Fantastic Fabric

Doing it again

2012-01-19T05:09:00.000-08:00

Remember I told you about the aches and pains caused by emroidering those ladies? Well, I've been in pain since about October, sometimes barely able to lift my right arm. Eventually, two days ago, I stopped being stubborn and went to my GP. She diagnosed tendonitis and gave me anti-imflammation pills. After only one pill, my arm started feeling better and now, 4 pills later, I'm almost as good as new and able to sleep through the night again! Well, enough said about being pig-headed about visiting the doctor! What is more astonishing is that I'm doing it again!

I started playing around with another of my monoprints a while ago, just doodling with the sewing machine. Then I decided to try and make something (i.e. a complete quilt) and pieced together some fabric.
And now I've ended up with a large piece that just needs to be embroidered by hand! The minute I started I could feel the same points in my shoulder and neck playing up. Then I realised that the table and bar stool combination in my studio was the culprit. All to do with incompatible heights, causing terrible posture and tension. Not doing the embroidery and putting aside the quilt is obviously not an option. So after trying out different places, I've opted for the dining room. It seems to be working. Have to finish this before I'm back to square one!

By the way, I'm part of a new textile art group called Voyageart. There are 13 of us from all around the world : http://voyagearttextiles.blogspot.com/. Very exciting.

Shwe-shwe: " seeking wisdom "

2012-01-13T03:40:00.000-08:00

It's been almost a year since I last blogged and I won't be surprised if everybody's forgotten about me. But, I'm just going to start again and carry on as before. The blog will be more about my personal creative journey.
This is my first quilt inspired by shwe-shwe fabric from South Africa. When I turned 21, my mother made me a pinafore with very traditional blue shwe-shwe, a fabric mainly used to make uniforms for black women who worked in white households during the apartheid years. Won't get into politics except to say we never had a "maid". But I loved the fabric. Last year, it so happened that I was helping my friend Magie Relph (from the African Fabric Shop) to fold some shwe-shwe fat quarters during the show in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines and I got all carried away, wanting to get home and print on it. She generously gave me a few fat quarters and here is some of what I have done with it so far. I printed the shield and then started piecing with procion-dyed brown and green fabric. I then printed the images in black, but they were too much in the background. So, I started embroidering, spending so much time on its that I started developing all sorts of aches and pains! But I'm pleased with the result.

I call this quilt " Seeking wisdom" because the young Xhosa girls seem to be listening to what the older women are telling them.

Daisies screen printed and machine embroidered, and, below, just some printing done with Adinkra stamps. These fabrics will eventually find their way into quilts.

At last!!!

2011-03-01T05:00:00.001-08:00

The extreme creative drought which I have been experiencing seems to be passing. The past weeks I just couldn't get myself into the studio to use my beloved paints and dyes. I did some sewing and a fair bit of knitting, writing and reading, but seemed to grab any excuse not to paint! I think I needed a break...
Then I saw Helen's post on monoprinting and my creative juices started flowing again.

I love how this ostrich feather turned out on a piece of Procion-dyed fabric.

Then I turned to black and white and simply love the results. It leaves so much scope to continue with embroidery, sewing, etc. I am brimming with ideas and can't wait to do more.

In the next two I added some colour:

And did this print on a dyed piece of muslin:

New direction

2010-12-23T02:43:00.000-08:00

It's been such a long time since my last post that I don't even know if anyone will notice that I'm back! Things have changed around here - quite dramatically - as I have decided to stop with my company, Trapsuutjies Textielverf,as from 31 December 2010. The company has been taken over by my friend Annette's daughter, Vera, so you can keep up to date with the goings on through the newsletter and the website .

The past few years have been very hectic and my family (read: husband) and I decided that we needed to reconsider how we spend our time. So my life is going to be very different from now on and I am really looking forward to a more relaxed life style, which means that I will have loads of time to be creative. So who knows what that may lead to?

When I started this blog, I must admit that I had huge commercial motives which never quite got off the ground. Although I did often plug Trapsuutjies, I think I kept it relatively low-keyed. Not to have mentioned it would have been unrealistic as it played such a huge part in my life. Personally though, I don't like blogs which blatantly promote commercial enterprises. I am much more interested in people and their creations/art than in what they have to sell.

This blog will in future be not only about Fantastic Fabric, but about the Fantastic Fabric of Life!!

To kick off, I would like to share some photo's with you from my short trip to South Africa in November. I went to my beloved Drakensberg for a few days with my lovely sister-in-law, and this is the view which we woke up to. I tried to capture a sun-rise, but when I woke up at 5 am I was already too late!!

I captured this hadida having its breakfast instead.

I really needed to see stones and rocks!! Living in the low countries I really miss mountains, rocks and red earth.

I ate as many passion fruit and as much paw-paw ( not pictured because I couldn't tear myself away for long enough to grab the camera) as I could manage. What a pleasure!!

We had 2 days of mist and rain but the scenery was still breath-taking.

Lucky to capture a king fisher on the prowl....

.... and to see these quite large finches building their nests.

Back in Johannesburg, my brother and I spent a Saturday going down memory lane and visiting the spots we remember from growing in up the northern suburbs. This view is of Hillbrow and a little bit of Jo'burg city centre taken from 4th Avenue in Linden. One place where at a glance time has stood still.
Unfortunately, the house where we grew up was hidden behind the all too familiar six-feet high walls topped with electric wires, as can be seen in the background of this picture of the very sporty brother and his daughter.

I hope the snow allows the youngest member of our family to fly out to Johannesburg on Christmas Day to have his share of fun in the sun! Meanwhile Fred and I will be heading for even lower temperatures in Berlin!!

I hope you all have a wonderful Christmas with family and friends or however you choose to celebrate. Lots of best wishes for 2011!! I hope the new year has many great things in stall for all of us. See you soon.

The Fantastic Fabric of Life ...

2010-08-10T06:42:00.000-07:00

... is the closest I got to textiles and fabrics this summer. I had made a conscious decision to spend time with me with the intention of returning to a point where I take care of myself, my body and my mind. The intellectual bit involved registering for a short on-line course with Oxford University: "Contemporary British Literature" for which I have to read these books. The course starts on 22 September and lasts about 6 weeks. I've already read the top 2 books and am now busy with "White Teeth". Well, I read "Atonement" a long time ago and want to re-read it before the course starts.

The body bit meant joining a gym. I have been neglecting myself physically for far too long and decided enough is enough. So now I do a vigorous work-out twice a week, followed by a heavenly swim. On the other days I do 45 minutes on my treadmill at home. The kilo's are slowly but surely melting away ( 7 so far) and I am a lot fitter than a few months ago with the added bonus of returning muscle tone. Now, this gym that I discovered is very low-threshold : no underweight, prancing 2-second-old beauties hitting it off with muscle-boys. No, a dignified amount of grey hair atop comfortingly unfirm flesh. All of us politely sweating away to prove that, even though we don't turn heads any more ( not for the right reasons anyway!), we haven't given up on ourselves. Or something to that effect. And the heavenly reward is to flop into the swimming pool when you're done and do a few leisurely laps to cool off!

Of course I cannot indulge completely because I have a business to run. So, with Tim ( the youngest) helping, we have done all the preparations for the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham next week. On Monday it's him, me and Annette heading off to a cottage in Henley-in-Arden all ready for action.
We're really looking forward to the show again this year and, guess what, my stamps even arrived in time. I have quite a few new designs (have a peek at the website : www.trapsuutjies.com ) which I'll have with me, as well as some hand-dyed fat quarters and off course all the lovely paints and dyes.
The stand number is H42 , so please pop by to say hello!!

Absence makes the heart....

2010-06-12T02:14:00.000-07:00

...grow fonder (I hope). But I may be pushing my luck a bit as it's been almost 2 months since my last post. There are no real why's and wherefor's. It all started with the great success we had with the Colours of Africa weekend. We had almost 1000 visitors, sold all the objects and raised over 1000 euro's for the creche in South Africa. The weather was great too. And then I sort of hit a real low. My focus was gone and I struggled to get myself together. Talk about anti-climax : this one was for real.

Anyhow, I eventually picked myself up by the scruff of the neck and seriously engrossed myself in dyeing with procion. I've been selling procion for about a year now in my Trapsuutjies-shop, but I had never really used it that much. I hate selling something that I don't know a lot about so it was time to rectify that. For those in the know it will come as no surprise that I became just a little bit addicted.

I couldn't wait to get up in the morning to start rinsing the previous day's work. And I love the results. Of course I had to combine my main products, so I did a small series of screenprinting with Trapsuutjies Fabric Paint on the procion-dyed fabric. I chose the fern-image.

The picture below was taken after a day or two of dyeing. Isn't it amazing what you can do with just 4 colours? I have now done 26 meters of great-quality poplin, all in fat quarters, ready for my next show. This happens to be "Textile Art Berlin" next weekend.

Well, it's that time of year again - I'm writing exams! Or it feels like it because I seem to do all the stressing, planning and stop just short of actually studying for the kids' exams. They take after me in my role as "queen of the last minute" but that was never the deal. They are supposed to start on time and give it their all. Dream on girl ......

To encourage them I baked a traditional South African milktart which lasted almost a day!

Flour resist

2010-03-24T05:23:00.000-07:00

I'll get to the flour resist in a minute. First let me heave a sigh of relief that I have figured out how to upload pictures and thus can get back to my ususal irregular blogging habits and out of this place where blogging just didn't exist!

For our Colours of Africa event (which kicks off in just over 3 weeks!!!) we have involved loads of children - 6 schools in all: 3 in Essen, Belgium, and 3 in Witzenberg, South Africa. Some of the results are in and I started sewing these little bags yesterday. They are going to be for sale during the event and the proceeds will go to the schools in South Africa.
I am having "fun" doing the flour resist technique. Fun is very relative in this case as it is a hassle, takes long because it has to dry in between and getting the resist off in the final stage is terrible. However, I really like the results.

This one looks a bit dull here, but it nicer in actual full colour.

I like how this one looks a bit like an old map.

This weekend I have a stand at the Textile Festival in Leiden. I hope I have time to have a look around. On the other hand, if it's too busy it will be good news for Trapsuutjies.

Next week it's full steam ahead - still lots of works to be done.

Go girl!!

2010-03-08T22:51:00.000-08:00

No, I haven't fallen off the planet. I've had serious computer and thus photo issues. Well, I'm almost back but not completely, therefore I'm using an old blog photo of mine to wish you all (allbeit a day late) a Happy Woman's Day! I salute all the women out there who manage to keep all the balls in the air and accomplish great things - such as raising a family and keeping the household together. For those who also manage jobs, run companies, countries and walk the dog - what can I say but "chapeau"!

I've been doing my bit to keep this household running, as well as managing my (small) company. One of the great things about Trapsuutjies is the lovely people I meet. Last Friday I had a great little group here for a workshop. One lady was from Canada, visiting her daughter who lives in Luxembourg. The husband drove them all the way out here just for the workshop. I know, in Canadian terms a three hour drive is as good as visiting the neighbours. But then, you don't have to drive past Brussels and Antwerp and I tell you, that makes any drive daunting.

Annette, Hella, Jacqueline and I are also very busy with our Colours of Africa project. The objects for the auction are coming on nicely, the posters are being put up locally this week and we are further dotting the i's and crossing the t's. Lots of work but we are giving it our best. Please have a look at our up-dated website!

Slow progress

2010-01-26T00:24:00.000-08:00

My first order for the year arrived in Antwerp harbour 2 weeks ago. I still find it exciting when the pallet is placed in the driveway and I can get the guys to do the hard slog of moving the 100 kg drums of Extender Base into the garage. Then I can check if the order is complete, unpack what is necessary and relax - I have enough stock again for the next few months. Sometimes I treat myself with a little "gift". One of my suppliers makes beautiful, stylised stamps. I don't import it to sell, just for my own use, as he is quite expensive and the profit margin is too small.
So, thinking of a way to share them, I started printing on my stock of handpainted fabric. You can see a few examples here. I'm very pleased with the result and am making them in series of 9 or 12 of the same image (although being handpainted the background is never exactly the same) to be sold on the stand at the trade shows. I might also put them up in the website shop:
www.trapsuutjies.com.

And here are numbers 3 and 4 of my series with linocut figures:

This one is called " Piggy in the middle", a space which I have often in my life had the misfortune of occupying. But one gets wiser with age, remembering past experiences...

...which sort of leads me to the following (edited) quote from Twyla Tharp's book The creative Habit :

"While most people ....think they have to be constantly looking forward to be edgy and creative,....the real secret of creativity is to go back and remember."

Brrr....

2010-01-07T03:09:00.000-08:00

Although I actually like it very much, this cold weather has somehow slowed me right down. That's why I'm a bit late in saying : Happy New Year Everybody!!!!! May we all have lots of creative energy, love and happiness in our lives this year.

I'm not going to bore you with a list of resolutions for 2010. I'd rather just direct you to 2 of my favourite bloggers : Andrea who says "don't just stand there, make something that matters" and illustrates it with a wonderful photo; and Steve Pressfield who had this quote from Mark McGuinness on his blog yesterday : "A creative person is a person who creates things. You either create something or you don't. Period"

This is going to be a big year, though, because in April Colours of Africa is actually going to happen. I've already received a suitcase full of quilts from Dijanne Cevaal for her exhibition, and some of Yda Walt's work is on a ship on it's way to Belgium.

Ok, so let's create. When I've got the courage to walk outside to the studio, I'm making small quilts as a way of exercising. All the fabrics have been hand painted and printed. I've had some fun cutting these lino-figures. I have more and will show you as I manage to make them into little quilts.
I think I've turned a corner. Up till a few months ago I was perfectly content to just design , paint and print fabric. But I find myself wanting to add to it in the way of combining different bits and stitching. This is new to me so I have a road ahead of trial and error and of discovering what works and what doesn't.

Colourful White Christmas

2009-12-23T00:47:00.000-08:00

No, I'm not going to show a photograph of the snow. I'm sure that just about everybody in the northern hemisphere has their own beautiful white world outside. I went for a long walk through the woods with a friend yesterday and I absolutely love this weather. I know, it's slippery, cold and once it all starts melting it's a right mess. Still, for me it's always a fairy tail come true. A beautiful robin red breast in the white snow sends me into raptures. I had a little book when I was a kid with exactly this scenario in it. Growing up with Christmas being celebrated with a barbeque beside the pool (I wish) I always dreamt of little birds in the snow. Well, actually the BBQ beside the pool was reserved for Boxing Day. On the 25th we used to rise and shine early to attend the church service at 07.00, then we visited an aunt who always had jam tartlets, followed by a visit to another aunt who baked the most delicious shortbread. This was just the warming up. Why we had to have traditional English Christmas lunches in that climate I'll never know. I could handle everything until the Christmas pudding appeared. I really loathed that but battled my way through a helping in the hope of finding one of the coins sadistically hidden in the pud. I hope people in South Africa are more sensible these days and have light salad lunches in the shade beside the pool.
Back to textiles by way of a short detour : I've sorted out my book collection (must be over 1000 books) into the different sections : South African, Dutch, English, academic, etc. A huge but very rewarding task. At least now I can find everything. There is also something extremely satisfying in handling the books which I read 30 years ago. Transported me back to when I could sit and read uninterrupted for hours on end drinking tea and (sorry to admit) smoking cigarettes. This was followed by intense dicussions with friends. Wasn't it wonderful to know everything, believe that you could change the world and just be intellectually active. Sigh! Back to the nitty gritty of my life now.
I've completed my two "inside out, upside down" quilts and am pleased with the result ( the pictures don't do them justice blah, blah).

Here 2 detail shots. Not, truelly, in real life the colours are very good. I'm now working on a series and will be back in the studio today.

Have a wonderful Christmas everyone. Whatever you do, BBQ or Christmas pud, I hope you share it with loved ones. See you in 2010.

Present

2009-12-10T04:13:00.001-08:00

" Every day is a gift, she told herself, that was why it was called present"

This lovely quote comes from Kate Atkinson's "One Good Turn". She was an unknown author to me when I read about her on someone's blog (no idea whose anymore). So, when in London, I bought a few of her books. I've only read this one so far and can certainly recommend it. Her style is very unusual, it seems light but there are a lot of subtle references to other novels and quite a lot of emotional insight. All in all a satisfactory read.

