Still, Still, Still is a carol the middle school chorus sang last year. I journaled the lyrics around this print of the stag. I first printed the reindeer directly on the page, but the print didn't work so well. So I printed onto tissue, then glued the tissue over the somewhat not-crisp original print onto the page. This made a sort of "echo" in the image. The background was done in Jane LaFazio's Mixed Media journals online class at Joggles.com.
For once, I actually thought ahead a bit. Last spring, I did a presentation for my local quilt group, the Coastal Quilters, because they had been kind enough to award me a $50 scholarship to help pay for a class. I took two online classes, one of which was lino-cutting with Dijanne Cevaal. Last Christmas I had gotten this idea to make an ornament for my Frayed Edges friends for this year, so I noodled around Google Images to find pictures of stags and reindeer and prepared a drawing to use for a new lino-cut that is really a hybrid of about 20 pictures. Then I finished the carving as part of my demonstration.
The resting reindeer, on tissue, on cloth, and in my sketchbook
In Fall, I finally got around to printing what I needed to make some ornaments. At Thanksgiving time, I decided that I needed to make a few more, as it was time to give thanks, especially to some very special teachers at Camden-Rockport Middle School who have been wonderful to both of our kids. Our younger son is in 8th grade, so this was our last chance to say a special thank you.
I made a run of 14 ornaments for family, friends and teachers.
The block is 6 inches, with the design carved on point. I trimmed the prints on cloth to this “onion dome” (like you see in Russian churches) shape. They are printed with Speedball Printing Ink, which I discovered the hard way last year is NOT water-fast. Like a drop from the iron will make a blotch. Erg. So after printing these I sprayed with with Krylon Spray Fixative, which I hope will help. The prints are fused to Peltex, a stiffener used in fabric postcards, and quilted with Superior Threads Glitter thread (the pearl color). Unusually, I satin-stitched around the edge instead of using a yarn…nothing I had looked as good as a nice tight satin stitch.
A closer view of one with a more dense coating of ink that some of the others... I like it both ways.
I decided the ornaments needed a special card, so I used the stag I drew (see my earlier post this month) and photocopied onto a heavy card stock and made the note cards. Finding big envelopes was a challenge! You can see the back of the ornament at the top left, so you can see the quilting.
May tomorrow find you with those you love, with a moment of calm and joy and art and beauty.