City and Guilds work

The course is going well and keeping me really busy but such good fun. I love a bit of bling so got quite hooked on making a book with metal experiments in which I intend to fill when I get time but just a small selection shown below.

 

 

 

 

 

For my second project I decided to make a coral reef as they are so beautiful because of the colours and textures. I did some experiments in a sketchbook on trying to make different sorts of corals and instead of making the work a multitude of colours decided to use my favourtites of purple, turquoise and jade. I made a trial piece which I quite liked which is below.

 

 

As our finished piece has to be A3 I made a wet felted background as before and started working on it by putting on layers of organza, machine sewing and adding coral pieces I had made.

 

 

 

However I wasn't really happy with it but wasn't sure why so I asked my Jane to take a look and she thought it looked out of proportion and rather flat and suggested I cut off a corner and build up layers of texture. After waking up at 2.30 am that night thinking about ways to improve it I spent the next 5 days on and off working on it. The result is below.

 

 

 

 

 

First post of the year

Wow, doesn't time fly and hadn't realised how neglected my blog has been but I have a good excuse.

Last year I put my name down for a level 2 City and Guilds in Creative Textiles taking place in Dereham at the Gallery but as I was a little late all the places were taken. However after it had been going a month someone dropped out and I was offered the place but being a month behind I had loads of work to catch up on.

The course is run by Jane Clark who is enthusiastic and an inspiration but a hard taskmaster and consequently I have already turned out 2 ring binders of samples, an A3 design file, and a 3D piece with sketchbook and backing work so you can see I have been busy.

I'm also heavily involved in a textile group as well as Trypstitch which is a group of 3 of us as an offshoot from this so haven't actually produced much finished work.

The only completed work done this year is shown below.

 

This is my 3D object inspired by a tree with the small practice model next to it. It is a little weird but that's Ok with me and I am pleased with the overall result.

 

 

This is a piece of manipulated fabric that I completed with my textile group

 

 

We had a workshop where I showed some of the ladies how to wet felt and make the backgroud for this piece which I have since stitched on.

 

 

Just one of my samples of stuffed quilting made from silk appliqued leaves and hand dyes silk velvet grapes.

 

My next piece is a wallhanging which I am going to base on a coral reef so am busy experimenting with techniques so watch this space.

 

 

 

Textile Exhibition Photos

Just thought I would post a few photos of our highly successful exhibition a month ago now, where does the time go?

Getting ready for my trip to Alexander Palace on Thursday for the Knitting and Stitching Show.

Above: one of my wall hangings.

Below: Pictures of the endless landscapes.

Below: A selection of machine embroidered bowls.

The centrepiece of the archway decorated to look like an underwater scene. Most of us made seaweed, fish and other items to decorate it.

Hardingham Textile Exhibition

Just a quick post to advertise our annual exhibition which is from the 5th-8th September at St Andrew's Church Hingham.

The Hardingham Art Goup will also be showing there work.

If you want to see some great textiles and maybe pick up a bargain pay us a visit and I'll be posting pictures of the work soon.

Latest dragonfly picture

As you may have guessed I love dragonflies and butterflies and inspired by my endless landscape picture thought I would have a go at making one featuring dragonflies. One of my dragonflies is also featured on the Hardingham Art and Textile Groups annual exhibition poster which is on the first week of September.

I decided to use handmade silk paper as a background, something which I haven't had much luck with before but felt this came out ok. I then machine stitched onto the water and for the reed beds before couching some silk boucle as a base.

The reeds in the foreground were made from organza and cut out with a soldering iron to prevent the edges from fraying and some were wired to give depth.

The dragonflies were made using organza and water soluble film before being applied and beaded and overall I am quite pleased with the result. Now to do a garden scene with butterflies.

Mary Crehan Finished Piece

As promised this is the finished piece that I started on a workshop with Mary Crehan last year. It took ages to do and as her pieces are huge she must have the patience of a saint. No idea what I'm going to do with it but it was a fun day.

It was made by weaving threads and strips of fabric through scrim with added hand made paper and machine stitched all over. It was supposed to represent stone but I feel that it would be more appropriate for tree bark.

Hopefully there will be some interesting workshops when the autumn program of the Embroiderers Guild comes out so I have more to show you.

We are also hoping to have a workshop at the Hardingham Textile group with Lynda Monk later this year so that should make interesting viewing.

Poppies

I love poppies from the humble wayside ones that are so delicate and look like silk to the glorious opium ones that come in a wonderful array of colours.

So much so I even had a poppy on my nurses buckle back in the day when I was nursing. I also love Art Nouveau which may be evident from the style of the buckle.

I decided to make a poppy bowl following on from the sunflower in the previous post so followed the same technique of cutting out individual petals in red silk and cotton but felt it didn't really look like a poppy. 

So I decided to just cut 4 large silk petals and arrange them overlapping like a poppy which looked ok initially. However once the dissolvable film was washed off they were very floppy as there was less stitching on them than the individual petal one so had to put on quite a bit of Paverpol fabric stiffener which made it look like plastic. Love the shape and think it looks quite poppy like but it doesn't look like silk at all.

Oh well back to the drawing board.