The Mighty Oak

Once again my sister and I have been playing with 'Silver Clay'. There was a little bit of clay left over from the last time we 'played', not enough to make anything too large so we turned the clay into paste so we could paint leaves with it.

I love Oak Trees, they are the quintessential 'English' tree and not far from to us there is a tree that is reputed to be upwards of 600 years old. It is very gnarled and the massive trunk has had to have a metal brace placed round it to preserve it as the trunk has split. With true British spirit it comes to life every year and is beautiful.



So we decided to use oak leaves, not I hasten to add taken from the 600 yr old tree! They were taken from my sisters tree. The leaf needs to be washed gently before starting, once that was done we could paint to our hearts content. Not a fast process as each layer has to be painted on thinly and dried before the next one can be painted on. In all it took 10 layers of silver clay paste for it to become strong enough to withstand use. Once totally dry they were fired and polished up. The veining was highlighted by adding 'liver of sulphur' to hot water and immersing them for a couple of minutes before re polishing to remove it from unwanted areas. A 'bail' has been added to the back of each one so I can hang them from a chain etc. We've both ended up with 2 beautiful silver (925) leaves.

Play Time!

This year my sister & I have decided to set each other a challenge for Christmas. The rules are very simple, we both have to have the same basic present with a price limit of £10. Once we have found something we both like we then have free reign to fill it with any manor of things, but whatever we fill it with has to be made from anything we have to hand in the house. No extra expenditure is allowed!

So now we've found some lovely wicker Trugs for the garden........

the fun can really begin.................

My first 'make' to go in the trug is an apron made from a t-towel. I have a bit of a t-towel fetish and buy lovely ones then hide them in the back of the drawer as I don't want to get them stained!! Virtually all my t-towels have dye stains on them!! At the beginning of the year I bought some lovely mint coloured ones from Asda and duly hid them! I came across them whilst tidying out the drawer and decided it was time to put one of them to a good use.

To the basic t-towel I added three pockets made from my stash of fabric and an extra long tie so it can be wrapped round the waist and tied at the front. I folded the two top edges of the t-towel round to the back just to add a little shape to the top of it. Eh Viola!

Now....what can I make next.............................?

The Call Of The Sea

For a piece of my course work I had to make a bowl of some description. Having recently spent much time by the sea I knew instantly what I wanted to do.

So, on a piece of pelmet vilene I had bondawebbed I laid torn up strips of fabric, cotton, sheers, silks & nets in a spiral pattern. Starting with the darkest in the centre spiralling out to the whites for the crests of the waves at the edges. I also added some chopped up silver threads sprinkled onto the white areas before covering the whole with a fine piece of net. To hold it all together I vermicelli stitched it all over and then stitched a wave around the top edge.

The edges were then shaped to mirror the waves before stitching the sides together. As a finishing touch I stitched some shells and sea glass to the inside. I'm ever so pleased with the finished result!

Aren't I A Lucky Girl!

We went to beautiful Cornwall at the weekend to see our 'Oldest & Dearest' friends. My wonderful 'Dearest' friend had made me some beautiful baskets to keep my treasures in.

Not only that, there were two dear little felt cupcakes too!!
I feel a 'tidy up' coming on now so that I can display them properly.
Thank you so much my friend. I love them!