Playing with paper

I thought I had been busy this week, but I have been surprisingly unproductive. That being said, I am in the middle of some projects, and have a few designs for some more, so perhaps next week will be better. Paper clay takes a few days to dry after all.

This is a door hanger. You can get these for a quid for two in the Works. (On a temporary ban from that place now - I have enough things to alter). I started off by adding wooden swirls and butterflies to one side, before painting the whole thing with black gesso. Once dry I used my new Prima waxes - old silver for the background and some of the Antique Brilliance ones for the swirls and butterflies. On the other side I stamped a sentiment on paper, aged it with distress inks, backed it onto card, and added a couple of flowers sprayed with Lindy's Sprays.

This is the progress on my current stitch. This one will be a present. I'm hoping to get this done soon, as I have more in my stash, plus another pattern I would love to do that I found in a magazine the other day.

Intricate creatures,

are they real or mythical?

formed from a blank page

This weeks challenge was similar, at least in origin, to the Haiku's in week one. Origami, the art of paper folding. Originating in Japan, the word literally means folding paper. There's been a resurgence in recent years in the West, taking a different slant on it by using money, giving it as gifts in a folded shape - moneygami. I decided to stick with the traditional, mainly because if I accidentally tore it or got frustrated and threw it away without thinking, I would be out at least five quid. Probably more, seeing as how the new fivers don't lend themselves to folding. The best known origami shape is the paper crane, and people often fold one thousand of them, as it brings luck.

I will be the first to admit my spatial reasoning isn't all that great, though as it has come on leaps and bounds since starting crafting (particularly mixed multi media) I thought that I might finally be able to look at a tutorial and do a crane.

I failed miserably. Thinking that perhaps I had started with too difficult a piece, I found some simpler ones and did those.

This is a pelican and a spinning bird. For some reason the spinning bird ended up the wrong way round (the pattern should obviously be on the outside) but at least they looked like they should for the most part. I did a little research, and realised that, although I had chosen the paper because it was a perfect square, the paper itself was too thick for folding. So I dug into my stash, and found some thinner paper, cutting it into ten by ten squares. The original tutorial I had looked at had stymied me a bit so I looked round for another one. This is a common thing for me; it took me a fair few tutorials before I mastered the French Knot. There's a lesson there. Just because one tutorial has not worked for you does not mean that you cannot do it. It just means that you haven't yet found the right teacher.

As you can see here for yourself. One successful crane! The second tutorial I tried was far clearer, having a video and a step by step process that involved not only pictures, but photographs as well so you could see exactly what you had to do.

It's a silly little thing to be proud of, especially when people are accomplishing so much around me, but sometimes the little successes are what get you through the day when you struggle with depression.

Ems