, some of you on here and some of you in the workshop.  Night night, sleep tight, mind the bugs don't bite.

Saturday - no workshops today

As the title says, there are no workshops for me today.  There is a lot of packing and tidying to be done, all ready for two fabulous days of Groovi workshops next week.  Can't wait to get there and meet up with lots of good friends.

I think it takes longer to sort the dog stuff than mine.  I have got my priorities right as my parchment nag is already packed and ready to put in the car.  Just a couple of jumpers to get dry and I am sorted.

Oh yes, and a call in on the hole in the wall and a swift top up of the fuel tank.  Then some serious prayers to the guardian of the motorways to get a good journey on the M25.

Looking forward to meeting up with lots of you tomorrow.

Friday - Finish Off Day

I have not actually finished anything completely, but embossing just cannot be rushed.

No 1.

This was, more or less, the way this project looked after Maria Moorhouse's class on Tuesday.  It still needed lots more gentle embossing on the outer edges of the large daisy petals.  Some people will have noticed that I used a technique on the flower centres that I hate doing, but it is ideally suited to the texture of the fluffy centres.  It is stippling with light embossing behind.  It is very effective, but I just find it irritating to do.  I have also made up my mind to work hard to truly master some of the things I don't enjoy.

Don't worry.  I have not coloured it green.  It is just the backcloth in my photo light box.  It does show the difference in the embossing since the class.  A little more embossing is still required.

No 2

Usually, when we go to both sessions, we spend the second one either doing a variation of the first or just working further to finish off.  However, this time Maria decided she needed to keep the "naughty table" under control, so she gave us some different techniques to try out, still using the same plates, plus the nine square plate to create two squares and one oblong.  

I managed to get the scallops reversed so I added the dots to make it look intentional.  I also finally decided not to add colour to this one and just concentrate on the white work.

I have done one other step since taking these photos.  I have used the fine straight grid to perforate the outer edges, then perforating and snipping.  I enjoy snipping.  That little sharp click is so satisfying and tells me I am doing it right.

I will show these two again when they are completely finished and mounted.  I am off now to see what Maria has done for her Friday blog.

Thursday Tips and Techniques - why does my white work look lumpy and bobbly?

There are a number of questions that I see time and time again on Groovi Worldwide and other websites.  One very frequent query is "why won't my parchment lie flat?" , put together with "why is my white work lumpy?"

The first answer is that parchment is supposed to be relaxing, and not to be rushed.  It is easy when you start a new craft of occupation of any kind to want to get it done and mounted immediately.  If you want to do that, that is fine, but limit yourself to tracing your design with some careful colouring.  That way, you will have a lovely piece of work in a few minutes.  To keep this lying flat, use the Groovi Guard to rest your hand on and stop the natural moisture and oils in your skin (everyone has them) from getting on to your parchment.

If you want to take your parchment work further and learn to do gridwork and hits work then you really need to learn patience first.  Most people have several pieces of work on the go at the same time, so that by the end of a week you could end up with five or six completed pieces finished.  

This photo is designed to show how to emboss.  The two very white flowers were done in the wrong way by really going for it by using heavy pressure and trying to get it very white in one go.  The photo does not really show how bad the embossing is, but it is lumpy, bumpy and close to cracking.  

The flowers numbered 1 - 5 have been done properly.  

Flower 1 has been softly stroked once.  

Flower 2 -5 rested overnight before being stroked again.  

Flowers 3 - 5 rested overnight again before being gently embossed again.  

Flowers 4 - 5 rested overnight before being embossed again.

Flower 5 has had at least two more periods of rest and embossing and really could do with more attention.

Even though it has been worked so many times, the parchment is still lying flat because it has been treated gently and given plenty of time to rest.  Everything you do with parchment should be done gently and slowly.  If you are colouring, do it in several light gentle layers rather than one hard layer.  If you colour softly, you get the chance to add lots more layers to intensify the colour.  If you colour hard to start with, you will find that you cannot add more.  

If you get a piece of parchment and draw two rows of similar flowers - I drew these free hand.  On one row, get your embossing tool and emboss the first flower really hard so that the parchment starts to stand up high.  Then do what I did with the other five flowers to end up with the five different stages.  On the second row, colour the first flower by really pressing hard to get as much colour down at once.    Then colour the other five flowers softly, giving then the rest overnight before adding more colour.  Once you have done these two rows of flowers and keep them in a folder for future reference.

