Pottering in the Studio

I really wanted to do some art today, but before attempting anything, I just knew I had to have a clear-up. The mess in my studio was really getting to me! There was stuff encroaching on my main work area, restricting the amount of room  had to work. As I went around the room from the door, on around to the further corner where the drawing area is, I cleared each surface and found stuff that hadn’t been put away since January when I was completing my Mamhead Woods album!! OK, I was ill soon after that and spent 2 1/2 weeks in hospital and then some considerable time recovering, but then I got very busy with other things and kind of got used to the messy state of things over the other side of the room. Funny how you can cease to notice mess after a while… Anyway, having just finished my Second Wind album, I knew I should tidy up before resuming the Infusions album.

I didn’t take any photos of the messy room till it was too late! Believe me, it was messy. Here are the tidy photos, which are a lot nicer to look at!

It feels a lot more restful in there now, and more conducive to creativity.

While tidying up, I’d found one or two bits and pieces that I decided to deal with right away. Over the past few weeks I’d set aside some different materials that I wanted to heat, to see how they would melt, and whether they would be useful in art projects. The first was some fruit labels. I also had a piece of damp proof course that the damp expert kindly cut off his roll for me to experiment with – this black shiny plastic has a rather attractive diamond pattern on it and I wanted to see if it would melt.

The fruit label shrank up very nicely and got quite wrinkled. I think this might be useful for texture, and it could be gessoed before painting. The damp proof course stuff also shrank up quite a lot, but it got very sticky and tended to stick to itself. I didn’t think it would be so useful in its melted state, but unmelted, I think it could have its uses.

I also tried melting a purple wristband that I had from a conference I attended recently – everyone was given one of these so that they could come and go freely, but be able to prove easily that they were paid up delegates when they came back in. I had been very careful with mine, thinking it was paper and being afraid to rip it, but at the end, when I tried to rip it off my wrist, it wouldn’t, which made me think that perhaps it was made of Tyvek, so I cut it off and saved it, thinking I would melt it and see.

Melting it proved my theory to be correct. This is definitely Tyvek!

All these little bits have now gone into my melted samples box.

A couple of weeks ago I was given some gingko leaves and I’d put them in my flower press. I got them out today. They have pressed beautifully but they appear to have parallel lines on them from the corrugated cardboard in the press, despite each layer of cardboard being separated by layers of absorbent paper, between which you place the flowers for pressing. I am hoping these lines will disappear once the leaves have been exposed to the air for a bit and had a chance to dry out. I have yet to discover what I am going to use these for. I am thinking of asking for some more, to try doing some eco-printing with. I simply love the shape of these leaves – so unusual.

By the time I’d done all this, I was very tired and my back was starting to ache, so I abandoned any thought of doing any art today. At least the studio is nice and tidy now, and I can begin again when I like.

We had a busy day today – I sang at church, and then we had to rush home and I had to get lunch on quickly because my hubby was going out. Most of the afternoon was taken up with clearing up the kitchen and finishing the rest of the laundry and doing the ironing.

I’ve got a nice sense of achievement now.