Saturday 6 February 2010

Early Signs.

These are the first of our snowdrops to start opening. A most welcome sight - there is a house not far away from us whose front garden is full of open snowdrops, but ours will still be flowering when theirs have finished. We must have more than one variety as there are still some barely 2" tall and tightly shut. There are dozens of different varieties and apart from a few with obvious differences, they all look alike to me.
The soil is so soggy and compacted and there is a lot of debris - twigs, leaves, etc. - which needs taking up but I have a feeling I shouldn't do it just yet. This coloured primrose shines through the gloom from the bottom of the garden. I can see it from the kitchen window.

The wild primroses are coming out gradually. I think the birds peck at the petals. I know they like yellow crocuses - I never seem to have any as they eat them as soon as they appear. There is something in the yellow ones which they like. I have plenty of white and purple ones but no yellows.


Look at these lovely buds on the honeysuckle. It is always one of the first things to come into leaf along with some of the clematis.



Early signs here of a fabric book of medieval tile designs. This motif has come out much darker than it really is. I have to decide how to attach it to the page. You may recognise it as one of my hot glue gun casts with a rubber stamp. I coloured it with an Impress brush marker and then rubbed a darker metallic rub-on to bring up the design. It will not necessarily be backed with that tatty bit of painted calico!


This one was made in the same way - I think I shall use this on the cover when I have decided how to make the cover! I have tea-dyed some calico for the pages and think I will play safe and make each tile separately then apply it to the page. Tomorrow I hope to experiment with gilding flakes and make a few paper casts and maybe some with silk cocoon strippings.





10 comments:

Maureen said...

Your casts look really good Heather - as do your snowdrops , now where have mine disappeared to I wonder?

Carol Q said...

ooh lovely Heather - looks like the yuk weather is finally on the move. the casts look really good.

chrissythreads said...

I can't wait until spring but my garden is still sound asleep so your photos were really welcome. The casts are looking interesting too.

Anonymous said...

Your snowdrops look so cheerful. Ours are still hibernating up here. Very reassuring to see them down your way! Your casts look great.

diane.ca said...

The casts look good, but what looks better is a lttle bits of Spring in the photos you posted. We are still deep into winter here everything is grey and dull. Nice to see that Spring is arriving somewhere.

Julie said...

I think the mice must have eaten my snowdrops! Yours look wonderful, Spring must be on the way. The birds were singing beautifully in our garden a few days ago so Spring is creeping slowly nearer.

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BT said...

Oh lovely snowdrops, my favourite. I think ours may have disappeared with all the building work, maybe one or two may have survived. I keep looking but nothing yet. Those honeysuckle buds are gorgeous, all fat and full of promise.

As for your casts, they just look so professional, I don't know how you do it. I can't wait to see the progress.

WendyK said...

Your casts look great Heather. Love all the Spring photos. The mice have eaten all my snowdrop and crocus bulbs, so spring will be slow here in wet Wales

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