Rachel's Melted Fabrics

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachels-Melted-Fabrics/66716289244

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25607

2009-08-07T04:22:00.000-07:00

Newsletter from July 24th

Hi Everyone!

Yesterday I quickly whipped up this textiles piece:

It doesn't look like much at the moment but it's based on this doodle:

Which in turn is based on Catherynne M Valente's gorgeous and whimsical online novel "The Girl who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her own Making". I may have mentioned it once or twice! If you want to read (or listen) you can find it here:

http://www.catherynnemvalente.com/fairyland/

And you can find other people's craft and artwork based on it here:

http://www.catherynnemvalente.com/fairyland/museum

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And if you haven't had enough whimsy already then please check out my fairytale restaurant!

I was set a challenge to write a restaurant review but I figured it would be more fun to make one up.

http://www.squidoo.com/imaginaryrestaurant

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There won't be a newsletter next week as I'll be busy with non-textiles/craft related stuff, so I'll catch you in two weeks instead.

If anyone is visiting Silverton Street Market on the 1st of August then some of my larger textiles pieces will be displayed in the Methodist chapel (at the top of the street). I won't be there myself unfortunately.

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Have a great weekend!

Happy Crafting!

Rachel

http://www.meltedfabrics.com

http://melted-rachel.livejournal.com/

http://stores.lulu.com/melted_rachel

http://meltedfabrics.blogspot.com/

http://www.folksy.com/shops/meltedfabrics

http://meltedfabrics.etsy.com

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZmelted_fabrics

http://twitter.com/meltedrachel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachels-Melted-Fabrics/66716289244

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25607

2009-07-24T04:25:00.000-07:00

Newsletter from July 17:

Hi Everyone!

I'm sending the newsletter out fairly late in the day because I've been working on getting the rest of my Textiles Art Kit videos done.

You can find them here and watch them in order, if you wish.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwC_W6PuoWk

This is a sneaky peek of the textiles piece I produced:

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I've also made a lens about my textiles kits so if you want to know more about them then please take a look here: http://www.squidoo.com/textileskits

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Have a great weekend!

Happy Crafting!

Rachel

http://www.meltedfabrics.com

http://melted-rachel.livejournal.com/

http://stores.lulu.com/melted_rachel

http://meltedfabrics.blogspot.com/

http://www.folksy.com/shops/meltedfabrics

http://meltedfabrics.etsy.com

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZmelted_fabrics

http://twitter.com/meltedrachel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachels-Melted-Fabrics/66716289244

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25607

2009-07-17T01:44:00.000-07:00

Newletter from 10th July

Hi Everyone!

Well that was another week that rushed by.

I've been pretty naughty this week and started a knitting project. I try to limit them because I just end up getting addicted and knitting all the time instead of sewing or writing.

This is a hat which I'm knitting using the fleece I processed myself:

It's supposed to felt down although I'm worried it's a little too thick for that- oh well, it's yummy anyway- I'm sure I'll find a use for it if it goes wrong.

I'm using this pattern here: http://nopatterns.blogspot.com/2008/09/bjrg_02.html

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I finished the black and white bag and it’s waiting to join its owner.

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I’ve also been working on a video for my textiles art kits.

I’ve decided I have to split it up into several videos because it was getting so long and also I can show bits of it to you sooner.

Be gentle with me- I was so embarrassed to start talking to myself! The film’s not the best quality because my webcam is 6 years old but I added some photos where I thought you couldn’t see what I was showing you clearly.

Oh and that microphone I was having trouble screwing into my ear? Turns out I don’t even need it! Oh well, we all have to start somewhere!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IwC_W6PuoWk

I'm going to try and add the next part later today, so if you're interested , keep your eyes peeled :)

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Have a great weekend!

Happy Crafting!

Rachel

http://www.meltedfabrics.com

http://melted-rachel.livejournal.com/

http://stores.lulu.com/melted_rachel

http://meltedfabrics.blogspot.com/

http://www.folksy.com/shops/meltedfabrics

http://meltedfabrics.etsy.com

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZmelted_fabrics

http://twitter.com/meltedrachel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachels-Melted-Fabrics/66716289244

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25607

2009-07-10T01:22:00.000-07:00

Newsletter from July 3rd 2009

Hi Everyone!

I cannot believe it’s Friday again. In fact you almost didn’t get a newsletter because I thought it was Wednesday.

