An ATC Fan

At least the weather has perked up a bit again after the past few dreary wet days - the sun's been shining and apparently it will continue to shine right through to the weekend (or so the weather folks tell us)!  It's amazing how much more cheerful everyone feels with a bit of sun on their faces - maybe we're going to have what they call an Indian summer after all, though there's definitely an autumnal feel in the air too - not an unpleasant feeling though, I actually rather like that hint of cool, clean freshness as the sun starts to slip down the sky at the end of the afternoon. 

Anyway, I thought I'd show you pictures of a piece I created for a swap recently.  We were each sent instructions and an example of how to construct an atc-sized folding fan by the hostess (Laura Carson).  The fan was constructed out of five atc-sized "blades" with curved tops, we could decorate and embellish them however we liked (bearing in mind which parts would be hidden when the fan was folded).  The blades were attached together by a series of ribbons on the back which had to be assembled in a particular way so that the fan could fold up and a brad held the base of all the fan blades together.  It took me a good while to get started on mine because I wasn't sure how I wanted to decorate it and also wasn't sure how easy it was going to be to put it all together - I thought I might end up making a real mess of it all !  Well, I eventually chose an oriental theme and embellished the fan with beads, ribbons and one of my own beaded dragonflies (the instructions for this dragonfly are included in one of the projects in my book).  Everyone in the swap was allocated a partner to send their fan to, so mine has now gone to a new home in Australia.

I'm going to be having a go at creating my first zettiology pieces soon.  A small group of us will be making a page in zetti style for each person (five others plus myself).  Ali, who has organised the group, will be giving us bit by bit instructions for creating our pages over a six month period.  The first thing we have to do this week is paint a colour wash onto our pages - we won't know what we're going to be doing next until after we've all done our painting - any colour, one or many, with or without textured effects.  Well, you may be asking, what on earth is "zetti"?  Not easy to describe I'm afraid, all rather surreal-looking, heads and bodies all mixed up, black and white stripy legs, hats, lots of colour ..... hmm, if you really want to know what I'm talking about go take a peek on  Teesha Moore's website and have a browse around, you'll understand what I'm talking about!  Anyway, I shall keep you posted of my success or otherwise!