Saffrons Blog

Here I write about my creative projects, ideas and things that inspire me.

Hand Prints

Saffron Craig - Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Flaxen hair blowing in the breeze
It is time for the geese to head south
I have come with my mustard seed
I cannot accept that she will be taken from me
Tory Amos

The lyrics of Tory Amos were in my mind as I drew these designs. She started me thinking about geese which followed with a magic image of a huge big golden goose which flew in at the tale end of a meditation.

It took me 4 years to find an illustrated collection of Grimm's fairy tales with illustrations as good as the book I grew up with. Now newly acquired it sits by my bed. I am in paradise reading those tales after so many years. The golden goose must have been read into my child hood memory, thought it is a whisper of a memory.

The inspiration for the sketch of the leaves came while on a winter walk, as the fallen leaves crunched under my feet, one crisp dry brown leaf beckoned me to notice its skeletal shapes with pronounced strong lines, the veins moving in a new direction for me. I took the leaf into my studio and stared at it at length. It really asked to be drawn.

The circle is an ever present element in my designs. Something to do with being Celtic? I certainly love to use it, draw it stitch it cut it. The circle is a wonderful element to play with.

I also like stripes a lot.. I do use them frequently in my sewing. So I want to play with uneven stripes, irregular in width and length. We will see what do with them.

I have dropped these designs off to Leapfrog to make up into screens. I am going to mix paint and print them myslef. Yippee I will get super messy. I am planning on using green-those lovely soft shade of greens you might find in new shoots. I am thinking of lovely linen or hemp as my base cloth.

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Kirstin Bokor commented on 26-Sep-2009 07:39 AM

hey either the geese or the leaves would have made unreal covers for your new chairs

Karen Brown commented on 24-Sep-2009 02:35 PM

Saffron, your fabric designs are why I love sewing - bold and uncompromising, yet somewhat whimsical in their essence. Keep doing what you do, because you help us create beautiful things :-) Cheers, Karen.

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hand prints

Saffron Craig - Tuesday, October 13, 2009

Hand printing fabrics is a lot of fun because it's messy, although quite exhausting and time consuming if you don’t have ample space and have to stand drying the ink with a hair dryer. I had a few ideas
I needed to try out on cloth and chose Belgian linen in an upholstery weight. I am in seventh heaven. I love the way linen soaks up the ink. I felt very excited and pleased with the results.

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Kirstin Bokor commented on 27-Oct-2009 10:04 AM

These all look gorgeous - love the effect on the linen.

Sondra Borrie commented on 19-Oct-2009 12:16 AM

Especially love the geomeric design. The linen looks wonderful. Great choice. Best to you, Sondra

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Hand prints

Saffron Craig - Monday, October 19, 2009

I have hand printed a few more prints to sell in the shop. All printed on light weight cotton quilting cotton, in 48cm squares.
Leaves in dark and pale green. Circle and Stripes in caramel and chocolate. Geese and leaves in pale green.

I have only printed a few of each so if you think you want one best not wait cause I am not sure when I will find the time to do any more hand-printing.

Circle with stripes in caramel and chocolate, click here to buy. 10 available. Its so yummy.

Leaves with geese in pale green. Click here to buy. Only six available.

I have two prints of the leaves, one in pale green and the other in dark green. Click here to purchase and yes there is only six.

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