Alice Fox Textiles

garden dreams

2012-01-27T06:35:00.000-08:00

A trip to my parents last weekend allowed for some garden pottering, finding interesting shapes in the winter sunshine,

and winter sweet, which doesn't look like much (although is better seen from below like this rather than from above the drooping flowers) but smells amazing.

Since then I've spent most of the week at my desk doing paper work or jobs around the house. Meanwhile I dream of what my garden might become. I currently have a patch of scruffy lawn and a small patio. It isn't much yet, but it has lots of potential...

print room

2012-01-21T04:04:00.000-08:00

I spent a morning in the print room at college this week. As a recent graduate I was able to apply for access to the facilities for this year and got it, so I felt it was about time I started making use of it. As my studio is still a little way off being workable in and I needed to do something other than planning, paper work and sitting in front of this screen a session in the print room made sense.

I made two screens, one based on the silhouettes of items found beach combing a year or so ago and one using part of a poem written by a companion on the same trip. I purposefully made the text pretty small so that it wouldn't all expose clearly and so some of it would be legible and some wouldn't. I wanted to experiment with this and use the shape of the words on the page as much as the words themselves.

I layered prints over pages from my sketch book that had been dyed, stained and rust printed, playing about with the tones already on the paper and using different combinations of prints.

Some of these pages will be worked on more, stitched into and further dyed. Some are quite striking as they are. All are part of a process, growing ideas, developing thoughts...

something pretty

2012-01-17T03:42:00.000-08:00

do something pretty while you can
Belle and Sebastian

I am always open to opportunities for creating something and this is particularly important when I'm in the middle of a period that doesn't feel very productive creatively. I love long journeys, especially on a train (as long as it all goes to plan, but even if it doesn't there is something of an adventure about it when you have to be flexible suddenly as things change). I love that flashing past of landscape and tiny snapshots of detail. Sometimes I'll just let it flow past me and other times I want to record it.

I traveled to London again this weekend to be in the gallery for a day and then take down the Mall exhibition, which, by the way, was a real pleasure to have been involved in. Spending time alone is refreshing and being away from home somehow forces you to spend time thinking.

I have a little sketch book in my bag at all times. This one is a new one and has just words so far (wiggly ones as most were written on a moving train). Here are some of the words from my journey:

It has been the most sparklingly beautiful of winter days
clear blue sky all day
bright but pale sunshine and a hard frost, which has remained in place all day wherever the sun hasn't reached.

The almost-setting sun races along on my right
sometimes almost blinding
sometimes obscured from view
by a wall or partially by the filigree network of silhouetted trees.

The shapes of the trees cannot hide in this clear light
each one standing tall and naked and still
shadows cast by the low sun turn an otherwise featureless field into a striking series of ridges

A frozen pond
an abandoned playground
church steeples
church towers
an old windmill tower
all grey silhouettes
cut out shapes against an only-just blue sky

A solitary small cloud
shaped like a child's drawing of a horse
now a camel
then some kind of sea creature
is crossed by a small flock of birds.
Where do they go with such purpose on as cold a day as this?

The fiery orange ball slips into the horizon haze
swiftly changing the mood
bleached stubble in disarray over dark earth
Suddenly the clarity is gone
a mist adds to the gathering darkness.

On my return journey it was dark all the way so I couldn't see out of the window. Instead I read the whole of a book that I was given for my last birthday but hadn't opened yet (see the list of books by my bed): A Bigger Message - Conversations with David Hockney, by Martin Gayford. I love the fact that you can read a whole book on one journey. I would never sit and read a book like that at home, always too much else to do.

David Hockney is someone for whom my admiration and respect grow all the time. Before moving to Saltaire I knew very little about him and, for me, his work has taken time to 'get'. Having a major collection of his work a few minutes walk away from my home means that I've been able to get to know it slowly. He is such an exciting artist who is constantly pushing things. Inspiring stuff!

shifting stuff

2012-01-12T07:56:00.000-08:00

I feel like I'm stuck inside a rubix cube or one of those little games where you can only move one square at a time and you have to make 20 other moves before you can make the one you really want to.

I have managed to unpack a lot since moving house and slowly things are getting straight. The studio was, until Monday, completely jammed with boxes with just a little passage to get to the washing machine and freezer (this is my cellar and so also utility room). Then the removal people came to take away my empty boxes, which suddenly gave me the space to empty some more and so the studio looked like this:

Believe me, this was an improvement! Suddenly I could start to get a feel for the room. I then spent time over the next couple of days sorting and shifting things about. I put together the plan chest where I store my paper and previous mounted work (this involved a great deal of swearing - it isn't really a one person job). I got to the end of the day I'm afraid to say that the room didn't look much different, things had just changed places. Basically I have too much stuff.

I know that it will all come together eventually and that the sorting I'm doing isn't wasted time at all. There isn't much creativity going on though, which gets me down. So this afternoon I've been doing some research towards a project I'll be doing this year and I'm quite excited. More about that another time...

london weather

2012-01-08T08:22:00.000-08:00

The weather has been so wild on and off for the last couple of weeks. There was complete chaos on the rail system when I traveled down to London last week. My train was delayed by 2 1/2 hours, although because of something completely seperate from the weather related hold-ups elsewhere. That evening, after leaving the gallery, the wet pavements reflected and multiplied the Christmas lights and the Olympic count-down thing in Trafalgar Square.

By Wednesday morning the wet weather had cleared and London was bathed in beautiful soft winter sunshine. It reminded me of similar conditions on visits to both Paris and Venice at this time of year. The buildings around Trafalgar Square looked gorgeous and I felt spoiled to be able to have an hour as a tourist before I was due at the Mall Galleries.

set up

2012-01-06T02:49:00.000-08:00

Designer Crafts at the Mall opens tonight with a private view and is then open 10-5 until Sunday 15th January. The Mall Galleries are situated right next to Admiralty Arch, round the corner from Trafalgar Square and just along the road from Buckingham Palace.

Here's how the exhibition took shape earlier this week:

There is a wonderfully vibrant mix of work in a whole range of different craft media. The curators did a wonderful job placing work so that it was complimented by the other work around it. My pieces sit between beautiful wooden furniture and earthy coloured ceramics.

Sadly I can't make it tonight for the opening but I will be back down in London for the final day of the exhibition. Do let me know if you get to see it.

an ending and a beginning

2011-12-31T03:41:00.000-08:00

What with moving house four days before Christmas and then being ill for a few days (the previous few manic weeks finally catching up with me) the final days of the year have all gone by in a bit of a blurry fog.

Thank you so much for visiting my pages over the last year. I've often been overwhelmed by people's lovely comments and support and amazed that so many people are interested in what I have to show for my time (can't quite believe it really). Special thanks to recent mentions by Carolyn and Trace. It really is lovely to find that there are people from far corners of the earth who have alighted on my little patch and enjoy coming back again.

Wishing all a happy and peaceful new year and looking forward to whatever adventures 2012 may bring,

Alice
x

Arctic owls, December 2011

christmas walk

2011-12-25T13:36:00.000-08:00

"There is a love of wild nature in everybody, an ancient mother love ever showing itself whether recognised or no, and however covered by cares and duties." John Muir

the mall gallery

2011-12-12T10:41:00.000-08:00

I will be exhibiting in Designer Crafts at The Mall Galleries, London from 6th - 15th January.

If you're going to be in London on the 6th January and would like an invitation to the private view that evening send me an email this week and I'll pop one in the post to you.

6 inch cube

2011-12-05T08:19:00.001-08:00

On Saturday I went to South Square in Thornton to see 6 inch cube.

I have three pieces in this varied little exhibition, where all artworks fit within the dimensions of a six inch cube.

