My creative space: big stamps

Today I've been having a lovely day off and having a go at printing with my stamps on a bigger scale.  I've been covering this big piece of calico with stamps and I'm hoping to use it for bags, linings for pouches or maybe to make some obi belts. I've been meaning to try making some D ring belts for a while so it might end up as one of those. 

 I like the shadows from those ravelly ends

 I think I might have to make a banana passionfruit flower stamp next.  I can't get over how pretty those flowers are!

Next on the to do list is sorting out whether I can get my sewing machine fixed after the other day's mishap.  Here's hoping I won't have to replace it, I'm very attached to the poor old thing!

Hope you're having a good Thursday; to see other people's creative spaces head on over to the "our creative spaces" blog.

My creative space: stamps and a winner

First up, congratulations Art by Wiley, you're the winner of my caption competition! The caption the cartoon is going to have is:

"Okay, who's going to go change?"

Send me your address at millicentcrow at gmail dot com and I'll pop your prize in the post for you!

For my creative space today I thought I'd show you some of the fun I've been having with my rubber stamps. I bought some big rubber blocks from Etsy to make bigger stamps than I'd been able to with the erasers I'd been using.
I drew some gum tree leaves that I picked up on my run (again, I need running shorts with pockets!):
Then I turned them into stamps. I stamped them onto paper then cut them out and rearranged them:
I've also been playing with leaf and feather stamps:

I'm hoping to turn this design into a pattern on fabric to put on some canvas bags:

The dots on sticks pattern is based on this plant:
Hope you've been having a good Thursday! To see more creative spaces head on over to the "our creative spaces" blog.

Falling leaves

I was admiring these leaves on an awning on my way home from work, the glass awning was a bit like a light box. When I got home I made this leaf mobile, kind of inspired by the leaves and the glass:
I stamped the gingko leaves onto tracing paper, then taped strings to their backs and taped the whole thing to the wall (don't worry, with nice, easy to peel off tape).

Then I couldn't resist trying it out in different parts of the house. Here it is on the stippled glass of the kitchen door. That green behind it makes me excited about the green fabric stamp pad that's on its way to me from the US of A!

Oh and you've still got until tomorrow night to enter my caption competition. Good luck!

Rubber stamp ideas

I just bought a huge piece of canvas and I'm hoping to make some stamped canvas bags. I thought I'd design some new stamps to cut out of erasers and here are some stamp ideas I sketched:


I made a gingko stamp but the eraser I used had kind of curved edges so it didn't quite work out. Back to the drawing board with a flatter eraser for that one. I did make myself a new feather stamp and played with it on paper:and on fabric:I should test it out on the canvas before I end up covering my whole sketchbook in feather stamps!

Poppy petals

The wind has been blowing poppy petals all over our lawn and I've been capturing a few of them; I like the way they're like little wings.
I turned one of them, and this leaf that's from something like a kaka beak, into some stamps. They're carved from erasers like these ones and these ones. Here they are on my favourite brown paper:Next I'm going to have a go at printing them on fabric...maybe for a tote bag? A skirt?

My creative space - black and white and polka dots

My creative space today has lots of polka dots and black and white.  I finished this dress yesterday, it's from my old faithful dress pattern, Vogue 1923, from the '90s.  I didn't have quite enough fabric so I had to do a bit of a jigsaw with the back!  It's a bit more A-line than the many many other versions of this dress I've made because I took the pattern up on the shortening line before I started, a step I usually forget.  I just realised it matches my polka dot stockings!  I wonder if I should wear them together.

 I think it's going to be a cheery summer staple.   

Speaking of black and white, look at what was in my letterbox this morning!  There's going to be a whole lot of stamping on fabric going on around here.  I played around this morning with stamping leaves directly onto the stamp pad which made some nice ghostly prints. 

 

And speaking of polka dots, this fabric is next in my sewing queue.  It's a piece of cotton/silk that was the skirt of a voluminous dress in a past life.  I think I'm going to make it into a breezy summer top.  

 

What have you been making?  

To see lots of other people's creative endeavours pop on over to the "our creative spaces" blog.

Hope you're having a good Thursday!  

Simplifying

I made some more rubber stamps this afternoon based on some little treasures I found at home. I had lots of fun working out how to simplify the images I used from this:

To this:

To this:Then I turned them into patterns:

I'm hoping to have a go at stamping these on fabric...maybe for patterned pockets for a plain skirt. And I'm eyeing up the four fresh new erasers I brought home from the supermarket!

Have a good weekend!

Rubber stamps

I've been seeing lots of lovely hand-carved stamps around the place lately and I thought I'd have a go at making some. First I did some sketches of things I'd like to stamp:

Carved some of them out of some erasers I had lying around:Made some more (after realising I'd need to simplify them quite a bit):

And covered my sketchbook with stamps:They're quite addictive - I had to resist filling up my whole sketchbook with different stamp patterns! Now to replenish my stash of erasers...and make some more...

My creative space

...this week is all about showing off the stamp I designed for Mr. Millicent Crow for his birthday. It's for giving people stamps at the door when he plays, and for sundry other stationery uses. To make it, I drew this bird:
added some text, shrunk it down and gave it to my favourite stampmakers and got them to work their magic.

And if you're at Meow in Wellington this weekend you might just get stamped with it!

To see other people's creative spaces pop on over here!

Beachcombing

While there have been tumbleweeds rolling through my blog, I've been out looking at sunsets. Sunsets round a fire, at the beach, with fish & chips and old friends...


I've also been doing a spot of beachcombing, collecting some shells which I'm going to turn into a gocco print. Here they are as a pencil drawing:
And speaking of beaches, I couldn't resist buying this little stamp from the Sallies yesterday:
Isn't he a sweetie?

Stampede

I picked up my shiny new Millicent Crow stamp on Friday, this is what it looks like, waiting to be cut into business cards...

Now I just need to work on my stamping skills...press evenly, don't make it wonky...

The place I got it from is called P.A. Inkerman - now isn't that name too good to be true if you're a stampmaker?