Yesterday I discovered I’d been made a giant squid- which basically means that I have 50 or more great lenses on Squidoo. If you haven’t already checked them out there are a lot of textiles based lenses there where you can find out more about some of the things I’ve made: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/MeltedRachel

So now I can get on with some more textile goodness!

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This week I’ve been working on that black and white bag- a bag that’s so thick that I gave up trying to sew it on the machine (don’t want another broken one) and I’ve started hand sewing it with thick cotton yarn and a tapestry needle.

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I got “melty” with my Resolutions wall hanging and added the title:

I’m looking forward to hand stitching into it over the weekend.
Find out more about this project here: http://www.squidoo.com/meltedjanuary

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If anyone has any comments about this newsletter and what they’d like to see in it then please either reply to this newsletter or leave me a comment here:
http://www.squidoo.com/meltednewsletter

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I'm off to see if I'm brave enough to make a short video about my art kits- will post it next week if my little girl's voice doesn't make me cringe too much!

Happy Crafting!

Rachel

http://www.meltedfabrics.com

http://melted-rachel.livejournal.com/

http://stores.lulu.com/melted_rachel

http://meltedfabrics.blogspot.com/

http://www.folksy.com/shops/meltedfabrics

http://meltedfabrics.etsy.com

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZmelted_fabrics

http://twitter.com/meltedrachel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachels-Melted-Fabrics/66716289244

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25607

2009-07-03T02:41:00.000-07:00

Newsletter from June 26th:

Hi Everyone!

This week I’ve mostly been doing a whole lot of editing on my Squidoo lenses. You’ll find oodles of textiley goodness here: http://www.squidoo.com/lensmasters/MeltedRachel

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I’ve also started working into my Resolutions wall hanging. I’m planning on giving it a light melting later. I’ve found some fabric to make the lettering across the top of it. I want to work into this piece like I did with the historical women with lots of little bits added on top and embroidered knots.

Find out more about this project here: http://www.squidoo.com/meltedjanuary

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This is the “reserved” bag I was working on last week. I added some red squares to the piece- I’m not too fond of the yellow squares on the other side so I’ll be changing those soon.

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I have an urge to make a patchwork quilt. I haven’t made one before but I have so much fabrics and I thought I might quite like to design a simple black and white piece, seeing as I don’t use a lot of black in my layered textiles. I think I'll have a rummage around in my fabric collection later and pull out some material that will work well.

(Those funny scribbles are rabbits!)

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I also really want to get back to working on my Versailles inspired textiles book. Check out this page to see my inspiration for this: http://www.squidoo.com/versaillespalace. I love the idea of sewing a “knot garden” onto one page spread.

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OK, I'd better go and get on with working towards my deadlines! Next week I hope to have a bit more news to tell you.

Take care everyone, and have a good weekend and following week.

Happy Crafting!

Rachel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachels-Melted-Fabrics/66716289244

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25607

2009-06-26T02:15:00.000-07:00

Newsletter from June 19th:

Hi Everyone!
This week I started work on my altered umbrella for the month of April.

You can find out a lot more about it here: http://www.squidoo.com/meltedapril

I'm really excited about this piece and looking forward to working into it.

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I recently started spinning some of the fleece I was given in May. You can check on my progress in my recently updated lens here:

http://www.squidoo.com/fourfleeces

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Check out this lady for some amazing mixed media work, including poem spoons!:

http://novembermoon.com/

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Melted Fabrics news is a little sparse at the moment because I have two deadlines, both at the end of June- one is a short story competition and the other is a Squidoo competition so I'm hard at work editing stories and lenses.

I do, however, plan to get a lot of sewing done next week, even if it's just the preliminary sewing of textiles. At some point I also want to start experimenting with making felt and textiles bags and I have a textiles bag idea that I'm just dying to make so keep your eyes peeled for those things!

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I've got to disapear now and get ready to meet a someone about exhibiting my textiles in a local street market so stay happy and well and enjoy your weekend everyone!

Happy Crafting!

Rachel

http://www.meltedfabrics.com

http://melted-rachel.livejournal.com/

http://stores.lulu.com/melted_rachel

http://meltedfabrics.blogspot.com/

http://www.folksy.com/shops/meltedfabrics

http://meltedfabrics.etsy.com

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZmelted_fabrics

http://twitter.com/meltedrachel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachels-Melted-Fabrics/66716289244

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25607

2009-06-19T00:46:00.000-07:00

Newsletter from 12th June:

Greetings!