I will be exhibiting in this space on my own next year so it was good to see the gallery in action, and be entertained by some of the more surprising artworks... Heidi Harding's cube and (in one of the other galleries) Claire Harbottle's Nailing Jelly were particularly enjoyable!

There is a lovely veggie cafe at South Square alongside the three gallery spaces, studios and shops.

miniprints

2011-12-03T03:37:00.001-08:00

I have some work in this exhibition of small prints in Hull. I'm hoping to get over there at some point soon to see it. It looks like there is a lovely mix of different print techniques.

The work I submitted are rust prints with tea on paper, which have been stitched into with small seed stitches

The exhibition is on until 21st January.

gutted

2011-11-30T07:01:00.001-08:00

Things have been a bit quiet on the creative side for a while, apart from some creative packing of boxes. I'm preparing to move house and so some things just have to be put on one side for a while.

I heard on Saturday that my application to Arts Council England for funding for a residency project I'm planning for next year was not successful. I was initially very upset, gutted in fact: a lot of time, energy and hope goes into such things. However, I'm growing more philosophical about it. I had some really good feedback, so I know that my application ticked all their boxes but that there just isn't enough money to go around. Although they recognise that this is a crucial stage in an artist's career, and that funding can give an almighty boost, I understand that it is also quite a gamble to give funding to a recent graduate. I am reminded that many artists take years of applying before they actually get anywhere with this kind of funding. I'm determined not to put the project in the bin yet, I have avenues still to explore and plans may have to be altered to make it all happen.

Meanwhile, I made a return visit to Runswick Bay, almost exactly a year after my first visit there. The weather was calm and grey (after a starry, starry night) when I first stepped on to the beach with the light changing rapidly, coming and going through racing clouds. Further along the beach the wind suddenly seemed to swing round and strengthen so that the tops of the waves were blown back out to sea and sand was blown in great fuzzy swathes up the beach.

Things were mostly in grey-scale, or in black and white when the light was strong: high contrast with reflections on water of land in black and sky in bright white.

The grey-scale was occasionally interrupted by gaudy scraps of washed up plastic or the brightly coloured boats that sit about the place.

The chance to get away to somewhere different for a few hours was welcome. To be by the sea is always a rejuvenating experience; to be out in the air and the wind and get so cold that it takes hours to feel warm again; to drink it all in - the light, weather, the constantly changing shapes and patterns of the water and sand. I was reminded of how much remains un-resolved from my last visit here. So much of my work and thinking is coastal at the moment and it looks like it will remain that way for some time yet...

open house

2011-11-16T02:51:00.001-08:00

I spent a lovely weekend sitting at 6 Harrowby Road (hosted by the lovely Joanna) with my work and the work of various other artists adorning the walls. I met some lovely people, had some really interesting conversations and feedback about my work... and drank lots of coffee and ate lots of cake!

I do think that showing art in domestic settings can work really well. There is a relaxed-ness that you will never get in a gallery, and people get to see how something might look in their own home. Of course there is a certain amount of nosiness in being able to wonder round other people's houses, and that is part of the attraction of an arts trail like this for many people. I took some stitching to do on the second day and have to admit that it felt very luxurious to sit on a comfy sofa all day, stitching and having pleasant conversations... back to the rest of life now!

this weekend

2011-11-10T01:11:00.000-08:00

The Headingley arts trail is this weekend on Saturday and Sunday, 10am - 4pm. You can down load a brochure from here now or collect one at your first venue. See you there!

small things

2011-11-09T06:28:00.000-08:00

This week I've finished off pieces to submit to this and this.

I'll have to wait and see whether they're selected or not

framed

2011-11-04T10:35:00.000-07:00

I collected some work from the framer today, ready to take to the Headingley Arts Trail next week. I'm really pleased with how they've come out.

I've framed some of the thick felt pieces that were part of my degree final work. They originally made up one large work with 25 separate squares arranged together. Now, in their own box frames they have become separate works.

I didn't want them to be behind glass, so they just have a simple wooden frame with space between the subtly painted wood and the felt so that you can see the depth of the felt.

I'm really looking forward to seeing how they will look on the walls of 6 Harrowby Road....

headingley arts trail

2011-11-03T08:02:00.000-07:00

I will be exhibiting work at the Headingley Arts Trail the weekend after next. I'll be at venue 9, which is at 6 Harrowby Road. See the website for more info. I hope to be there most of the weekend so do come and say hi!

gathering

2011-10-31T12:22:00.000-07:00

I spent a couple of hours in my garden the other day. It was sunny and mild and the perfect opportunity to clear some of the debris left from Summer's abundance and to collect some seed before it all falls to the ground, and before British wintertime began with the clocks changing.

I gathered seed and/or seed heads from poppies, fennel, aquilegia, love-in-the-mist, cerinthe and from some runner beans that had been left on the plant far too long to make pleasant eating.

While I sorted them for storage I laid them out, enjoying the different seed heads and forms of the seeds.

Then I put them away into paper bags, ready for a new season and, hopefully, for a new garden.

copper stitches

2011-10-27T12:52:00.000-07:00

I've been away in a place on the edge of wild
with cold beds but the warmest company,
more lovely food than is sensible to eat
and wall to wall music.

Before I went away I was making copper stitches

and once the kids go back to school after half term I'll be making some more.

test

2011-10-16T03:11:00.000-07:00

A conversation last week with my friend Claire, about light fastness, has prompted me to test some of the things I've been working with lately to see how their colour stands up to exposure to light.

I've taken snippets of samples of the naturally dyes papers and fabrics I've produced, sewn them to paper and then split it into two similar strips.

One to sit by the studio door, in the light...

And one to sit in a drawer, in the dark.

slow printing

2011-10-14T02:19:00.000-07:00

I'm experimenting with the marks that can be achieved by laying items on to paper that have either been soaked in the remains of a dye bath, or rusty items that are laid onto wet paper (in this case wet with tea or with vinegar). It takes time, but as the moisture dries I am left with some exquisite marks that are a curious mixture of planning and randomness - something I feel underlies so much of my work.

This one isn't strictly printing, more dyeing, as the paper had been submerged in a dye bath with clamps to resist. I love the randomness of the rust marks next to the straight line created by the clamp.

stitch and paper

2011-10-07T09:37:00.000-07:00

collage

2011-10-05T02:51:00.000-07:00

At the weekend I spent a really inspiring two days with Emily Harvey, printmaker. My printmaking experience has been bitty (kind of on the back burner for a number of years) and, although I did have some access to the printmaking room at college, I never had enough time to give to it properly. But the desire to integrate it more into my work has remained and this was an opportunity to learn a bit more and test out some of my ideas. Collage is a tool I have often used as part of my design process; here it is key to the bringing together of texture and contrast that is used to make the print.

This intensive weekend was just what I needed to confirm to me that these processes suit my sensibilities. I am comfortable with the whole routine of printmaking (more so, I have to admit, than with screen printing); I love the experimental nature of both making collagraph plates and of printing from them; I love being able to concentrate on texture and line and that the 3D element is important, even though it is a low-relief kind of 3D. And, importantly, I can see how I can integrate my use of stitch into both the making of the plates and the resulting prints (something I started in my college work but that I want to push further).

We spent the first day making collagraph plates using a whole range of different techniques and resulting in a good bunch of different ones to then print from on the second day.

There were just two of us with Emily this weekend, and it was perfect - enough energy and ideas bouncing around between us to have kept going for a week I reckon! Here is the product of our labours (a bit more colourful than I would have naturally gone for, but using all that colour was a great way to understand the different effects you can achieve):

It was really interesting to see how different the resulting print can be using the same plate but with different inks and combinations of intaglio and relief printing.

I had a go once before at chine colle, so it was good to be reminded of this technique and to see how the layering up of a different paper can be really effective. Some of my experiments with this technique worked better than others, but I had lots of ideas about using this more.