Thank you so much to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to particpate in our Colours of Africa project. The deadline has passed, but if you still have a piece you want to send in, that's ok. We will be starting work on making the objects for the auction in January. We already have a few very good ideas!!! Please have a look at the virtual exhibition on our blog : www.colours-of-africa.blogspot.com .

I have been spending time in the studio printing fabric and, believe it or not, I have made 2 quilts! Will show them when they're done. The colours in these photographs are not good, but reading other blogs, I think that is a general problem at this time of year.
I started on Dijanne Cevaal's linocutting course a few months ago and haven't gotten further than the first lesson. Dijanne visited us on Saturday (Sandy and Joe were here from England too) and I had nothing to show her except for the first 6 blocks which I had cut. I printed some of them on this hand-painted fabric. Did the background fabric in blues and purples (NOT my colours) and promptly hid it with the linoprint in opaque colours. Then I decided to be less drastic and printed in darker purples.

Another linocut which I once used for invitations to a party. I have cut a few similar figures and busy working with them. More on that later.

Almost 1 December....

2009-11-22T03:05:00.000-08:00

A few more days to go for the Colours of Africa deadline! I know of quite a number of people who have made us textile works, but have somehow not managed to pop it in the post yet. Please girls, we need your contributions! Our website has also been up-dated so have a look at : www.coloursofafrica.be and to see the virtual exhibition, go to :
www.colours-of-africa.blogspot.com
The addresses to send it to are :
Colours of Africa
Leemstraat 45
2910 Essen
Belgium
or
Colours of Africa
Boutenslaan 7
4707 NC Roosendaal
Netherlands

Here you can see a lovely contribution made by Wil Fritsma;
and Sue Gallacher.

Thanks a million to everyone who has so far taken part. Our event is going to be very exciting. The workshops which will be given by Dijanne Cevaal from Australia and by Yda Walt from South Africa are almost fully booked. If you are interested, go to the website for more information, you might just be lucky enough to get the last available place! You can also find more information about the workshops on my website : www.trapsuutjies.com on the "workshop"-page.

I won these lovely fabrics in a give-away on Sharon Young's blog quite a while ago and have just not gotten round to showing you. Thanks Sharon!

Now then, I have been a real domestic goddess these past few weeks. I started my cleaning and clearing operation in the garage, which functions as my storeroom for all my products, and ended in the attic. Then I completely overhauled and reorganised my studio which means that I now have room to swing a cat! So what happens - I find it very daunting to start working and creating again. All the self-doubt has had festering time and I am convinced that I have nothing to offer. Last weekend I followed a very inspirational workshop which has nothing to do with textiles, so I decided using that as a starting point might get me somewhere. Where, I have no idea. I'll just plod along and see what happens....

Het is bijna zover - 1 december! Alstublieft dames, stuur jullie textielwerk voor Colours of Africa op. Wij weten van een hele aantal mensen die wat hebben gemaakt maar het nog niet op de post hebben gedaan. Aan iedereen die reeds wat hebben opgestuurd : ontzettend bedankt! Het wordt een geweldig evenement. Voor meer informatie en up-dates, volg aub. de links hierboven.

Colours of Africa

2009-10-28T23:27:00.000-07:00

Before I tell you how the Colours of Africa event is developing, I want to show you two examples of work done in a workshop I taught last Saturday. I had a group of 5 lovely ladies and we did the reverse stamping technique and printing with lino-block stamps which they had cut. They really enjoyed themselves even though my studio is in a serious state of flux...hopefully the boys can help me to get it painted and sorted next week when they'll be home on a short break.

The one above was done by Christel de Vrij and below by Nelly Overdulve.

So there I was with loads of demo-fabric from the past few months (don't tell Annette and Hella, but I did throw some away!) and decided to make 2 more A4-works for our auction. What a struggle to get the sewing machine going. I promise you I had forgotten how to do my free-motion thing. Anyhow, here are the results...

I have been running around all week organising stuff for the Colours of Africa-event which takes place in April 2010. The latest development being that we have now got a full-blown textile route with exhibitions in 4 venues. The project with school children in Essen (Belgium) and in Tulbagh(South Africa) is also up and running at last. A group of teachers from here are going there today armed with fabric and Trapsuutjies paint and will hopefully come back with great kids' art which we are going to sew into bags which will of course be for sale. All this effort will, I hope, result in a decent amount of money for the Chris Hani-creche. Read all about it on our website, linked above.

We are also very excited about the A4-entries which are now coming in at a faster pace. Please have a look at the virtual exhibition on our blog. The deadline is 1 December 2009 and I know of many people who have made their art but not yet sent it and of others who have promised and are (hopefully) working on it. We are depending on your support!

The workshops which are being taught the week before by Yda Walt and Dijanne Cevaal were almost full, but yesterday I managed to get a new venue - a whole school building - which means that we can accomodate a few more students. So there are still a few places available. For more details, look at the "Workshop"-page on my website.

Guardian Angel

2009-10-19T02:12:00.000-07:00

The last trade show of the season done and dusted! It's been busy but mostly good (won't talk about the disaster again, I've closed the door on that experience). The Belgian Quilters' Association show in Edingen or Enghien, as it's called in French, was very pleasant. It's quite small and mostly traditional but still I had some very good customers and saw loads of familiar faces and it was such a lovely place to be. What a magnificent park, especially at this time of year. The traders were situated in the stable in the castle grounds - very grand stable! My stand had a bit of a different look but I loved the way I could display my painted fabrics.
Here's the castle where part of the exhibition was held.

And here's the stable where we were.

But why did I name this blog "Guardian Angel"? Let me tell you, I sighed such a huge sigh of relief when I stepped out of my car last night. The driving was an absolute nightmare and I don't scare easily. It's not that far, just over 130 km's, but most of those are kilometres from hell! The way people drive on the ringroad around Brussels cannot be described. You have to have eyes all over the place. I spent between 4 and 5 hours on the road every day and those were hours of supreme tension. Next year, I'm staying over in a B&B, that's for sure.

My guardian angel was with me all the way and last night she had help from Fred. He unexpectedly had to work yesterday so he only joined me later in the day, which meant that we were there in 2 cars. Even on a Sunday the traffic was horrendous and after packing up the stand it was almost dark when we left. We took different roads to the highway and as I was carting along I saw him ahead of me. I slipped in front and he travelled behind me all the way home even though he usually drives faster than me. It was very reassuring to know that at least my back was covered. I was thinking to myself how very lucky I am to have had a partner for nearly 30 years who is so considerate and kind and supportive. Made my heart sing all the way home - that is when I wasn't scared stiff by the other drivers!

Now I'm getting a grip on daily domestic life again and will hopefully have textile stuff to show soon. Full of ideas!

London

2009-10-13T07:40:00.001-07:00

London was great, as usual. Annette and I did the tourist thing and spent 3 hours on an open-top bus. The best way to see as much as you can in a day. Afterwards it was the National Gallery, the Knitting & Stitching show on Friday, and the Tate Modern on Saturday. Above you can see the allypally entrance. What a great show that was! I saw many beautiful things, mostly embroidery-based which is new to me. Some of it was moving, some of it made me smile, and some of it was just very beautiful art. Also saw blogfriends Mags and Helen. Had a great Turkish meal in the evening with our friends Magie and Bob from The African Fabric shop and with Sandy and Joe who stayed especially.
The whole of Sunday went into getting out the Trapsuutjies newsletter and it's a good one this time. If you don't get it yet and would like to, just go the website and register (left bottom on the home page). Tomorrow it's off to a castle in Edingen for the Belgian Quilters' Association until Sunday. Actually I'll be travelling back and forth. Hope the traffic around Brussels isn't too bad!

South Africa House on Trafalgar Square - how's that for a piece of real estate?...

Smithfield Market, close to the appartment which is sadly for sale -- sniff,sniff....

The South Bank taken from the Millenium Bridge...

And a view of the "gherkin" - I just love that building.

Tada....!

2009-10-07T05:00:00.000-07:00

Well, a distinctly muted tada seeing as I'm a week late with announcing the winner of my tiny give-away. Sorry about that, no excuses really, apart from the tummy bug that has been pestering this household. Sick kids last week, me felled on Monday ( and still not feeling 100%). Anyway, let me procrastinate no longer. Tim has just drawn a winner : Sharon.
Please e-mail me your address, Sharon, so I can post the purple bag and a stamp to you.

I have been trying to keep up pretences about being creative with predictable results. To be fair, my studio is being worked on (not in). Last winter was so cold that, when we came back from London after Christmas, the tiles had all started letting loose. Well, of course not all of them, but a few. So our hero and handyman has been called in and he is setting new tiles. Seeing as he's busy anyway, I've got a few more things on my wish-list for him to perform. Hopefully a result will be forthcoming soon and I'll be able to return to the drawingboard so to speak.

This is a screen-print attempt after an idea out of the new Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan book which I bought at the FoQ. A great idea, using paper from the shredder, but obviously a really half-hearted attempt on my side. Will be doing more if that later.
After the disaster in Mechelen, I had a super day in Doesburg, Holland. It's a bi-annual event focusing on textiles. It wasn't as well-attended as 2 years ago, but I still did really well. Goes to show if the public is on target, the results will follow. I was planning on taking lovely mood pictures in the church in which the event is held, but my batteries gave in after only 2 takes.

My stand was on this ancient grave and I like to believe that there we were looked upon sympathetically that day.

When we moved into this house in 2007, I bought Fred an oak tree for his birthday. It's still a baby but this year there's a promise of a real autumn beauty in the making. We obviously won't live long enough to see it reach a really decent size, but nothing's stopping us from enjoying it right now.

Well, it's off to London tomorrow! Annette and I are paying a short visit. Will be visiting the Knitting & Stitching show at Ally Pally on Friday. Really looking forward to that. Next week's this season's last event in Edingen, just south of Brussels. It's the 20th anniversary of the Belgian Quilting Association. After that it's time to put business issues in second place and get the creative juices flowing again!

Disaster and destiny

2009-09-24T01:34:00.000-07:00

I had the most dreadful week last week! I was at a hobby show in Mechelen, Belgium, and it was a complete disaster. Before the show I knew that I had made the wrong decision in going there instead of to Ste. Marie in France but I could never have predicted the extent of the faux pas! To start off with it was a 5-day show instead of the usual 4 and it was ridiculously expensive! The main attraction was card-making stuff. I've got nothing against people cutting and glueing and whatever-ing to make their own cards, but the bottomline is the majority who have that as a hobby don't like spending a lot and my products aren't cheap. My reasoning for choosing this show was to reach a larger Belgium audience and in all fairness there was quite a bit of interest in the workshops so, who knows, I might still have some follow-on results!
To complete the moan let me quickly tell you that it was extremely hot, boring and never-ending. My stalwarts, Annette, Hella and Fred were once again there to support and endure with me!

On the upside, Annette sold one of her beautiful capes. Have a look on her fotopic .

Out of sheer boredom I decorated some of the small bags which I had dyed beforehand. I love the Ocean 3 stamp and the way it can be used to create a bit of dimension. The stamp I used on the right is unfortunately not one of my own designs. A pity, because it fits in very well with my series. It is from the catalogue of the factory that produces my stamps. I still have 1 for sale (Eur 6,50 plus postage) should anyone be interested - just leave a comment or mail me.

Now for the destiny part. A while back one of my favourite bloggers, Andrea Pratt, led me to this book. I can't remember how - she either wrote about it directly or I followed one of her (always worthwhile) links. That's not important. Last Friday the book arrived. On Saturday I started reading at the show. Sunday Fred went with me and I told him about it. So he ended up reading it. We passed it back and forth and couldn't stop exclaiming - yes, yes, yes this is what it's all about! We completely ignored the punters, who weren't interested in us anyway, and had a great time! Sundays are usually the worst at shows - long, exhausting and poor turnover. But this Sunday passed in a whirl of enlightenment and, ironically or maybe not, I had more turnover than on Saturday. Admittedly Saturday was a rock-bottom day for Trapsuutjies!

Anyhow, I don't care. This book makes more sense than anything I have ever read in my life! To celebrate and to get back into the swing of things, I want to do a give-away. Leave a comment choosing 1 of the bags above, plus let me know which one of the Trapsuutjies stamps you would like (sorry, I tried to link directly to the stamps but don't know how. Go to the "shop" and then Trapsuutjies stamps on the website). I'll put all the names in a bag and draw a winner on Wednesday 30 September.

Mechelen was een regelrechte ramp! Ik doe dus geen hobbybeurzen meer. Mijn enige hoop is dat er qua workshops nog het een ander zal volgen. Het was 5 dagen lang, vermoeiend, super heet en ook nog saai. Verder niet meer zeuren, het zit erop en nu op naar de volgende : as. zaterdag op de Nationale Vezel- en Textieldag in Doesburg. Dat is wel altijd leuk!

Om mijn terugkeer tot de "normale" gang van zaken te vieren doe ik een give-away. Kies een van de tasjes boven en een Trapsuutjies stempel vanaf de website. Laat een commentaar op de blog en as. weonsdag, 30 september, trek ik de winnaar.

Upwards and onwards

2009-09-02T23:30:00.000-07:00

Annette is going to love me for posting a picture of her(!) but she worked so hard last weekend promoting our Colours of Africa project that I want to put her in the limelight. Hopefully everybody will get sewing, felting or whatever and the entries will starting rolling in. The deadline is 1 December. Thanks to all the people who have been writing about this on their blogs, such as Helen, we really appreciate it.
Well, the weather was really bad. Pity, because the event was well organised and there was lots to see. This is what it looked like from time to time - lovely broody skies....

...but unfortunately this was the view from our tent for most of Saturday.

No worries, upwards and onwards is what I say, and with the next show looming very large I can't afford a break. The next one is a big hobby fair in Mechelen, Belgium. I'm a bit weary as I chose to do this in stead of going to Ste Marie this year (it's in the same week). In France I know my turnover would have been good, but I think it's important to get better known locally so I took the gamble. However, the hobby sector might be tricky as a good majority of the people are card makers. Hopefully my stamps will entice them to try something new! Here are the ones which arrived too late for Birmingham but which sold very well last weekend. They'll be up on the website soon.

My studio is a complete mess so still nothing textile to show. I'm supposedly doing an on-line lino-cutting course by Dijanne Cevaal but haven't even had time to read through the lessons. Just printing them and hopefully will be getting down to doing something after Mechelen.

Meanwhile, I have a few surprises regarding Colours of Africa. More about that soon....

Frederiksoord was nat maar toch leuk. Tegen zondagavond waren Annette en ik wel uitgeteld en blij om weer thuis te zijn. Bedankt Liesbeth en Quiltsporen voor jullie steun en de goede organisatie van een geslaagd evenement. Wij logeerden in een geweldig B&B : Onder het Dak. Een adres die ik absoluut kan aanbvelen.

Touching base

2009-08-26T11:38:00.000-07:00

Back from Birmingham and smiling all the way. We had a fantastic show! It was wonderful talking to so many people and hearing and seeing how positive everyone was. Once again the Trapsuutjies stand was a huge succes. Thanks to everyone who supported us and made all the hard work and effort worth while.
We had a part of the stand set aside for our Colours of Africa event next April and showed some of the lovely entries which we have so far received. The response was very positive and if everyone who made the promise delivers, we will be very happy! Get going ladies, we are looking forward to getting those entries for the challenge!
The bags were displayed very nicely but of course I didn't sell a single one. Not that I was all that surprised - the place was teeming with people who all do their own sewing. Many many bought Trapsuutjies paint so hopefully they will create their own fabrics to make their own bags (or whatever).

This is the stand with Annette and Hella getting things ready for the first day.

Just a little detail shot.

Well, I've done my e-mails, on-line orders are in the post, washing is almost done so tomorrow I can pack for Frederiksoord where Annette and I are off to on Friday for a 3-day quilt event. Yes, things are hectic and I apologise for the lack of textile content. I have got many ideas though and hope to find time soon.....

Niet vergeten, dit weekend is het Quiltsporen in Frederiksoord.

