Little things

The little guys had the week off school, so that although we had a day off grandparent duty on Monday, on Thursday we looked after them all day - exhausting, but fun. Babybel (who is definitely not a little thing any more, she is growing like a sunflower) had a hospital appointment in the morning, which precluded any long trips. (Not a serious problem, just what in my day was called a lazy eye, which has improved enormously.)  

The hospital is conveniently close to the ducky place, so we went there to feed waterbirds and ourselves, followed by a trip to Finkley Down, which is conveniently close to Daddy's new work-place, so we could meet daddy after work, and admire the big trucks arriving, much to the VHC's delight.

Given that we had Monday off, I don't have much to show you - a bit of knitting and three books of the week. That may sound impressive, but two of them are very simple - we realised on Thursday that paper and pencils would fill in the time spent waiting for daddy, so granny has found a small pencil case and made two little pamphlets, all to be kept in the car for future use. 

The other book was a bit more complicated. Earlier in the week I came across a few A5 sheets of hand made paper I don't remember buying, and decided to use them for a book. 

I didn't want to fold the paper, so decided on a stab binding. I vaguely remembered seeing instructions for such a binding with a fold over cover, but couldn't find them in my numerous books. I finally found them in Shereen La Plantz's 'Cover to Cover', found and cut some suitable card for the cover, punched the 72 holes required, selected some unsuitable fibre for the binding, tracked down a needle with an eye big enough to take the unsuitable fibre, (not easy) and sewed up the book. 

It doesn't look much from the outside, but the unsuitable fibre looks OK when you open the cover.

Odd bits of knitting have also taken place. In some cases very odd, like this experiment in felted shibori, which is about to get some beads. (Yes, I know what it looks like.)

I won't tell you what Wensleydale said this looked like, but I pointed out to him that:

a) it is far too big and 

b) it would not be fit for purpose because of the holes. 

In theory it is another 2ply vessel, but longer and destined for more determined felting.

And finally, I decided the previously knit vessels need a bit of colour. The little one was dipped in Quink, the bigger one in something called Prout's Ink, another forgotten purchase, which managed to be both very glutinous and very drippy at the same time. And it smells like the brown shibori looks. Not recommended, even though I like the result.

I nearly forgot. One thing this week was 'really big', as the VHC would say. Winchester Discovery Centre is showing Grayson Perry's 'Walthamstow Tapestry', so we pottered out to see it. Very impressive - it fills the entire wall of the gallery. I especially loved the colour, the patterns, and the birds and flowers, apparently inspired by batiks. And the 'birth' and 'death' sections involve quilts - there's a man who knows his textiles. 

Where was I?

As I remember, bracing myself for the invasion of the little guys. But before that, I went to another session of the Contemporary Textiles Workshop, which was not what quite what I was expecting. We had been told to bring sticks and wire, so I was anticipating 3D constructions of a type I've done before. 

We started with a communal mark making activity on paper, similar to those we've done at Visual Marks. We picked a mark and made it repeatedly on each sheet of paper, using a variety of media. The papers were torn up, and we all got 4 pieces to inspire us in working on a series ('a series is more than two') of 3D pieces. Which had to fit into a cup.

The marks included circles, spirals, leaf and tree like marks, and my split circle with a line through it which has developed from my initials. The difficulty was, of course, moving from 2D to 3D, but in my bedtime reading I'd come across some designs made with what I can only describe as overgrown quilling, in circular frames. Inspired by the circle and spirals I decided to use torn paper strips to make short tubes (now what does that remind me of?), but in a square frame because it was easier to do. I measured the tutor's rather large cup to make sure it would fit. It will, provided I don't get too enthusiastic about making it reach the bottom. Or much beyond the lip, really...

One thing led to another and before long I had two frames. The contents of the second were made from some mono-printed fabric with spirals on it, although as I gathered it you can't see them. However the graininess of the print resembles some of the marks.

I have since made another frame, with added buttons. Circles again. The colour scheme is pretty repetitive for me, too. I have a mad ambition to make 9 in total, and fit them in an outer frame, hence the pile of recycled and painted sushi chopsticks, (which were not the sticks I'd taken and which are now not going to become another piano hinge book). I think things may drift a little from the original inspiration, however...