Take care and enjoy playing and learning.

WOYWW 514

Nice bit of sun right now to brighten up our moods and our desks.  You probably won't be surprised to see that mine is heavily biased towards parchment projects.  I was out yesterday, doing two great workshops with Maria Moorhouse at Evesham, and came back with plenty of homework.  Parchment cannot be rushed otherwise it looks awful, all wrinkled and uneven.

This is the first one.  Still a lot of embossing layers to add to enhance the graduated white work.  Their is  bit of cut work on the leaves, with stippling on the large daisy centres to give texture.

This second one was a little more complicated to set up, and involved more cut work, plus stippling again on the daisy centres.  I have not yet decided whether to add colour or keep it to traditional white.

A very kind lady brought some magazines, full of parchment designs, to the class for anyone who wanted them. As a result of some chat, I was challenged to do the design on the front cover, by Marina Wiyadharma.

I think this will keep me busy for a while.  Meanwhile, I am off now to link up with Julia at Stamping Ground to see how everyone else is going on.  Have a good day, wherever you are or what you are doing.

Tidy up Tuesday - well, sort of!

One very quick post today and no photos.

I did two pieces of tidying up today.  I tidied my parchment stuff to take to Maria's class at Evesham, and I tidied it all again to come home.  Does that count?  Well, it does in my mind, and I am sticking to it.

We had a great time.   It was lovely to see Wendy Thorburn again for the day.  Thank you, Wendy, for the cups of tea, and for collecting those delicious paninis for lunch. 

We had lots of Groovi and lots of putting the world to rights.  Thank you, Maria, for the great projects.  Neither of mine are totally finished, both needing more embossing, done gently over time, and some colouring and perforating and snipping.  They may appear in Friday's finishing off post.

I have also been given a challenge to copy a gridwork design from a lovely parchment book that one of the ladies brought in to pass on.  More will appear of that as time goes by.  Not a piece to rush, lots of counting involved.

Right, as it is now rushing towards the witching hour, I am off to bed.  See you tomorrow for What's On Your Workdesk Wednesday.  Night night, sleep tight.

Monday for Mindfulness (or my thoughts and ramblings

I had expected that today I might have been showing everything I had learned at yesterday's workshop with Maria.  Sadly, life intervened and put a stop to that.  

Having wrenched my wrist (which is a funny shape and arthritic from being badly broken a few years ago), it was very sore and I did not fancy the four motorway drive, so I sent my apologies to Maria, and sulked at home.  There are times when you just have to be sensible and work out priorities.  For me, it was working out that if I did not give my wrist a chance to recover, I might not be able to go to the Groovi Retreat next week.

I did do a little gentle finishing off on a piece started recently at parchment class.

Our tutor, Pat White, had started us off on a traditional design by Christine Coleman, tracing with black pen or ink.  There are a number of variations on mine, some deliberate, some to cover up my failure to engage my brain.  I have already shown an unfinished version of this on a previous blog (https://silvercrafter.blogspot.com/2019/04/thursday-for-tips-and-techniques-post.html)  

One of my brain failures was forgetting to check which side I was adding the Dorso Oil to, and ending up with nasty black smudges all across the front.  Fortunately, after a few cross mutterings, I sat down again and engaged a couple of brain cells.  With the help of a Faber Castell pencil/ink eraser, and the Pergamano blending nibs with more oil, I managed to tidy up and remove pretty well all of the offending black.

Two things to learn and remember for ever:-

1. Permanent black Micron pen is not permanent when you rub Dorso Oil all over it (we were told at the start of the class so no excuses).

2.  Don't panic.  There is almost always a way out to avoid having to start again.

  Now it is finished and mounted up.  It is backed with designer parchment and then the matching designer paper.

My next job is to reorganize my parchment tool bag.  Having recently bought the six newly reintroduced Pergamano tools, and acquired a few tools from EBay that had been dropped from the range before Clarity took over, my bag is running out of space.

Listening to Linda Williams on the last Pergamano shows, I think I am going to follow her example. I have just bought a second bag, and will now move all the colouring things into the new bag, which will give me the space to put all my tools into a sensible order.  As the new bag has just arrived, I am off to do that job right now.  I might even be able to fit my underused Dorso crayons into the colouring bag too.  Result!

What are you going to do today?  Crafting or sorting or something completely different.

Just remember to never throw things in the bin until you have really thought about it for at least twenty four hours.