Black and white and kits galore

2009-08-09T01:30:00.000-07:00

For various reasons this has been a pretty blogless summer for me, which doesn't mean that I've been idle. For the first time in 16 years Fred and I went away on our own for a few days. Both the boys went on different summer camps which left us with the pleasure and luxury of being on our own. We spent this time in London (again). It was great and we had to make use of my brother's apartment while it's still available as he is selling it, being based in South Africa permanently ( for the time being).
Anyhow, back home the preparations for a very busy trade fair season this fall have been going full blast. My good and very reliable friend Annette has once again been there to support me. Without her I would be very pushed to get everything done. We have been potting paint and assembling kits galore. I'll be taking a new printing kit to Birmingham. I am so pleased with the black-and-white effect with my new stamps that I've decided to make a kit. I've also deisgned a few more new stamps ( last minute of course) and hope that they will still arrive in time!
This is the printing kit:

Btw my standnumber at the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham is H42. If you are going, please come and say hello. On Saturday and Sunday my friend Sandy will also be on the stand to help - thought I'd treat you to a native English-speaker!! Although she still has an accent, but her Canadian should make a nice change from our Dutch and South African accents (LOL).

I have also made more bags. I hope that people are going to want to buy them otherwise my friends will be getting bags as presents for the next few years! I enjoy making these, even the sewing is becoming less of a drag. It is easier if you have a sort of production line going.

I do, however, notice a stange phenomenon : I keep on using green! I've got no idea where this is coming from. This morning I decided to print something purple for a bag, and I still used green with the purple! It'll pass I'm sure. Must be some psychological explanation for it but I don't have the time to figure it out.

One solution is to stick to black and white:

Or try to anyway. Hid the green pots away for this one!

Dit is een zomer van weinig bloggen geworden wat niet betekent dat ik niet bezig ben geweest. De voorbereidingen voor Birmingham en de andere beurzen van het najaar gaan onverpoosd voort. Als we terug zijn uit Engeland gaan we gelijk door naar Frederiksoord voor Quiltsporen waar ik een stand heb met Trapsuutjies en ook met Colours of Africa. Liesbeth van Quiltservice is zo vriendelijk geweest om ons ruimte aan te bieden om Colours of Africa te promoten. Wij hopen dat er heel veel mensen komen en dat ze allemaal nog A4-werken voor onze goede doel gaan maken. Annette en Jacqueline komen ook. Van Hella weet ik het nog niet want zij is nog met vakantie. Over Annette gesproken : zij is weer een rots in de branding geweest de laatse weken. Zonder haar hulp en ondersteuning zou ik tog groot moeite hebben om op tijd alles voor de beurzen af te krijgen! Wij hebben heel veel verf geschept en allerlei pakketten gemaakt. Onder andere een nieuwe Print Pakket ( zie foto boven). Ik vind zelf de zwart/wit print-effect heel mooi en heb dus een nieuw pakket gemaakt.

In Birmingham is Trapsuutjies op stand H42. Het is altijd leuk om bekende gezichten te zien!

New stamps for Birmingham

2009-07-22T07:48:00.000-07:00

Things are shaping up nicely for the Festival of Quilts next month in Birmingham. Actually, I'm worried that I'm forgetting something because there is no panic, rush or stress this time. I'm really looking forward to the show and it's going to be one big festival of friends for us - all coming to help on the stand and have a good time.

I've been playing around in my sketchbook and have come up with a few new designs for stamps. The 3 below I call the African Shields. I like them so much that I am have designed another one and am having more made. I'm also going to have this black and white printed fabric for sale on the stand.
This one is called flow and there will be more in this series. I used the reverse stamping technique in this example. I think this stamp would be very nice on fabric for interior decorating - curtains, cushion covers, etc.

Btw the designs are all my own originals and thus copyrighted (does the word exist in this form) so please respect that. The stamps will be put in the shop on my website www.trapsuutjies.com this weekend and retail at Eur 7,50 per stamp.

On to things green. Can anyone please tell me what to do when herbs start flowering? My herbs have been doing exceptionally well this year and I have used loads. But now they all seem to be flowering and I don't really know what to do. If I use the top part with the flower on, especially on the chives, will it continue growing? I'm not a gardener at all so would appreciate some advice!

This year we had the pond cleaned up and the guy also put in pond-type plants (please don't ask me what they're called) but they have just started flowering and give me endless pleasure. Thought I share this corner of peace and calm with you.

As many of you may know I have this thing for birds. Picked up this crazy one at a fair a few weeks ago! Don't you just love him?

Catching up

2009-06-20T00:05:00.000-07:00

These past 2 Sundays I took part in the open Art and Gallery route in my hometown of Essen. On the first Sunday I hung and displayed everything outside, until about 3 o'clock when it started pouring with rain. So we made a quick escape into the studio where it was a tight fit. The second Sunday I didn't even bother to display outside as the day started off with a downpour. Nevertheless, I had a total of about 60 people and it feels good to be better known locally. I even sold 2 runners and two other pieces of fabric.
In between the 2 Sundays Annette and Jacqueline gave the midweek Surface Design II workshop, which was a great success. Those 2 really know their stuff when it comes to using all sorts of different materials! This workshop will be repeated sometime next year. Sounds far off, but we all know the way time behaves these days! Gone in a flash! I did the catering at the workshop and that went down well too.

In the meantime I had my 52nd birthday which turned out the most unbirthday-like day I have ever had. I got a tummy bug and by the afternoon I thought I was going to die. A few hours later I wanted to die!! Eventually it all settled down but I was in bed before Fred even got home. At least the boys faffed around me a bit.

I also managed to make these 2 bags and, guess what.....I have sold 2 bags as well. One of them ( the one with the puff paint) is going to New York! How cool is that?

And then I finally had a sort of birthday, albeit a week later. My brother who lives in South Africa these days (he's the one in the middle) had to go to Londen and Norway and in between hopped on the Eurostar for a flying visit. He was here for less that 24 hours and was on the phone or the laptop most of the time, but hey, I'm not complaining. It was wonderful to at least spend a few hours together with all 4 the men in my life under one roof!!

I know, the boys' hairstyles(!!!??) And believe it or not, we do have hairdressers in Essen! They are definately not going to get a nest egg together if my boys have got anything to say about it!! They think they look cool, so I let them be!!

De Atelier- en kunstroute de afgelopen 2 zondagen speelde zich af in de teken van heftige buien. Ik kon de eerste zondag al vluchten naar mijn atelier met alle spullen. Werd wel knus maar toch gezellig en in totaal had ik ongeveer 60 bezoekers en heb ik 2 lopers verkocht!!

Intussen is de midweek Surface Design II achter de rug. Annette en Jacqueline gaven een geweldig workshop en ierdereen was tevreden. Kan ook haast niet anders want die 2 hebben ongelooflik veel materialenkennis! Ik deed de catering en dat viel ook wel in de smaak. De workshop wordt volgend jaar herhaald, dus houdt het in de gaten.

Ik kon tussendoor nog 2 tassen maken en heb er ook 2 verkocht. De een gaat naar New York! Dat vind ik heel leuk!

Intussen ben ik jarig geweest en werd ik op die dag ziek - een heftige aanval van buikgriep! Maar een week later kreeg ik tog nog een heerlijk kado in de vorm van een blitsbezoek van mijn broer. Heerlijk, die paar uurtjes dat wij elkaar af en toe kunnen zien. Ook al werd hy minstens 3 keer per uur gebeld en werkten hij op zijn laptop. Feit is, ik had al vier de mannen in mijn leven onder 1 dak en daar werd ik heel gelukkig van.

(p.s. wij hebben wel kappers in Essen!)

Lurking

2009-06-04T00:00:00.001-07:00

I am slowly recovering from a serious attack of 'lurkalitis'. This condition has kept me from blogging or leaving comments, but it has shown me what type of blog I appreciate. Some people put so much effort into their blogs, sharing interesting links, worthwhile thoughts and creative processes and I have to say one of the most outstanding blogs for me is Robyn's artpropelled.blogspot.com. And no, it's not just because she's South African, although she often has me very homesick, but she really is an outstanding artist and internet explorer and has led me to some outstanding artists and websites. If you don't know her yet, have a look!!

This photo is for my good friend Sandy who wanted to know what these trees in front of our house looked like with foliage. In winter they are flat, as in .... oh, I can't explain it, but it is a typical Dutch/Belgian phenomenon. Will try to remember to post a photo after pruning in November. Meanwhile, I have been teaching a few workshops...

With these lovely results...

I have also continued making the bags. I really like how they are turning out. Very strong, good for shopping, going to the beach, etc. I have decided to sell them for Euro 19,50.

A bit of puff paint magic...

And screen printing...

And lino cuts.

Ben een hele tijd afwezig geweest maar toch ook weer niet. Ik heb veel blogs bekeken maar zelden een bericht achtergelaten en zelf niet geblogd. Soms vind ik het fijn om gewoon te kijken en nieuwe dingen te ontdekken. Sommige mense doen zoveel moeite met hun blogs en ik moet uitkijken dat ik niet te lang doorgaan op alle interessante links. Voor mij is een van de beste blogs die van Robyn in Zuid-Afrika. Kijk op : artpropelled.blogspot.com voor echt geweldige foto's en links.
Ik zat niet hele dagen achter de computer hoor! Ik heb de laatste weken een paar keer workshops gegeven en ben ook verder gegaan met tassen te maken. Ik ben er wel tevreden mee en heb besloten ze voor Eur 19,50 te verkopen.
Komend weekend doe ik mee aan de "Kunst- en atelierroute" in Essen. Voor wie niet te ver weg woont misschien een leuk idee op zondag Voor meer info kijk op http://www.vvvessen.be/.

Bags of fun

2009-05-14T05:20:00.001-07:00

I've been having fun doing what I love doing i.e. designing and printing fabric.
When we were at the show in Veldhoven Bob (African Fabric Shop) and I were talking about how to get rid of all the plastic bags we use for our products. Paper bags are just too expensive and even environmentally -friendly recycled plastic bags are pricey. Of course, it is actually the customers who should bring their own bags from home for all the shopping they do. Many of them do and that is good.

I had made myself a cloth bag similar to these ones years ago. It is very strong as it is lined with a bag inside the bag and therefore also ideal for bulk shopping at a trade show. I would like to have these for sale on the stand but am stumped (once again) by the difficult question of how much to ask. The cloth is handpainted and/or dyed and printed with my own original lino cuts. Then there is the black cloth used on the outside as well as for the inside bag and the hours it takes me to sew. Can't really charge for that as I am not the world's best or fastest sewer. Even so (sew!!) I reckon I must charge at least Euro 17,50 to cover my costs. Would you pay that for one of these bags? I would love to hear your reactions as I always find this very hard.

Meanwhile, I am really enjoying doing this. Well, not really the sewing part but creating the fabric. My son says there is always a strong feel of Africa about my designs. Can't help it, really. You can take the girl out of Africa but you can't take Africa out of the girl! And I'm really missing it very much at the moment. It's difficult to explain but I just need to feel the African sun on my skin again and breathe in the Highveld air. Oh yes and to sit quietly on a mountain on my counsin's Bushveld farm and watch the sunset....Sigh

Studio time

2009-05-05T09:59:00.000-07:00

The trade show in Veldhoven last week was my last one for the first half of the year. This means that I can now spend some serious studio time which is no unnecessary luxury as I have an exhibition in November. The next show is the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in August. Lots still to prepare for that but if I spend my time wisely it should be no problem.

I haven't done any creative work since the runner-project grinded to a screeching halt. I had 2 flops and somehow lost the the momentum. So now I have to get back into grafting mode. The problem is that I don't really have a focus at the moment so I decided to just follow my fancy today.

I started off playing with colours and wet fabric :
Then I made a lino-cut and printed it :

I also played around with FME making these cards for our Colours of Africa project. Hella has completed the website so you can now see what it's all about. The reaction at the shows where we have told people about our project has been very positive but now we need action i.e. lots and lots of entries! The more we get, the better our chances of raising money for the Chris Hani-creche in Tulbagh. South Africa!

I have also started painting on fabric again. I haven't done this for such a long time that I have almost lost my touch! I want to practice again because I have something in mind for this...

Zo, Veldhoven is achter de rug! Het was een goede beurs en leuk om weer zoveel bekenden te zien. Donderdag was zoals verwacht helemaal niets! Echt alleen maar lapjes mensen en weinig belangstelling in de verf! Gelukkig waren de ander 3 dagen wel goed. Nu ben ik weer een beetje aan't bijkomen. Ik heb echt een dag of 3 nodig om weer helemaal op krachten te zijn. Ligt er ook aan dat het huis natuurlijk een bende is als ik zoveel dagen alleen maar kom slapen. En de wasmand ...

Gelukkig was mijn goede fee vandaag geweest en heb ik bijna de was ingehaald. Nu nog strijken maar dat kan later in de week ook nog.

Ik ben vandaag in mijn atelier geweest om te kijken wat het ook alweer was wat ik zo graag deed : o ja, verven (lol). Soms ben ik de draad kwijt omdat ik er niet genoeg tijd aan besteed. Maar mijn eerstvolgende beurs is pas in Augustus in Birmingham dus heb ik nu de tijd om de kreatieve draad weer te rijgen, bij wijze van spreken. Heb vandaag een beetje gekliedert, een linostempel gesneden, kaarten op de naaimachine bewerkt en ben begonnen om weer eens een keertje op doek te schilderen. Da's echt lang geleden!

Hella heeft hard gewerkt en ons website voor Colours of Africa is in de lucht. Nu wachten wij op heel veel inzendingen!

Elephants in Brussels

2009-04-22T02:34:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago Fred and I celebrated our 23 wedding anniversary with a visit to the African Museum in Tervuren, close to Brussels. I simply had to see these elephants made by South African artist Andries Botha which are being exhibited there at the moment. They were orginally made for an annual art event on the Belgian Coast called "beaufort" and is called 'You can buy my heart and my soul...' I absolutely adore elephants and was lucky enough to be very close to them when we visited the Addo Elephant Park in South Africa years ago.

These wooden sculptures are very moving. They seem so out of place and somehow sad and vulnerable and in a sense accusing. You can read more about how they were constructed on Botha's website.

My runner project is making slow progress. I have been ridiculously uninspired these last few weeks. Add to this that the kids were home on 2 weeks' Easter break and the result is loud and clear : very little creative work done. I have to find my way around this because very soon it will be the 2 month summer vacation and I cannot afford to be less than productive for such a long period. Do other peopole also feel so unsettled when the kids are around or is it just me? I still feel responsible for what they are doing and want to keep tabs on everything. Have to let go...

This one is much more purple that the photo shows.

This, and the following 2, are old favourites which you might have seen on my stand at the shows.

The rest of today will be spent baking because we are celebrating a birthday tomorrow!

Ik ben een paar weken stil geweest omdat ik weinig inspiratie had en omdat de kids thuis waren voor de Paasvakantie. Fred en ik zijn naar het Afrika museum in Tervuren geweest en ik was erg onder de indruk. Een fantastische statige gebouw en alle glorie van de koloniale era - een oordeel over het goed of kwaad ervan laat ik hier buiten beschauwing. Ik wilde ook heel graag de olifanten zien en het was zeker de moeite waard.

De lopers vorderen gestaagd ook al tel ik drie oudere exemplaren erbij. Ik zit nu op 11 of 12, dus zowat op de helft.

Real-life ugliness!

2009-03-31T04:35:00.000-07:00

Last Saturday we went to a textile fair close to Utrecht, in Holland. It is one of the big events on the textile calendar with wonderful exhibitions, workshops and shops. Well, I had a fantastic day. It was incredibly busy the whole day long. Hella and I didn't even have time for a cup of coffee. I have a friend who supplies me with Herbalife products and if I hadn't had 2 protein bars with me, I wouldn't even have been able to eat. The bars are easy to just have a bite of and even then people were waiting for me to finish chewing! So no complaints there. My next event is at the end of the month so I have lots of time to get ready, which means studio time.

Remember the runner that wasn't working out? Oh my goodness! I was working on it this morning knowing that it was all going wrong. When I put it up to see if it would look better from a distance, I had to cover my eyes upon seeing such ugliness!! Before binning it, I took this photo. Don't be mislead and think that it looks interesting - it is horrible!

This one's nice though and looks better in real life. The colours are lovely and warm.

So back to the drawing board to come up with the next ones. Meanwhile I'm also in bird production mode. That's for an exhibition in November but I'll show some of it later on.

Is everyone happy with the lovely sunny weather? I'm not really and maybe I'll share the reason for it when the reason is there no more. Let me get back to painting before I write more confusing stuff.

