Proud to Support the BBKA

Now I've been going on about bees for sometime, and many of you might recall I mentioned I had gotten in contact with the British Bee Keepers Association, as I wanted to do my bit to help the bees. Well this week I was sent the supporters badge, and I am proud to have it on my blog, and website.

The next step for me is to work on products that will mean I can start sending donations to BBKA, I really would like to work with you all to be able to adopt a hive!

Off the band Wagon and Musing

As many of my dear readers will know I have begun the slow process of developing my hobby/passion into a viable business. As you can imagine it's not something that happens over night, its going to for me be a long term project, years to be honest. But if that's what it takes then so be it. Need to do it properly after all. However, lately I feel as though I have fallen off the band wagon. Not sure why, well actually that's not true I know my issues surrounding whether or not to move or stay put, the usual money worries of renting and spiralling costs of living, haven't helped my focus. What kept me sane was stitching and working on other things but not reading. I tried last night to get my head back in the game, but I must confess that I read the same bit of page of this business book I have been given, probably five or six times. I still don't know what it was I was attempting to read.

How hard is it to get back into what I should be doing and not getting distracted? Very, apparently. The flat issues are settled for another year, got to love short term leases, I've got some immediate goals sorted, website, branding is getting sorted, and the hourly rate. I've even developed one embroidery design that has lasting impact, and I've got another two I'm now thinking about. I've also been researching and yet....still not reading what I should be.

It perhaps isn't helped by the fact that I am thinking about stitching new lines, and buying craft books. It's time I think for a little pep talk with my mentor.

Whilst I wait for the slap on the wrist or the poke in the head. I've gone and got myself even more distracted with new books. One surprises me more than the other, the latter is simply a blackwork reference book, this will help me with one of the other new lines I want to develop. The former, now this is interesting, those who know me well, know that I have a complete disinterest and even disdain in some instances of cross-stitch. I am sorry if you are a lover of this form of stitch but it simply doesn't do anything for me. Perhaps it's from my time working in a craft shop for a couple of years, there were some really creative kits, but generally they were swamped by some frankly god awful designs, and so insipid perhaps its me being a design snob I don't know? Anyway, I actually purchased a cross stitch book*, by god is it to die for. What is it you ask? Well its ABC textiles trompe-l'oeil au point de croix by Monique Lyonnet.

The designs are simply lush, and I can't wait to get stitching. If you find a copy, then get it. Well that is if you like letter samplers and so on. Like I said it surprises me, but then not, I think I need another little side stitching/project/hobby just for me.

Sometimes you just need to do it.

*Just another little note here, it's not my first, I have others, rather beautiful Japanese designed patterns, and a small note, don't be offended by my comments, its the stitch not the people that I have a problem with at times. I also have a problem with smocking, mainly because it gives me terrible flashbacks to a lesson at the RSN and the god awful thing I created. Me and smocking don't mix, like wasps I run for the hills. If you are a cross-stitcher, smocking person or lover of wasps. I don't have any disdain for you!

Paradise Bird Stumpwork Framed

Cor, blimey. 

I got there, the piece as I promised earlier this week is nicely framed. I have to say it nearly caused me a headache or two. From choosing the right frame, mount colour to actually framing it. But it's done. It's all nicely safe behind glass, ready to go to a new home.

And here it is, photography took a while, and I think I need another frame shot, as I thought it looked okay but staring at it again now it's a little fuzzy. Darn it!

Anyway, I am very pleased with the outcome, but onwards to the next project as they say!

It will be available to purchase over the course of this weekend. Keep an eye on my Facebook page for the announcement. 

Want it Wednesday - ARGHCHOOOOO

That pretty much sums up my Wednesday, high pollen count strikes me down just as I head home from work. Thankfully I always carry tissues or a handkerchief with me, sniffing is in my top ten of things that irritate me.

So I have to say this little lot is not only useful, but amusing in some instances too. Go on, dab your eyes or blow your nose.

 Kate Moss Embroidered Handkerchief - Maxemilia

Personally have no objection to rubbing my snot on her face...

Screen Printed Handkerchiefs "You Make Me Sick" Hankie Series set of all 4, one of each germ/organism - Urban Bird & Co

Germtastic

Belly Bands for Custom Printed Handkerchiefs - Benign Objects

Sucker for nice packaging

Sort of mid week crafting..