When I got home I spent a good hour scribbling down lots of notes and ideas. It was a really inspiring weekend, I just have to let it all sink in and work out how to take things forward. At a time when I'm trying to focus my work in I am suddenly faced with more possibilities than I know what to do with!

making the most

2011-10-03T06:25:00.000-07:00

I'm making the most of the last of the Indian summer we've been having (it seems it will be all change by the end of the week): lunch outside, feeling the warmth of the sun, breathing in the delicious smells floating about on the warm air - a cocktail of summer and autumn.

revisiting and developing

2011-09-29T02:47:00.000-07:00

I'm revisiting some of the work I did in semester one last year at college. This work was all based around beachcombing trips and the different types of items I collected. It involved classifying and grouping the different objects and making assemblages with them in different ways. The interplay of natural and man-made was a key theme.

I've taken some of the prints and embossing that I did using found objects and have scanned them to make digital versions. I'm now cleaning them up in photoshop to make layers that can be played about with.

I'm going to be doing a collagraph printmaking workshop this weekend. I'm really excited about it. I've dabbled with this sort of printmaking at various times over the last 5 years. It all started when I went on a printmaking holiday in Cornwall and I've wanted to bring it more into my practice ever since. At college I had some access to the printmaking department (different to textile print) and most of my college projects included something derived from either collagraph or embossing using a printing press. Often this was some element of texture that led to a print, which I then incorporated into my work in different ways. The paper based element of my final year work, which was paper embossed with stitch marks and then stitched into further, is something I'm really keen to develop. I'm hoping to get my own small printing press soon and this weekend should give me the boost I need to develop this area of my work.

flitting and fiddling

2011-09-24T11:01:00.000-07:00

It feels like I've been flitting between lots of different things all week. I have a number of projects at the planning stage and, while I wait to be in a position to get stuck into any of them, I fiddle about in a slightly disjointed way.

I finished off the warp I'd had on my loom since January, when I wove scarves for late Christmas presents. I had hoped that there would be enough left to weave one more scarf, but I came to the end sooner than I thought. It has made a (very) short scarf length. I was then eager to get another warp on the loom. I wanted to see how some British wool yarn I have would fare as a warp. In my impatience I decided to try and make my warp using the old chairs-upside-down-on-on-the-table method.

Things didn't go quite to plan and I regretted my haste. The warp was a nightmare from here on in and I now know that this wool yarn is not really suited to being a warp, as I had suspected.

I've also been fiddling about with some of the leftover bits of printed felt I have from my degree project.

stitches

2011-09-17T07:21:00.000-07:00

I sat and stitched in between sales at the Makers Fair last weekend. I played about with some of my rust/seaweed dyed silk and found that little seeding stitches helped to keep the crumpled structure that the silk has and which I want to retain.

The wool felt I have left from my degree project makes a lovely base to stitch into and I find that I keep coming back to the square units that I used through out my final project, derived from ideas in architecture. There is something so pleasing about the square format.

I started off with a larger piece of felt and an even larger piece of silk and played about, but without direction. As soon as I cut off small squares I was happier with what I was doing, finding ways to vary the repetition subtly.

I've also been experimenting with ideas for a commission I have. I'm hoping that I can use some of the leftover materials from my degree work, as well as some left over ideas.

drawing

2011-09-13T07:38:00.000-07:00

A little while ago I was invited to attend a couple of music workshops to photograph and sketch the participants while they played. I jumped at the chance: an excuse to sit and draw for two or three hours is a valuable one. Of course I shouldn't need an excuse to draw - it is something I should be doing every day - but somehow it just doesn't happen that way. If I'm away somewhere I can make that a part of how I experience a different place but at home it is a different story, despite my many resolutions to make it part of my daily routine.

Anyway, I just got round to photographing and cleaning up my sketches. Here are a few of the ones I'm most pleased with, of a string quartet.

Drawing people is particularly challenging, I find. I just can't do faces, but I do enjoy trying to capture people (and animals) while they're moving. The resulting sketches are often quite sparse as they have to be so quick, but somehow I find I can capture something of the moment or the movement without having to get bogged down in too much detail.

planning

2011-09-11T07:11:00.000-07:00

I'm planning something new, but which will enable a return to something I love after some time away from it. It is five years since I dyed with indigo. I love blue very much and simply can't get enough of the particular shades that come with indigo dyeing. I'm hoping that it will be just the thing for this new project.

undone

2011-09-09T08:39:00.000-07:00

I've finally unwrapped the bundles I made at the old fishing station, shaking out the dried up seaweed, stow-away sand and rusty bits and pieces.

The most successful marks were from the bundle containing seaweed and rusty screws. The seaweed colours are fairly subtle but some of the marks from the screws are great.

Unwrapping it like this and allowing the wrinkles and creases to keep some of their shape leaves a lovely 3D sculptural feel to the silk, even where there isn't much colour.

This bundle just had various rusty objects and no seaweed:

This was a piece of wool felt that I wrapped round some limpet shells and bound tightly. I wanted to see how much the shell would emboss its texture into the felt. It has taken the shape of the shells but there is only a little of the surface texture.

The felt bundle that had seaweed in didn't take much colour, but I do love the marks you get on the outside from where the threads were wound round.

iron men

2011-09-09T07:05:00.000-07:00

I'm reading this to my son at the moment. Last night, as we read about the iron man standing on the edge of the sea, listening, looking, and then finally wading in to the water, deeper and deeper, I couldn't help thinking that he'll get awfully rusty!

...thoughts of rusty stuff by the sea from earlier in the summer and all sort of things I'd like to try using rusty marks...

...thoughts also of these iron men who stand by the sea. I read a children's story about them too yesterday. I have to use my imagination to picture how their surfaces are affected by the place where they stand as I have yet to meet them. I am determined to before too long though.

welcome

2011-09-07T15:24:00.001-07:00

Debbie, who I met at the Festival of Quilts, has just sent me this photo that she took of me and some of my work. Thank you Debbie and welcome to all those new followers who have joined recently.

makers fair

2011-09-07T05:33:00.001-07:00

This Saturday I will be selling my wares here:

If you're within reach of Saltaire then come along. There are all sorts of different things happening over the period of the festival but the makers fair is for one day only this time.

combing

2011-08-31T14:29:00.000-07:00

I re-visited one of the beaches that was particularly rich in beach-combing material last year. I remember that this one had all sorts of plastic and metal scattered around amongst the pebbles. Someone had collected a lot of it together and it sat in one place: a colourful heap of broken and discarded things and perhaps even more depressing because of being piled up together. I collected a bit more up to add to the pile or to take away and fiddle about with myself: one hand man made...

the other natural.

It gave me something to play with later on.

world beach

2011-08-30T02:51:00.000-07:00

My latest addition to the wonderful World Beach Project is here.

rust prints

2011-08-29T13:50:00.000-07:00

Despite being upset by a few cows, the paper I had left at the old fishing station set up to make rust prints did end up with some good marks. Above is the one with a whole range of rusty nails and tools and below is the one with the long nails laid out in a row.

It was just an experiment really, nothing amazing, but it's good to know that something can develop over just a few days and left in a public place (although it isn't exactly heaving with people up on the west coast of Scotland!)

unwrapping

2011-08-28T08:09:00.000-07:00

I took a couple of my 'old fishing station' bundles back there towards the end of the week to unwrap them and see what results I would get from the experiments I'd set up. They had definitely developed over the few days they'd sat on the veranda, colour seeping through in various places. The top one of the bunch had just sea weed in it, wrapped in silk. It seemed right to return the seaweed to where I'd found it. The others I wanted to bring home to give them longer to develop.