Sunday - Anything Goes

I was a bit cheesed off this morning.  The plan was to spend the day over at Hadnall, near Shrewsbury, at Maria Moorhouse's workshop, playing with alcohol inks and Yupo paper.  

Unfortunately, Fate had other plans, and I had to miss out.  I woke up yesterday and rapidly realised that my left wrist was very painful.  I broke it several years ago and it does niggle a bit in damp weather, but this was different.  Fortunately, I did not have too far to go to get to Matthew Palmer's watercolour class and, with the use of a copper compression glove, the driving was not too bad, and everything at class really involved my right hand.

However, this morning it was really painful again, so I decided that gentle exercise and massage was the better bet, rather than tackling the four motorway journey.  With luck and care, I aim to be fit to get to the Groovi Retreat in a few days time.

Meanwhile, when I got home yesterday, I found a couple of welcome parcels in the porch from EBay.  

A complete set of  Clarity star tools and an unused Pergamano sponge were among the goodies.  The two larger star tools had been dropped from the range before Clarity took over, and are proving difficult to source again.  They are such useful tools for decorative embossing.  For anyone who has never used them, they are a little strange as you use them with the parchment on a firm surface rather than the usual soft surface of an embossing mat.

The sponge, too, had vanished from the range, so to find a brand new one was a bonus.  It comes looking like a piece of cheap cardboard, but when water is added, it expands enormously to use with a paint brush, for example.

The rest of today will be occupied in adding a few missing highlights to yesterday's painting, on the statues and buildings.

Nice and gentle.  Oh yes, and watching the Clarity One Day Special on Hochanda.

I hope everyone has had a really good weekend.

Saturday is workshop day.

Today was a watercolour painting workshop with Matthew Palmer.  The title was "Prague in Sepia".

It was lovely to have the company of Wendy and Steve Thorburn, who had travelled up specially for the class.  We had a really good day.

Matthew gives his classes the option of drawing the sketch for themselves, of having a pre-drawn on, which allows us the chance to get on with the actual painting.  This first photo is just the sky and the clouds.  It is a good thing that Matthew always tells us not to judge until the whole painting is finished, as, to me, it looks pretty awful at this stage.

Stage two was adding misty grey buildings in the background which looked even worse to me, then roughly blocking in the sepia coloured buildings, and the statues on the bridge.   The clouds are still looking rather overpowering to me.

The cobbles on the bridge were tricky to keep more or less horizontal, but they did start to balance the strong sky.  After lunch, everything started to settle to where it should be, but I forgot to take any more progress shots.

By this time, most people had decided their neighbour's painting was  better than their own, including me.  It was a bit like doing the snow leopard, where it came to life with the addition of the spots and the eyes.  This time, it was the addition of windows and little clusters of bricks and tiles that did the same.

This is almost finished now, just needing a few tiny highlights to be added.  It certainly looks better with the frame added.

Some of you may recognise a couple of people in the following couple of shots taken from Matthew's Facebook page at the end of the day.

Thank you to Matthew for a great class today.

Finish Off on Friday

It's a bit chilly this morning and I really did not want to get out of my lovely cosy bed, but I decided that it would not be a good look to meet the Sainsbury's delivery man in my nightie.
These first two cards are the ones I set up at the lovely workshop last Saturday at Whittington, run by Josie Davidson (the Queen of gridwork) and Chris Walker. 

I posted both designs after the class ( https://silvercrafter.blogspot.com/2019/03/saturday-is-workshop-day.html ) and have been working on them gently  each day since then.

All the colouring was done on the back, using the Perga Liners, keeping the colour palette very limited.   

I think the designs that Josie and Chris gave us are really delicate and pretty, and I thoroughly enjoyed doing the gridwork.

This third one is the one I used to show how to use the King plates.  It is the Edward border.  The perforating is not as good as I would like.  It uses the bold grids and tools, and, being awkward, I find the bold perforating and snipping harder than the fine tools and grids.  I need to settle down and just practice until I get it right.

The centre is from a drawing of lavender that I did a couple of years ago.  I tried to keep the outlines as faint as possible to let the colour come through.  I also coloured the background within the border with the Perga Liners.

I need to play around a bit more to find the best way to use my drawings on parchment to get the best results.  I also need to set aside a few minutes each day just to do some observing and drawing.