Zaterdag in Nieuwegein was echt geweldig! Het was super druk op de stand en zoooo gezellig. Bedankt aan iedereen die even langs was gekomen om gedag te zeggen. Eind april staan wij weer klaar voor iedereen in Veldhoven.

Boven zijn nog 2 lopers te zien. De eerste is echt ongelofelijk mislukt en gaat naar de prullenbak. De rode met granaatappels is mooi, diep van kleur, maar de foto is helaas niet goed genoeg om het tot zijn recht te laten komen. Nu terug naar mijn atelier en productie maken!

Four more

2009-03-23T06:54:00.000-07:00

I have so far completed 4 more runners. Almost 5 but the unfinished one is really not to my taste. Sometimes I can't decide whether to abandon a cloth which isn't working out or to carry on and try and rescue it. In this case I chose for option 2. It has improved a little bit but I might still chuck it. I'll show a picture whatever I decide. Meanwhile these 4 below have worked out quite well.

This week it's admin again and preparations for a fair on Saturday so I don't know how much studio time I'll be able to get.

Mijn zelf-opgelegde project voor 25 lopers vordert langzaam maar zeker. Ik heb er 6 af en aangezien ik 2 (misschien 3) die ik lang geleden heb gemaakt ook mee gaan tellen, ben ik toch bijna halfpad.

Deze week moet ik echter weer administratie doen en ook de nodige voorbereidingen voor TextielPlusdag zaterdag in Nieuwegein. Ik heb er een dubbele stand met alle leuke dingen erbij. Annette Jeukens heeft ook hele mooie kleding gemaakt en wij delen een ruimte. Dus, kom zeker langs! Ik heb deze keer ook weer zeefdrukramen bij, blanco zowel als ready-to-print, en natuurlijk die fijne rakels.

On the Run(ner)

2009-03-12T08:38:00.000-07:00

I have started a project : to make (at least) 25 runners and here is the first one. Well, actually I have got 2 which I made ages ago and have decided to count them as well. So this is nr. 3. Why, do you ask. Quite a few reasons :I really need to get a new project onto my website and this will be it; I find it relaxing to do and find it's good to develop my sense of combining colours ; it's a nice product to sell on the stand and to show what results you can get with very little effort.
I think I've already mentioned that I now also sell the Procion MX dyes in 6 basic colours plus black. I admit that I am not an expert at dying but I obviously have to get myself in gear because I can't sell something I know so little about. So I've been at it a bit with Annette. We really tried to be systematic and organised about this, measuring, weighing, taking notes - all of which lasted about 5 seconds. I can honestly not tell who is worse and there is probably not much difference between us. The result being that doing stuff like this together means double chaos!

However, we ended up with really lovely looking colours and not being able to say exactly how we managed this. Except for the black which is a really good black.

Fortunately a good fairy came to the rescue in the form of Sandra. She was very kind and shared her very systematic and methodical notes with me. She also tried and tested all the colours and I am happy to say that her findings were very positive. The powders dissolve nicely and the pigments are very good. So I can at last launch the Procion on my my web-shop, hopefully this weekend and with Sandra's permission and assistance I have been able to write Instructions for Use.

School holidays

2009-02-24T07:44:00.000-08:00

The first two trade shows of 2009 are done and dusted. It was quite tough having them on 2 consecutive weekends but I survived. Now I have a lot of tidying to do, especially in my studio as the first workshop group is coming on 7 March and it is such a mess in there that I can hardly work.
Having the 2 teenagers home with school holidays this week means that I can buckle down to the task while they sleep late everyday and manage to reach unheard of levels of laziness and inactivity. Are your kids the same? I cannot believe how they can spend their time doing mindless nothings - i.e. MSN, hanging outside and hanging inside.
Fortunately my studio is in the garden because it is no use keeping an eye on them and trying to engage them in sensible activities. I'll just spend my energy getting my stuff sorted. What really gets to me though is that they think they deserve the holiday - as if they work that hard at school!!!
O well, I love them anyway and at least they muster the energy to give me the odd hug and they enjoy my cooking. And they came with to visit their granddad today without moaning. However, back home they were out of the car in a flash and off to their friends.

Last week I felt like painting on fabric again and redid this cheetah from an old example which I had. Before I just painted and that was that. If I was really enterprising I would make a pillowcase out of it or did it on a t-shirt ( actually Alex still wears this cheetah t-shirt to sleep in). These days however I cannot help but want to continue stitching, stamping or whatever. A real struggle as I don't always know what I'm doing. The learning curve is hopefully upwards!

De eerste 2 beurzen zitten erop. Het was vermoeiend 2 weekenden achter elkaar maar het was toch gezellig om zoveel bekenden te zien en natuurlijk goed te verkopen! Deze week zijn de pubers thuis voor de krokusvakantie en ze zijn keihard aan het niksen - tot mij grote ergernis. Waar ik mij vooral aan stoor is dat ze denken deze vakantie te verdienen! Alsof er zoveel tijdens school gedaan is. Ik zie ze zelden werken. Maar ja, mijn atelier is gelukkig in de tuin en ik heb er veel te doen. Het is weer een rommeltje geworden en ik moet orde op zaken krijgen voor de eerste workshopgroep volgend weekend komt.

Intussen ben ik weer aan't verven geweest (lapverf zoals wij het in Zuid-Afrika noemen). Dit is de manier waarop ik begonnen ben met Trapsuutjies te werken - heeeel lang geleden. Tegenwoordig kan ik het echter niet meer bij het verven laten en moet het verder bewerken met naaien, stempelen, lagen aanbrengen. Het is een heerlijke zoeken naar een balans, goede techniek, enz. en soms vind ik het heel moeilijk. Het blijft een leerproces en ik blijf doorgaan!

Lots to tell!

2009-02-11T05:49:00.000-08:00

Yes, that's what happens if you don't blog for a while.
First of all I got these lovely ATC's. The one below is from Mags. My photo definately does not do it justice - the colours are really wonderful. Thanks Mags!

And then I got this lovely, quirky fellow from Corryna . He's really cute and makes me laugh.

The trade show season has started again and I have already had my first event. This coming weekend I'll be in Rijswijk and next weekend in Zwolle. Actually I am well prepared and not rushed off my feet even though I have many other things going on as well. But, also because Annette has been helping me a lot.

When you do as many shows as I do you always try to come up with something new and I have the feeling that I need to keep showing people how wonderful and easy it is to paint you own fabric and to make things with it. In the spirit of considering the environment I have made lots of "sheets" of fabric which can be used to wrap gifts. They have all been heat set so can be washed and used endlessly. Here are a few examples:

I really like the guinea fowls (I know - it's a thing about birds!) but I also really love the colourbrite paints. The colours are so wonderful and I love the chalky feel. Out of my whole range of Trapsuutjies paints this is my favourite. I think I might even mix more colours. I want to make a table cloth like this one to use outside in summer.

On this one I used puff paint which was later over-stamped with pearl paint. Of course I can't photograph well enough to show what it really looks like. You'll just have to take my word for it that it looks nice.

Fred likes this one. He goes for uncluttered. I made this to demonstrate the pearl paint.

De atc's hebben jullie gezien. Bedankt Corryna, hij is echt super!

Annette, Jacqueline en ik hebben in Rijswijk weer een hele ruimte gekregen om te kunnen verven. Wij zijn er op de Patchwork - en Quiltdagen op zaterdag en zondag (14 & 15 februari).

Het zou leuk zijn om veel mensen te zien en een praatje te kunnen maken!

Hier boven zijn afbeeldingen van stof die ik heb geverfd, bedrukt, ge-"pufft" (nieuw woordgebruik maar ik jullie gewaarschuwd over mijn nederlands) en gezeefdrukt. Mijn idee is om dit als herbruikbaar inpakmateriaal te verkopen. Goed voor het milieu om niet steeds papier te gebruiken voor de kado's. De stof is gefixeerd en kan dus eindeloos gewassen en gebruikt worden. Of....je kan verf kopen en je eigen stof maken om als kadopapier te gebruiken. Heerlijk om te doen en het geeft net iets meer speciaals. Is dan helemaal van jezelf!

De organisatie van Colours of Africa gaat ook door. Wij hebben binnenkort een website waarop jullie meer kunnen zien en zodra er inzendingen komen worden die uiteraard ook op de blog geplaats.

Bijna vergeet ik te melden dat ik nu ook Procion verf heb! Weliswaar alleen een paar kleuren, maar zoveel mensen kunnen zelf mengen en dat blijft tog ook altijd heerlijk spannend. Het komt binnenkort op de Trapsuutjies website in de winkel en ik neem het alvast mee naar Rijswijk en Zwolle.

Memories

2009-02-03T00:10:00.000-08:00

On Sunday my good friend Mary brought Sophie, the daughter of a friend of hers who died 2 years ago of breast cancer, to my studio to make memory cloth. She was still very young, not even 50, and left behind three children. They had really great photo's to work with and we had a very special day. We used the technique which I use for the "memories"-workshop i.e. photo transfer and screen printing. The results were great and they were both very happy.

Common sense

2009-01-28T08:36:00.000-08:00

Twice on one day!!! I know it's a bit much, but I just got this in an e-mail from my brother and thought I'd share it with you :

Obituary in the London Times
Today we mourn the passing of a beloved old friend, Common Sense, who has been with us for many years. No one knows for sure how old he was, since his birth records were long ago lost in bureaucratic red tape.

He will be remembered as having cultivated such valuable lessons as:

Knowing when to come in out of the rain;
Why the early bird gets the worm;
Life isn't always fair;
and maybe it was my fault.

Common Sense lived by simple, sound financial policies (don't spend more than you can earn) and reliable strategies (adults, not children, are in charge). His health began to deteriorate rapidly when well-intentioned but overbearing regulations were set in place.

Reports of a 6-year-old boy charged with sexual harassment for kissing a classmate; teens suspended from school for using mouthwash after lunch; and a teacher fired for reprimanding an unruly student, only worsened his condition.

Common Sense lost ground when parents attacked teachers for doing the job that they themselves had failed to do in disciplining their unruly children. It declined even further when schools were required to get parental consent to administer sun lotion or an Aspirin to a student; but could not inform parents when a student became pregnant and wanted to have an abortion.

Common Sense lost the will to live as the churches became businesses; and criminals received better treatment than their victims. Common Sense took a beating when you couldn't defend yourself from a burglar in your own home and the burglar could sue you for assault.

Common Sense finally gave up the will to live, after a woman failed to realize that a steaming cup of coffee was hot. She spilled a little in her lap, and was promptly awarded a huge settlement.

Common Sense was preceded in death, by his parents, Truth and Trust, by his wife, Discretion, by his daughter, Responsibility, and by his son, Reason.

He is survived only by his 4 stepbrothers:

I Know My Rights
I Want It Now
Someone Else Is To Blame
I'm A Victim

Not many attended his funeral because so few realized he was gone. If you still remember him, pass this on. If not, join the majority and do nothing.

Colours of Africa

2009-01-28T02:35:00.000-08:00

I can't believe how long it's been since my last post. I have been very busy and being creative in the studio has not been at the top of the list. I have been creative organising things.
You may have read about it on Jacqueline's and Annette's blog : we are offering midweek workshops in May and June and, together with Hella, we are organising a big textile event in April 2010.

For the event, called Colours of Africa, we need you to participate. We want as many people as possible to send in textile work, size A4, with the theme : "rainbow". You can interpret this in anyway you want and use any materials. As long as it's reasonably flexible because we are going to use all the entries to make three-dimentional objects. These are going to be auctioned at the event. All the money raised will be donated to the Chris Hani-chrèche in Tulbagh, South Africa.
The children there are currently housed in a shack where the mothers take care of them.
Essen, the town in Belgium where I live, has got ties with Tulbagh in South Africa and they are working on a project to build a proper early learning centre for the children, as well as training teachers. We are having the full support and cooperation for our event from the Town Council of Essen.

So please, get your creative juices flowing and make us an A4. It will be put to very good use. We have put up a blog where you can read more about this event : http://colours-of-africa.blogspot.com/ and where you can find details of where to send your entries to.

For a full description of the fabulous midweek workshops Jacqueline, Annette and I are offering please see my website : www.trapsuutjies.com and go to the "workshop" page.

Celebrating winter

2009-01-08T09:31:00.000-08:00

Don't you also just absolutely love this weather! When I came to Holland from South Africa a zillion years ago, I used to take the train into work in The Hague everyday. Looking out of the window and seeing little children skating on the canals with colourfull hats on always made me feel happy. To me it was magical. These past couple of weeks have given me the same feeling of living in a fairyland. It is so beautiful outside! I feel very priviledged to be warm and cozy inside and do realise that there are thousands of people who aren't that fortunate. I didn't take pictures of the winter landscape because I know that most of the people who read my blog need only to look out of the window to see it firsthand.

In December I got these lovely ATC's:
From left to right: Margreeth, Linda and Emmy.

From left to right: Maria Clara in Barcelona (I don't know if Maria has a blog) and from Annie Bodelier in Holland. (Annie, your blog doesn't seem to be activated)

Thank you very much ladies!!

I have been working quite hard painting and sewing. Actually I am in a good rythm at the moment : while one piece of fabric is drying, I continue practicing my sewing skills. Wow, how lucky can one be!!

Meanwhile, I am getting ready for the next busy season of trade shows. My first event is at the end of the month and I'll be quite busy until the beginning of May.

The few months' rest has done me the world of good, however, and I am really looking forward to getting active again.

Ik geniet ontzettend van het weer, de kou, het sprookjeslandschap en het feit dat ik zo gelukkig ben om knus en warm binnen te zijn. Ik realiseer me wel dat er duizenden mensen zijn die het koud en misrabel hebben en dat het voor hun heel moeilijk is op dit moment. Toch kan ik niet anders dan gelukkig voelen als ik kinderen zien schaatsen met vrolijke mutsen op. Ik heb geen foto's van buiten want bijna iedereen die mijn blog leest hoef maar naar buiten te kijken om ervan te kunnen genieten.

Boven zijn een aantal ATC's die ik heb ontvangen. Bedankt iedereen! Ik vind ze heel mooi.

Mijn werkritme is helemaal goed : terwijl de ene lap ligt te drogen, schuif ik achter de naaimachine in om verder te oefenen. Heerlijk gewoon. Een paar resultaten zie je op de foto's.

Verder ben ik druk aan het voorbereiden op het nieuwe beursseizoen. Het begint voor mij op 24 januari met de landelijke hoedendag in Utrecht. Ik heb er weer enorm veel zin in!

2009!

2009-01-02T02:51:00.000-08:00

I would like to wish everyone who reads my blog a very happy, creative, loving and satisfying New Year!
I am back in my studio after spending part of the holidays in London. We had a wonderful time but unfortunately I forgot my camera at home so I can't show you any pictures. I also forgot my sister-in-law's Christmas present and various other things. Needless to say it was quite obvious that I needed the break! We went to the huge new shopping centre called Westfield on Boxing Day. To get our whole gang up, dressed and fed is usually a very time consuming task so we only arrived there late afternoon. It was busy, busy, busy and not being a great shopper myself and not having a figure that fits into anything designer or run of the mill off-the-shelf, I found it very boring. Furtunately my brother took the kids to Oxford Street the next day which meant that Fred and I could take a stroll past St. Paul's, over the Milleneum Bridge into the Tate Modern. He is not a Francis Bacon fan so we played cheap skates and only visited the free parts of the museum. My favourites were the Miro's - such wonderful rythm and colours. It made me very happy and cheerful! There was also a wonderful exhibition by a South African artist called Hlobo (I think) who uses textiles, but I can't find the brochure so I'll have to show you next time.
On a very different level, here are a few of my postcards and ATC's which I made before we left.

Gelukkig Nieuwjaar aan iedereen die mijn blog leest! Ik wens jullie veel geluk, liefde, creativiteit en voldoening in 2009!

Wij waren in Londen op bezoek bij familie voor een deel van de Kersvakantie. Het was, zoals altijd, geweldig maar helaas kan ik niets laten zien want ik had mijn camera thuis laten liggen. Was dat maar alles, maar nee, ook een cadeau voor mijn schoonzus, een boek voor mijn nichtje, en ....laat maar. Wat wel duidelijk was, was dat ik aan een vakantie toe was! Dit keer ging mijn broer met de kinderen naar Oxford Street om te shoppen, dus kon Fred en ik eindelijk rustig een museum bezoeken. Wij zijn naar de Tate Modern geweest en konden genieten van fantastisch werk. Zelf vond ik de Miro's geweldig!! Zijn gevoel voor vorm, ritme en kleur is fantastisch. Fred houdt niet zo van Francis Bacon, dus hebben wij alleen de gratis gedeeltes van het museum bezocht. Dat was al genoeg voor zere voeten en een heerlijk kop koffie om uit te rusten. Wij lopen ons altijd te pletter in Londen! Het apartement van mijn broer is ook in de "city" dus zijn heel veel dingen te voet te bereiken.

