SeaStrands Studio Weblog

Hey Sarai, how’s this for something attractive from the mundane?
I used to love making linoblock prints, but found the linoleum itself to be rather costly. Stamps are great fun, too, but the really nice ones are bloody expensive at around $20 Cdn or thereabouts – that’s two containers of milk, ten pounds of apples and [...]

Basic materials used throughout:

covers – super-heavy Pellon stabiliser
pages – medium-weight Pellon stabiliser
cotton fabrics, mostly, with the odd bit of silk
acrylic fabric paints – Pebeo Setacolor with a few touch-ups from Tulip Pearl paints. I often used my calligraphy dip pens for lettering with pearlescent Pebeo paints, watered down slightly.
metallic threads of different sorts
polyester cording for [...]

Finally finished the book. Phew! It’s a nice little thing – fits comfortably into a hand. I’m quite please, overall. A good inital effort and definitely a great start to book-making.
This is the front cover, done in metallic acrylics with a calligraphy pen and embellished with silver foil.

The spine, after stitching. It’s bound in a [...]

Traditionally, I have been worse than average at finishing things. Part of that is due to my basic nature – I fly full-force at a project and need some external impetus (a deadline, etc.) to finish. Recently, though, I have noticed that I finish a far greater percentage of what I start. Part of that [...]

I’ve been working through the concept of stone wall construction in churches and ruins and have been struggling with how to add depth to the pieces. The quick study of a ruined arch at dawn has since been quilted and, while it’s difficult to see the texture and depth added to the piece through the [...]

It’s been a slow week, but I need to post something, if for no other reason than to reassure myself that I have actually been working. I know I’ve been thinking, mulling, ruminating and planning, but it helps to see actual results periodically so as to validate the thought process!
Making progress on the pillars of [...]

Sorry about the pun. I couldn’t help it. Really. I know there must be a rehab programme for punsters, but first you have to want to quit…..
Anyway, back to the topic that instigated the abuse of the English language; illustrating rocks in the fabric medium. When first I started making pictorial fibre art, I had [...]

Last night I was reminded of why it’s important to be open to serendipity and inspiration for new ideas, especially those unrelated or related only tangentially to what you’re doing.
Sometimes you nurture ideas for months before actually doing anything with them. To be honest, sometimes you hoard them secretly for years, just waiting for a [...]

I’m working on the layout for a few pages in a fabric book. They’re still in the beginning stages, for the most part. I haven’t yet added the text, but thought I’d post a few pictures to reassure myself that I’ve actually been doing something.
The book will be bound in a Coptic style of binding [...]

One of the things that I often find the most frustrating about my work is trying to explain to people what I’ve got “in progress”, what stage it’s in and where it’s headed next. I’ve tried for years to elaborate on my plans for pieces, insofar as even I know them, as sometimes they have [...]