Tag: crafts
Inspirations 4
Since I didn’t have any fibery links for you last time, I decided the next one should be only mostly partially wool related. Hope you enjoy! And as usual I’d love to hear which links you liked.
Felted paintings from Scotland
You Donât Have to Be Pretty (well of course I have to say that!)

Taking it easy
Time to Photoshop!
As I’ve mentioned I’ve been a bit beside myself with my injured thumb, a limping old dog AND cat, headaches and various other creativity killers. Halfdone paintings sitting around that I was working on at the time but can’t for the life of me remember what plans I had and/or feeling reluctant to dive back in for some reason. And just feeling the usual irritation creeping in when I don’t get to make stuff with my hands.
So instead of struggling I figured I might as well make it easy for myself and see where that got me going. I’ve been digging through the old photos that I have backed up on the computer (I also have 2 large binders of negatives that I never got round to scanning, too bad really), picking out and playing with Photoshop making “fake” paintings or weird effects. Just trying things out. I’ve been wanting to make collages as well, but holding my stylus for cropping out items is a bit of a strain.
And it’s paid off, because I have enough images now for my picture blog to last for the rest of the year! I know it’s technically cheating, not actually doing one a day, but surely I can’t be the only one…. Anyway it works better for me to do stretches of one thing, and my temper isn’t as bad when I’ve been doing this 😉
Let som en plet
Som tidligere nævnt har jeg været lidt ved siden af mig selv med min stakkels tommelfinger, halt hund OG kat, hovedpiner og diverse andre eksterne kreativitetsdræbere. De malerier jeg lige var beyndt på kan jeg pludselig ikke huske hvad handlede om og jeg har en eller anden sær ugidelighed mht at gå i gang igen.some reason. Og ja, så bliver jeg bare sådan lettere irritabel når jeg i længere tid ikke laver noget med mine hænder.
SÃ¥ i stedet for at kæmpe for sagen, besluttede jeg at gøre det nemt for mig selv og se hvor det førte hen. Jeg har gennemrodet alle backup mapper pÃ¥ computeren efter gamle fotos (jeg har ogsÃ¥ to store mapper med negativer jeg aldrig fik scannet – egentlig rigtig ærgerligt!) og bare leget med Photoshop, lavet effekter og falske malerier og andet sjovt. Collager er ogsÃ¥ noget jeg vil i gang med igen, men det er lidt hÃ¥rdt at holde pÃ¥ en tegnepen for at fritskrabe objekter.
Om ikke andet har jeg nu billeder nok til resten af Ã¥ret pÃ¥ min billedblog. Jeg ved godt det er lidt snyd ikke at rent faktisk lave et om dagen, men jeg er nok ikke den eneste… NÃ¥r først jeg kommer i sving med et projekt holder jeg helst ikke op lige med det samme. Med bedre humør i bonus imens. 😉
Drumcarder – I haz one
I’ve been so amazingly lucky recently that family members have chosen to share some abundance with me. Not only did my mum replace my 10 y.o. camera with a shiny new modern gizmo, I also have a new fiber tool. While being an owner in itself doesn’t ring my bells very loudly, I’m whooping at the thought of all the stuff I can DO with these toys. Never mind that I’ve hardly had any new clothes in a decade, I’m warm, clean and not too offensive.
The large drum is easily removed and replaced, so you have the option of coarse or fine cloths. I’m mordanting the last of my Dorset fleeces to be dyed and then everything gets run through the machine. Among other things.
I’ll be in the wool room if you need me. (aka living room aka paint stoodio)
Kartemaskine
Lykkens Pamjulefis, det er mig! At blive tildelt overflod bare for glæden ved at give og modtage, ikke for ejerskabets skyld som sådan, men alt det man kan udrette med det rigtige værktøj og godt humør. Og nu mangler jeg hverken det ene eller det andet! Den store tromle kan nemt skiftes, hvis man vil have en grov- eller fintandet.
SÃ¥ hvis ikke I kan se mig, sÃ¥ ved I nok hvad jeg laver… Der er sat en gryde bejdse over med det sidste Dorset rÃ¥uld og sÃ¥ skal hele balladen ellers igennem maskineriet. Og naturligvis foreviges med det fine kamera, jeg har fÃ¥et af min mor, da det gamle var ved at stille træskoene.
Postcard a day 1
This is a thing I’ve decided to do. Not really every day, but rather on the days when I’m too busy, too tired, too distracted or too something else to haul out the serious painting gear and have a go at that. Or any other creative thing for that matter. Such as this week which seems to insist on being slept away mostly, I’m a complete zombie. Lovely weather and all, I’d much rather break in my bicycle! But there’s no forcing it, I’d not be safe in traffic.
