Sketchbook Progress

I've spent the last couple of days working on my Research for Design sketchbook as I need to get it ready for presentation in about 10 days time. I've been decorating pages and attempting to cover some of the course requirements such as cultural and historical heritage as well as adding to the artwork we've done in class. It's slow going but very satisfying when I finish a page or two!

 

I've experimented with spraying inks onto the pages to make the background a but more interesting. The pages above are heavily sprayed using several colours. I've also made some more subtle pages by painting a wash over a double page with strong tea then spraying lightly with ink and pressing the two pages together. When I pull them apart I get some lovely effects. My 'Mini Misters'  and Ranger Distress Inks are great for this:

While I was playing with paint I decided to make some textured background fabrics for embroidery samples. I painted Bondaweb with diluted Lumiere paints. The bondaweb crinkles up as it dries and I scrunched up one sample while still wet for even more texture. I ironed them onto fabric. Here they are waiting to be stitched:

I've found 'Connecting Art to Stitch' by Sandra Meech very useful for ideas for simple art exercises. It was £10 well spent!