I was intrigued to see what would have happened to my rust prints that I'd left in the hut. When I got there the one on the shelf was just as I'd left it with some nice marks transferred from the rusty bits and pieces onto my paper.

The cows had been into the hut over night (probably to get out of the rain the previous day) and crashed about a bit. They had left their mark in various places amongst the ropes and 'stuff' on the floor. They'd also knocked my other paper off the box I'd left it on. There were marks on it from the rusty nails but also the odd foot print!

I unwrapped the thread that was binding my bundle tight then unrolled the silk, shaking out the bits of weed that I'd wrapped up a few days earlier.

The different types of weed left different marks and colours, some with quite distinct patterns from the veins and fronds.

As the silk unwound it flew in the breeze like a flag. I carried it to the edge of the water to rinse out the last bits of weed.

The silk dried quickly in the warm breeze and sunshine. I wet another small piece of wool felt and wrapped it around a big limpet shell, binding with linen thread. This one was to go home with me, along with a jar of sea water with a few of the rusty nails I'd found for future use.

next installment

2011-08-28T01:55:00.001-07:00

The bundles I made on the beach sat for a few days on the wooden veranda of the place I was staying.

Meanwhile, I wove a little and fiddled about with some of the things I'd collected.

I read, in Robert Macfarlane's The Wild Places, about why he collects things from the various places he visits.

My habit of gathering stones and other talismans was a family one. My parents were collectors. Shelves and window-sills in my house were covered in shells, pebbles, twists of driftwood from rivers and sea. For as long as I could remember, we had picked things up as we walked. Humdrum, everyday rites, practised by millions of people…. Now, though, collecting offered a way both to remember and to join up my wild places…. The objects seemed to hold my landscapes together, without binding them too tightly.

Of course, many people collect things when they walk, but perhaps we do this for different reasons? Do we do it to take a tangible thing from a place to aid our memory? Does it makes us feel we own something of that place? This must satisfy something within, to take a little piece of a place away. I wonder at these little items: a pebble, a shell, a feather. On this trip there seemed to be a theme of colour and form that developed in the things I chose to pick up.

I find satisfaction in laying the items out, arranging them in a way that shows them off in their simple beauty and allows me to see them, watch them, get to know them.

Then the mist came down and the distant hills disappeared. Sea and sky merged. Every so often a boat slipped passed and then a submarine emerged out of the gloom and drifted around ominously.

A wet day seemed right for a garden visit, dripping and steaming. At least the midges weren't too bad! As well as its celebrated walled kitchen garden, Inverewe has some lovely trees, including various eucalyptus and one had kindly dropped some multi-coloured leaves. These later got bundled up in paper and silk, were steamed and then added to the collection of curing bundles on the veranda.

return

2011-08-17T14:35:00.001-07:00

A couple of days after exploring the inside of the old fishing station I returned and started a few experiments. Having read in India Flint's Second Skin about the value of dipping fabric in seawater before other dyeing processes I popped a few bits and pieces into the waves and gave them a good soaking. Some were left to dry on the pebbles.

I gathered up bits of sea weed from the receding water and wrapped them in the wet silk.

I did the same for some salty wet wool felt.

I took a few rusty nails from inside the hut and added these to one of the seaweed bundles to see what difference it would make to the potential colours. This bit felt very scientific - some with and some without as a control!

I wrapped one piece of silk round various rusty metal objects without any weed in there but with plenty of salty wetness! I then put some pieces of paper from my sketchbook into the waves to thoroughly wet them (this is the point when anyone else on the beach might have started to wonder what the hell I was doing, but these Scottish beaches are so un-crowded that the nearest people were probably totally oblivious to my odd potterings). I then placed my wet paper underneath some of the rusty stuff in the hut to see if I might get some interesting rust prints.

The paper seemed to start to dry pretty quickly with the breeze and the fact it was a fairly nice day so I poured a bit more sea water on to these little setups a few more times through the day to keep them damp for as long as possible.

I then left them to it with the intention of returning a few days later, taking my bundles with me to sit and develop with time. What might I find when I returned? Would my paper be removed by a fisherman wondering what on earth people had been doing in his hut?

A few more beach treasures...

and this lovely little chap, later to be identified as a masked crab carapace. I'm always amazed how such a delicate thing like this can find its way from the waves onto the beach and remain intact.

There were various different sea urchins on this beach, including a number of little sea potatoes (or heart urchins - sounds a bit more romantic!), the smallest of which was about the size of my thumb nail. That one was too fragile though, and as I went to pick it up it crumbled in my fingers.

the old fishing station

2011-08-15T13:04:00.000-07:00

I've been kind of sitting on this one for a while, saving it up, trying to get my head around the experience of this place. I was staying on the north west coast of Scotland, an area I've been coming on holiday to all my life. This place is nestled well and truly in my soul.

This visit was a kind of working holiday - work in the mornings, beach in the afternoons - and all the time this ever-changing view of the sea and the distant hills of Skye and the northern outer Hebrides beyond.

There is a beach beyond the end of the road (where once I rode a horse as a child and the queen had a picnic with her yacht anchored out in the bay) that gets my vote as one of the most beautiful places in the world.

At the southern end of this beach sits the old fishing station. It's just a hut, open to the elements; no door or glass in the windows. Inside it is piled full of stuff: ropes, buoys, wood, old tyres, tins, rusty this-that-and-the-other.

Some of this stuff is still used on occasion I guess but there is also a whole load of rubbish. Things are just left as if someone was to come back and use them but in the mean time they've gone rusty and are rotting in the salty air and the weather (there is a lot of weather here!). The local livestock obviously use the hut for shelter at times too - they've left their mark.

Inside, on the shelves, there are all sorts of things that are now rusted and of no use for their originally intended tasks.

Outside, more rubbish is strewn about, half reclaimed by the sand and rough grassland on the dunes.

Even the outside has a ramshackle collection of nails along its weather beaten boards. This place is/was all about utility and nothing to do with aesthetics but I was totally captivated by it and, throughout my stay, returned a number of times to explore its contents and the treasures of the beach it sits by.

take down

2011-08-15T07:25:00.000-07:00

I was completely shattered after the take down at the NEC yesterday and the long drive to be with my kids - I thought they might wonder who I was but I got big hugs this morning!

I had such an amazing few days at the FOQ and the best thing of all was meeting so many lovely people and having some really interesting conversations. It was good to share some of what I've been doing over the last few years and to find that people were so interested in what I do. Some of the comments were quite overwhelming.

I didn't get much of a chance to see the rest of the show I'm afraid, but what I did see covered such variety and skill, even if it wasn't all my 'thing'. I wished I could have had a bit more time to see a couple of the gallery exhibitions that I was really taken with, but I did get some glimpses before the show started in the mornings.

So if you came to see me, thank you, and hopefully see you next year!

and another thing

2011-08-12T11:48:00.001-07:00

I forgot to say, in the whirlwind that was yesterday, that my miniature quilt was awarded a Highly Commended! I'm a bit embarrassed by this as I wasn't entirely happy with the final result but had to send it off for the deadline in a bit of a rush. Also, it is far from traditional. I'm told that it caused some fierce discussion in the judging panel!

great day

2011-08-11T11:13:00.000-07:00

What a day I've had! I was told this morning that I am joint winner of the Graduate Showcase bursary at the Festival of Quilts. I'm absolutely thrilled! I share the prize with Rose Wood and we both went to the presentation event this afternoon (hosted by Kaffe Fassett) where we were given a cup of tea (very welcome by that point in the day!) and our certificates by Pauline Burbidge, who selected us both at New Designers and here. We both get a chunk of money to spend furthering our work and a space at next year's show.

