Watercolour stash

Many little items are almost complete.

I love that tulip motif. Now I have to figure out if it can be used anywhere logically.

 This last one needs better photography.It is full of little details. I am smitten with it.

It is time to build up a bit of a stash of items I use. I went to Michael's and picked up some paper I can't get at the Japanese Paper Place.

A nice floral and leaf combination on top and a spiral leaf below.

These are embossed and add lovely detail without having to be stitched. It is always possible, but I haven't found the need yet.

This is a semi-opaque almost vinyl feeling paper. I haven't fooled around with it yet. I don't think it will tear well. It might be interesting as inserts behind holes.

I thought a bit of fake marble might be fun somewhere, someday.

I have been stitching this piece of machine free embroidery forever. It is meant for a specific piece, and will look fabulous once added. I have watched many TV shows while doing this. Sometimes I felt guilty, but my brain needs some sort of engagement while stitching. Documentaries would be better. The latest offerings are about murderers and rock stars. A co-incidence I am sure but neither interests me, and a person can only watch so many baby wild animals in a day.

The real fun has been with the watercolour.

I started this at the camp, but as frequently happens when I'm not in my studio, I forget what my intentions are. The paper is pretty large and I wanted to make sweeping swaps of watercolour, have them bleed into one another and be a masterpiece of spiraling colour. I forgot all about that and started making huge flowers. Boo...hiss.

I also made a huge mistake thinking the red was red like coke red but it isn't. It's more like a terra cotta red. I let it dry and brought it home. I don't mind that there are folds, because it will be torn up and the folds act as pools for colour collection.

This time, I wet the entire sheet before I began.

Then I slopped watercolours that I knew I liked over it, avoided the reds and lifted edges and corners to get some bleeding happen.

I ended up doing this in sections so that the bleeds ran only part way across the page. I decided to this mostly because the sheets are so large that the bleeds began to turn muddy and I wanted crisp colours.

The last piece of paper is a product called Swedish tracing paper.

Only a first layer of wet colour is on here.

Super duper expensive and it has to be shipped in from somewhere, not Canada. (add taxes and shipping and lately taxes on shipping but try to get that fixed, hahha) I can't imagine that this is a good product for sewing with. It tears super easy, folds just as easily and if it is used to trace a pattern, the marker bleeds all over the place. Therefore, it is perfect for an artist's needs. Enter the bleeds of colour. Again, water up the sections, add colour and water soluble markers and kaching. Because it tears so wonderfully, it can make odd shapes, be folded any which way and the only caution is in the final attachment. If it is the last item to be attached to work, a bit of stabilizer at the point of attachment might be in order, otherwise the thread might cut through. But if it is part of a background collage, no problems. Other bits will anchor it down. I am going to go over the tracing paper again with more water and strong coloured water soluble markers to liven it up a bit. The stash is ready. Ready for what you ask. Don't ask, I haven't figured that out yet.