Just Playing Around

My First Foray Into Making Paper Cloth

After reading a number of tutorials on how to make paper cloth, I knew that I had to give it a try.  So yesterday I gathered up all of the supplies and jumped in.  I didn't have to buy a thing, I had everything that I needed on hand.  When you've been doing various arts and crafts for forty years or so, you have a lot of stuff laying around, just begging to be used.  I even got out my rubber stamps, I hadn't used them in a couple of years.

I won't give you directions for making paper cloth; there are so many tutorials out there that do that much better than I could.  So I will share links to the sites that I found helpful.

iHanna's Blog has a great tutorial that I followed pretty closely.

Katherine Sands also has a nice tutorial on Art Journal--A Creative Journey.  She shows some neat things that you can make with your paper cloth after you make it.

Kelli Nina Perkins has a book out on the subject and judging by the number of mentions and reviews that I've seen on other blogs, it must be really good.

Anyway, I'll share a few pictures so you can see the progression.  I forgot to take pictures as I was first getting started, but you can see some changes.

This Photo Shows The Glue Still Wet.

The photos of the paper cloth while it was wet were taken at night so that explains the difference in color, The light overhead gave everything a yellow-gold tint.  I used a garbage bag cut open underneath, it worked really well.

Left lower section while the glue was wet.

Lower left corner glue dry, but not painted.

The glue is dry, but I haven't added the stamping, or paint.

Lower left corn with metallic
acrylic paint, ink and stamping added

Lower left corner with metallic
acrylic paints, ink and stamping added.

Upper section while the glue is wet.

Right side glue dry, but no paint, ink or stamping.

Upper section with metallic
acrylic paint, ink and stamping added.

Close-up of upper section.

Upper left section glue dry, but no paint, ink or stamping.

Upper left corner with metallic
acrylic paints, ink and stamping.

Another close up

Close up of poem

Playing with Color: Poetry For The Eyes

Today I found the Colorapi website and I have had fun playing around with it; coming up with words and phrases to put into the search for photos and color palettes.  You don't see the color palettes unless you are actually on the site.  So you'll have to try it out yourself to get the complete experience.  It is a really interesting experiment, especially if you are a lover of words and of color as I am.

Here are some of the treasures I found:

Icicle Blues

Peppermint Bliss

Kiss Me Pink

Canyon Fire

Whispered Prayer

Dove Sigh

Murky Thoughts

Pensive Purple

Another Yarn Shopping Excursion

I took advantage of both JoAnn's and Michael's sales on yarn this afternoon.  This scarf making thing is addictive!  There were so many gorgeous colors and varieties of yarn that I spent about 2 1/2 hours picking out my favorites.

I found this cool varigated yarn at Joann's called Stormy, it will look great with denim.  To coordinate with this I chose another Lion Brand Fun Fur in Indigo and I'll probably also use the Fun Fur Chocolate that I already have with this too.  Then I found the Deborah Norville Chunky yarn with sequins and had to add that to the mix.  It is hard to see the color in the photo below, but it is a dark navy with brighter blue sequins in the yarn.  To round out this combination I chose the really soft, muted Patons Divine yarn, which is a sort of angora blend.  I can't wait to make one of these and see how they all look together.  I bought all four of these yarns at JoAnn's in Saginaw, MI.  They were having a buy one get one 50% off sale, so it was a pretty good deal.

Deborah Norville Serenity Chunky in Stormy

Lion Brand Fun Fur Indigo

Deborah Norville Serenity Chunky Sequins in Night Sky

Patons Divine in Denim Storm

Lion Brand Fun Fur Chocolate

Next I drove down the road to Michael's where I continued my hunt.  The next color group I selected is a mix of blues with a splash of bright green.  I started with Loops & Threads Country Loom yarn in Rich Blues, it's a soft, muted, varigated yarn.  The Loops & Looms yarns were 50% off so I chose two more:  Loops & Looms Charisma in Sunny Day and Loops & Looms Pom-Pom in Blue Skies.  To add some fun and sparkle to this combination I selected Martha Stewart Glitter Eyelash in Peridot.  I will also use the Lion Brand Fun Fur in Indigo and maybe even a little of the Deborah Norville Chunky Sequin in Night Sky.  I think that this will be a fun color combination and I can't wait to try using the pom-pom yarn.

Loops & Threads Country Loom Rich Blues

Loops & Threads Charisma Sunny Day

Loops & Threads Pom-Pom Blue Skies

Martha Stewart Glitter Eyelash in Peridot

Lion Brand Fun Fur in Indigo

I made two more selections to go with some of the purple and magenta yarn that I bought at Walmart yesterday.  I chose another of the Loops & Threads Pom-Pom yarns, this time in Flower Garden.  And another Loops & Threads Country Loom yarn called Tapestry.  I will use these with the Magenta Lion Brand Fun Fur, the Ambrosia Lion Brand Homespun and the Lion Brand Hometown USA Portland Wine.

 Loops & Threads Pom-Pom Flower Garden

Loops & Threads Country Loom Tapestry