I hope everyone’s had a great week.

This week I got started with playing about with ideas for the month of February on my Melted Fabrics calendar.
You can find out about the calendar here: http://www.squidoo.com/MeltedCalendar

And February specifically here:
http://www.squidoo.com/meltedfebruary
I’m still working on ideas for it, here’s one of the doodles I’ve been working on:

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I’ve made a lens about my love of Klimt’s paintings and how he’s inspired my textiles work. If you’re interested, check it out here: http://www.squidoo.com/klimtinspiration

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This lens is about how I recycle fabrics and where my fabrics come from: http://www.squidoo.com/Recyclefabric

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Just to prove I can be demure sometimes, here are the textiles for a bag I'm working on at the moment:

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A quick appeal to anyone who loves reading urban fantasy/ fantasy/ whimsical/ mythical tales:

I don't know her personally, but Catherynne M Valente is the author of one of my favourite books, The Orphan’s Tales. I recently heard she’s having some serious financial difficulties, so if you enjoy mythical or fantasy novels I really recommend her work. It’s not a case of not being able to pay the mortgage, it’s a case of not being able to pay the rent or buy food.

In her livejournal entry here http://yuki-onna.livejournal.com/487082.html she talks about a book she’s writing for free and posting to her journal with just a donate button where you can pay whatever you like for each chapter.

And this sounds like a really awesome idea:
http://catherynnemvalente.com/omikuji/
For $10 a month ($100 for the year) Catherynne will send you a package which includes a short story, artwork and mystery other bits and pieces. $10 isn’t a lot to just try it for one month. Remember if you’re not in the US to ask her the price for your country.

You can also buy her e-books here: http://www.catherynnemvalente.com/ebooks/ including TheOrphan's Tales Vol 1 & 2.

The orphan's tales features a girl who has stories written in dense tiny lettering around her eyes.

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Enjoy your weekend everyone!

Happy Crafting!

Rachel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachels-Melted-Fabrics/66716289244

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25607

2009-06-12T01:54:00.000-07:00

Newsletter from 5th June:

Hi Everyone!

This week I finally finished my four historical lady textiles pieces. You can find them in my newly edited page for them here:

http://www.squidoo.com/historicalwomentextiles

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I started making the January Resolutions wall hanging for my Melted Fabrics Calendar:

and you can find out more about her here:

http://www.squidoo.com/meltedjanuary

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I’m planning to start work again on my Summer Art Quilt

http://www.squidoo.com/summerquilt

I’m wondering whether I might enter it into a quilt competition, but perhaps it’s not traditional enough. For the competition it also has to be 100-120” when finished and my central piece is currently just over 30” square- so that’s a lot of extra fabric!

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I’ve made a collection of all the mother and child textiles pieces I’ve made here:

http://www.squidoo.com/MotherandChildArt

More information will be added soon.

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Enjoy your weekend everyone! I've got a lot of sewing to get done!

Happy Crafting!

Rachel

http://www.meltedfabrics.com

http://melted-rachel.livejournal.com/

http://stores.lulu.com/melted_rachel

http://meltedfabrics.blogspot.com/

http://www.folksy.com/shops/meltedfabrics

http://meltedfabrics.etsy.com

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZmelted_fabrics

http://twitter.com/meltedrachel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachels-Melted-Fabrics/66716289244

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25607

2009-06-05T01:56:00.000-07:00

Newsletter from May 29th

Hi Everyone!

I’ve got two of my historical ladies into a state that I’m more than happy with them. I just need to get the other two done. I was hoping to have them all finished before the end of May and I hope I’ll still make that target. I’m in the frame of mind now where I just want to get them finished with and move onto something new and exciting, like that altered umbrella from a couple of weeks ago and the Resolutions wall hanging I showed you a doodle of last week. And oh my goodness, do I ever want to start knitting and spinning again!

Anyway, here are Queen Bess and Marie Antoinette:

One of the frustrating things about the way I work is that sometimes you can’t just finish things as quickly as you’d like and move onto the next piece. Sometimes you have to do a bit and then hang it up on the wall and contemplate it for a few days before you can move onto the next bit.