Everything went onto the back burner, of course, while the little guys were here. The new sleeping arrangements were given their seal of approval - to the extent that we had to go upstairs every couple of hours to look at 'my new Thomas bed'. It was the first thing mummy and daddy were shown when they came to collect the pair. Babybel assured me that the horse blanket was exactly what she had wanted when she asked me to make her one, so that was a success too.

Since Sunday, however, things have not been so successful. The latest pair of socks has been frogged as I realised that there was just not enough wool to make two. I started a pair of mittens/hand warmers (depending on wool consumption) but the first one has also been frogged because I realised that my stitch count was off, and I needed a bigger size.

And my plans to make another 6 framed 3D constructions were put on one side when I got caught up in a major workroom re-organisation. Since last autumn I have been slowly working through all the books in my workroom, deciding which ones to keep, and which to get rid of. (Local charity shops will be receiving several bags of books.)

I wasn't intending to tackle the shelf full of sketchbooks after I had finished all the proper books*and I can't remember now how I got started, but once I had, I had to finish. Most of what I used to call 'sketchbooks' pre C&G, were just scrapbooks, and my tastes have clearly changed since then, so the majority of those have gone in the recycling. (One of the few advantages of having used glue stick is that it was very easy to remove the few images I did want to keep.)

I have preserved almost all of the proper 'sketchbooks' - not that there are many 'sketches' in them, mostly cut paper, prints etc. I was pleased by how interesting I found the pre- and post-degree ones - and surprised by how uninspiring the degree ones were - perhaps a reflection of my lack of confidence about what I was doing? 

After I'd sorted the sketchbooks, I had to rearrange all the other books. Good exercise with floor to ceiling shelves. But I now have much less junk on the work surface - all my works in progress in their cat litter trays are neatly stacked on some of the emptied shelves. It won't stay neat for long - and 'neat' is, of course, a relative term...

Apart from the sorting and unknitting, not much creative has happened, although I did find time one insomniac night to make a series of books of the week, using the inspirational papers from CTW. 

And we managed some gallery visits. We had a day off from grandchild minding on Monday, so went down to Walford Mill to see the Cabinets of Curiosities exhibition - some good stuff. And on Wednesday between Wensleydale's haircut and my birthday lunch, we went to the Discovery Centre to see 'Hidden' - massive photographs of people like Hilda of Whitby and Tom Paine, and events like the Peasants' Revolt and the Swing Riots. No, photography wasn't invented then, but Red Saunders has recreated them on a large and dramatic scale. The accompanying video was well worth looking at, too.

Now I've written all that lot, I wonder why I feel I haven't done much?

*well, those in the workroom - there are a few more in the spare bedroom, which will get the treatment soon. 

Things can only get better?

A slightly more cheerful week this week, although my insomnia has been particularly bad. But I slept well last night, the sun was shining when I woke up, and we had already planned a Sunday saunter. It was the last day of the Kathakali exhibition at the Discovery Centre, so, unusually for us, we ventured out at the weekend.

We thought the Discovery Centre opened at 10 at weekends, so we postponed our morning coffee till we got there. Bummer. It doesn't. And the Theatre Royal, which is our fallback coffee bar for such occasions, was closed too. As was the cafe across the road we've never been in.

But the new icecream parlour on the corner, which I have walked past and drooled at, was open. We resisted the icecream, but had lovely coffee (locally roasted), even nicer cheesecake, friendly and helpful service. And the reflections on the base of the table were fascinating.

I think the library cafe may have lost some customers. 

At 11, when the DC does open, we drifted along to find it was open but the Kathakali exhibition wasn't, yet. Bummer 2. So we went upstairs to watch 'Close Protection' by Graham Gussin again. 

We found it was well worth seeing twice - new ideas came out on a second viewing. (If you visit that link and read the description, although it seems like pure art speak, having seen the videos, it makes sense!)

When we went downstairs the Kathakali exhibition had opened, so we did manage to get a look at that. Wonderful vivid costumes with lots of bling, as well as more everyday dress. It made me want to visit Kerala, and see some Kathakali dance.