I have no idea how many people are running a something-like-this-along, most likely 100’s. But I just set the challenge for myself to feel like I wasn’t missing out on picture creation while I do other things, as well as taking the pressure off making a “real” big painting in case any of that nonsense happens. I may do a search on the topic one of these days, but I’ll be more likely to just sit and browse pretty pictures for hours or days instead of making stuff, so for now I won’t.
I’m also not going to post every day or even regularly, just when I feel like it. This is meant to be a treat for myself, not a competition or an exercise. And sometimes other matters are more pressing or I’m simply having so much fun doing other stuff that I forget. 😉
If you want to -along you’re more than welcome to, and we can do the linky thing and all that, but I refuse to make any rules or schedules, just so you know! Just post your cards and comments – or we can swap!
I started out with a piece of watercolour paper that I dipped in my woad vat while testing if it was exhausted or what. It was indeed a wee bit tired (not that I know if a fresh vat would have made more of the paper, I’ll have to test that later), so the next day I dribbled some of the plant watercolours on it, tore it into 4 pieces and had a go with a glue stick because I hated what I’d done with the dribbles. I’m sooo rusty at this collage thing. And I know I should probably stick to one topic rather than trying on all the things I’m rusty at, but it seems I can’t help it. Ok, I haven’t really tried very hard not to, so I don’t know if I could.
I also considered to just copy cat a lot of stuff to keep the flow until I get into it properly, I don’t like to but I hear it’s great for cranking your skills. At the moment, the exercise is primarily about accepting that I make poor choices and that my cards are sometimes useless in the decorative sense. Maybe I’ll have an “ugliest card” competition at the end of the year where you can vote for all the monsters. 😉
This tiny format is a HUGE challenge for me as well. I want to cram all sorts of things on there, which is impossible. And why postcard and not just “a tiny image a day”? Well, I like to pretend I’m making something useful I think. And I know I’ve framed pretty postcards and put them on the wall, so really, it’s just a name.
Maybe I’ll put old stamps on the back and write pretend messages to and from imaginary people….
Then there’s an entirely different matter. I appear to have developed a slight hand tremor. I can feel it if I try to draw or knit with small needles for instance. Why I have no idea, it doesn’t run in the family that I’m aware. So I guess I should not count on any type of precision work in drawing etc. but have to develop a style where it doesn’t matter. I hope this is it, though, I’d hate to give up making things with my hands. I’ll have to pay attention to how tired I am when it happens. It’s certainly not very good for calligraphy or fine scissor work either! 🙁

Et postkort om dagen
…har jeg tænkt mig at lave som projekt.
Jeg har overhovedet ikke kigget ret meget eller for nylig pÃ¥ de 100-vis af lignende websider man kan finde derude, for sÃ¥ fÃ¥r jeg aldrig løsrevet mig fra at bare sidde og kigge og beundre. Men jeg tænkte jeg kunne bruge det som en slags livline, sÃ¥ jeg føler at jeg trods alt laver noget billedagtigt i de perioder hvor der ikke rigtig er plads til det. Som denne uge der insisterer pÃ¥ at være zombie-sæson, i det gode vejr, hvor jeg hellere ville ud at lufte min cykel lidt. Men jeg ville ikke være trafiksikker, der er ikke noget at gøre…
Ikke noget med at vise dem hver dag eller regelmæssigt, bare når jeg gider. Hvis nogen har lyst til at dele lignende projekter er det super, men der er ingen regler!
Jeg begyndte med et stykke papir som jeg havde dyppet i vaidgryden da den var ved at løbe tør for farve. SÃ¥ driblede jeg lidt andre farver pÃ¥, det blev grimt, sÃ¥ limstiften kom frem…
Det er meget meget længe siden jeg har lavet collager kan jeg godt mærke, og jeg tror aldrig jeg har arbejdet så småt, så det er udfordring på mange planer. Måske jeg går i gang med at kopiere nogen yndlingskunstnere, det siges at være en god måde at forbedre sig på, og så sker der da lidt når min egen fantasi ikke ruller som jeg vil det. Nu må vi se.
Jeg farvede ogsÃ¥ lidt papir i cochenillegryden, og jeg tror jeg hiver mine bladtryk fra sidste Ã¥r frem ogsÃ¥ og klipper lidt i dem – eller laver nye.
MÃ¥ske sætter jeg gamle frimærker bagpÃ¥ og skriver fiktive beskeder til og fra ukendte og indbildte personer…
Til gengæld har jeg på det seneste opdaget, at jeg ryster en smule på hænderne. Det er ikke noget der ligger til familien, så jeg kender ikke årsagen, men jeg kan ikke tegne særlig nøjagtigt, og jeg kan mærke det hvis jeg strikker på tynde pinde. Ret irriterende, jeg håber ikke det udvikler sig yderligere, og så må jeg jo bare finde en tegnestil hvor det ikke ses.