My sewing this week has been greatly aided by Neil Gaiman’s reading of The Graveyard Book. Check it out here: http://www.mousecircus.com/videotour.aspx

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I’ve made a couple more lenses about my degree years so if anyone’s interested in costume, or just early textiles work of mine they’re here:

http://www.squidoo.com/SalomeCostumes

http://www.squidoo.com/sadko

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Well, I'm off for a lovely walk in the sun with my mum and then it's back here to the sewing!

Wishing you a creative weekend!

Happy Crafting!

Rachel

http://www.meltedfabrics.com

http://melted-rachel.livejournal.com/

http://stores.lulu.com/melted_rachel

http://meltedfabrics.blogspot.com/

http://www.folksy.com/shops/meltedfabrics

http://meltedfabrics.etsy.com

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZmelted_fabrics

http://twitter.com/meltedrachel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachels-Melted-Fabrics/66716289244

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25607

2009-05-29T01:17:00.000-07:00

Newsletter from May 22

Hi Everyone!

Melted Calendar

I’ve made a lens for my Melted Fabrics Calendar. Check out my idea for it here: http://www.squidoo.com/MeltedCalendar

Above: A couple of doodles for the calendar. I can't wait to get started on the Resolutions and the April altered umbrella which I showed you last week.
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Historical Costume Pieces

I’ve made lens so you can follow the progress of the four historical costume pieces I’m working on. Check them out here: http://www.squidoo.com/historicalwomentextiles

Here are a couple of shots of Queen Bess in progress:

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Melted Fabrics on Youtube

http://www.youtube.com/user/meltedrachel

I recently learnt how to make simple videos. You can see a couple at the link above. One video is a fairly simple slideshow and the other features some close-up video taken of my Roots and Wildwoman pieces so you can get a better idea of the textures than the simple photos give you.

I’m hoping to make a time-lapse movie soon of layering a textiles piece and hopefully some other exciting stuff too.

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Textiles Wrap Booklet

I’ve also revamped the lens I made for the textiles wrap booklet. Check that out here for more info: http://www.squidoo.com/Textiles-Wraps-and-Shawls

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Wishing you a creative weekend!

Happy Crafting!

Rachel

http://www.meltedfabrics.com

http://melted-rachel.livejournal.com/

http://stores.lulu.com/melted_rachel

http://meltedfabrics.blogspot.com/

http://www.folksy.com/shops/meltedfabrics

http://meltedfabrics.etsy.com

http://search.ebay.co.uk/_W0QQsassZmelted_fabrics

http://twitter.com/meltedrachel

http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rachels-Melted-Fabrics/66716289244

http://www.artfire.com/modules.php?name=Shop&seller_id=25607

2009-05-22T00:27:00.000-07:00

Newsletter from May 15th:

Hi Everyone!

This week I produced a quick doodled design for an altered art umbrella/parasol that I want to make for the month of April on my Melted Fabrics calendar.

And a quick idea for the layout, although I'd like to play around with some more dynamic ideas:

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It’s been a week of French Knots on the textiles front:

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My fleeces have finally started to dry so I've begun to card them into "rolags" ready for spinning or felting. I now have carding blisters! I also picked out some interesting bits of wool that I want to keep as it is.

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I've revamped my lens for the Foundling CD and added some larger images of projects from the book, some of which I don't think I've ever posted online before, so if you haven't got the book go and have a look.
http://www.squidoo.com/Foundling-Textiles-Sketchbook

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The only textiles based lens I've made since last week's newsletter is my Ceres Lens which is about a costume I produced for my degree course:

http://www.squidoo.com/Cerescostume

My other lenses include:

Two Fairytale Illustrators:

John Bauer: http://www.squidoo.com/JohnBauer
I’ve just entered a competition to write a short story using one of John Bauer’s illustrations as a prompt. Read it here: http://melted-rachel.livejournal.com/168828.html

Edmund Dulac: http://www.squidoo.com/edmunddulac

Two Novels:

Howl’s Moving Castle: http://www.squidoo.com/HowlsMovingCastle
Magic Bites: http://www.squidoo.com/magic-bites (If you’re reading this, friend who lent me this book, I will send it back to you soon!)

One Film:

The Cell: http://www.squidoo.com/thecell

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See you later! I've got fabrics to sew and stories to write.

Wishing you a creative weekend!

Happy Crafting!

Rachel