That was actually our second textiley trip of the week. Now the VHC is in nursery full-time, we have a little more time to ourselves in the middle of child minding days, and there is only so much shopping you can do. So we have been looking for places that are near enough for us to get there and back in time for the school/nursery pick up. This led to a second visit to the National Needlework Archive. (Only taken 4 years!) The main exhibition was of panels from the Quaker Tapestries. As I have made clear before, I'm not always a fan of representational embroidery, but this was different. Of course it's essential, given the nature of the subject matter, but the panels are beautifully designed and made, and the story they tell is fascinating. And there is an additional poignancy in seeing such a celebration of peace in the spiritual heart of the former Greenham Common Air Base. The women of peace got in in the end!

We also looked at the Country Wife, which who is under conservation there. When we went 4 years ago she was wrapped in bubblewrap and being saturated with nitrogen to debug her, but she is now lying down, being prepared for conservation. If you pay £2 extra admission, you get to see her and hear a talk about the conservation process - which is how I know why she was all wrapped up 4 years ago!

That was Thursday - Friday was the first session of this year's Contemporary Textiles Workshop, for which I have been repeating myself all summer. This session was about pattern - we had a Powerpoint talk (that's a first!) before trying a little pattern making - 

geometric collages

and geometrically based drawings.  In case you can't tell, this are my inept attempts at Escher-ish tesselations. (Actually I'm quite  pleased with them, and I'm thinking of trying one of them out with some transfer dye and a bit of poly satin...

I thought the collages looked like canvas work, so I set out to translate the green and purple one into stitch. I spent a lot of time faffing around with different threads and sizes, then got going with this.

Er - can you spot the deliberate mistake? Bummer 3.

I'm not going to unpick it now, I haven't got enough of that wool to start again, but I may try to do it properly at a later date. 

Just a quickie.

Not much has been happening around here about from child minding, coughs and colds, and the police turning up at the Discovery Centre this morning. I was due to meet Wensleydale there, and thought they'd come to arrest him for being a Hell's Grandad, but no, he was being good, it was an event for people with learning difficulties. 

So while he was still free, we took in the Michael Craig Martin exhibition upstairs in the Discovery Centre (good, lovely colours and shapes) and the Mayor's choice downstairs (less good, more interesting for the historic views of Winchester and environs than for the quality of the art). Interesting that the image they've chosen to use on that link is the picture I liked best of all in the exhibition, though judging by Wikipedia,  the artist, Fred Appleyard, didn't always confine himself to such unostentatious subjects.  

Then we had a nice lunch at the usual place and came home. 

Embroidery has been taking place, and I've almost finished page 5, while page 6 is waiting in the wings. Designs have been made for pages 7&8, though they need work. And I've had an idea about how to actually construct the book, using grosgrain ribbon hinges between the pages. 

So perhaps something has been happening round here after all...

Doing things...

 we don't seem to have had time for recently - like mindless needlework [cardi for the VHC] and going to exhibitions. Oh, and watching cycle races.

It seems like years since we last went to an exhibition. so on Monday we visited two - although they were in the same place, one upstairs and one downstairs. And, surprisingly in this almost all sport-hating household, both had an Olympian connection. And even more surprisingly, we enjoyed both of them.

Upstairs at the Discovery Centre is 'Faster, Higher', a video installation by Susan Pui San Lok, which is as much about the politics of sport as it is about sport - probably why we liked it. I also liked the way she used the 5 screens, which gave me ideas of ways of using photographs - I'm not quite up to video installations yet...

Downstairs is 'Sporting Heroes' which is probably of most interest to locals. Highlights for me were 5 Greek vases with sporting scenes on them [courtesy of Winchester College] and the opportunity to see a time trial bike up close. [My tastes are nothing of not eclectic.]

Today the Olympic Torch came to Winchester. Bah, humbug.

So we went to Whitchurch - to the Silk Mill to see a small exhibition of Midsummer Night's Dream fairy costumes by Anna Nowicki. A fascinating variety of techniques - I was specially struck by Oberon's costume, which had a real Stuart feel to it, despite being made with very twenty-first century materials and techniques.

We didn't manage to avoid the torch, completely however - on the way home it passed us going the other way, heading for Andover. It was in stealth mode - they hadn't asked anyone to walk/run/stagger along the A34 - but the caravan of other vehicles and the escort of all the motor cycle cops in Hampshire were a bit of a give-away.