Hier boven zijn afbeeldingen van ATC's en kaarten die ik voor de vakantie had gemaakt. Ik ben nu weer terug in mijn atelier - druk bezig met natuurlijk te veel dingen tegelijk.

A is for apron ( and ATC)

2008-12-05T04:29:00.000-08:00

The kids are writing exams which means that they are home by 12 o'clock. One would think that this has no influence on my work but reality is sadly different. I still have to watch Tim ( the youngest) like a hawk AND remember to take away his cell phone when he is supposed to be studying. It is quite amazing how he tries to convince himself ( and me)that he doesn't really need to know anything. Any query of mine gets the standard reply that that bit of work isn't important. I won't bore you with the ensuing scenes in this household.

Because I don't have long spans in the studio, I am doing many different things which I can leave and get back to later on. So I am having real fun painting again. I also screenprinted these aprons. I thought they could make quite a nice Christmas gift, so they are for sale at Eur 15,00 a piece including postage. The UK price is 13,50 pound and 22,00 US dollars.

If you are interested, you can mail me at: laura.liebenberg@telenet.be
Olives:
Zebra:
Daisies:

Autumn leaves:

Roses:

I have also been making some ATC's. Please let me know if you are interested in trading with me.

Hier in Belgie schrijven de kinderen meerdere keren per jaar examen, onder andere voor de kerstvakantie. Nu zijn ze dus elke dag rond 12.00 uur al thuis wat betekent dat mijn dag vanaf dan wordt onderbroken. Vooral de jongste heeft nog super veel toezicht nodig. Zijn grootste doel is om zichzelf en mij ervan te overtuigen dat hij niets voor de examen hoef te kennen. Het leidt tot groot frustratie en ik bespaar jullie de details van de discussies hierover. Bovendien wordt hij continu gebeld en ge-sms'd wat natuurlijk alles behalve bevorderlijk is voor zijn concentratie.

Ik ben dus bezig met dingen die ik ook makkelijk kan onderbreken, vooral met verfprojecten. Ik heb deze schorten gezeefdrukt en vond ze zelf leuk om als cadeau te geven. Ze zijn te koop voor 15 euro per stuk, inclusief verzendkosten. Als je er interesse in hebt, mail me aub: laura.liebenberg@telenet.be

Ik heb ook nog ATC's gemaakt. Laat het mij aub weten als je wilt ruilen.

And then there was light

2008-12-03T10:29:00.000-08:00

No, I haven't lost it and this photo is not a mistake. I am so happy with the new lighting in my studio. On Monday a handyman came round and fitted these 3 beauties and I can see even more at night than during the day ( in a manner of speaking). About the handyman : that is one phone number which has been written in cement in my phone book. For the almost 30 years that we have been together, Fred has tried his best to do things around the house. Guy-things like hanging up paintings, light fittings, shelves, etc. His initial clumsiness, unwillingness and, let's face it, total lack of talent in this department, has not improved with the years. On the contrary : the normally even-tempered very nice person turns into a swearing monster when he has tools in his hands. So finally he succombed and we now get other people to do the odd jobs around the place. And I promise you, it is worth every penny. I am in total awe of people who can fix, fit, repair and just be handy!!!!! Without losing their tempers or swearing.
So I now have proper lighting in the studio, as well as ventilation; the central heating in the house is working properly for the first time since we moved in 2 years ago and a very wobbly, irritating kitchen tap is solid as a rock. I'm happy, Fred's happy and that guy has money in his pocket!

I've been monprinting....

...and I've discovered this amazing colour turquoise. It happened after I applied some Trapsuutjies Colourbrite Aqua on black cotton with a card. The second layer was translucent Turquoise. I'm not a particularly blue person but this colour is really amazing and I love the texture which the chalky colourbrite gives.

PS. Fred has other charms and talents, especially behind keyboards - the IT and musical kind. And he's a great dad. And husband. Oh, stop it, before I get all mushy I'm going back to the studio where I can see clearly!!!

Wij hebben een "mannetje" ontdekt. Een die alles met zijn handen kan en dus heel goed bij ons kan bijverdienen. Fred is niet alleen niet handig, hij heeft er een enorme hekel aan om te klussen. Daarom zit ik al 2 jaar in mijn studio 's avonds bij een simpele peertje te werken. Maar niet meer - er hangen nu 3 fantastische, daglicht-gevende TL-buizen in mijn atelier. En mijn geluk kan niet op. Er zijn nu ook 2 ventilatieroosters. In huis werkt de CV na 2 jaar op volle toeren en is mijn wiebelige keukenkraan stevig vastgezet! Iedereen blij!

Ik ben aan het monoprinten geweest en heb ook met de Trapsuutjies Colourbrite Aqua gespeeld. Eerst met een kaart op zwarte stof aangebracht en toe met Turquoise er over heen. Het leverde een schitterende kleur op!

Puff paint

2008-11-30T12:04:00.000-08:00

I am desperately trying to get my Trapsuutjies newsletter out, but technical and other problems keep on getting in the way. Hopefully all will be ready by next weekend. The problem is that I am dependent on Fred to do the final touches and seeing as he is only home on the weekend, and more often than not even then has to do work-related things, it is a bit tough getting his attention for Trapsuutjies at the moment.

I have also been occupied with organising things as far ahead as 2010!! I know, it sounds very far away...but there are very exciting things in the making and if all goes well we ( me, Annette, Jacqueline and Hella) will be able to reveal all early in the new year.

I have been playing around with the puff paint:

Here I did reverse stamping using the Extender Base as first layer.

Here I stamped with Puff paint and then overstamped using colours.

And this poor bird is standing on very unsturdy legs! I have now managed to construct better legs and feet for my birds. Will show more next week.

En nu, mijn zoon vraagt steeds waarom ik alleen maar in het Engels blogt. Nou ja, voor mij is het veel meer natuurlijk om in het Engels te schrijven. Nederlands blijft een moeilijke taal, vooral omdat het zo dicht bij mijn moedertaal, Afrikaans, is. De overeenkomsten zorgen voor makkelijke vergissingen. Vaak zijn het ook de zinsconstructies en woordvolgorde die problemen veroorzaken. Ik heb geen zin om steeds een gezinslid te vragen om het na te lezen. Tog ga ik vanaf nu ook in het Nederlands schrijven. Vergeef mij dus aub bij voorbaat alle taal en andere fouten.

More exercises

2008-11-12T08:08:00.000-08:00

This is my first attempt at making 3-D birds. The wire for the legs is all wrong. I need to use something thinner but still strong enough to support the body. I made another one today but it is too dark to take a picture.

More postcards which are much nicer in real life. Very difficult to photograph, especially if you're in a hurry to get on with your work!!!

Reverse stamping technique on black cotton using Flexprint Opaque Trapsuutjies Fabric Paint. No sewing done here and I must admit I find it quite bare without.

Working on making ATC's which might turn out well enough to actually start swopping. Meanwhile I have found a way of preventing the "bundling" of the fabric. It helps to just get on with it and think logically. I am really enjoying doing this and am popping back into the studio for a few more hours tonight. But I first have to do some tidying again as it has turned into a mess!!

The one on the right is a flop ( that bundling thing again) so I made another one which turned out better.

Scales

2008-11-11T10:56:00.000-08:00

I am on quite a roll in my studio working on (too) many things. There are some very exciting projects in the pipeline for next year which means that I have to produce a huge amount of work. It also means that I cannot show it all. I try to do some sewing every day, using my painted fabric , some of which has been lying around for years. I see this as serving the same purpose as practicing scales when you play the piano, except that I enjoy this much more than I did the scales!!

I painted this piece of fabric at the workshop a few weeks ago to show the students how to build up different layers of paint. I have managed to get these two postcards out of it and have enough for a bookmark as well.
These bookmarks were once again made with demo-fabric from the shows.

Although the sewing is going quite well, I still find it difficult to get things 100%. When I do the zig-zag around the edges it often happens that the fabric bundles somewhere on the way! Very frustrating. I went to Annette this morning to get some advice on this and it seems I have to do even more finicky stuff to try and avoid this.

Home Alone

2008-11-03T06:08:00.000-08:00

I love them to bits, but boy, do I enjoy having the house to myself again! Last week Fred (DH) AND the boys were home and there was just a bit too much testosterone around the place for me to feel comfortable. I end up looking after everybody and tidying everyone's mess and feeling more and more frustrated. Why do I (or shall I say us women) feel responsible for their happiness, pleasure, enjoyment, etc. etc? In the end they all do what they want and by the time I have my hands free to do what I want I am either too tired or it is time to go to bed.

Enough moaning...I was in my studio by 7.30 this morning and will not be distracted from work during the coming weeks. I have no commitments until February 2009 so I can really get on with all my projects.

My final event for this year was teaching a workshop last Saturday in Lisse, Holland. I wanted them to learn as much as possible and we worked with multiple layers of paint doing surface design. I introduced them to a variety of techniques and the different types of Trapsuutjies Fabric Paint. They worked really hard and everyone ended up with fantastic results, as you can see in the pictures below:

Last week, I promised to post about the book about boys which I am reading. Actually, savouring is a better word, but let me begin with another brilliant book: a while ago the BBC broadcast a series about the Tudors covering the period during which Anne Boleyn was at the court of Henry VIII. Before that I had seen "The Other Boleyn Girl" and "Elizabeth" and loved it. Even if you are not into history it is worth watching just for the fantastic costumes!! So I just had to learn more about this fascinating period in history. This book by Alison Weir reads like a novel but is actually jam-packed with facts. I can truelly recommend it to anyone interested in how life was lived during the Renaissance. She makes it come alive and, having the dubious advantage of being totally ignorant about the subject, I enjoy soaking up the facts and seeing similarities with modern times.

Now, as for this little jewel....!!! it makes me laugh out loud, gives me hope, gives me loads of insight and makes me realise that I must have confidence in myself and in "them". The author studied hundreds of boys and her main message is for mothers to step back and hand over some control to the fathers and other males. Now, that is not a natural thought for this mother. Giving up control - what a ridiculous idea!! But, she makes so much sense and also emphasises how important the boundaries are once again during this period. So taking a step back does not mean letting go. She offers sound advice on how to handle these wonderful creatures who can cause us so much anxiety and also so much pride and joy.

The book is at times very funny and I think the author must have had a great time interviewing the boys. A case in point is when she asked the them: "Have any of you had advice about sex from your father?", one of them answered: "Yep, my dad told me to always say please."

Then, last but not least, there's Kevin. This book took me a year to complete! A very intense, analytical, disturbing book about a boy whom you would not want to raise. But fascinating nonetheless. I would love to know if any of you have read this book? And what did you think?

Robin red breast

2008-10-28T06:22:00.000-07:00

One often sees people taking a break from blogging because they are on holiday, very busy with other projects or just need time to themselves. You may have noticed my absence which, in all honesty, cannot be called a "break" anymore. It has definately been more of a sabbatical! There is no specific reason (read excuse) for this apart from the fact that I needed lots of time to recover after a very busy summer and I really could not see the point of keeping you up to date with my levels of exhaustion and/or recovery. Work in my studio was also quite haphazard so no real point in sharing that either.
I am, however, back on track ( as much as I'll ever be anyway).

As you know, I have a thing about birds. Mostly my fantasy birds. As far as real birds go, my absolute favourite is the red breast. To me they are magical creatures which, growing up, I always saw on Christmas cards. Seeing my first live red breast when moving to Europe really gave me great joy and I still get excited about them. This little fella lives in our garden and is quite cheeky. It always makes me very happy to see him. I have been monoprinting and sewing. This one was done on paper and still has to be used to make something of it. I am working on a few ideas simultaneously as I am having an exhibition in November 2009 and I want to show painted and sewn cloth, as well as paper work.

Last week a friend came by to do some screenprinting on her hand felted pieces. She tried the different types of paint and all worked very well. These two were done with Colourbrite Opaque.

And in this one she used Pearl Copper. I think the combination of printing on felt and then sewing and embellishing will give fantastic results.

The kids are having their autumn school break this week so I am spending more time than I would like taxi-ing them. Actually, I don't mind because I felt quite guilty about leaving them so much to their own devices during summer. I know they don't need me as much as they used to, but I think it is sooo important to be around especially now. I am reading a brilliant book about bringing up boys and will tell you more about that next time.

Back to basics

2008-09-27T03:03:00.000-07:00

Well, we're back from France, all in one piece. We had a wonderful week with lots of hard work but also lots of fun and laughs. The trade show in Ste. Marie-aux-Mines was from 9 0'clock in the morning till 7 o'clock in the evening - a gruelling 10 hours a day!
Apart from the fact that we did well, our saving grace was the gite we (Annette and I) shared with 7 other people. Magie and Bob from African Fabrics stayed with us this year, as well as Dijanne and her lovely daughter Sienna, Sandy and Joe and Margo . The four of us who had to work came home in the evening to a lovely fire, cold wine and wonderful food. And we never had to lift a finger. This is the few from our front door:

This is the gite:

And this is Joe. Now, let me tell you about Joe. First of all he is Sandy's man (lucky girl), second he is the most unusual guy in that he likes to clean!!! I can tell you one thing for free: that gite was much cleaner when we left than when we arrived. And he helped me to unload and load my van, which I wouldn't have been able to do on my own. He kept the fires going in the house, saw to it that we had cold wine in the evening, and just took care of everything. Needless to say we all wanted to take him home with us. It was the same last year when we were only visiting the show. We all love you, Joe!

I must admit that the language was a bit of a problem in France. Although I do have a spattering of French and know a few terms related to fabrics and fabric painting it was tough going. But many of the visitors were from Germany and fortunately Annette could handle that. The show is huge and if you have not been before, I can certainly recommend it for next year!

Back home I got an awful cold and while I am recovering and just generally getting my energy levels up again, I started embroidering a garden for these birds: And these are some of the lovely demo-samples which I brought back from the show and which I will be working with next week.

There's not much time to sit around though, because next weekend I'll be in Tilburg in Holland at the Textile weekend . I'm looking forward to that as there is lots happening: a trade market, craft market, exhibitions and workshops and activities in the Textile museum.

Lucky girl

2008-09-10T05:29:00.000-07:00

Well, aren't I just the lucky girl! I got my second prize won in blogland today. This lovely ATC, bag for a mobile phone, handpainted fabric and beads came from Corryna. I really love the bag! She has also awarded me the I Love Your Blog reward. Thanks Corryna, I feel really flattered!
The difficult part is nominating 7 other blogs. Seeing as I keep discovering more and more interesting blogs, I nominate them all and will add new links here soon.

After six little squares, I have used all the fabric monoprinted in these colours. So I have decided that this is the series.

I have been spending many wonderful hours in my studio lately. Of course I can't concentrate on one task only. So, while a layer of fabric is drying, I can get on with the sewing. I love working in layers and am pleased with this particular result. I used Block 13 and 14, two of my new designs, which are now also available on my website.

I have been living in Europe now for 20 odd years and cannot recall getting these kind of showers until this summer! In South Africa, or more particularly in Johannesburg, where I grew up, we used to get what was called a "5 o'clock - special" almost every afternoon in summer. After a hot day, a short but intense shower would pour down, usually when the civil servants knocked off work!

Next week I'll be in France for the 14th European Patchwork and Quilt meeting in Ste.Marie-aux-Mines. My standnr. is M116. So from tomorrow I'll start packing and getting everything ready.

Demo doodads

2008-09-02T11:29:00.000-07:00

This is another one in what is becoming the "wheat" or "grass" series. This time I added some beads. I'm not sure weather this actually adds anything, but seeing as I'm playing around I thought I might as well start using some of my quite extensive bead collection.

When we demonstrate Trapsuutjies Fabric Paint on the stand at shows, we always show the Reverse Stamping technique. When we were in Birmingham my friend Hella did all the demo's and she kept these pieces of fabric (I usually throw them away) and I heard her saying to Annette that I was probably going to throw hers away as well. Well, I didn't....I decided to play around with them too -all still part of my sewing exercises!

