A new Sea page!

My page has arrived from Maya. It is so lovely, with such a lot of detail not immediately apparent.



There is a lot of hand stitching, with lots of beads simulating the movement of the sea. The stitches holding the fabric in place remind me of Kantha stitching. There are many pieces of foil, and silk making up the background, all adding to the texture.
The piece is edged in handworked blanket stitch. I wish my stitches could be so neat.



Adding to the detail, there are sequins added in to the back of the blanket stitch edging. What a lovely idea!



Here is Maya's letter, giving some idea of the techniques she has used.



Thanks so much Maya, I love my new page.

Windows for Elizabeth.

I was delighted to hear a short time ago, that my page for Elizabeth has just arrived.



The windows page was based on my photographs of this delightful little chapel on a bridge crossing the Great Ouse.



The picturesque town you can glimpse beside the waterfront is called St Ives. I can recommend an exploration of the area, since the town and it's small museum is well worth a visit. More photographs from my trip can be seen here.



It was great fun to interpret one of the glazed windows for Elizabeth. As you can see from the note I sent with the page, I used a number of techniques. The gessoed piece of canvas came from a damaged artists canvas I had taken to pieces. The frame will eventually be used for some screen printing experiments.........



I could not resist putting something behind the window frame.



So the window is hinged using beads, so that it can open to reveal............



Hence the title..............



The back is made using a piece of scrap silk and some mulberry paper.

Learning more about the sea.

Ruth, thanks so much for my third page. It is stunning! It was waiting for me this evening when I got home. I was so excited when I opened the package and found this gorgeous piece of work.



Ruth chose the following quotation for the back:

"The sea, once it casts it's spell, holds one in it's net of wonder forever."
- Jacques Cousteau.



The whole page is beautiful. I just love the detail in the structure of the jellyfish.
To cap it all, Ruth has sent me a wonderful hand made card.



I shall leave you to read her description of the piece of work. (Just click on the photograph and you should be able to read the words clearly.)



Like Ruth has, I have learnt a lot from this page. She speaks of the environmental concerns regarding the growing numbers of jellyfish. Something I had really not even considered.

Thanks so much Ruth. I really feel that I have a lot to learn about the sea, even though I had chosen it as my theme. Perhaps this is something I could use when I start to compile my pages into a book. Definitely food for thought there..................