Babes, Rods and Cocoons

You know what its like when you go to a workshop, you take everything but the kitchen sink then use everyone elses bits and pieces because you have nothing suitable. Today's EG workshop on Silk Rods and Cocoon workshop was no different. We were given a small painted artists stretcher and told to bring fabrics, beads etc in a similar colourway. Naturally when we saw what the tutor had produced the bits we'd taken seemed inadequate. Does it sound familiar?

Puzzled looks and envious glances at everyone elses bits and pieces resulted in lots of swapping and in the end we managed to make a start. I had great difficulting separating the layers of the cocoons and kept thinking I would take them home and immerse them in hot water to release some of the natural glue holding the fibres together. In the end though I managed.By the end of the afternoon we'd all made a start (one had a finished piece) but this was all I had done, sorry looking piece isn't it. I think they look a bit like demented aliens. I've promised I'd work on it at home and produce the finished article in time for our next EG meeting in two weeks time. Still not at all certain what I'm going to do with them. The strange looking beasties are cocoons and the frilly bits teased out rods. The dye didn't go all the way to the middle so a lot of the rod when teased apart was white.

Like lots of others I was aghast at the bushfire tragedies in Australia and my February journal page is my response to some of the pictures of burning buildings and destitution. The base fabric was a piece of handdyed fabric Britta sent me with her art doll, Mrs Bird. I quilted the fabric in a flames pattern using a metallic yarn and bonded red and green building shapes. Next I overlaid a dark red sheer and handstitched round the paper shapes to represent buildings. Finally after I'd burned back the sheer and requilted it in the same metallic thread as it seemed to have got lost. Clear glass beads were sewn on in a waterpattern to represent water from the fire hoses. The piture isn't too clear as I scanned the JP but it was a bit short for the scanner so one end is about an inch too short.

Bushfire Babe (pattern here) was made as a response to the Rainbow Comfort Pack appeal on Beyond Blue and Pink . The idea behind the appeal is if the children have something comforting to play their parents will be able to concentrate on sorting out the aftermath of the fire. I'm going to make a little bag to put her in along with a colouring book and some pencils or a small puzzle. I know lots of others are doing the same, I'm making an assumption that they will get lots of rainbow packs.