I cut out what I thought was usable....

...And I'm making bookmarks and tags. Today I bought a "crop-o-dile" (I think that's what it's called), the tool with which you can punch eyelets through the fabric. Of course I did the first one (in the middle below) on the wrong side and there really is no way to take it out again. Who cares, I'll be using it myself anyway.

Letting go...

2008-08-27T05:17:00.001-07:00

When I was a teenager, way back when, I didn't get on with my dad. He couldn't accept the fact that I was growing into my own person and we had many arguments, sulks and sometimes just outright unpleasantness. I promised myself never to be like that with my kids....Yeah, you've guessed right: I've turned into my dad!

I am finding it very hard to let go of my boys! Actually my dear oldest son who will soon be 16. Do you remember in our days it was "16 and never been kissed before". It seems like I grew up in a different universe and in many ways I suppose it was. Still, I'm finding it hard to accept that these days the call of the friends and being outside is just so strong that there is no way I can compete.

At the risk of sounding very sad, I have to confess that today I even baked a cake to try and keep them indoors for a while. And, no, it didn't work. I've told you before that said oldest son eats everything he can lay his hands on and, sure, the cake will be polished by this evening, but he didn't hang around to attack it as soon as it came out of the oven.

He's a good kid, they both are, and I know he probably does nothing wrong, but I can't help keeping a close watch at the risk of sometimes being as suffocating as my dad was. This makes me love and understand my dad even more and I know he would have had a good chuckle had he still been alive.

Well, the philosophy class is over. Back on home base, Annette and I did some procion dyeing yesterday. Neither of us really likes dyeing - we are too impatient and want to see direct results. Although they turned out quite well, I must say one of my objections is that it's all much of a sameness. The two in front were dyed using Trapsuutjies products which aren't yet on my website. I'm still trying it out . It is, however, easier to control the results using this. I'll keep you posted.

I keep on practicing my sewing. I cut up and sandwiched some monoprints and am having fun playing around with both machine and hand stitching. I see it as learning an alphabet and, who knows, might start writing books soon. Or maybe start with an essay or two. (Does anybody still write essays? I suspect that in the rushed times we are living in that must be a dying art seeing that it implies time and contemplation).

Back from Birmingham

2008-08-20T03:06:00.001-07:00

Well, that was quite something! A week that went by in a kind of a blur.

First of all I want to thank everyone who wished me luck for the show. I am happy to report that it went really well. The stand was busy almost all of the time and the reaction was overwhelming! Hella demonstrated her heart out and Annette and I sold one starter kit after the other. The stamps also went really well. It was so good to see and hear people's reactions and it made me feel wonderful that there was such a positive buzz.
But I can tell you that we worked really hard and by the time everything was packed on Sunday evening we were completely worn out. We stayed in a wonderful cottage in Norton Lindsey, about 30 minutes' drive from the NEC. A haven of peace to say the least, and very clean and comfortable. I can wholeheartedly recommend Willow Cottage, which is set on Lower House Farm.

DH and our youngest also had a lovely time. We all visited Shakespear's Stratford-upon-Avon on Tuesday and while we were slogging away on the stand these two managed a visit to Birmingham to do some shopping and and also had a great time at Warwick Castle.

The Festival of Quilts lived up to our expectations in many other ways as well. The shops were dangerously wonderful and the quilts were fantastic. I was totally blown over by the work of Dorothy Caldwell, an artist from Canada. Two others that spring to mind are Jacqueline Heinz and Bente Vold Klausen. The one disadvantage of having your own stand is that you can only see the rest of the show in bits and pieces.

Now it's back to the drawing board, so to speak. I can't wait to get into my studio to start working. First I have to unpack loads of stuff so that I can get organised for Ste Marie-aux-Mines in the Alsace, France next month ( 18-21 September). Fortunately we still have almost enough stock ready for that so it won't be a repeat of the weeks before Birmingham!

Before I get on with my work, I would like to say a special thanks to Margaret (Digital Gran) for visiting the stand. It was lovely meeting you Margaret!

Almost ready

2008-08-05T10:28:00.001-07:00

I never win anything, so you can imagine my surprise to get an e-mail a few weeks ago telling me that I had won this super gift from Helen Cowan . I had completed a survey on her blog about workshops on the web. Thanks Helen, I am looking forward to using this when I get back from.....

...Birmingham. Yes, I'm almost ready to pick up the van and load the stock for the Festival of Quilts. And I can tell you this comes not a moment too soon. I am totally exhausted and can barely look a pot of paint or stamp in the eye anymore. Thanks to Annette all is done. Without her unrelenting help, support and encouragement I would not have been able to manage. But we are ready for our adventure across the channel and are really looking forward to meeting lots of people and selling lots of our super products. The stand number for Trapsuutjies Fabric Paint is D43 so please come and say hello.

Two more weeks

2008-07-26T02:26:00.000-07:00

A quick blog to let you know I am still alive, in a manner of speaking that is. I never realised how much work had to be done to be able to go to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, followed by the Patchwork meeting in Ste Marie-aux-Mines a month later! The whole house is being overtaken by pots of paint, boxes, stamps, stencils, etc. etc. It is all very labour intensive and everybody is helping. The kids, their friends, DH, my friends. I would never ever have been able to do this on my own. But it means that the summer is really passing by without my noticing. I hope all this is going to prove worthwhile.

I do sometimes snatch a few minutes to spend sewing. I discovered a few pieces of fabric on which I had monoprinted leaves some years ago and decided to practice my meandering on it. This is how one has turned out. I really enjoy doing it and it helps me to escape from my self-imposed slavery.

Pots of paint accumulating in the kitchen....

...in the studio....

and the boxes starting to pile up in the dining area...

Pot of gold

2008-07-04T11:12:00.000-07:00

We have just been to beautiful Provence in the south of France for a few days. We rented a villa with a pool for a week of relaxation and sunshine. Getting there was a real trial - two days of very heavy traffic: Germans, Belgians, Dutch and French tourists all heading in the same direction. It was real stop-start driving which is not easy.

Anyway, we arrived safely and promptly started relaxing! No really, we had fun. I read books (actually we all did), swam a lot, had barbeques and just chilled out. After 3 days I realised that I had not had a creative thought, idea or missed my paint and fabric!

Then we went on a trip to Avignon, about 50 km's from where we were staying. Of course we had to visit the Papal Palace - the historic site to see. As you can see below, it is a very beautiful building but I can honestly say that it is most terrifyingly boring place I have ever visited. The kids nearly got physically ill with boredom and if the boredom didn't get them the heat did!!

Avignon was the seat of Christiandom for a few centuries until the 1300's and this is where it all happened! Listening to the audio guide, it was all a play of politics with money as the main gain (isn't it always or am I very cynical?). On the inside it was clear from the start that no woman of consequence could ever have set foot in the place - there was nothing - no evidence of anything ever having been beautiful in there. I have seen many castles and ruins in my time and have always loved it but this one did nothing for me (us). It wasn't even cool inside.

So the guys had ice creams when we got out. On the way back the airco in the car got too much for us, we wanted fresh air. All the windows were wound down and then it happened...one of the back windows couldn't wind back up again. This has happened before - it's a cable that snaps. Now we couldn't go anywhere and leave the car behind. So we returned to pool and books and drives. In the top photo you can see Tim looking out over the lovely Luberon Nature Park.

( By the way he is getting a second chance with repeat exams in 2 subjects late in August so he might still pass.)

But we all started getting fidgety. It was very very hot and we are very bad that way because we all love being home. I am seriously starting to doubt our capacity for going on holiday. Extended trips to far away destinations are definately not on for us four. So, we came home a day early, driving more than a thousand km's with me intentionally not looking at the speedometer as DH devoured said kilometres at sometimes alarming rates.

When we approached our village at around 10 in the evening, the sun was setting. It had been raining for most of the way back and there was a weird piece of rainbow in the sky. It wasn't so much a "bow" as a huge "branch" with rainbow colours and as we got closer I said to DH it looks as if it is rooted in our garden, whereupon he replied that that must be where the pot of gold is.

And it really is!!! My pot of gold is right here where I have everything that I could ever want or need. Before falling asleep in my own wonderful comfortable bed last night I started planning new projects, combining and dreaming colours.

It is good to get away to relax because when here the workload is quite overpowering. And I'm not saying we are never going on holiday again but I am just so happy living here in Essen in Belgium. After having moved a zillion times in my life, lived in 3 countries and tried all over to adjust, integrate and live the best life I could --- I am in the right place right now with my beloved husband and sons!!!

Moving on

2008-06-25T02:44:00.000-07:00

I went to Annette's last night to drop off my work for our exhibition which starts next week. It is being held in the Koloniehof in Frederiksoord, Drenthe. Jacqueline de Jong, Annette Jeukens and I are exhibiting fabric art, clothes, jewellery and paper objects under the name 3 x 1.

On 11, 18 & 19 July all 3 of us will be present at the Koloniehof to give mini workshops making tags, ATC's and printing and stamping with Trapsuutjies Fabric Paint.

Well, that is one project which is completed, giving me time to move on. I have started hand-painting fabric as you can see in the 3 samples below. I intend to paint at least 30 metres before August. I just love combining colours and trying to use something unexpected.
We bought a treadmill last week because I really need to shape-up and lose weight. Going for walks outside just doesn't always happen and I am sure that having this monster sitting in a corner of the bedroom will get me going! There is just the 'tiny' problem of getting it upstairs! It weighs 100 kg and DH and DS1, although obviously both very strong and macho, could not manage to do this. At one point the treadmill was blocking the stairs, the front door and the toilet! We managed to get it in this upright position but I have had to phone the guys from the fit & health shop where we bought it to ask for their assistance. Note that I had to do it because we all understand that male pride cannot even think about making that kind of phone call. The guys are coming on Friday. Until then we have to walk around it, become acquainted, so to speak. The entrance hall is becoming really cluttered. What you can't see in the picture are the drums and boxes all filled with paint and stuff. The landing upstairs is now home to 30 boxes with pots waiting to be filled.
Good news is that I got an e-mail from the organisation in Ste Marie last week and I have got a stand!! Smaller than I asked for, but who cares, I'm there!!

Thanks to those who visited and commented on my previous blog. Corryna you are very kind, thanks. Good luck Francoise with the exam results this week. We have already had a letter today summoning us to be present on Friday for the younger son. Not unexpected, as I said.
Looking forward to meeting you in August, Carol. Annette and Jacqueline, see you on the 11th.

Apologies

2008-06-19T03:01:00.001-07:00

Well, I know blogging is not an obligation, but having joined this community I cannot help but feel guilty when I stay away for so long. So please accept my apologies.

I have been quite productive though. On the business front preparations for Birmingham are in full swing. My house is filling up with boxes, drums of paint, flyers, etc. Annette, Hella and I are all busy potting paint and packaging products.

The kids finish their exams tomorrow and boy, am I relieved! At 51 I am sick and tired of still having to stress about exams and I can't help it even though they seem much less concerned about their results. The oldest has finally made the connection between the work you put in and the result you get (never would have thought this possible a year ago) and he is motivated. The youngest, however, is a different story. He is in the first year of high school and I am quite certain that he will be in the first year of high school AGAIN after the summer. He spends 15 minutes at the most behind the books and thinks that's enough. Looking at his last report it really isn't, but as soon as I turn my back he is in front of the TV, playing on the Wii, or chatting on the internet. I am really too old to be a policeman and don't have the energy to keep on getting angry. So we'll just see when he gets his results next week.

Then they are home for 9 weeks summer break!!! Well, at least the rythm of life changes and we don't have to get up at the crack of dawn or eat on time in the evening. We all slip into chill-mode quite easily.

On the creative front I want to thank Annette publically for helping me to get my work done on time for our exhibition. Yesterday she cut the last pieces for binding, really doing all the dog work for me to finish off my creative efforts. It's like she has been peeling the potatoes while I got to do the cooking. Thanks Annette!

I painted this fabric to use as binding. I liked it so much that I have bought some lovely batik cotton which I am going to paint and which will be for sale on my Trapsuutjies website and on the stand at shows.
Detail of a bird after stitching and (below) the bugs. I will show more after the exhibition in Frederiksoord.

Thanks to everyone who has visited my blog and left comments. Carol, sorry that I haven't gotten back to you yet. You can see a full explanation of the reverse stamping technique on the website. What it boils down to is that you first apply Extender Base on you fabric followed by the colour(s) that you want. You can then remove the paint layer while everything is still wet. I then put the lino-cut on the fabric, pressed it down with my hand and when you lift it up the image is "printed" on the fabric . In the other piece of fabric I used an ostrich feather and carefully went over it with a roller (the ones for lino-printing. It has a name but I can't remember what).We will be demonstrating the reverse stamping technique on the stand in Birmingham, so if you can come you can see how we do it.

I still haven't heard from Ste Marie and am starting to lose hope!

Up and running

2008-06-05T04:48:00.000-07:00

My studio has been transformed! I now know what I have AND where it is. Quite an achievement. I'm not going to show a picture of it because I am in full production again and you may not notice much of a difference.

Annette took a break from making clothes and came by yesterday. This time we could dive into the two crates filled with painted fabrics and play around. Annette is so good at seeing what can or cannot work and she can use a cutter and produce fabric with straight edges! Me, I usually tear fabric and if I use the quilting tools there is absolutely no guarantee that anything will come out straight. I did, however, do some stitching. I have been practicing meandering and really enjoyed doing theses feathers. I cannot show the full view because a) it is not finished and b) it is for the exhibition next month.

I can't remember when I painted the pieces used here but I know I was very pleased with the way the feathers turned out using the reverse stamping technique. The piece on the left was also done with reverse stamping using a lino-cut.

I am not sure yet if I have a stand in Ste Marie aux Mines in September. I spoke to the organisation this week and regular traders get preference and they were still selecting the new applications. I would really love to go so please hold thumbs for me! Meanwhile it is full steam ahead preparing for Birmingham. I have got most of my orders off and now have to wait for the parcels to arrive from South Africa! My nerves!!!

Chaos continues

2008-05-29T10:00:00.000-07:00

You know what they say: it get WORSE before it gets better!!!

Chaos and madness

2008-05-28T06:00:00.000-07:00

It's been ages since I have posted. I can come up with good reasons (excuses) for having disappeared for a while but I'm not going to go there in detail. The most obvious reason is that I have been very busy and have had a lot of stress lately. The state of my studio is the result and proof of what has been going on in my life! How did this happen!

The good thing about life is that every day gives you the opportunity to start again - turn over the proverbial new leaf. I have sorted out a lot of niggling things regarding Trapsuutjies involving tedious tax issues, placing massive orders in preparation for the shows later this year and getting logistics sorted out. I have said before that I am not a natural buisness person so all this takes a heavy toll energy-wise. But I have got many things ticked off the list which means that I can no longer avoid the reality of this....

So I have started clearing up and organising the chaos. I have still got a lot to do for the exhibition in July and have to get working so I need to get my space sorted out. Went to buy some plastic boxes but I think I have grossly under estimated the extent of what is going on in my life! There is no way the above collection of all very necessary things (can't throw anything out can we) is going to fit in these boxes. Well, I have to start somewhere.

Don't you also love my little haven of peace outside the studio? The pond is so beautiful and helps to calm and relax me. I think goldfish are underrated as pets. They are very curious and go mad when I come to feed them and they don't need lots of attention. I also love the way the frogs hang onto the big waterlily leaves and watch my every move. Their favourite spot for fun and games is on the crocodile!

The aftermath

2008-05-05T10:05:00.000-07:00

Well, the trade show is over! I have to be honest and say that the number of visitors was very disappointing. It is such a pity when so many people have worked so hard and then the results are simply not there. But hey, next year the timing of the show is much better and I am positive that it will be the same rip-roaring succes as it used to be in Waalre!

Problem is when it's not busy on the stand I have more time to walk around and inevitably I find my way around to my friends at the Kaleidoscope stand. These are some of the books that I bought this time. I know, it's terrible, but I just have no self-control. I love books!!! Maybe I'll show you the other purchases tomorrow.
Tomorrow Sue Bleiweiss course Mixed Media Surfaces for the Fiber Artist is starting and I am really looking forward to it. My resolution for the summer is to make something in my studio every day, be it a drawing, printing fabric, cutting a stamp...anything to keep the creative juices flowing. The idea is to get balance between my work for the business and my creative work. I am also going to try and get more structure into my projects. As I have said before, I am not much of a sewer but I have been wanting to get my head round it for so long. So today I prepared some sandwiches and started meandering, using Dijanne's book as my guide. I can tell already the practice is the key-word here! So I'm back to the studio for a few more hours tonight.

