Japanese Mesh Work

This weekend past - on retreat - Gemma showed us how to do Japanese mesh work. And I fell in love! I think its gorgeous and I am determined to continue doing it and learning about it.

First thing first was to create the board one pins their work onto - the ingredients for which are polystyrene piece, cotton waste or alternative and insul-bright. The last two are so the polystyrene doesn't melt in the ironing step at the end of the work.

So I went across to Northam today and I went to the fruit and veg shop and bought a polystyrene box with a lid...I went to the op shop and I bought an old wool electric blanket (from which I removed the wires) for $2 and a pillow case for $1 and I had some insul-bright at home from when I made an ironing board ages ago.

I covered the polystyrene box lid with 2 layers of the blanket and a layer of the insul-bright and put them into the pillow case. Before I sewed it up I tested it to make sure there was enough layering to prevent the poly melting...and it was! So I hand sewed the pillow case up and there...a japanese mesh work board all ready to go.

Its not as wide as the one I used at Gemmas but thats ok - turned sideways its fits the A3 grid paper and Im happy to do pieces that fit onto that... will get a bigger piece of poly to make a longer and wider board in the future.

Now to make strips!