I also met Claire Benn and Janice Gunner today, who both bought pieces of my work. I've had so many lovely comments and conversations today, I'm surprised I got my head out the door at the close of show! Excuse me while I just go and pinch myself...

miniatures

2011-08-10T10:38:00.000-07:00

While I was away on holiday last week I got rather a lot of work done. Maybe that was partly a result of having no internet access! I've been working with samples and leftover bits and pieces from my natural dyeing experiments over the last few months along with a new batch I dyed just before going away. I took the newly dyed batch with me to dry out slowly on the wooden porch.

I then opened them up, once some time and fresh air had done its stuff, to reveal these lovely little concertinas and marked units.

I'm using paper of different weights that has been folded, clamped and dyed with onion skins and some with red cabbage (giving a lovely blue).

I have rough grids and squares and little units, which I've brought together to make little assemblages. Some pieces have squares of wool felt that have been clamped and dyed in the same way as the paper. The dye on some is so dark (aided by the metal in the clamps) that they look charred. There are also rust marks from the clamps that merge with the onion skin colour.

Copper wire stitches bring everything together and each piece is mounted on board ready to pop into a frame.

Quilt fest

2011-08-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

I've just finished setting up my work at the Festival of Quilts at the NEC in Birmingham. There are 6 of us on the Graduate Showcase stand who turned up early this morning to put our work up ready for the show opening tomorrow. Here are a few images of my stand today. The lights weren't up when I took these photos but you get an idea of the space.

Much of the work is as I had it at New Designers but I have brought a few different things. I now have two of my embossed paper pieces framed and I've brought a couple of pieces that were development samples and so didn't make it into the final show at Bradford.

I've made some new miniature pieces to sell. These are little assemblages of naturally dyed paper and felt with copper wire stitches. They're mounted ready to go into frames.

The show opens on Thursday morning and goes on through to Sunday. Do come and say hello if you are coming along.

strange marks

2011-07-28T10:36:00.000-07:00

There are some glorious clashes of colour going on at the end of my garden; lots of reds (poppies, crocosmia, runner bean flowers) and lilacs (opium poppies and chard stems) and much of it completely random with self sewn things growing where the hell they like. I love that accidental aspect of gardening, that mix of the controlled and uncontrolled. I was reminded today of visiting Great Dixter at this time last year - they really know how to make the most of the accidental there.

I found these strange marks on the glass of my Mum's greenhouse. They've been made by some sort of animal scraping off the algae. They are very curious and beautiful and look just like the kind of mark I might have made stitching something.

inspired to bundle

2011-07-25T03:04:00.000-07:00

As soon as I'd finished writing my review of Second Skin last week I was itching to do some dyeing. I had a couple of bags of eucalyptus leaves that I'd had sitting waiting for quite a while. One was from a tree in my parents' garden, that I'd brought back from a visit ages ago and hadn't got round to doing anything with. The other were a little bundle from South Africa.

When I visited there 18 months ago I'd painted these leaves and had a little stash waiting for something. When I painted them they were fairly freshly fallen and the colours were more varied and vivid. Now they're older and brittle and much more dull but still with variation in their pinks and browns.

I took a piece of wool felt, some silk habotai, silk gauze chiffon and a piece of silk/viscose velvet I found left over from various college projects. I made up a series of bundles, bound with wool and made a last little wrapping of more of the wool round a few leaves.

These all got the steaming and sitting treatment and as they sat the colours really developed. I undid them yesterday as I noticed there were patches of mold forming on the surface of the damp parcels. I unwrapped them, rinsed and hung them to dry in the sunshine.

The African leaves have made beautiful impressions on the felt and the silk pieces have taken on a generally uniform orange with patches of more intense colour.

It felt so good to be doing this again.

membership

2011-07-22T08:22:00.000-07:00

I've been accepted for Licentiate membership of the Society of Designer Craftsmen. The society "promotes and supports the work of creative thinkers, designers and makers who continue to innovate in the crafts through their exploration of materials and skills". My work was assessed at New Designers and was awarded a merit, which means I will be invited to exhibit at Designer Crafts at The Mall at the Mall Gallery next January.

yellow

2011-07-19T13:03:00.000-07:00

splashes of yellow were in abundance today...

jasmine

2011-07-17T14:41:00.000-07:00

second skin

2011-07-16T10:24:00.000-07:00

When I wrote about India Flint's first book Eco Colour here I was asked if I'd like to review the follow up. Great, I thought, then forgot all about it. So when a rather exciting package arrived on my doorstep with this inside I got very excited.

India Flint’s new book Second Skin is a beautiful follow up to her first. It has the same luscious feel, packed with gorgeous photographs and illustrations and has a pleasing mix of practical information, snippets from different cultural traditions and more general anecdotal writing that gives an insight in to India’s colourful life.

Despite its visual appeal some of the content doesn’t make for comfortable reading. India reminds the reader of how poorly informed most of us are about where our clothing is derived from: the fibres and the processes that have gone into the garments that we wrap around our bodies for the majority of our lives. Of course, even if we care about such things it can often be very difficult to find out the history of what we buy and this book highlights the real facts about the systems that our clothes pass through.

There are no straightforward answers and an element of guilt is inevitable in reading parts of chapters 1 to 4. For example, even the fairly well informed may feel they are doing a good thing by buying an organic cotton t-shirt, unaware of the parts of production of that garment that are far from sustainable. Chapter 2, Provenance, is full of cautionary tales and the complicated nature of trying to live in a sustainable way is set out well.

It strikes me that the difficulty of breaking out of the system, stepping off the treadmill, going against the tide means that, even for the well intentioned, practicality means we can’t all do as much as we might hope to. But small changes make a big difference and if this book changes one aspect of behavior in the way each reader sources their clothing those small changes will add up to much more. The all important “have less stuff” is something we all know of as a positive move in living mindfully but how many of us really have the discipline and commitment to live that way? It is always good to be reminded of issues you are already vaguely aware of and have your resolve strengthened periodically.

Chapter 7 gives a short run down of various artists and makers whose work shares principles of sustainability and re-use of materials. This is useful but is almost a starting point for a book in itself.

Chapters 5, 6, 8 and 9 are full of tips and suggestions that I would imagine will give the eco-conscious fashion student much mileage. Chapter 8 on re-purposing is where things got pretty mouth watering for me. All sorts of ideas are given for creating new garments from old and there is scope within these to be really playful. Just like in Eco Colour, there is an undercurrent of useful information that is intended to be used with individuality and in the exploration of personal style. India’s generosity with her experience and skill is huge but she is not prescriptive and it really makes you want to try it all out yourself.

Chapter 10, on dyeing, re-visits the ground covered in Eco Colour but expands on it and, as ever, is a wonderful mix of practical instruction and encouragement to be experimental. The myriad of tips and ideas are ever-useful.

Like the natural dyes that India’s life and work are so wrapped up in, the effect of this book will grow stronger with time: repeated dipping, short periods of immersion, time for absorption are all part of imbuing your life with the sentiments and skills within its pages. It’s certainly re-ignited some slow-burning flames of mine: I’m off to get a few bundles steaming now…

Second Skin, published by Murdoch Books, is available from 1st August.

result

2011-07-16T02:21:00.000-07:00

I'm thrilled to announce that I have been awarded a first class degree. No detail yet on breakdown of marks but the hard work was worth it!

delivery

2011-07-15T04:36:00.000-07:00

I've just delivered two pieces of work to this gallery in Clitheroe for their Lancashire and Yorkshire Craft Open Exhibition. They are two of my stitch-embossed paper with paper yarn stitches.

When I collected them from the framers earlier this week I was a little unsure about how they work in frames and behind glass. It has certainly changed them. The barrier of the glass makes them harder work to view but it also encases them in a way that, on reflection, I like.

It has given them a kind of museum piece quality, like they are some sort of artifact that needs careful protection. They are delicate and subtle and so somehow this encasing is appropriate.