From my lovely week off I appear to have fallen quiet, but now I am back into the swing of things at work, I am now back in the swing of doing things in the evening. Tonight must say was productive, on top of doing all my chores (okay, skipped the bathroom, tomorrow I'll do it), I set about working on finishing off the stumpwork and got myself set-up for the next project. It will look familiar...

Organised chaos or just chaos?

Somewhere on this desk, I have the frame (on the right), and here you can see that I am just making some notes on sizes for the mount and what size I need to cut my card for the actual mounting of the embroidery. So much mounting..no pun intended..maybe a little.

Here I have cut the card, covered it in a basic white cotton, and laid the embroidered fabric on top and have started pining round, gently pulling the fabric taut, and the grain as straight as I can possibly get it without going insane in the process. I'll admit I am already pretty loopy.

Look a mini version of the bird, at least I can say I've pretty much covered every angle. Although tempted to do a tissue holder version too....although after this one, I might take a break on this design to work on the bee bits and pieces. Speaking of bees still waiting for the web button from the BBKA, better drop them an email tomorrow.

Enough about me, what are you working on? Do you craft in the evening, even after a long day at work?

Sunday Update

Making this week has come to a bit of a halt, after last week’s diving through hoop after hoop of embroidered piece of work. The reason being is mainly down to having returned to work, and secondly I’ve been in Cumbria, Penrith to be precise, celebrating a very good friend’s marriage. So time hasn’t been on my side.

I have had the odd bit of time to work out my next projects, and I will hopefully be working on those over the next couple of weeks. There will be a small return to the Paradise Bird and a play about with a new theme. The latter, like the bird, will have multiple uses and I can’t wait to get cracking. I have also had a thought about more custom work/designs perhaps something that can be adapted for wedding gifts. Thoughts so far on that would be the Paradise Bird but to include a date, time or even a name.

Things to ponder!

In terms for the progress on the business side of things there isn’t at present anything to report, other than I have a lot to get reading, so I have to start pulling my finger out and get started.

Hope, everything is well with you, and whilst I have been slack in stitching, what have you been up to?

Paradise Bird - Thinking...

The embroidery is complete but the actual finished piece, the mounting, is yet to take place. 

Whilst stitching the stars and applying the crystal details, I had a thought, instead of stitching it on the round like the last one, I would mount it square in shape and get a round mount cut, so it looks like its in a round window. My embroidery hoop is demonstrating the idea, sort of.

Thinking...

Helping Bees - BBKA

Since making the decision to change my name over to Mason Bee, I've always had it at the back of my mind that I would like to do something to help bees. Strange perhaps, to some that I would want to do this, but its not really. I see it as doing my bit for still overlooked and misunderstood creature, bug...the humble bee. Bees are so vitally important to our ecosystem but we are doing so much damage to their natural habitats. I know I am only one person and I am never going to make my millions but I would like to do what I can. 

So, I did some research and a few days I contacted the British Bee Keepers Association (BBKA), firstly to ask if they a button that I can add to my site and secondly to state that my aim is to create some products that will allow me to give a donation to their cause. In the short run I would like to use the money raised to 'Adopt a Hive'. I just had a wonderful idea, this very second, that when I do raise enough to adopt a hive (through sales of certain items I produce), I will put everyone who has put money towards it into a raffle to win what you get for adopting a hive.....okay, I need to really work out the details for that but I am loving it the rough idea.

Anyway, I got my response today, and they are really grateful for the support and I will soon be sending me a button so I can add it to my website.

I am already working on the ideas of products that I will be producing, and in time I'll let you know what I have in mind.

A mini update for you there.

Before I sign off, hello to the new followers of the blog I had quite a lot of hits from http://craftgossip.com/ after I sent them a link to the patterns, which in turn has brought a lot of people to the site. So hello!

Busy Bee - Project flying

Okay, I'll admit there was a lot of things done on this project between last night and this afternoon, that I didn't take photographs of, now some of that was partly down to dodgy lighting and being wrapped up with what I was doing, that I forgot. 

So some of yesterday's afternoon/evening was taken up with stitching the wing. Worked separately in order to give the bird more height. The wing has extra form, this comes from stitching over a very thin paper covered wire, this was shaped to the outline of the wing. Make sense? Basically couched down some wire onto silk. The stitching is very close together, which means I can then cut the fabric away, right up against the stitches which is always ruddy nerve wrecking. Before I got to that stage I stitched the middle lines, back stitch with silver thread weaved through them. In this shot you can see I also stitched some beads on it....

