I had a different project in mind for today but alas it is still unfinished – No, not the Work box, the ideas for that are still fluttering about in my head.

So today I bring you this:

A sample of white felt soaked in black ink.

Now hold the complaints and the worries about the carpet!  The sample above goes way back to the time when I was experimenting with paints and fabrics.  The bottle of ink I was using tipped by accident so I grabbed what ever I had close to hand to soak up the excess.  It ended up quite a sandwich of fabric and tissues. I needed to keep going at what I was at, so left the ‘mess’ sit and soak until I was finished.  Thankfully I had the floor well covered so there was no danger of further damage.

Layers of ink soaked felt, and paper.

Just like the swine-herd, Ho-ti, in  in A Dissertation Upon Roast Pig by Charles Lamb I learned that out of disaster great things happen. When I had finished what I set out to do, I cleared away my gear.  With the ‘mess’ left until last.  Suddenly I thought…’It is not doing any harm here, so leave it to dry in situ, and see what evolves tomorrow’!  Carefully peeling away the layers the next day I discovered wonderful colour.  The further the layers were from the ink the more fascinating the effect.  I tried this again at another time with a brown ink, and it did not work.  But then Brown is actually a mix of all the true colours plus black.  The colour brown was discovered, I am sure as the result of another Ho-ti moment!

The blue and yellow were so vibrant that I wanted to used them.

Carefully peeling the layers of man sized tissues apart I chose a couple and bonded them to fabric with Bondaweb because they were so fragile.  Next I moved to the sewing machine working with free machining and glitter thread to form waving lines along the new fabric.

Finally I chose one area to embellish with beading by hand.

The piece is now framed and the glass made it difficult for me to photograph, so go easy on me.

One angle of the piece

A closer look at the beading.

This is the angle I like.

So, some disasters are good for us!