The Craft Open is on from 23rd July until 1st October.

stitched folds

2011-07-13T02:24:00.000-07:00

Before I was selected for the graduate showcase at the Festival of Quilts I had already committed to entering the mini quilt section of the open exhibition. My entry is slowly taking shape.

I'm using a piece of silk that was printed with my sketched building site screen at college. Using these dots to help me...

I'm bringing four points together to make these little corners with walls in between.

I have a vague idea of how I want it to look but I'm pretty much making it up as I go along. I've tried stitching along the bottom of the little 'walls' to give them more definition but am not convinced that it is right.

I've also been toying with the idea of having 'windows' inserted in some of the compartments...

but I don't think they work. The combination of the print and the structure of the manipulated fabric is enough, windows are a step too far, but sometimes you have to try things out to find what works and what doesn't.

peeling back the layers

2011-07-07T04:18:00.000-07:00

It is always interesting peeling off old wallpaper and seeing what other layers of paper and paint are underneath. I've been stripping off the old brittle paper from a room in my attic and underneath is the most beautiful turquoise colour. It actually looks quite toxic - arsenic green springs to mind! I'm having to be careful with all the dust from this and from the black coal dust in the plaster of this old house.

Once some old shelves were removed there was a strip of a different paper with delicate flowers. It all has to come off but I'm enjoying the discovery in the process.

abundace

2011-07-06T02:10:00.000-07:00

I missed my garden while I was away last week. It such a lovely time of year and everything has filled out beautifully with the heat and rain.

The day before I went away the first buds on my sweet peas were tantalisingly showing a little colour, ready to burst open as soon as I closed the front door to go for my train. On my return there were enough flowers for the first posy to go on the dining table.

For me that is the point at which summer has truly arrived. The smell drifting around the house takes me right back to my childhood and picking great bunches of the multi-coloured blooms for the dining room at my grandparents' house.

I've been picking salad leaves for a while but the beans have finally started producing and I picked the fat golden balls off the gooseberry bush yesterday.

The plant itself looks very worse for wear as it has been ravaged by saw fly larvae again. It happens every year: they completely decimate the leaves, but it doesn't seem to stop it producing the lovely fruit.

Current listening: Michael Nyman, The Piano (dreaming of distant shores)

small fish?

2011-07-05T03:30:00.000-07:00

I'm back from a hectic week in London. New Designers was quite an experience and a bit of a roller coaster ride of emotions. The hustle and bustle of London was a novelty, the experience intensified somewhat by the heat! Being a commuter for a week and traveling on the tube at rush hour certainly makes me appreciate my usual morning walk to school with the kids.

When I've visited this show in previous years I have been overwhelmed by the amount of amazing work that comes together from the various design courses around the country. How could I ever stand out amongst this lot? This 'small fish' feeling was even more the case as an exhibitor. My work is quiet and subtle and there were times when I felt it got lost in amongst the garish riot of pattern that was in that building. However, as the week went on I did find that my work was appreciated and I had some lovely conversations with people that were supportive and very positive about what I do.

I was interviewed by a couple of different trends organisations. They seemed particularly interested in the sustainability aspect of my work. I sold some cards and lots of people took my business cards and postcards. I made a few interesting contacts. The most exciting thing that happened was finding that I'd been selected for the graduate showcase at the Festival of Quilts in August. This is a really exciting opportunity and I'm so pleased.

The whole affair was exhausting and uplifting in equal measures; there was a stage during each day where I reached saturation point in terms of visual 'stuff' and needed to escape. Emerging from the building one evening to beautiful light on distant buildings was most welcome.

It would have been great to do a few other things in London: sit about in parks, visit some exhibitions, but that wasn't what this week was for. I did find some pretty great food though, including some lovely things from the local shops near where I was staying...

exciting post

2011-06-25T01:43:00.001-07:00

When I got home from college yesterday I found an unusually lovely pile of post on the door mat. Along with the final details for posting off my entry to the Festival of Quilts was a letter from the Platform Gallery in Clitheroe. They've accepted two of the three pieces I entered into their Craft Open Exhibition, which opens on 23rd July. There was also a rather exciting package. More on that another time...

packed up

2011-06-24T08:17:00.000-07:00

The show has been up all week and there have been some lovely comments about how professional our room looked and how well our show came together. I also had some really positive feedback on my work, so I'm feeling very pleased indeed.

But today we took it all down and packed it away and into the van to go down to New Designers next week.

So all that is left are some holes in the wall...

some bent nails and pins...

and good portion of excitement about next week.

happy solstice

2011-06-21T01:46:00.001-07:00

a musical interlude

2011-06-19T04:27:00.000-07:00

After my final deadline a week or so ago I had a little time away as a bit of a treat. It was a very fleeting visit to Suffolk, but absolutely worth the long drive to get there and packed full of sensory delights.

The main reason for going was to hear this amazing ensemble perform at the Aldeburgh Festival. Not only are this group technically brilliant I love their ethos: they are passionate about playing music in the absolutely best way they can, coming together to work intensively on one piece at a time, performing one piece only and without a conductor. They spoiled the one-work-thing a little by playing an encore (beautifully!) but they obviously feel huge pressure from venues and audiences to conform to the conventions of performance that we have. The courage at takes to perform one work only is similar to that needed to show one work only in an exhibition. This isn't what people expect - they want as much as they can get for their money, but if it is about quality rather than quantity then the result can be so much more affecting.

It was a very moving performance. This group have to communicate with each other in the way that a quartet would, but there are 35 of them. They know each other's parts inside out as well as their own. Without the barrier of a conductor standing with their back to the audience the concert felt like such a completely shared experience between players and audience - really something very special.

The evening before we stumbled upon this intriguing place, where the instrument workshop is open to the street and all the violin maker's tools were on view. We peered through the windows at the strange bits and pieces: clamps and planes, partly carved shapes, bottles of varnish - a hive of craftsmanship left for the night.

And then there were various other interesting shops to peer into...

There were reed warblers in the reed bed that Snape concert hall sits next to and that this Family of Man looks out over, warbling away and flitting between the raindrop bejeweled stems.

And as for the beach at Aldeburgh, which in many ways was reminiscent of Dungeness (it even has a nuclear power station within view) but not nearly as barren and strange, well there just wasn't enough time to take it all properly... I'll just have to go back again.

Concert listening: Beethoven's 4th Symphony

an end and a beginning

2011-06-19T02:04:00.000-07:00

It's a very strange feeling coming to the end of something that started five years ago and has dominated so much of my life during that time. Many changes have taken place, affecting so many areas of my life, many positive, but also twists and turns that were so unexpected: it is difficult not to feel a bit melancholy at this time. Of course this is also the beginning of so much and I'm ready for that. It's time to move on, take on new challenges and have new adventures...

The preview went well, there were lots of familiar faces coming to see what new ideas this year's graduates have produced. It was lovely to have the support of good friends on an occasion like this. I'm determined not to fall into the void that so many past students have spoken about when you finish a degree like this: exhaustion, not knowing quite where to turn next... I already have a long list of things to be getting on with but of course it is a little overwhelming and from now on so much has to be driven by the need to have an income. Finding that balance between financial concerns, the demands of family life and satisfying creative needs is always going to be a challenge, but it's one I'm up for! In the mean time I'm going to do my best to enjoy the show being up and the excitement of going to New Designers.

The show at Bradford is open Monday to Thursday this week, 10.30 - 4 each day.

Current listening: Britten's string quartet No. 1

old habits

2011-06-17T02:36:00.000-07:00

I've been making cards. In a way this feels strange; part of the point of doing this degree was because I don't want to be making the cards for the rest of my life, but old habits die hard! And actually I think it is something I will always do alongside my work. I'm set up for it so it makes sense to.