Much more exciting, as far as I'm concerned, was spotting this in the front garden when we got home. At first I thought it was one of those plastic balls with holes in we used to play with at school - but no, it's a fungus. No idea what, but I hope someone out there does.

The flies seemed to like it even more than I did.








Isn't that a wonderful form to inspire a 3D textile? Possibly even craft Vilene.














And speaking of photos [how's that for a bad segue?], today's iPad app is Blur FX. Nothing to do with a musical group whose lead singer's father Wensleydale used to work with. [Three degrees of separation to Damon Albarn, three to Sigmund Freud - my contacts are nothing if not eclectic.] [And only two to a fifties actress called Sabrina of whom none of you will have heard...] [But I digress.]

Blur FX does what it says on the tin. It makes your photos go blurry. Then you can wipe away the blur with your finger - an effect I like. With a bit of luck I can do it with the camera, but it's nice to have a retrospective option.

Blur FX also offers you a few filters, which you can apply to the blurred or clean areas. or to the whole thing...

including inverting the colour.


OK, it's another one trick wonder, but it is a very clever trick, and one I like [and use] a lot.







Tomorrow the gasman cometh, so I'm planning a bit of non-mindless needlework - oh, and possibly a bit of cycle race watching...

Tuesday is the new Thursday

or vice versa. Whichever it is, we have swapped our Babybel day from one to t’other so we spent Tuesday dog walking, duck feeding, soft play areaing, Thomas watching  and collapsing on the sofa totally knackered.

Wednesday was the induction day for the new students at college so I have nothing creative to report from there.

Today has been spent coming and  going – most importantly to ‘Heft’, the latest exhibition at Winchester Discovery Centre.

Unfortunately I neglected to make notes about works and artists, though there is a list of the latter on the link. To my shame, the only name [and work] I recognised was that of Gavin Turk, [his ‘polystyrene’ cup] but that says more about me than the quality of the pieces on display.

A quick Google tells me that the mesmerising video of an underwater sculpture park [I kid you not] showed the work of James DeCaires Taylor – beautiful, fascinating, thought provoking.

I think the piece made from cows’ stomachs [I think that’s what the French meant] was by Elpida Hadzi-Vasileva. Don’t let that description put you off – it was a fascinating piece and very inspiring to a textile arts thinking about 3D work. [It had stitches - that makes it a textile – although not one I am planning on using any time soon.]

Other pieces I remember are the sellotape boxes, the chipboard with wood grain drawn on it [very stitch-like], the pallet made from found timber and like no pallet you’ve ever seen before, the bricks which were by the same artist, the raindrops on lino and the 3D pieces which weren’t – but Googling hasn’t been very informative so I can’t tell you who made which. We will be going back, however, so next time I will make some notes!

I came away thinking about the need to look at ordinary things with new eyes – which has to be good. Strongly recommended.

In between all that, I have been fiddling around with some little 3D bits. I thought my patinated copper bowl that isn’t needed some contents and, inspired by some of the items from the Staffordshire Hoard,  decided it needed a collection of unidentifiable odd little bits and bobs… After all, the shape of the bowl was inspired by something from the Hoard, although as usual it has morphed a bit from the original.

Long time readers may know that I like making silly little bits of nothing from scraps.

So here is Thing One. [I have no idea why three consecutive photos are different colours – I’m an embroiderer, not a photographer.]

A scrap of coppery slinky fabric rolled up, with a strip of sheer pulled through it and then folded in half and wrapped.

That cunning tool is a latch hook. I bought two a while ago but didn’t take to latch-hooking, since when they’ve been sitting reproachfully in my sewing basket, asking to be used.

When I wanted to roll the fabric tube I was too lazy to get up and look for a kebab stick, my usual choice, and the only thing within easy reach was a locker hook. Then it dawned on me that the useful hole in the end [think crochet hook with an eye] would make it easier to pull things through the rolled tube.

Thing One looks a bit shiny so I think it may get some paint on it to make it more worn, characterful and looking like it’s seen life.

Thing Two started with a bit of tatty leather and some of the machine cord – definitely worn, characterful etc.

