Zentangles

Zentangles

While surfing I found Zentangles, which is nothing else than doodling.
But when I browsed the galleries I really, really wanted to try it, although I normally don’t feel at my ease with doodling.
My first attempt was ugly, because I tried to ‘create’ something. Then I took a little sheet of paper and started doodling without thinking about.
I was surprised at how beautiful it turned out ;-)


Links:
Zentangles

Freeform Embroidery

Freeform Embroidery - Freeform Sticken

On the photo you see my idea of Freeform Embroidery which was highly inspired by ‘Rock Pool’ and ‘Laying It On The Line’.

I used a piece of old (but clean! ;-)) bedsheet as base. First I laid some worsted and funky yarns on it which I fixed with couching stitches (at the top of the photo). Then I stitched some french knots (light yellow on the photo). Below is my first attempt at ply-split braiding which I fixed with some couching stitches too.

It is one of my many UFOs (‘unfinished objects’), but one day I will come back to it ;-)


Links:
Inspirations: ‘Rock Pool’ / ‘Laying It On The Line’

English Embroidery Stitch Diagrams
Deutsche Stickstichbeschreibungen

Couching stitches (English)
Couching stitches (German)

French knots (English)
French knots (German)

Ply-split Braiding: a (very) short description and resources
PDF Ply-split tutorials by Peter Collingwood (scroll down)

Artist Book

Artist-Book

As mentioned before in the entry about paper beads, I once created an artist book.

Step Outside Your Box Saturdays posted this week a challenge about books and I thought it an opportunity to show my artist book ‘blickkontakt’ (which means ‘eye contact’).

I wanted ‘blickkontakt’ to give the viewer many surprises to discover and created therefore several windows and fold-outs.
The pages were created from cardboard and covered in hand-stained papers. Then I stamped, embroidered, tape transfered, sketched, scribbled and glued.


Enjoy the pictures
(Click thumbnails to see photos)

Artist-Book The cover with the round medaillon in its ‘pocket’. Along the spine I let hang the threads with the paper beads.

 

Artist-Book Still the cover, but this time showing the backside of the round medaillon.

 

Artist-Book Pages 1 & 2: You see the eye through a round window, the spirals are hand-embroidered, the little altered slide can be put into the lace pocket.

 

Artist-Book Pages 3 & 4: The images are tape transfered, the flourishes are hand-embroidered.

 

Artist-Book Pages 5 & 6: I stamped, wove paper, embroidered, crocheted. The dark circle is a free swinging altered bottle cap, the semicircle on the left upper side is a fold-out, where I glued a hand-beaded star.
(Unfortunately the tape transfers gleam so, that you can’t see their motif.)

 

Artist-Book Pages 7 & 8: I cut two little round windows into the right page.
The raffia forms a little pocket, where I put a transparent tape transfer tag.

 

Artist-Book Pages 9 & 10: Stamping, tape transfers, embroidered spirals, fold-outs, hand-stained crochet flower and hand-made bead fringe.

 

Artist-Book The verso with tape transfers, stamps and a ringlet from a fake hairpiece.

 

I created more artist books, if you like to see them, take a look at Art.


Links:
If you want to create your own (Altered or Artist) Book, you may want to take a look at the following links (the list is far from complete!):

About Altered Books:
What is an altered book?
Definitions

At art-e-zine: Altered Book Workshop

Get Inspirations:
Gallery of Altered Book Artists
Google results of search for ‘Altered Book’
Google image results of search for ‘Altered Book’

Some of the used techniques:
Paper staining
Tea Staining Your Art Journal Pages
Tea Stain Paper

Image Transfer Techniques:
Easy Photo Transfers (different techniques)
Image Transfer
Packing Tape Image Transfers

Here at unikatissima:
Paper Beads

Freeform Peyote

Freeform Peyote

As I said before I really love freeform work.
Another wonderful freeform technique is Freeform Peyote.
To give you an idea of the variety of pieces of art, see those results of the Google image search ‘Freeform Peyote’.
Stunning, aren’t they?

First I had the problem that I really didn’t know where to begin.
Up until the day I found a tutorial on how to make a freeform peyote bracelet.
After I’ve seen how easy it is, I worked several pieces with this technique. The photo shows close-up of three of them.
If you like to see more of them, take a look at the judaica, many mezuzot are made in freeform peyote technique.


Links:
Tutorial on how to make a freeform peyote bracelet

Results of the Google image search ‘Freeform Peyote’

Peyote stitch:
About.com: Beadwork: A website with lots of tutorials about beadwork
Basic Beading Stitch Tutorials

Perlenhobby.de: A website with lots of (german) tutorials about beadwork: click on
‘Anleitungen’ in the sidebar left and there select one of the Peyote tutorials
Wikipedia: Mezuza (english)Mesusa (deutsch)

Paper Crazy Quilt

Paper Crazy Quilt

I love Crazy Quilts, because it is a kind of Freeform work, but I don’t like sewing. So I began to make my quilts on and with paper.
On the photo you see a card I made with this technique.
I didn’t only embroider the seams but I also used some fancy stitches like French Knots e.g. (the red dots on the photo) onto the surfaces.

To make your own Paper Crazy Quilt, find matching papers and cut them into pieces. On the photo I used rectangles, but the typical Crazy Quilt distribution is also beautiful (here you can find some lovely blocks here you can find some lovely blocks).
Glue the collage on thin paper and then begin embroidering (carefully!) as if it was a real Crazy Quilt (here is an online class for Crazy Quilts).
To finish you glue or embroider your Paper Crazy Quilt on cardboard.


Links:
Crazy Quilt blocks
Tutorial moved to: Crazy Quilt blocks

Online class for Crazy Quilts

English Embroidery Stitch Diagrams
Deutsche Stickstichbeschreibungen

French knots (Knötchenstiche) (English)
French knots (Knötchenstiche) (German)

Stitched Flowers

Stitched Flowers

While I was browsing through the projects of STITCH I found Precious Petals. They ‘glue’ the flowers on fabric and then embellish with decorative stitching.
A stunning idea which is still on my to-so list.



Links:

STITCH project: wonderful projects around stitching (how surprising ;-))

 

Freeform Bead Embroidery

Freeform Bead Embroidery

As I said before I really love freeform work.
I once even wrote a tutorial on freeform bead embroidery (in german).
First I show how to embroider beads (with explaining pictures).
Then I tell how to encase a piece of cardboard with your fabric to use as cheap alternative for an embroidery hoop (with explaining pictures too).
And in the end I show how to begin with your freeform embroidery (which for me is always the most difficult part) (with explaining pictures too).
The item on the picture is a bead embroidered button I once made.


Links:
Freeform Bead Embroidery (in german with explaining pictures)

Here at the blog:
Categorie Freeform
Freeform Needlework

Freeform Needlework

Freeform Needlework

I enjoy working freeform, that means that I don’t know how the crafted item will look in the end.
Although the choice of materials gives me a pretty good idea about the general appearance ;-)

One amazing application for freeform is needlework, just freeform crochet or freeform knitting, but I prefer doing both on the same item.

Once I wrote a (german) tutorial that can be found at creadoo: Faszinierendes Freeform.
A very good english tutorial can be found at knotjustknitting.com while clicking on ‘what is freeform’ in the navigation list.


Links:
creadoo: A german craft community
Faszinierendes Freeform: A (german) tutorial on freeform needlework

knotjustknitting.com – A website dedicated to freeform crochet
An english freeform tutorial can be reached by clicking on ‘what is freeform’ in the navigation list