Off now to see what else I can manage to finish off today, and to get my bags packed and ready for both of this weekend's workshops.  Hope you have a good weekend.

Thursday for Tips and Techniques - Post-it-Notes for Groovi?

What are you on about, I hear you say?  Why would I need a post-it-note if I am doing parchment?  Are you sitting comfortably ...... then I will begin.

This is a piece of work,designed by Christine Coleman, started at class with Pat White, all done traditionally.  There is still a lot of work to do, but what happened to me with this applies to any parchment work.

Let me explain.

We often see and hear people ask if parchment has a right or wrong side.  

1.  With the coloured designer parchment, there is a difference.  The colour is flooded onto the parchment on one side only, and shows as a little shiny and more intense.  The coloured side is officially the wrong side.  If you want good white work, then you will emboss the lines and white work with the "wrong" side facing upwards.  If you emboss on the other, more muted, side, then your white work will be more muted too.  It is not wrong, just different.  Get the corner of a piece of coloured parchment and try embossing from both sides to see the difference for yourself.

Perforating is normally done from the "right" side, so that the spiky bits are not visible.

2.  The most commonly used parchment is the translucent type, and this does not have a right or wrong side, UNTIL you start to work on it.  Remember, you emboss on the wrong side and perforate from the right side.  

The photo above is taken from the front, the right side.  We traced the outlines with a fine Micron pen on the front, and used the same pen to fill in the black areas, also on the front.  I found I needed the Lightwave to do the filling in and it showed up lots of gaps not visible to the naked eye.  To intensify the black, we used acrylic on the back.  The Micron pen would not stand up to the Dorso Oil needed to add the background colour, which is why the acrylic was needed.

Great, no problem.  Off home then to finish everything that we didn't have time for in class.  The next day, I got it out again to continue, dorsoed the back and applied the colour.  Then I turned it over to check if I needed to add more colour.  It was a little pale, so I added more colour, and started to blend it, but nothing happened, so, thinking the oils had evaporated, I added a little more to the sponge and continued blending.  It worked well, except that there was now a nasty grey smudge all over the design!  

Are you with me?  What had I forgotten to do?    

I had completely forgotten to turn the parchment over again and had started to colour on the front instead of the back.  As a result, the Dorso Oil had started to move the black pen on the front.

You will often hear advice to write front and back on your work once you have started, to prevent accidents like this.  I had done that, but obviously that was not enough.  So, I had a think and decided I needed something more visible than a bit of writing in the corner to stop such an annoying mishap.  

Hence the post-it-note, much harder to ignore.  It is when you make mistakes after a lot of hard, careful work, that you start to work out how to make life easier and to avoid further problems.  You do need to be careful where you put the sticky bit, as you do not want residue from the glue on your work.  I attached this one to the edge that I intend to cut off at the end.

I hope this helps some of you to avoid my mistake.  Have a lovely time with you crafting.  By the way, the lovely Linda Williams has been on Hochanda today for the Pergamano shows.  Those shows are full of lots of hints and techniques from Linda and are available on catch up on Hochanda.

WOYWW 513

Wednesday again already!  The day we all trot round to Julia's Stamping Ground to see what everyone else is doing.  I cannot believe it has galloped round so fast.  In fact, will someone please put the brakes on this year and give me a chance to catch up a little.

Not a lot to see really today, as it was my designated day for a major clear up, so very little crafting actually going on.    In between filling black sacks, I have done a little perforating and picot cutting on the two parchment pieces I started at class on Saturday.  I don't want to add them to my increasing pile of UFOs to be dealt with on Friday Finish Off Day.

This is where I got to last night before bed, not a very good photo, the colour being very distorted, but the next picture shows the colour better.

Once this is finished, I am aiming to have a nice inky session later today.  I feel the need to get messy for a bit.

This was not in my original photo, but it is something I need to add more to.  Doodling has become really popular, all of a sudden, partly thanks to a doodling competition between Barbara Gray and Tina Cox.  This one of mine was done a while ago, but I rejected it as being no good.  Since then, I have learned a lot about myself and my attitude to what I create, and, looking at it again, I have changed my mind.  I quite like this now, regardless of what anyone else might think.

Talking to a local artist on Sunday, and to a friend since has made me realise that I need to listen to my own advice.  Never mind what anyone else says or thinks, it is important to just have a go, and keep having a go.  Even doodling has value.

Meanwhile, I hope to see you all over at Julia's for a coffee.