Your probably wondering how I got the wing attached to the body. Allow me to explain. 

I used a great big needle (mislaid my stelletto at this point) to punch a hole into the right place on the body, to keep the opening neat I then did a quick buttonhole edge round it. The wire on the wing was tightly bunched together and plunged through the hole, its then bent back on itself and stitched down on the back of the fabric.

Pretty shot...look at that wing. Just checking the head still works.

Told you the tail wasn't finished. I couched down some silver passing around the left of the trailing to act as a highlight. Don't it look pretty.

Actually at this point the silver passing had been stitched down, and the head has also been very carefully stitched down into place, something else has occurred to and I will explain that bit in the next picture. However, in this shot I am using six threads of stranded cotton and carefully couching that around the edge of this silk, this is to cover my stab stitches. Neat, huh?

There is a lot in this shot. But you might notice a couple of things, one the wing appears to be missing its beads. This is correct, I took them off. It wasn't a simple undertaking as it meant I had to take the wing off, and stitching back down. Not easy but I am happier with the results the beads just weren't doing it for me. 

I also added to the thighs of the bird, or trousers as I have now called them. Made them jazzier by adding some lasy daisy stitches in silver, I love them.

Around the body to hide the stitches I couched a double row of silver passing around it. 

The head has it's prong things (technical term), these are wrapped wire. Now like the tail feathers they need one more thing, a bit of sparkle. But that's enough for one weekend, and I need a few days to ponder what else needs to be done, how I am going to mount it. Thinking like with the last stumpwork on the round. I also have a wedding to attend so maybe a wee break will aid the thinking.

Although, open to suggestions?

Paradise Bird Hand Embroidered Wall Clock

There are times when I create a piece that I am so in awe of the finished look that I almost want to cry. Okay, I didn't shed a tear but it was close! I had at least a cup of Earl Grey in celebration instead. This clock is one of those pieces that deserved a cup of tea, of course miles away from it not wanting to tempt fate.

The clock as you can see is so simplistic in design but beautifully executed. It also gave me the great opportunity to get out the crystals again and use the new clock hands. Perfect!

This is also led me to feel happy about doing this again, but customised. People can select any colour thread, and if I have the stock the crystals, clock hands, size and even the linen. I want to do a mini version next, so a little 3" wall art version.

It's now available to purchase in store, the listing for the customised version will be up later today.

Must keep stitching...

I have to say far from chilling out this week, I've been putting myself through the paces with embroidery this week, but I am certainly enjoying it. Silly thing to say really, of course I am enjoying it. Sure there have been projects that I've worked on where the enjoyment ebbed away the longer it went on, but you know you live and your learn and also you have to remember with any job or even hobby for that matter there are always things you end up not enjoying. So far its been a long time since that's happened for me.

Hopefully not tempted fate. 

Before I show you the progress of the Paradise Bird project I thought I would give you an update on how my business plans are going. Branding is under way, as I speak my rather talented Uncle is working on that for me and we may even do some collaboration pieces like I have done with Heidi. I'll keep you posted.

Once the branding is sorted it means I can update all the sites with a more consistent look and I can get the new business cards sorted and labels etc. Which I can't wait to get sorted, at some point I will need to source fabric labels, or perhaps get a stamp made so I can make my own. Decisions, decisions.

The website I would say has finally bedded down, by that I mean I've stopped tweaking it, so any changes from now on will simply to keep it up to date. With the new look its certainly going to be easier and quicker, which is a relief. 

The most important step, and one that I know all craftspeople and artists battle with and that's how much are you worth? Perhaps that makes it sound a bit cras but it really is as simple as that. There are countless articles, blog posts and books on the subject of pricing and how you shouldn't under or over value your work. It's a bloody minefield. 

I've heard it quite a lot from friends and family that I undersell my wares, and yes I know I have and it comes down to not having the confidence in what I make is worth the price tag. Artists are there worse enemy in this respect. So I've bitten the bullet, if I don't now then frankly I am never going to be able to make this a viable means of living. I worked out my hourly rate, it certainly hurt my brain I'll tell you that much. And now I have done that it gives me a better basis for what to charge for my pieces and gives me the confidence I need to say I am worth it. I have a good friend of mine on hand to slap me if I don't use it. She has a strong right arm so she'll hurt. 