Trade fair in Veldhoven

2008-05-02T09:54:00.000-07:00

The 2008 Open European Quilt Championships in Veldhoven, Holland is in full swing. Well, full swing is probably a bit of an overstatement this being an awkard weekend for such an event. It is a long weekend, school holidays in Holland and the first real nice weather of the season has arrived. Even so we are putting a brave face on it and doing our best. Hopefully the busloads full of people will arrive tomorrow and Sunday.

Even if the number of visitors is a bit of a disappointment, these events are always very nice because you meet old friends and make new ones. It is always good to talk to people, get feedback and get new ideas. While doing a show I always fill up with ideas and by the time all the hard work is done, things at home unpacked and orders sent off, I can't for the life of me remember what the bright ideas were! Is it just me, my age or over-excitement? Who knows....haven't got the energy just now to work it out.
This quilt was made by Ann Vanherle, a Belgian quilter. She won second prize in the category for "novice quilt". Ann kindly gave me permission to post this photo of her quilt because she used Trapsuutjies Turquoise Pearl Paint for the monoprints in the quilt. Congratulations Ann!

And this is the stand. Get used to it because we've got big plans for taking part in shows all over Europe!

Haven't been gone but I'm back anyway

2008-04-25T06:50:00.000-07:00

First of all I would like to thank everybody who left a comment on my previous post. I find it heart-warming that you also felt touched by the project.

I haven't been gone these past days but just didn't get around to posting. Sometimes my life is so busy with so many different things and I sort of have to try and contain it in certain areas to avoid losing it!! Some of what has kept me occupied was not pleasant i.e. sorting out personal stuff, taxes, official nonsense etc. Is there anybody out there who can actually cope with all of that. I am not that organised and mostly when things threaten to go wrong, it means sifting through piles of papers which, in an ideal world, would have been neatly and orderly filed ready to consult. Anyhow, DH was gone for the whole week so it was left to me to sort things out, and, to top it all, my web host decided to move my data to a new server which meant that I could not access my e-mails for a while. Not good for business. DH is back, the mail is working again, and it looks as if we have managed some damage control on the yucky tax problems.

The good part this week was that our youngest turned 13. He is so happy that he is a teenager - at last and that he has is now taller than me. (By about 3 mm so far and that's if I flatten my hair!). But he prances around the house calling me little. So now I am surrounded by 3 tall guys and I wonder why I still have to run around for them. Shouldn't they be taking better care of their poor "little" mother and wife?

I have also been getting ready for another big trade fair next week. I made these 3 ready-to-print screens for a customer today, which she is collecting next week. They still have to be taped.

Annette and I taught a paper workshop again last week and I played around with the left-over pulp. I felt like the 2-headed beetle this past week being torn in opposite directions all the time.
Another one in the "connections" series

The beginnings of another paper collage.

And I've been sewing!! Hand and machine! I must say that I think it definately adds something to the birds. Now I still have to make it into something - a bag, cushion cover or ......who knows?

Rewards

2008-04-14T23:09:00.000-07:00

Watching "The Apprentice" on BBC last week, I caught the following phrase: "Turnover is vanity, Profit is sanity". This got my mind going and I believe that there is a lot of truth in it. However, the person or persons who thought it out were, in my opinion, commercially succesfull otherwise they would never have come to such a conclusion. Obviously this got me thinking about my own commercial dabblings with Trapsuutjies and really, turnover is a big boost for the ego. I absolutely love the fact that so many people have discovered the paint and are using it, especially people like Dijanne Cevaal, Annette Jeukens, Jacqueline de Jong and many others who had been using different kinds of fabric paint for years and who, upon getting to work with Trapsuutjies, loved it. Getting orders from literally all over the world (I even had one from Tasmania a while ago - see, the vanity thing!!) gives me a huge kick.

But, the downside is the "being commercial " bit: this is the first time that I have run my own business and I find many things difficult. On the other hand it is a huge learning curve and I have become a richer person for it - this purely in the spiritual sense and definately not (yet) in the monetary sense! I do, however, understand where they are coming from in saying profit is sanity because, after all, you have to cover costs and make a living. Unfortunately this inevitably involves becoming a "harder" person. You come into contact with the negative aspects of competition, some of which I can tell you had caught me completely unawares. It follows that you become more apprehensive, cautious and are forced to play your cards close to your chest. It makes you wary of certain people. I do not like this.
That is why this post is actually about something which I see as my true reward for being crazy enough to run a business: evidence that Trapsuutjies has made a difference to people's lives, even if for a short while. A few months ago I had a student at a workshop who works with physically disabled people - most of them because of an accident. She did the workshop because they had old chairs at the day-centre which they wanted to re-upholster with self-made fabric and she wanted to try out the paint and learn some techniques. When they started the project, the clients, many of whom have the use of only one hand, were enthusiastic right from the start. They made the most beautiful stamps with lino-cut. The group leaders at the centre had made a gadget which allowed them to cut lino without running the risk of cutting themselves. And they loved the paint and don't want to stop using it. The idea was that the chairs would stay in the day-care centre but the clients all bought their own chairs so now they are searching for more chairs to sit on! I went there last Saturday to take these pictures and I was really moved because it was so evident that all of it was done with love and joy. In order to enable them to carry on working I have decided to supply the paint at absolute cost price as these kind of places are always so tight on budget. And really, the profit/sanity thing just doesn't apply.
This person used the reverse stamping technique on the right-hand covers. These chairs still have to be assembled again.

The chair on the left was done with a stamp designed using the client's childrens' initials.

Voor mijn Nederlandse lezers, het gaat hier om Activiteiten centrum "de Sleutel" in Bergen op Zoom.

New birds

2008-04-11T07:50:00.000-07:00

As I said a few weeks ago I wanted to paint more birds but I found that painting them in the style that I used to do just didn't work for me anymore. So I started looking for different ways of trying to make them interesting, which turned out to mean being much "wilder" than before. I really enjoy using the different kinds of paint together - opaque and translucent. The number of different results is seemlingly endless. The colours of the Trapsuutjies Flexprint Opaque's are quite strong but adding a thin layer of the translucent Trapsuutjies does the trick of pushing them to the background. This was done in the background of the second bird. I also used the Colourbrite Opaque's and I really love this paint. The chalky feel adds dimension and the colours are deep and strong.

Arte y Pico award

2008-04-10T01:03:00.000-07:00

When I came back from London, I was very surprised and honoured to see that I had been nominated for the Arte y Pico Award by Jacqueline. Thanks a lot Jacquline, coming from you adds special meaning to receiving this award. I have taken a few days to respond to this because I really had to think which blogs I was going to nominate. Upon recieving this award you have to comply with some rules as shown below. So here goes:

1. You have to pick 5 blogs that you consider deserve this award for their creativity, design, interesting material, and also contributes to the blogging community, no matter what language.

2. Each award has to have the name of the author and also a link to his/her blog to be visited by everyone.

3. Each award winner has to show the award and put the name and link to the blog that has given her/him the award itself.

4. The award winner and the one who has given the prize have to show the link of "Arte y Pico' blog, so everyone will know the origin of this award.

5. To show these rules.

There are many blogs which I admire and visit regularly, but for this award I chose these five:

Andrea Pratt at Colouring outside the lines; Miss Doodles Day ; Margaret S. at Little Works of Art ; Linda Stokes ; and Jude Hill at Spirit Cloth.

Drawings

2008-04-08T07:47:00.000-07:00

I have been blogging for almost 2 months now and the thing I like most is that through blogging you stumble upon so many treasures. Some people have blogs buzzing with energy and you wonder where they find time for everything. Others are so creative and so generous in sharing what they do.Then there are those who really write well and those who you can see take the time to think about life and other issues and share their thoughts. Although textile art is a big love of mine, I love fine arts in general and I follow quite a number of artists' blogs that do not have anything to do with fabrics. One such person is Andrea, an artist living in Vancouver, Canada. I really like her work and treated myself a few weeks ago by buying these two drawings.
Needless to say how pleased I was with the postman this morning.

Without becoming a blogger, chances are I would never even have known Andrea existed and now I own these two pieces of her work! How great is that?

Back from London

2008-04-07T05:16:00.000-07:00

And here is the reason why I haven't posted since the beginning of last week....we were in London visiting my brother and his family. We had a great time, did lots of sightseeing and the weather was lovely and mild. Until Saturday when it turned really cold and wet and Sunday morning we saw snow.
Here I am outside Buckingham Palace with my teenagers. Actually they behaved quite decently and even pretended to enjoy the culture and history of London as long as we paid a visit to Oxford street every day. Why did they want to go there? To buy the same things they can buy in Antwerp or Amsterdam, but buying it in London is so much more exciting (and more expensive!) However, the travel cards for the underground are very reasonable and you can hop on and off the whole day long. Although it can be very crowded I enjoyed this because it gives you a feel of what is going on in the city - the fashion ( mini's and shorts with tights are BIG); the different immigrant groups (lots of Eastern European languages heard); the City workers with their suits and ties and what people are reading! Well, the fact that they are reading really cheered me up. I shall not get on a hobby horse here, but I do sometimes despair of the shallowness of the times we live in and seeing a cool-looking young man opposite me reading "The Discovery of Heaven" by the great Dutch author Harry Mulisch was a pleasant surprise. Many people seemed engrossed in interesting looking paperbacks and I spotted one reading Hunter S. Thomson ( I couldn't decipher the title without my glasses) and on the way home another young man was studying the libretto of Don Giovanni. There is hope!!! This is how cold it was on Saturday.

And this is actually why we went. When I saw a report on the BBC about this exhibition at the Royal Academy I just had to see it. And I'm so glad I did. Seeing the huge Mattisse dancers really really gave me a thrill. The paintings are from 4 great Russian museums, including the Heritage, and it was really special. I think it is on for a few more weeks so try and go if you can.

I also saw the Dali exhibition (can't remember the name of the venue but it's next to the Aquarium) and was blown over by the sculptures.

Putting my feet up

2008-03-31T10:15:00.000-07:00

Boy, do I realise that I am not 25 anymore! I am dead tired after the fair in Rijswijk. Last night when I got home I flopped onto the couch and barely breathed! My feet were hurting and my back was aching. But looking back on the three days, it was a great success and worth the hard work. The virtual studio was fun. It is a totally new concept in Holland and a few people didn't quite get the point. However, after a bit of an explanation, they seemed to enjoy seeing us working. The us being me, Jacqueline and Annette. As you can see we had lots of laughs as well.

This was my stand for Trapsuutjies. It always look the same so it will be easily recognisable for those of you who are coming to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham in August.

This is some of the painted fabric from the virtual studio. For more pictures have a look at the slideshow on Jacquline's blog.

Well, I'm going to settle in front of the telly tonight for some well-deserved rest.

Being cool

2008-03-26T11:13:00.000-07:00

Just to let you know that I shall not be blogging until next week. I have been rushed off my feet trying to get everything together for this coming weekend. It is always a busy time preparing for a trade fair, but the two teenagers are also home on their Easter break and this can be trying especially with DH being absent for a few days. The youngest is entering his difficult phase - you know the age when there is but one single important thing on earth - ME,me,me. This afternoon I fetched him from a friend and also had to run a few errands. He jumped out of the car to return a dvd to the shop- well, jumped out of the car would have been in a perfect world. Actually, he sort of slowly slid out of the car, all hooded up and casually sauntered to the dvd shop. Another hooded figure approached from the opposite direction which meant that he really had to concentrate on his pose and being cool. I did not have time for this, but did find two seconds to make a mental note for next week to take the time to think about the hoodies and electronic attachments without which the current generation of teenagers seem unable to venture outdoors.
You can probably tell that I am in exasperated-mother-mode and the reaction on their side is to hand me my woman-in-menopause books! Maybe our household is too open!!!
Anyhow, have a good weekend all.

This one was done using the fake-batik technique of a paste of flour and water.

Easter

2008-03-24T11:49:00.000-07:00

We woke up to that beautiful silence this morning which tells you there is snow lying outside even before you have opened the shutters. I know lots of people are really looking forward to warm weather but for me, having grown up in a warm or even hot climate, the charms of winter will never fade. Call me kinky, you won't be the first, but I actually prefer low temperatures and I love the cosiness of wet, dark weather and being nice and warm and indoors doing something creative or reading a book.

But, no such luxury for me this weekend. I have been preparing and potting paint for this weekend's trade fair in Rijswijk, close to The Hague in Holland. What you see here is just a fraction of what has so far been done!

This weekend is also when Jacqueline, Annette and I are going to work in public! We will be painting, sewing and putting pieces together as if in our own studios at home, but in an allocated area at the trade fair ( fortunately close to my Trapsuutjies stand so I can keep an eye on what is going on there as well). We are really looking forward to meeting lots of people and interacting with them.

Below you can see some of the cards which I make from the painted fabric which lies around in my studio. Well, you have to do something with it don't you? These cards are also for sale on the stand.

Tagging along

2008-03-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

This afternoon Jacqueline and I were at Annette's having a play-day. We were going to make tags and ATC's for our exhibition in July. As usual there were a lot of things to discuss, coffee to be had and then the other two nearly fell asleep! Jacqueline had come straight from work and Annette is recovering from a bad cold. But we managed to wake Jacqueline up by putting her behind the sewing machine and Annette by getting her to search for materials. We are always joking because she has everything but can never find it! These are my efforts - sewn by Jacqueline, who in the end didn't get a chance to do her own work because we selfishly claimed her skills. You can probably see Annette's little gems on her blog.

News from my studio

2008-03-18T08:50:00.000-07:00

Last week just didn't work out. The parcel that I was waiting for eventually came on Friday morning - a whole week late! My levels of frustration were sky high and seeing as I was stuck inside the house and could not go outside to my studio (because of the doorbell) and the weather was dreary and I was feeling very fed-up, I didn't get any creative work done. I did, however, have ample time to prepare for a trade happening last Saturday. The day was a huge success, so much so that I was worried halfway through that I had not taken enough stock with me. In the end we just ran out of puff paint and extender base in the afternoon and did not have to disappoint too many customers. As usual my good friends Hella andAnnette helped me on the stand. Without them I would not be able to take Trapsuutjies to the trade fairs!

Today I played around with the Trapsuutjies Colourbrite Opaque paints again ( see top and botttom). I really think I am going to have get my head around stitching again one of these days as fabrics like these seem to ask for that little extra, especially the bottom one. I shall just have to go round to Annette's for a sewing play-day.

At least my birds can stand on their own. This one was still wet when I took the picture. The other two have been around a little longer, lying on a shelf gathering dust. I had actually forgotten about them, but seeing as I am busy with a bird revival, they somehow pitched up again!

Expositie 3x1

2008-03-13T11:11:00.001-07:00

Today my post is for my Dutch readers about an exhibition to be held in July in Drenthe, Holland. Annette, Jacqueline and I are having a joint exhibition under the name : 3 x 1
We enjoy working together and inspire each other in many ways, but we remain individual artists, each searching her own way to express herself.

Annette, Jacqueline en ik hebben een naam bedacht,waarmee we samen naar buiten treden: 3x1: met z'ndrieën samenwerken, maar ieder heeft toch haar eigen specialisme en daarvoor staat de 1.

Inmiddels is er al meer nieuws bekend over onze tentoonstelling in Frederiksoord. De tentoonstelling loopt van 1 juli tot 27 juli 2008. Openingstijden di. t/m za. van 11.00 tot 17.00 uur. Het adres is: Quiltservice Koningin Wilhelminalaan 89 8382 GC Frederiksoord.

Op 11, 18 en 19 juli zijn wij de hele dag aanwezig en geven diverse inloopworkshops o.a. Textiel ATC's, Tags en Inchies. Hoe maak je die nu eigenlijk en wat zijn de regels? Hoe kom je aan ruiladressen? Houd deze dag(en) vrij in je agenda want het beloofd super leuk te worden.

