I never got around to starting a second set of letters for A Letter A Week 2014. Partially because it is quite hard to jump right in when the first set is finished and also because July and August are very busy months for me. It wasn't because I lacked for ideas, but rather that I couldn't settle on one.
However, the other day I followed up a link to Fiona Dempster's blog (Fiona runs ALAW) where she had used an incense stick to do some burning marks on paper. Funnily enough, I was thinking of doing some more burn mark work with my soldering iron. You may recall I used it for B is for Book for the Stretching Art Illuminated Letter challenge.
So, I decided to do the second set using the soldering iron in a similar way to a wood burning tool. This time I chose to use calico - actually the back of some calico I used years ago for a toile/sloper when I was first learning pattern drafting. So, recycling!
The calico takes a bit longer to create a strong mark than silk and needs more heat. For silk or for cutting synthetics like I did for the S yesterday, I use my Margaret Beal soldering iron with a curved tip. But for the thick cotton, I use a fine tip soldering iron made by Drapers which I got at the ironmongers in Great Hollands in Bracknell quite a while ago.
Anyway, I managed 4 letters today before the chill from the open patio window (for ventilation) got to me.
Actually I spent over 2 hours getting to this point because I had to choose the letters I wanted...these are lower case letters from a Celtic Design book. and I had to cut the calico into 7cm squares. And then trace the letters onto the calico using my light box. I have traced up to O, which brings us to this week of the year. But I will probably only do about 3 or 4 a week til I catch up. Then back to what it should be A Letter A Week.
And the Burnt Letters up close...
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