but with ‘per’ – as Wensleydale is prone to say, having read far too many ‘Jennings’ books as a child.
We were asked to do emergency Babybel sitting, so I arranged to go into college in the morning, and bunk off in the afternoon. It was a seminar and tutorial session so I grabbed the first tutorial and then W., B. and I all went to the Hillier Gardens for lunch and a play in their tree house. A good time was had by all despite B. and I being under the weather – turns out she has a virus in addition to the conjunctivitis we knew about.
The seminar/tutorial were very helpful and I have spent today sampling, in between the coughing and sneezing. 'Everyday’ has morphed into ‘family’ after the suggestion that we thought about what was most important to us. [Everyday > familiar > family had come out of my mind maps.]![image image](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheaKRZbjVaHTb9tvIMjTHHy0jvJ6Q-HxrjyjD_NOkDgEtszRy7r8f-ajNHIDD4TDG8cX0olDiCjZ1UjeuACEZNXukTfShcpAM-cTe8Rq66exrfQjLlhd2dQLBhxIjIcbkVnAX9Aimfnqk/?imgmax=800)
This is more or less the idea - you might think that you have seen something like it before! – but this will be at least a metre long and 2D. Oh, and made out of an old, faded, frayed curtain, with bleached out lines. And recycled textiles. And string. It’s a bit conceptual, this piece.
Why do I associate my family with tatty textiles, do you think?
I did draw the line at ripping up my GG grandfather's dictionary for it, as suggested by one tutor.
Another suggestion was that the circles [‘family circles’ – geddit?] should be made from textiles obtained from – and possibly stitched by – family members. So now I am cadging old clothes from my kids and their families … [I h
aven’t mentioned the stitching yet …]
I played around with a bit of curtain and the embellisher – adding holes and patches. The white was a scrap of silk noil I fished out of the bin, embellished from the front or back, which I really like.
![Top-3.BMP Top-3.BMP](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiW-DSfkZPNnvmK2OjGU6UN-vrYaUWkd3YVd51eXG2008cGGFlTXCxpCiPyhhaBy6DXRvqI5PW7-K48b9JvRZfcnXERG8qKSXhOcw6ePukA7vn5epsDYD865QkxrRE-dv-KdKk3pwLsXjg/?imgmax=800)
I think the bleached circles will be stamped with a set of pastry cutters made by my grandfather. We are fairly sure they were joined with lead solder so I don’t use them for food! This is the effect on ink – the fabric samples are drying as I type. [I have four of these curtains, all about 3 metres by 1.5 metres, so I’m not skimping on the sampling …]
![Top.BMP Top.BMP](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7xoyRSmCmV4KEDmZG-KQj1FEG42At4LMlrnOO3NwfCOgbOqBMuTBMj-mZ2FadRdt2C9wh0sDaSQYa1idnkeoQOEtFE8_zGI3BkiSl8XuFKsOoMwKES_8-vpF0kXtZ9m3Z9_-2Gz1eldk/?imgmax=800)
I also tried drawn thread work and other stitches using self threads from the curtain – the warp and weft are different, which gives some interesting alternatives – as does the fading. Loose ends are deliberate!
Can you tell I’m quite enthused by this?
We have a busy few days coming up so I probably won’t get much done before next week. The next step is – probably - a full sized mock-up, and experimenting with scanning and printing out bits from GG Granddad's dictionary – I thought I'd try tissue paper glued to the curtaining and see how that looked.