Alphabet Printing

I did a bit more to the A3 page of Alphabet print blocks yesterday and was quite pleased with the result.  I added oil pastels in several colours and then used my Inktense blocks to add a colour wash over the top.  I am quite pleased with what I achieved.  I have always liked the resist that occurs when you use oil pastels, and also wax crayons, when they are covered with a watery wash.

It's been one of those weeks ....

It all started on Wednesday when the builder discovered that overnight one of his buckets had leaked water through the floor into the ceiling of the downstairs cloakroom.  It is now drying out, but has left a horrid watermark which will need to be covered up before we repaint the ceiling and wall.

Yesterday I was messing about with the Alphabet Print Blocks I had borrowed and decided to attempt printing on fabric.  It does help if you try out the length of the words and check you have the blocks in the correct order before you start.  Spot my mistakes below .....

There is now no 'N' in Journal and I could not fit all of the word 'Travelling' on the bag.  On looking at the photograph you could assume that the 'N' was a deliberate mistake bridging the two words together and hinting at 'Trevelling Journal'.

Today's 'faux pas' was putting a new T-shirt in with a white wash.  I had put a colour catcher in with the load, however, I discovered that some of the items in there have now got a decidedly creamy/pink tinge to them.  Ah well it could have been much worse I guess.

On the upside I collected three forks from the blacksmith this morning and he has put a new handle on one for me and straightened the very bent prongs on the other two.  What a man!!  I have no excuse not to get on with some gardening now.

Print Blocks

This morning I had to fill in some time whilst the electrician was here fitting an extra double socket in my workroom so I thought I would play with the alphabet print blocks I have currently got on loan from Worcester branch of the Embroiderers' Guild.  There is just a small fee of £1 to borrow them for a month and I have had them several weeks now and done nothing with them.  I was inspired by some work by Jasper Johns.

I used an A3 sketchbook and printed the letters in three different colours.  I will probably add a wash next, or perhaps some wax or oil pastels over parts of it to help retain some colour.  You are not supposed to notice that two letters are missing - 'Z' and 'Q' ....  I could only work with what I had and did intend making the second 'O' into a 'Q' somehow.

Jasper Johns Alphabets

Letter A

This is the final letter in my Alphabet and I took the photograph in Presteigne some time ago.  The question is do I start a new alphabet?

Letter B

This was a nicely pointed piece of Malvern stone wall which has produced an excellent letter 'B' for me.

Letter C

Letter C came from some plasterwork in the grounds of Croome Park.  We had a lovely walk in the grounds over Christmas.

Letter D

D is for Door ...
especially when you turn it round sideways.

Letter 'E'

I have had this one for ages.  It was part of a drain cover.  Need 'D' and 'C' but have my 'A' and 'B' already.

Letter 'F'

 Not very original this one ... I saw it on something else.

Letter H

I seem to have found several examples of the Letter 'H'.  This first one is the most creative and is part of a brick wall pillar I have turned on its side ....

It could also be two H's, one being silent of course

and there again it could simply be a proper character, which I may have used in the past for embroidery ...

Letter i

You need to use a bit of imagination and half closed eyes to see this as a dotted 'i'.  I walked to the hairdressers and was on the lookout for suitable things for my alphabet and found several of these.

Letter J

Another letter for my alphabet.  This is a photograph of a handrail on a building in Harrogate which I have cropped and turned to form the letter 'J'.

Letter K

I have been looking for some nice wrought ironwork to photograph to get a letter 'K' but having not found any I have made a rusted 'K' using old nails on some heavyweight watercolour paper ....

Left = with nails/ Right = after their removal

Letter L

A bit of an easy one, but with an autumnal feel, for the letter 'L'.  Snapped in Oxford on a day out to visit The Fine Press Book Fair.

Letter M

Ropes on a car trailer make the letter 'M'.

Letter N

I had completely forgotten about this Letter 'N' that I made for the Running Stitchers banner.

Letter O

This is also from Presteigne, being part of a stained glass window in a magnificent building which houses a charity.

Letter P

We went to Presteigne on Saturday to see some of the cars taking part in the VSCC trial and I found this lovely wing mirror on an old Riley that makes the perfect letter 'P'.  Weather was not too nice but not as bad as back at home in Malvern where it had rained most of the day.  We also managed to pop into the Steppes cafe in Pembridge for lunch too.

Letter Q

This looks like a wonderful painting but is actually the waterspout of the Malvinha fountain in the centre of Malvern.  I cropped it in Photoshop to make it look like the Letter 'Q' - inspired or what?

R

Back to being boring with the Letter 'R'.  This is part of the supports for a bench located at Malvern Link Railway Station and is actually GWR - Great Western Railway.  Exploring the alphabetical possibilities of the station kept a friend and I amused whilst we awaited the train to Hereford recently.  The other passengers on the platform probably thought we were mad!  How right they were ....