DT Challenge - Thats what the stick was for

Several people asked me what the Stick was for that was in my box on last weeks WOYWW.. well here it is!

For this months Design Team Challenge, Lynn sent the whole team some 'Surfaces' to play with. Amongst other things I received a piece of Tea Dyed Calico and this inspired me to re-read Beryl Taylor's 'Mixed Media Explorations, a book I drool over but have never quite got round to exploring properly.
I have also yearned to make myself a wall hanging for a while now, so perfect opportunity!

Materials used

Tea Dyed Calico

Hessian -

10 x 10cm Canvas Panel

Translucent Shrink Plastic

Stampboard Domino x 3

Angelina Fusible Film

Angelina Fibres

Bondaweb

Water Soluble Fabric

Organza

Wire

Beads

Artemino Stamp

Distress Inks

Cosmic Shimmers

Distress Reinkers
(to buy any of the above, click on the link)

Oddments of wool

Corrugated card from an old box

Stick as provided by my son after one of his adventures in the Woods

I added a bit more colour to the calico by 'tie-dying' it with a strong Tea solution, plus a few drops of Distress Ink, I liked the result but its a bit more subtle than I was hoping for (the best bit is hidden in the centre- duh!)

The main centre piece was made using Water-Soluble fabric - this stuff is SO much fun. In a nutshell, fibres and fabrics are sandwiched between two pieces of the WSF, I used organza, oddments of wool/fibres, gold thread. You can then machine stitch it to catch all the bits and pieces inside the sandwich and then lay it in some warm water and the WSF dissolves away , leaving you with a completely unique piece of 'fabric' I then used my soldering iron to burn away parts of the organza, making holes between the stitching. 

I used Bondaweb to adhere the calico to the hessian, trying not to lose the creases! The Bondaweb didn't seem to like the square I made with WSF so I used a spray adhesive instead.

The beads were made from  Shrink plastic, which you can see hanging from the Canvas panel, Stampboard bits and hanging from the side bits of wool.

I used Distress inks to colour the Canvas board, the centre piece was made from Angelina Film - I googled for instructions on how to use it and found loads of excellent hints and tips here.

I will have to admit to being a bit nervous of using the Stampboard but it is what they say, I lovely surface to stamp on!

The flowers were made from instructions as posted below (see Credit where Credit is due post) both made from oddments of calico one dyed with the Tea/reinker mixture and the other was sprayed with Cosmic Shimmers. The leaves were cut from some the offcuts of the Angelina film I used on the canvas board and some sequin waste bits.

The corrugated card was coloured with a swiping of Walnut Stain Distress Ink, and then I laid some more bits and pieces of Angelina Film straight on top, held it there with a wooden skewer and blasted with my heatgun, The pieces 'melted' to take the shape of the card, but did need gluing in place!

That's about it, Phew! if you have read this far I will be amazed and you need a medal! 

I really enjoyed making this piece, and it looks fab hanging on my wall. I still have a few more different 'surfaces' Lynn has sent me to play with and this months Upcyling Challenge, so I may try to combine the two. Check back in a week or two! But meanwhile, be sure to check out the Altered Element Blog to see what my fellow DT peeps have done with their materials