Sunday, February 28, 2010

Autumn doldrums


I couldn't settle to doing anything, and remembered Kim (here) mentioning oak leaves, so I've made some autumn leaves - birch and oak. The birches outside my window are just starting to turn yellow, which is rather unfair as we haven't really had any summer to speak of!
I used coffee filter papers (different brands have different textures - these are Melitta leaves), painted them with acrylic paints, (different colours back and front), then punched and punched and punched . . . To finish I put them on a soft mousepad and dragged an awl up the centre vein of each.
Loreena McKennitt helped me - lovely singer! I find that when I see my minis I can usually remember the music playing when I made them. I have to be careful not to watch anything exciting while doing needlework - one of my rugs was worked too tightly whle I was watching Alien 3.

11 comments:

  1. Beautiful autumn leaves. I'm always afraid to try making leaves, they seem so tiny and fragile. You did a wonderful job.

    Cia

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  2. Thanks, Cia. These seem unbreakable - must be the acrylic paint, it is quite stiff.
    Glenda

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  3. Those leaves look very real. You did a great job, with fantastic music I must say ;-)

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  4. Such beautiful leaves! I can't imagine that it's Autumn there as we are heading into spring!

    I finished my punch needle original this weekend and plan to finish it off around the edges and show it on my blog and ask for critiques. If you're still willing, I'll clean up my pattern and send it your way very soon for you to work one up with your choice of colors and suggested changes! And thank you for being willing to do that!

    Jody

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  5. oh my goodness- they are soooo beautiful- I want to dive into the picture and roll around in them! Something about leaves just fills my heart with joy! Beautiful job!

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  6. Hi Jody - I'll have to get out my punchneedle, it's been lurking in my hoard for years. I got nerve damage in my arms about 15 years ago and it never went away. It means that some sustained movements are too painful to pursue (I had to kiss goodbye to knitting, crochet, fine x-stitch, and lacemaking which was my favourite - waah!) so I'll try the punchneedle and let you know. More than happy to talk about colour, it's fascinating!
    Glenda

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  7. Beautiful :-)

    I have tonnes of dead leaves here too....on day I'll get round to making the tree they fell off lol.

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  8. Oh, Glenda, no pressure at all on doing the punch needle rug--especially if you have weakness in the arm! Didn't mean to put you on the spot! And what a great suggestion about coloring it beforehand! Why didn't I think of that?! My biggest issue with this is getting my rows spaced the way they should be. And I am using two strands of DMC and I noticed one Janet Conner on her website uses one. I felt like it was covering better with two but then there were still little spots of white showing! Thanks about the veins in the leaves--I should have done some but was so eager to get going with it, I neglected to draw them in!

    Jody

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  9. Thankyou! It's a pity the smell of the fallen leaves can't be included in the mini pile - I love it.
    Glenda

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