So I've made a batch of cards that I can have for sale at the show in Bradford and in London - ever the opportunist. And I'm using things up, recycling: I'm making the most of my screens at college before they're cleaned, and of the pigment that is left over from my screen printing. The card and envelopes are all made from recycled paper and the bags that the cards go into are completely bio-degradable, something that wasn't available when I started making cards seriously, about 7 years ago.

As for tonight and the preview of the degree show, I'm excited but also a little nervous...

arts thread

2011-06-15T01:41:00.001-07:00

As part of the deal with New Designers we get an online portfolio space on the Arts Thread website to help promote our work. Mine is here.

you are invited

2011-06-13T03:07:00.000-07:00

I will also be showing at New Designers, Week 1
from 29th June-2nd July, Stand T31 & T29

Hope to see you at one or the other!

fixings

2011-06-08T13:27:00.001-07:00

tension

2011-06-07T15:06:00.000-07:00

It took most of yesterday to set up my tensioned wires and fixings for the stitched and dyed felt pieces that I am suspending as part of my final show.

They were really fiddly but I had been primed well on how to do it and I'm pleased with the result. Thank goodness for invisible thread!

Nearly there...

making techniques almost finished

2011-06-04T02:14:00.000-07:00

The final piece for my 'Making Techniques' module is almost finished. It just needs some tweaking once I get it into my space at college.

Current listening: Grieg violin sonatas

final push

2011-06-03T11:56:00.000-07:00

I have a few days left until my final deadlines at college and I still have a good long list of jobs to work through. Half term comes at a bad time but, having spent most of the week on family and other commitments, I can now give my full attention to that list.

All my development samples are mounted, labelled and their technical details recorded accordingly. I have lots of small pulling together and finishing off kind of jobs to do.

The beautiful weather we are currently having means that when I do leave my desk I can sit in the garden for a few minutes or eat out there. I love sitting and noticing the detail of all the little changes that have happened since I last sat in the same spot.

What is it that makes iris leaves do this? I've noticed it before and I can't find an insect that might have caused this intricate puckering.

There have been insects at work on my gooseberry bush - saw fly larvae. But even if they have stripped half the leaves the fruit is unscathed and swelling nicely.

Current listening: lots of radio in my studio: BBC 6 music with interludes of Radio 4 today.

around and about at saltaire arts trail

2011-05-30T05:14:00.001-07:00

Above are:

Saltaire Arts Trail

Mask making, Family activities

Hugh Lieshman, woodturner

Make a mosaic with re-claimed bricks, Titus Salt School

Saltaire, World Heritage Site

Out There

Teepees and felt making, Sponge Tree

Kate Bowles, Handmade books

Wychbury

World's Smallest Cinema, Cherry Kino

come to saltaire arts trail!

2011-05-26T05:38:00.000-07:00

There are just a couple of days to go now until the lovely Saltaire Arts Trail. This is an event I've been part of ever since it started, evolving out of an event as part of the Saltaire Festival; first becoming an entity in its own right but sitting alongside the Festival and now going it alone as a stand alone event at a different time of year. From selling at the Makers' Fair, to helping organise said Makers' Fair, and then onto the board of Saltaire Inspired (the organisation that runs the Arts Trail), my involvement has evolved too!

This is always such a lovely feast of arts-related activities (I know I'm biased but it really is true!), from open houses filled with wonderful artwork from all over Yorkshire, to curious interactive exhibitions, family activities to a record breaking cinema and much much more. It is run almost entirely by a bunch of wonderful volunteers and it is amazing what they manage to pull out of the bag. Just hope for lovely weather and get on down to the inspiring World Heritage Site that is Saltaire this weekend...

last stitches

2011-05-25T10:42:00.000-07:00

These are the last stitches on my final pieces. It seems a little sad. It means the fun bit is over and all I have to do now is loads of mounting, trimming, writing up, filing...

the hepworth

2011-05-24T01:39:00.000-07:00

Just as I was approaching the new bridge over the river to t he Hepworth gallery on Friday night (preview night) there was a heron sitting on one of the bright orange floats that span the river. It was the perfect shot... but by the time I had my camera out he'd just started to fly off. It was nice to see they'd cleared all the river-born rubbish from the boom for the occasion!

This building playing an important role early on in my college work this semester. When I last came here to photograph the outside it was still being fitted out inside. This time it was good to see people inside the gallery spaces through those windows that face across the river.

The place was pretty packed on Friday night so it was difficult to get a sense of the gallery spaces on a normal day but the initial impression was certainly not a disappointment. I'm looking forward to going again when it's a bit quieter and getting to know some of the beautiful work that the place is now home to.

different light

2011-05-23T14:02:00.001-07:00

It's amazing how different the same piece can look photographed in different conditions.

photo shoot

2011-05-18T07:20:00.000-07:00

We had a photo shoot last week at college. This was to provide us with professional standard photos for use on publicity stuff: postcards, business cards etc. Some students arranged for models and brought all sorts of props to set up their work to suggest fashion or interiors situations. My collection is made up of art pieces on felt, paper and digital projection and so I don't really need any props, just a wall or two.

What I really wanted were some close-up shots of stitches and my embossed paper pieces. These are what I've really struggled to photograph well myself. There isn't much for the camera to focus on as it is all monotone; it is the shadow created by the texture that gives contrast. I got my images back early this week. The images of the felt pieces were no better than I can manage myself. I'm looking forward to getting these up in my space for the show to be able to photograph them properly together. Meanwhile I've found that close ups taken outside in the sunshine give the best results (above).

The photographer at college managed to light the paper pieces so that the embossed marks show but the shadows cast by the stitches aren't too dominant, although the images are still quite dark.

When I photographed them myself in strong sunlight I got some good bright shots but the shadows are so strong they are a bit confusing: they look more like drawings.

I like the ambiguity of these pieces however, so perhaps it is about capturing that...

I've taken so many photographs recently and I'm struggling to find one that captures the whole collection to use for my postcards.

I keep coming back to these folded, clamped and dyed silk pieces, which were really development pieces and haven't made it through to the plan for my show space but which are hanging in my studio.

They have the three dimensional quality that I originally intended for this project and which in a sense has been put aside in favour of more subtle 'flattened relief'. I'm tempted to try and include them though... just not sure how to do it. The danger is that I end up just including everything. I know the secret of putting together a good collection is what you leave out when the temptation is to include as much as you can - just have to try and put that into practise!

may gardens

2011-05-16T11:27:00.000-07:00

An afternoon out on Sunday took me to York Gate Garden, near Leeds. It's an intimate place, full of little corners and subtly framed views.

The central section has these imposing clipped yew pyramids and dramatic planting...

but the corners and hidden places are where you really want to linger.

Back at home my garden yielded this bunch.

pairings

2011-05-13T11:35:00.000-07:00

Yesterday I was at Manchester Metropolitan University for the Pairings conference. 15 Images was included in the programme as an 'intervention', which meant a performance after the main papers and events of the day and hopefully gave the delegates a little time to chill out and reflect on all the stuff they'd been listening to all day.

15 Images is of relevance to the Parings project, which is all about cross-discipline collaboration, because it brings together 4 individuals from 4 different disciplines: composition, textiles, digital technology and performance. There were some lovely comments following the performance and hopefully some useful contacts made.

It was good to get back into my studio today and get things straight in my head in terms of what is left to do before my final deadlines at college. I had a useful afternoon planning how my main printed and stitched felt pieces will be arranged in my space, working out what is missing and the jobs left to do. I then spent what seemed like ages grappling with various social media type things. Not my forte but a necessary part of set up and promotion as an artist in this day and age!

Meanwhile, there seems to be some rather good collaboration going on in my garden. The rain is back in play and is boosting everything beautifully. There is suddenly lush growth and a fullness that was lacking a week or so ago.