Natuurlijk zijn we eerst nog samen op de Patchwork en Quiltdagen in Rijswijk actief. Alle 3 de dagen zijn we in ons" atelier" aan het werk. We verven, quilten, experimenteren er op los en de resultaten zijn hopelijk af voor de expositie in Frederiksoord.

Bits and pieces

2008-03-11T12:50:00.000-07:00

I have spent the last two days hanging around waiting for a parcel to be delivered. Do you know the feeling when you can't leave the house? And seeing that it was screenprinting materials which I need badly because I am out of stock, I couldn't take any chances. The really bad part is that my studio is outside in the garden and the doorbell doesn't reach that far!!! So I also could not go and work.
The worst part is that they have still not pitched. Eventually, after several phone calls, it turns out that they had the wrong address. They have now promised that they will come tomorrow: between 9 and 5 Grrrrr!!!
At least I have done all the ironing and have tidied a good number of cupboards all over the house.
Last week I started making these little doodads to use in collages and on bookcovers. I realise that to make collages it is handy to have many odds and ends lying around. As you may have gathered I am primarily a fabric painter/printer and doing these other things is a whole new adventure for me. So I am adapting the painted bits and pieces which I have.

I did finally get to my studio this afternoon when I realised that nobody was going to pitch today. I have had two capes lying around for a long while. Well, not actually lying around. These capes were made by a Dutch lady, Britt Calje. She asked me a few months ago if I wanted to paint a couple of them. I always take on a challenge and then start procrastinating!! But they have to be done by Saturday as she wants to have them on her stand at a huge textile show where we are both standing. (I'll be there with my Trapsuutjies products). Seeing as all her capes are made from a wonderful winter-white brushed cotton I was terrified! I decided to keep it simple, especially colourwise, and I can tell you that doesn't come naturally. I hope she is going to like what I've done! I'll be doing the other one tomorrow.

A thing about birds...

2008-03-08T08:39:00.000-08:00

I have had a thing about birds for a long time. I love painting fantasy birds on fabric and a few years ago I started framing them and I sold many. Only last week I started getting itchy about "doing" birds again but I haven't yet had the time.

Years ago I went to a well-known flea-market in Rosebank in South Africa. Amongst all the clutter and big stalls with lovely things from all over Southern Africa, sat an old man in a dusty overcoat at a little formica table. On the table stood these fantastic birds which he made from pods gathered somewhere in the north of the country. He was so modest and unassuming and I could not resist! I bought a whole collection of these fantastic creatures and they are still my absolute favourite possessions. I love the beauty of their simplicity and the way in which he managed to give each bird a different character!

And then on Friday I went to Frederiksoord with Annette and Jacqueline to discuss the exhibition which we are having there in July. It is a beautiful setting and we were very excited. And then I met this lot!! The quiltshop at the location was filled with crazy chickens which I simply had to buy. You know what chickens are like - we could hardly hear ourselves thinking with all their gossiping and cackling going on. They now live in my kitchen and I am having a hard time keeping them under control. But I love them....

Collages and stamps

2008-03-06T07:53:00.000-08:00

I am so relieved that my stamps have arrived safely from South Africa in time for the two trade shows this month. The "Block" stamps were completely sold out, but I now have them all in stock. These are my own designs and I am always so pleased to see them all hand-made by very skilfull people. They are cut from a type of foam which is very durable. They are easy to clean and simply last forever.

Well, I turned my hand at those collages again today and I am really beginning to enjoy the process. I decided to stop thinking about the result and to just follow with my instinct.

I don't like this one (above) because it got over worked but I am not going to change anything. It is always good to keep the flops as well and to learn from them isn't it?

I have used hand-made paper in all the collages and really love the colours that I get with my Trapsuutjies paper pigments. I am thinking of using these as book covers or maybe mount a few for hanging on the wall. But before I decide I'll make more. It sure is different from painting fabric!

Paper thin

2008-03-04T07:25:00.000-08:00

Let's face it: some days are better than others! In many ways: creatively, weather-wise, mood-wise, and business-wise. Today I felt bogged down by running my own business. Filling pots with paint, making up parcels, rushing off to the post office.....but the thought of the people who will be happy to get their Trapsuutjies orders tomorrow does make it worth while. And luckily my good friend Hella stopped by for a chat and a cup of coffee, which always makes life feel better!

Creatively, I spent a little time this morning starting some paper collages. This is something new for me and I find it surprisingly difficult. The results shown here are not the end-product. I have been going through some of my Paper,Cloth & Scissors magazines and have come up with a few ideas which I can use to make the collages more interesting.

Red roses, red strawberries, red tape....

2008-03-01T10:32:00.001-08:00

Let me start with the red tape: my passport has expired and as Dutch citizens living a whole 10 kilometres "abroad" in Belgium we have to go the Dutch Consulate in Antwerp to get new passports. Up till now the two kids have always been in my passport but seeing as they are more and more starting to spread their wings, they need their own traveling documents. So we made a day of it: DH took the day off work, we took the kids out of school for the morning, took the GPS and headed off to the Consulate. It is not as if we never go to Antwerp. It is only 35 km's away and we love the city, but the Consulate is not in an area which we frequent, hence the GPS. Which turned out to be of little help as I forgot to remember the number of the building which happens to be in a street running up to number 800-and-something! A phone call to a friend solved the problem, we thought...I shan't bore you with the details but it took as at least 90 minutes longer than it should have to reach our destination.

Obviously the room was bursting with people having the same fun thing in mind as us!! Eventually it was our turn.No problem, everything went according to plan until we were asked to show our marriage "booklet" - a Dutch thing which we don't have as we were married in South Africa. The marriage certificate which I produced turned out to be a copy and was therefore not accepted.

The long and the short of this is that in the end the kids could not get passports because we could not prove that we were married. They could not be written into my passport because...you guessed... we could not proved we were married. Ok, we said, in that case pretend we aren't married. If only life were that easy!! We can't say we are not married, said the nice lady behind the counter, because she knows that we are and we will then need prove that the kids are ours!

Oh my goodness, I'll stop right there. We walked out thinking are we married or not!! Has the last 22 years been a fake? The kids all excited: if we are not married it means we have to be divorced which means they can get double of everything, pocket money, birthday presents..... hold on, I said, this means we can get married again!! What an excellent excuse for a huge party!! DH kind of put a damper on that idea by reminding me of the size of my wedding dress. Very mean! But I won't be put off that easily. I am really warming to the idea of saying "I do" (again and still and forever).

I'll keep you posted on my marital status. The red roses in the picture were not part of being wooed again by my (is he or isn't he) DH. They were given to me by the friend whom I told you about in the previous post.

The strawberries? Well, I could not resist buying them this morning. They of course don't taste like anything yet, but they looked so nice and summery!

Went for that walk again today!! It was lovely if very windy. Hope to show something creative next time.

coffee and comfort

2008-02-27T07:16:00.000-08:00

A South African friend who needed some cheering up came by this morning and in addition to a listening ear and a cup of coffee, I could offer her good old South African home-baking in the form of rusks. I baked these yesterday and to tell the truth, she was lucky to still get a piece because Alex, our first-born, is also a vacuum cleaner. Only in the kitchen mind! He considers it his duty to consume anything nice or freshly baked within hours!

Back to the rusks. There are as many recipes as baking moms or grannies for this. I love the brown rusks because they are filled with goodness. I have developed my own recipe over the years and it now almost always contains wheatgerm, linseed, coconut and all brann. You bake it as a type of bread and then cut it into squares or slices when it is cooled off (if it reaches this stage with hungry youngsters in the house!) Then you dry it out in a lukewarm oven. This takes a few hours. We then dunk it in tea or coffee and have it for breakfast, or morning tea, or an in-between snack. Whatever!In my studio, I did another reverse stamping piece today. Blue is actually not my colour at the moment at all. But I thought it would look nice. Don't really know if I am all that impressed with the result. I'll see when it is dry.

Walking .....

2008-02-25T10:18:00.000-08:00

My DH and I spent the whole of yesterday updating the website with new products and getting the Trapsuutjies Fabric Paint newsletter out. It sounds like a breeze, but believe you me, he is a perfectionist and it takes a lot of time and effort before everything gets the go ahead.

Anyhow, it meant that we missed out on our Sunday walk. So after a busy morning of getting orders packed and posted and catching up on e-mails and going to the bank I had a choice: I could do my regular 30 minutes on the cross-trainer or I could walk to the library to take back two movies which were overdue anyway. The weather was lovely so I decided to choose the outdoors. It took me 1 and a half hours there and back and I had to rush to go and pick up DS2 from school. But walking is such excellent thinking time. When I was a young journalist living in Johannesburg, I used to hitch-hike and walk absolutely everwhere. No wonder I was such a waif-like thing back then. I can promis you that that has sadly changed. Hopefully I will recover a bit of the past in choosing for the time-consuming, wonderful activity of walking more often.

I have not had time in the studio for far too long (since Thursday), and I don't think I'm going to make it tonight either. I might just relax on the couch and watch one of the movies I got today. They have a wonderful selection of art films and today I got "The Circle", an Iranian movie potraying the lives of 8 women ; and "tierra", a Spanish film about (apparently) man, nature and the cosmos. Sounds like a pot of tea and a few burning logs to me.

Close to us lives a very old little man who is always outside gardening, chopping wood tending to his pigeons and I'm sure he is very glad with these hyacynths announcing the onset of Spring.

Play day again

2008-02-20T10:51:00.000-08:00

Dijanne and Annette came around for another play day today and we had lots of fun. We tried out our brand new electric batik pots and they work very well. It's been years since I did batik and I have to get the hang of using the tjantings again. The one's I bought have quite big openings and are really difficult to control. Annette's were better and could be used to draw. Actually it's great to have a choice because if you want to cover larger areas with wax the ones with big openings are good.

Above you can see the imprint left by ironing off the wax onto unprinted newspaper. I like this as much as the actual batik results! and am definately keeping it to use in some or other way.

By the way we used Trapsuutjies fabric paint. (Don't we always!!) It's much easier and quicker than using dyes.

I am not done yet with these pieces but feel inspired by the first steps taken! However I have a few days of teaching and following workshops ahead and will probably not be back until Sunday.

Admin, books and stuff

2008-02-19T05:58:00.001-08:00

Not my favourite type of day but unfortunately it has to be done: administrative stuff!! I am slowly but surely plodding through the pile of things that have to be attended to. In between I rewarded myself with a cup of coffee and a look at this book which came last week:
Mixed Emulsions by Angela Cartwright. There are great pictures in the book and a lot of useful information. I shall definately try out some of the things.
Oh, and last weekend we realised that there was still a brand new printer in the attic and DH has said that he will install it for me to use for experimenting with. It sounds (and is) very exciting but I have to confess that he is always willing to help but even hanging up a painting turns into a project in this house! Hopefully the printer will materialse soon!
Back to the book which is full of quotes ( I always enjoy that) and I found this one particularly good: "Life is like photography. You use the negatives to develop". It's by Anonymous. Have you ever wondered how these wonderful sayings by people unknown got to be recorded and handed down?

paper connections

2008-02-18T07:17:00.000-08:00

On Saturday, Annette and I taught a hand made paper workshop and because we did it together we could participtate as well! Below are a few of my results. We played around with the colour pigments a lot and the results are really exciting. I am going to use these for the paper collages which I am currently working on.

Op zaterdag 8 maart geef ik een workshop basistechnieken met Trapsuutjies Textielverf in Zeeland. Ik ben gevraagd door Alet Tienpont van De Spinners. Je kan je nog inschrijven door te mailen naar info@trapsuutjies.com of naar info@textielwerk.com

De workshop vindt plaats in het schitterende atelier van Alet op haar boerderij in Ouwerkerk.

Voor een beschrijving van de workshop kan je kijken op www.trapsuutjies.com

virtual studio

2008-02-16T09:21:00.000-08:00

We are allowed to break the news: Annette, Jacqueline and I haved been asked to create a virtual studio at the Patchwork and Quilt show in Rijswijk, the Netherlands from 28 - 30 March. This has been done at various other quilt shows, but is a first for The Netherlands. We are very excited and got together yesterday to plan everything. We are going to do many things including painting, sewing, working with special materials, etc. Those of you who know Annette and Jacqueline's work can imagine that it will be worthwhile seeing these ladies at work! Be sure to scribble these dates in your diaries.

Various workshops are also being given during the course of the show and there are still a few places left, so get in there and register for a workshop of your choice. I shall be teaching a painting workshop with Trapsuutjies Fabric Paint on the Friday morning.

This is a fabric which I made some time ago using the Extender Base followed by Bordeaux and then putting on some favourite music and doodling.....For this I simply use a knitting needle. I want to make a few more of these in different colours. If you look closely you will see that it is a very simple pattern which I repeat a lot, but the overall effect is quite strong.

Thanks to Emmy, Joe, Carol, Corryna, Sue b, nyxcreations, Arlee and Micki for your kind comments. Thanks Emmy for linking me on your blog! Joe, when are you posting again - those fish are getting tired of stealing the show! Hope to see you soon.

I have now changed my settings so that I am able to respond to your comments via e-mail. So please use an e-mail address when you comment.

thanks

2008-02-14T10:02:00.000-08:00

First of allI would like to thank everyone who has so kindly reacted to my blog: thanks Annette, Dijanne, Sandy, Emmy, Margaret, Arlee, and Francoise. I really appreciate it as I have absolutely no idea of who I am reaching with this fantastic new medium but I do realise that this is a lot of fun especially when it is interactive. So, as I'm sure you've guessed, I promise to be more responsive myself. I have been reading many blogs with a lot of pleasure but must admit that I have not always commented on the posts. I will now. As a matter of fact I posted a few comments last night.

Arlee, my DH, who does an awful lot on my website, liked your work so much that he has made you the new link of the month. You can see this here.

Full of good intentions as I am currently, I had a very long walk this morning. I had to go to the library and decided to take the time to do it on foot. It is between 5 and 6 km's roundtrip and I really enjoyed it even though the weather was quite miserable. I definately want to keep this up as well. Why is it always so difficult to do the things which are good for you??

Anyway, I also worked in the studio with the colorbrite paints. I do not have them for sale on the website yet because I have yet to photograph all the colours. This paint produces lovely colours on dark fabrics and I really enjoy working with them. As I seldom stitch anything, I am not worried about the feel of the fabric. But be warned : this is a distinctly chalky fabric paint which becomes quite hard. The advantage of this is that it automatically results in lovely texture.

Here is what I did:

I used a textured roller (available at DIY stores) to create the first layer.

I always use these fabulous stamping pads on which you can blend the colours that you want to use.

I printed the crabs with different colorbrite opaque colours.

A few accents using a wine cork and dark colours, and with my finger I applied some copper paint.

Catching Up

2008-02-13T10:33:00.000-08:00

Well, we had a lovely afternoon. Lots of catching up to do but we did eventually grab paints and brushes. Annette and Dijanne seriously concentrating as you can see here. We cut the cotton into 25 cm strips and did some reverse stamping. In the two pictures below you can see my "triangles". The darker shapes were printed after the first layer had dried. I really like the ghost-like effect of printing over the original shapes. Although I used a very dark opaque colour for this (Colourbrite Plum), I did not impress fully on each print and thus maintained a slightly transparant feel to it.

The blocks are always just fun to do. I have these three block stamps in my collection of own designs and have still not grown tired of combining them in different ways.

new beginning

2008-02-10T07:44:00.000-08:00

My introduction into the world of blogging was about three years ago when I started reading Dijanne Cevaal's Musings of a Textile Intenerant. Through her blog I discovered many other people and have enjoyed "visiting" them on a regular basis. It is such a wonderful way to share things with people all over the world that I have decided to join in. I want to use my blog to share my love of fabric painting, printing and decorating with you. This passion lead to me starting up my own business just over three years ago and I now also sell fabric paint, stamps, stencils and screen printing materials through my website: http://www.trapsuutjies.com/

Although this is quite time consuming, I do try and spend as much time as possible in my studio. I love the interaction with fellow artists and friends in real life and hope to now add virtual interaction with people through this blog.

Pictured below is a simple paper collage which I made last week. I cut the lino stamp of a poppy seed, which has long been one of my favourite images, and printed it on hand-made paper, which I tried to balance with some hand stitching on the left-hand side.

This afternoon two friends, Dijanne Cevaal who is visiting from Australia, and Annette Jeukens are coming around for a creative session in the studio. I'll tell you all about that tomorrow.