Why am I telling you this, well I hope it will help some other like minded soul. 

The heavy stuff over with for another week let's have a look at some pretty pictures. 

A spot of late night stitching meant that I managed to get all the trailing done on the tail feathers completed, however, it's not the end of the tail feathers, they need sparkle! Sparkle will come in the form of silver passing couched down one side, and crystals at the end of the feathers.

Ain't it pretty?

Actually one thing you can't really see in these images, is that towards the ends of the feathers I have blended in another colour different shades or tones of the colour I started with. Rather like the effect, even if my photography doesn't show it off.

Artsy shot...

Actually that's where the project is at, I've stopped it to work on something else for the rest of the afternoon, once that's complete then I will be working on the wing.

Tea, Royal Pig and Stitching

There is nothing quite like progressing a project, and by jove this one seems to be moving along rather quickly, I think that may be down to having completely settled on the stitches, normally I tend to change my mind. So not wanting to leave it another day to show you where I have gotten to I thought I would talk you through the following shots...

I do love a bit of metal work and on the beak I have introduced a thin layer of padding, and began to couch silver passing using a coloured thread to give it a different feel and drew in the deep purple of the silk used for the bird's head.

To help with the sharp bends in the beak I used a trusty pair of tweezers to help force the passing into the shape I wanted before stitching it down. 

At this stage I had begun to plunge the passing to the back, it's both a satisfying bit of the job but bloody infurating at the same time. Anyone who thinks embroiderers are patient folk I assure we are not. Or at least I am not. It takes time to do this bit, it's fiddly and can drive you to distraction....and yet it looks bloody good when done. 

The job isn't over when you plunge the thread to the back, you have to sew the threads down so they don't shift or pop back up. I've done this bit now since coming to write this post. If I remember to I'll take a shot of that too so you can see what I have done, though I slightly cheated...but hey its a perk of being shown how to do it properly you can find the loop holes.

Of course, I didn't just sew over this lovely bank holiday (yeah despite the rain!) I had a wee tea party with a couple of good friends, watched the pageant and the concert (bitched about the crap bits and whooped with delight at the cracking bits).  I have to say this was the best jubilee ever and long may her Majesty reign that's all I say. Though I do hope the DoE gets better real soon..perhaps he wanted to get out of watching the concert.

Calico got the Royal treatment, a little wee felt crown and Union Jack Ribbon (thank's to my best mate's mum)

Can't beat a Victoria...Elizabeth Sponge (by the way not bad for a 22p sponge mix from Sainsbury's basics! The Fortumn jam and fresh buttercream helped too)

I hope everyone else had a thoroughly good time, even the non-Brits! 

Right on with the tea drinking and the stitching!

WIP: Bird of Paradise

This is a rather overdue post but I am sure you can forgive me, a lot has gone on this week and I have been feeling somewhat shattered. However, I now have a chance of a break and well catch up on the missing energy. So, without further ado, allow me to walk you through where I have got with my latest project. 

At this point I had applied all the felt layers, and cut out a section of the Liberty Tana Lawn I am using as the accent to the piece, it's also acting as my colour palette. I cut it out after having first applied a layer of vilene on the back to help support it. I should also add, this is the second version as the previous shape I hadn't allowed enough to shape over the padding. 

Here I am just doing tiny stab stitches around the shape.

With that part of the body done, I move to head. Now to keep in with the layering affect I worked it separately. Annoyingly photographing this part of the project was infuriating the fabric really didn't like to be photographed.

I applied very carefully to the back of purple silk dupion a layer of bondaweb, this then helped me to then cut out the shape of the birds head. Then this layer was applied to a very lightweight black cotton. You can see in the above image that I stabbed stitched the layers together around the edges before starting to do long and short, natural shading at the bottom to get a feathery effect. I used for that several colours of cotton stranded and highlighted it with sparing stitches of silver thread. You can see that in the picture below, you will also spot...sort of, that I have begun to bead the bottom of the birds head, and have also applied a crystal for the eye. Nothing like sparkle!

Once the head was complete, all the details finished, stitching, beading and so forth. I cut it out out from the fabric. In this shot I am just checking out the placement, I won't be stitching yet as I need to stitch the beak. Which is my current job! Pictures will follow on that part.

So, there we go, what projects are you working on at the moment?