This time of year is when things are most harmonious in my garden as blues predominate and work together with the purples and pinks. I have a lovely viewpoint from the kitchen window that looks past little blue and yellow violas in the window box, through to the blues of rosemary flowers, the ceonothus (which is at its peak), irises and aliums. Every now and then there is punctuation from a citrusy yellow euohorbia or alchemilla mollis just starting to flower.

sit

2011-05-13T09:49:00.000-07:00

I spent last weekend at Stroud International Textiles Festival. It was a weekend so full of inspiring and exciting things that I can't even begin to describe it, I just haven't the time, so a quick round up will have to do.

On Saturday I went on the 'textile trail', visiting the studios of:

weaver, Tim Parry-Williams
textile artist, Matthew Harris (whose wife Cleo Mussi I interviewed for my dissertation about her gardening and her practice - the garden was looking as lovely as I remember)
weaver, Nick Ozanne
textile and collaborative group, Studio Seven
dressmaker and ethical sourcer, Dorothy Reglar
weaver, Sarah Beadsmoore

Each was as interesting as the next, but all in different ways and all so much richer an experience from actually being able to talk to the artist in their own space. As is often the case with these events you feel you have to cram as much as possible in when actually it might be better to just visit one or two places and really savor them. This would avoid reaching saturation point!

On Sunday I attended the 'Off the Loom' symposium, coordinated by Laura Thomas. Another day full of inspiration from a number of talented and successful makers/designers/artists, all pushing the boundaries of weave in different and interesting ways.

bullion stitch

2011-05-06T03:47:00.000-07:00

I've made a lot of these little 3D stitches lately.

They're a sort of extended french knot and they give a lovely raised loop that I'm using to make marks elsewhere: They're transferred into virtual stitches that will appear on the wall,

and they are making lovely detailed impressions of themselves in beautiful thick paper.

The different elements of my final show are starting to come together, which feels good. There is still a lot to do though ...

yellow

2011-05-02T06:45:00.000-07:00

Driving home this morning from a long weekend with family the predominant colour was the yellow of oil seed rape fields shouting out their presence.

It's brash and bright in its mono-cultural state in these fields and really quite a contrast to the more subtle colours we came across on our woodland walk the other day.

This time of year, when the hedges are full of cow parsley and may blossom, has to be my very favorite time. And when you look closely there are stitchwort, red campion, dandelions, bluebells...

I've had a lovely break with some of the best company one could ask for and we've had such lovely weather. But enough of all that relaxing stuff: I have so much work to do.

easter sunshine

2011-04-29T12:46:00.000-07:00

embossing felt

2011-04-19T05:50:00.000-07:00

I've moved the contents of my studio space at college to my home studio. I know it will all have to go back again but for a while I'll need to work at home and the end of term seemed as good a time as any to shift it all.

Last week I did some experiments with a devore process into my thick felt. The usual devore technique uses an alkaline paste that eats into cellulose fibres, cutting them away. This wouldn't work on wool and the equivalent process that does work on wool uses an acid paste to do the same job. The technician said no one had ever done this before at college. He didn't say I couldn't though... I later found out that it hasn't been allowed before due to health and safety reasons! The process uses caustic soda, which is pretty nasty stuff. Needless to say I was very careful. And it worked, really well in fact.

The trouble is though, it doesn't sit very well with the sustainability issues that I'm exploring in this project. I don't feel at all comfortable with it as a process. I won't be taking it any further.

So, now to find a way of creating that embossed effect in my thick felt that doesn't involve harmful chemicals... I tried burning into the felt with a soldering iron. It worked but not brilliantly. I tried using a drill to 'draw' into the felt. This didn't really work at all: the drill got all caught up in the fibres. Then I tried threading wire through holes drilled into a piece of wood and clamping this onto the felt before steaming.

This is still drying off after steaming, as are the next few samples which were wrapped round thick cardboard tubes and steamed or dyed with onion skins. I'll leave them all for a few days before undoing the various bundles to see how they worked.

This last one looked like a roast joint cooking away!

Current listening: PJ Harvey, Let England Shake

end of term

2011-04-17T02:43:00.000-07:00

End of term: everyone is tired. I'm completely exhausted actually. Having finished off my dissertation this week and got three copies bound ready for submission...

I should be celebrating. But actually I'm rather overwhelmed by everything that I need to do in the next couple of months. For most of the other students on my course the Easter holiday is a chance to catch up and get lots of work done. For me it is a time to spend with family. I have to put my work aside for a while, get the house in order, try to relax a little.

I spent most of yesterday asleep, just trying to catch up with myself and I did have half an hour of garden therapy.

I planted out these lovely broad beans as well as runner beans and climbing beans. I constructed wigwams for them to climb on. It felt a little like the preparation of a warp: getting the structure right before adding the in-between bits.

There is a lot of hope involved in this game. You nurture these little things, watching them grow in the protection of the pot and the window sill and then release them to the mercies of the weather and the slugs.

full stops

2011-04-13T03:00:00.001-07:00

I'm in the midst the final edit of my dissertation before handing it in. I've spent the last couple of hours moving full stops and commas around. I've also discovered that I have a bit of a penchant for writing really long sentences!

As my subject is 'the garden as a creative outlet' I looked back through some photos yesterday to find a suitable one of my own garden. There were some really interesting colour combinations from late in the year but in terms of the garden looking 'at its best' it has to be May or June.

cutting and printing

2011-04-10T03:35:00.000-07:00

This week I took the plunge and cut up my large piece of thick felt. I had been procrastinating about what scale to work on for my final pieces and at one point was convinced that I should keep this big slab of wall-like felt as one section that could really become part of the wall. But I was worried about the difficulties of working on such a large scale, both in terms of committing to one design and the practicalities of working with this big slab of wool. I wondered whether the possibilities of developing ideas over a number of smaller pieces that would make up a larger whole might actually be the better way to go. After a very useful tutorial, which confirmed that I should go for the smaller units, I decided to cut up the felt.

I've returned to the idea of repeated units that featured in this project earlier on this year and that I'd moved away from for a while. So many buildings, particularly contemporary ones, use repeated units as their basis.

My units will be the same dimensions but their surfaces with change, grow, develop.

Current listening: Inter-generational cello duets drifting up from a lower floor of the house.

growth and death

2011-04-06T12:47:00.001-07:00

There is daily change at the moment as everything seems to be growing and filling out at great speed

inside and out.

I found this beautiful nuthatch in my front garden a week or so ago. I can only guess that it succumbed to one of the cats. I've never seen a nuthatch round here before ... perhaps there aren't any round here any more!?

It is absolutely beautiful and I've had it sitting around waiting to be drawn. I now realise I'm not going to manage to find the time to draw it (before it gets a bit smelly) so I photographed it and I'm going to put it in the compost heap to rot down and hopefully I can collect the skull. I have done this in the past with all sorts of found birds. As a child I was really quite fascinated by collecting dead insects, skulls and other things macabre, purely in the interests of natural history study I hasten to add! I still have this collection.

Today I happened to come across Susan Silas' stunning work recording found birds.

workshop

2011-04-05T13:24:00.001-07:00

Last weekend I had the pleasure of leading a workshop for ladies from various textile groups based around Fulbourne in Cambridgeshire. What is lovely about this group is that they've come together from various different specialist interests (including patch workers, knitters and stitchers) and are joining with a creative writing group who are investigating the history of their village. They are all collectively working towards an exhibition in 2012 that celebrates that history.

We had an action packed day investigating various aspects of design and composition using sketching, collage and bonding and we had a pretty fab lunch too!

I'm really looking forward to seeing the exhibition that they create.

journey colour

2011-04-02T13:14:00.000-07:00

red kite
black rabbit
spring greens
white bloom
black thorn