I rolled the leather round an end of cord, made a loop, wrapped the cord round the leather and used the smaller locker hook to pull the end of the cord up under the wrapping to secure it.

 

 

And here they are tastefully arranged in their bowl. [Can you have a square bowl? If not I don’t know what to call it. A dish? It’s definitely not a vessel.]

Whatever it is, I'm pleased with my unidentifiable artefacts – and pleased to have found a use for the locker hooks!

Out, in and out again.

Out this morning to a class with Beverley Wood at the Discovery Centre, where I made this. The felt and sheers were provided, but we got to colour our own background fabric [the yellow green] and leaves – Stitch and Tear coloured with water-soluble crayons, then moistened with baby wipes.This has to be the least messy way of colouring non-wovens I have ever come across – and the baby wipes  can be dried and used for something else. That tip alone was worth the price of admission. The course was good and I like what I made – although it needs a few beads before I’ll call it finished …

In now for supper, and then out again to a talk by Pauline Burbidge, also at the Discovery Centre. I shall be glad when the current quilt Exhibition there – which I haven’t yet got round to seeing! – is over. But I felt I had to sign up for almost all the associated events in over to encourage the DC to do more textile stuff. That’s my story and I’m sticking to it.

Definitely non-textile, but  my own photo manipulation [at BeFunky in case you haven’t guessed]. Sorry, ‘Angel of the North’ fans, this is the best Gormley sculpture in the world – in the crypt of Winchester Cathedral, in case you didn't know.

Extreme embroidery?

How about torn corrugated card, held together with staples and stitched with string?

Today I had the great pleasure of taking a class, at the Discovery Centre, with Jackie Langfeld. If you went to the Mall Galleries for the Prism exhibition earlier this year you may remember her ‘Paper Warriors’.

We didn’t quite make warriors – but I did manage these.

You can’t tell from this photo, but this is a bowl. the idea was that the beads and French knots would look as if they were cascading down to the lowest point – except that the lowest point shifted as I was stitching it. Jackie had some good ideas on how to deal with that – she is an ex-C&G teacher and was clearly a good one. All the students got individual attention, she had lots of suggestions, and was very tactful. She was also very generous about sharing  her techniques and materials.

This is an experimental piece. When I left the class I thought it was finished but looking at it in the photo, perhaps it isn’t! And maybe it isn’t the right way up – although I thought it was.

 

 

 

What do you think?

One or two of the students who didn’t know about her work seemed a bit gobsmacked by it – but if you like this sort of stuff, and don't have very arthritic fingers, I recommend her class! [Stapling and sewing corrugated card can be hard on the hands.]

Jackie has some pieces in the current Embroiderer’s Guild exhibition in the Discovery Centre. We had a quick look at coffee time but i shall be going back for a longer visit.

Today’s image is another of my kantha/graffiti pieces on a Colour Catcher. The other page is one of the graffiti-ish papers I painted and then used for the book pages.

I completely forgot

when I was wittering on about the cat yesterday, to tell you about our Friday visit to the Discovery Centre.

The current exhibition is of paintings by Frank Bowling.  Yet another artist of whom, I have to confess, I had never heard.

So we tottered up the stairs and into the gallery – and our jaws dropped.

The first painting was this one. Unfortunately this image doesn’t do it justice, as you can’t see that the pieces are layered, painted canvas on painted canvas. With added texture.

Notice the size. That was one of the smaller paintings.

It is tempting to list all the paintings and try to give you links but there are lots of images here. Not all are in the show [obviously!]

My favourite is this one. Although I keep saying I prefer abstract to representational art, it’s the most representational of the lot – but very atmospheric.

Why did I like the work so much? Colour – and texture. The wonderful use of many layered colour – but equally importantly to me – the texture. I could look at the lumps and bumps for hours. Very inspirational for an embroiderer.

From the sublime to the mundane - a pulled work sample for C&G.

Inspired by this one in the V&A.

My version isn’t very pulled, if you know what I mean, but I did enjoy working it. [the shine is, I’m afraid, the double sided sticky tape holding it down.

Going through these samples makes me realise that although my memory of C&G is of doing a lot of machine embroidery – badly – we did do a lot of hand stuff too. Perhaps because the pressure of time meant that I used the machine for a lot of the assessed pieces.