The Book of the Beasts

This is the cover of a book I've just made, inspired by Mary Ann Moss's Stiched & Stencilled class. The class got me going though I went a way off from the suggestions - all part of the fun!

I was intending to buy some canvas to make the cover, as suggested, but I hadn't got around to getting any and suddenly I NEEDED a cover so I used this purple foam stuff that I had around - previously I'd been using it for making colourful nonshiny backgrounds for photographing object on - I also used a couple of pieces of yellow foam inside the book.

All the Celtic Knot type stencils came from a set I bought recently from a local art shop. The horse comes from a children's stencil set from the local toy shop.

The wolfish animal is one I cut. In the book there is also a toad stencil that I rediscovered - I'd cut it around 8 years ago.

I've sewn in or glued pieces of jigsaw in places. Some of them I attached before stencilling and others I used as masks then sewed them into other parts of the book later.

I've also used a star cutter to make stencils and masks. The stars and the stencil have been added to the book too.

I couldn't resist also using and then incorporating a chemistry set stencil.

I didn't actually get around to using my sewing machine as I decided hand sewing suited this book best.

You may be able to see inside the book here: