Clearing the decks

Since last summer, I've been working slowly, steadily and determinedly through my stash. Stuff like Lutradur and Evolon that I had bought and never used has been tried out, evaluated and, if found wanting, passed on or binned. The knitting machine has found a new home, hand blanket knitting has noticeably reduced the boxes of coned yarns and a similar attack is taking place on the sock wool, as you may have noticed. Books have been looked through and in many cases passed on to charity. 

As part of the blitz, I looked through my accumulated sketchbooks - and, rather worryingly, came to the conclusion that I was more creative before I started the degree than I am now. Regular readers may remember that the muse definitely left Cheese Acres soon after I finished the degree, and although she moved back in, I felt that some of the ideas I had between finishing City and Guilds and starting the degree were better than those I've had since.  

I've been thinking about this rather more in the last couple of weeks, and I've come to a couple of conclusions.  You may have noticed that I have a low boredom threshold and I tend to flit from one technique, style, medium or idea to another, at the drop of a hat. I always thought that when I grew up I would discover what my 'usual way of working', to quote a certain tutor, actually was. I now believe that my 'usual way of working' is to flit from one technique, style, medium or idea to another, at the drop of a hat, and I have to learn to live with it, and enjoy the results. At least I don't get bored, and hopefully no-one looks at my work and thinks 'same old, same old'...

The second, related conclusion is that I should stop worrying about making art with a message, and choose themes that I like. What do I like? Well, what do I photograph, apart from grandchildren? Flowers, trees, landscapes. And it's not just because, unlike grandchildren, they stand still, most of the time. I've always felt that these are a bit hackneyed, a bit old fashioned, not what I should be doing - well, stuff that, I've already had some fun with flowers, so let's give trees a go.

So I made the blind contour, shadow and paintbrush on a stick drawings I mentioned before, and then I started a tree sketchbook. I stuck in a photo from our last trip to Stourhead, made a couple of colour studies a la Karen Ruane, and - to my own amazement, a drawing, which I think isn't bad. I told myself that as I wasn't going to embroider a detailed image of the tree, I should focus on what I was interested in - the interlacing of the trunks and branches.

What I had forgotten is the way that, when you follow up an idea with no preconceptions about where the journey will take you, the ideas start to flow.

I started with the embellisher - not wildly original, but it got me going. Making the (not very accurate) colour studies led me to explore some of the wonderful colours in the photo. (I don't think the detritus on the ground really was purple, but that's what made me pick that particular photo.)

However, the more I looked at those twisted branches, the more I though about knitting. And in monochrome, although I do keep thinking about working the negative spaces in purples and greens....

A combination of high tech (knitters graph paper on line and a scanner) and low tech (tracing my drawing onto acetate) produced a pattern, and I have, at the last count, ideas for six eight nine different versions.

Here are the first two. A lesson in how not to do intarsia (but it is only a sample, and I know where I went wrong). (If you want to see reaaly good intarsia, go here!)

And a version inspired (I kid you not) by old fashioned tea cosies. I've been using up scraps, but I've bought some wool from Texere and thoughts of dyeing and felting are going through my brain.

I also made a stencil, and that has had a good work out. Spray paint, acrylic, moulding paste plus metallic leaf, and pencil. 

I was so busy with all this, that I nearly didn't make a book, but then I had an idea for a non-insomniac stencil based quickie. Except as usual with me it morphed and became less quick. The original idea was to use the stencil to cut shapes out of the back of a (brown) envelope. There's a lot of brown around at the moment, as well as purple and green. But the envelope wasn't big enough, and a search for other brown paper led to some Blue Peter painted paper.* 

When I cut out the shapes, I decided the paper was a bit too flimsy, and it needed backing. With black. Which led to a search for black paper that was big enough. Still, it's finished, and it may even take up residence in the sketchbook.

On Wednesday, I dragged Wensleydale out in the rain to Mottisfont because I knew they had some interesting trees. And we found a dragon - well, it  was St George's Day! 

Where is this leading? I have no idea, but it promises to be an interesting journey.

*Here's some I made earlier.

So much for a low stress week...

On our way to our Monday Babybel and VHC minding, an ominous yellow warning light appeared on the car dashboard. Consulting the manual revealed that we had 'an engine management system' problem. (Don't ask me, and even more, don't tell me. My eyes will glaze over and I will start biting the cushions.) The manual told us to go directly to the garage. So we did.

Fortunately, it was not one of our silly o'clock starts, so it was daylight, it was not raining, we could turn round easily, and a substitute B &VHC minder was readily available. 

So we turned around, did not pass Go, and did not collect £100, alhtough it would have helped with the bill.

In the old days, when you took a poorly car into the garage, a mechanic in overalls came out, looked under the bonnet, sucked air through his teeth and told you what was wrong. These days a young man in the showroom, in a shirt and tie, tells you that they can't tell what the problem is until they've plugged it into the computer, he advises you not to drive it too far, and that they could take a look at it tomorrow.

To cut a long story short, we got it back on Wednesday afternoon, for a price, and all appears to be well. Luckily we have bus passes and a good bus service.

It did mean I got more done than expected, including not one but two books of the week, although neither were going to be books when they started.

My bedtime reading recently, as part of my Visual Marks inspired research, has been Val Campbell-Harding's 'Machine Embroidery - Stitched Patterns'. She recommends trying the automatic stitches on a variety of fabrics, so I collected a few from the scrap box, sat down at the machine, and asked myself ’which patterns shall I use?' 

And the answer came 'All of them!' Apart from the buttonholes. And the basting stitch. And one or two others I couldn't be bothered with. Just under 170 in all, ten per piece of fabric, so I had to find a few more bits of fabric. By then I'd decided to restrict myself to black, so I had to be a bit creative about what 'fabric' is. And decide what I was going to do with 17 6" squares. The answer, of course, was a book. A rather untidy, sort of Japanese stab bound book, as seen above, which I hope will be useful.

This morning, after photographing that lot, I was going to move on from automatic stitches. The plan was to get put the Embellisher and try embellishing stitch-like marks. But first, as the result of some more bed time reading (author's name withheld to protect the innocent, but it was not V C-H) which recommended using drawing inks for the process, to try dip dying some paper and fabric. I have lots of ink I'll never use any other way, so it seemed like a good idea at the time.

Well, the cotton fabric (top right, bottom left) slurped up the ink like there was no tomorrow, and the paper - didn't. Look at my results and laugh. And the ink was the waterproof type, which is sticky, so the dipped pieces stuck to the newspaper I put them on to dry.      

Chalk it up to experience...

Then, before I got the Embellisher out, I thought I'd use some of my stitch mark Gelli-printed papers for a bit of weaving. And because I'd been reading Sherrill Kahn's  'Creative Embellishments' (yes, in bed, how did you guess? Not laziness, insomnia!) I decided to add some woven fibres and some stitch.

Wensleydale looked at it and said 'Chess board meets Snakes and Ladders' - which is quite an interesting idea.

And I looked at it, and it said 'I am a book cover'. 'No, no', I said, 'You are going in my sketch book', but it refused. A book cover it became. A totally impractical, irritating to use book with an equally silly book mark, but Wensleydale, who writes a journal, has agreed to use it. That man is so noble!

Tomorrow I must get the Embellisher out.

     

The weekend after the week before...

has been very productive, I'm glad to say.

Although I have officially finished the last Visual Marks challenge, I can't stop exploring ideas inspired by the session. Lots of ideas! I don't think they will lead into anything in the long run, but it's fun seeing where they take me.

My first idea was to do more automatic stitching, but with some variations - like not on felt, and trying  different colour combinations, and not having anyone else to add their bit - as Wenseydale doesn't do machine sewing. I started just after the Visual Marks session, but it got shelved when I realised I'd have to make four. But this afternoon I fired up the Bernina and got cracking.

This is the result. I used net, backed with Solufleece, which I had not used before and was impressed with - although I found out the hard way that ironing it is not  a good idea. I added some bits of lace as well as the stitching. 

My favourite is the black lace on white, bottom left, which has a floaty look I like. No idea what to do with any of them, though! 

I suppose if, by any unfortunate chance, I was asked to provide a bridal veil for the upcoming wedding, the white on white version might lead to something, but I don't think it's going to be that sort of wedding, somehow. I hope.

As an alternative to machine stitching, I decided to up the scale a bit, and try to reproduce the machine stitches by hand. I suppose, if I had really copied the machining I'd have used couching, but instead I worked on canvas. I'm quite pleased with this, although there are problems with the layout - and as you can see, it's not quite finished.

The next step is rug canvas - I kid you not!

I realised as I slaved over a hot sewing machine this afternoon that my experiments are of two types - stitches, and stitch-like marks. (I'd like to pretend this was deliberate, but it just happened.) I had lashed out and bought myself a big Gelli plate as a late Christmas present, so yesterday I made some simple monoprints of marks inspired by the machine stitches. Some were better than others, but there are a couple I really like - I'm thinking book covers.

This is the first time I've used the Gelli plate when it wasn't red hot in the conservatory, and it is much easier when the paint doesn't dry instantaneously. Which may be why I realised what I hadn't realised before - it is very easy to get too much paint on a Gelli plate, but impossible to get too little. Even if all you have is a few smears left over from a previous print, a spritz of water will often give you a second print, which can be more interesting than the first!

The next step in mark making will probably involve the Embellisher - watch this space.

It's been a busy week...

and it's not over yet. I helped set up the College exhibition, (which closes at lunchtime tomorrow if you want to see it), stewarded it this afternoon and will dismantle my bit tomorrow. 

In between that and our usual child minding, we squeezed in a visit to Walford Mill and Kingston Lacy - two favourite destinations which are conveniently close to each other. At the Mill we enjoyed the exhibition by silversmith Chien-Wei Chang, especially his silver/annealed copper waterpipes/bamboos/vessels - and a delicious smoked salmon salad in the cafe. At Kingston Lacy we had a walk in the gardens and a cream tea. Greedy, or what? 

These are the two latest 'Repetition' pieces - one deliberate, one an embellishing experiment which morphed into a finished piece. The answer to 'can you embellish skeleton leaves?' is 'yes, provided you don't mind them breaking up a bit, and it works best from the back'. 

The other one is all worked with the same space-dyed thread - three skeins of it!

I had intended to start another one, but Babybel decided otherwise. She is a girl whose idea of suitable after-school activity includes running, jumping, climbing and swimming. Having her arm in a cast, even if it is a red one, and a strict ban on all such activities, is very boring. TV and games on the iPad pall after a while, so on Thursday, when, in the absence of her little brother (who would not mix with sharp pointy things), I pulled out my embroidery, she asked me about my 'knitting'. Then she asked to have a go.

Just compare granny's prissy little cross stitches with Babybel's lovely big ones. She made me rethink what I was going to do with this bit of left-over aida. 

It's a good match with one of the pages in my Repetition book, so I can't let her have this piece, but I have promised to give her her own  on Monday, together with pink, orange and purple thread, as requested. I shall be fascinated to see what she does with it.

She would have done more with this piece, but 'Peter Rabbit' started...

On Sunday, cast or no cast, she is participating in the 'Race for Life' with her mummy, and we will be there to cheer her on. I wish I had half her courage and energy!

Finished!

This is the embellisher piece I started in the Contemporary Textile workshop. I wired the edge, and although a slightly heavier wire would have worked better, I'm pleased with it. It reminds me of a shell, in a strange, over the top colour, way.

This started in the CTW as a collection of samples - how did the tie dye look on different backgrounds, and can you really embellish silk rods? Sue the tutor suggested that they looked a bit like baby bunting, so when I got home they got some additional stitch and were attached to stuffed knitting ribbon. They are awaiting some tiny sequins, and a decision about whether to put them in the college show. I think they may be a bit too unfinished-looking for most people, and I don't want to be considered odd, do I? (Although it may be too late to worry about that...)

This was also inspired by the workshop, although I did it at home. Can you embellish silk rods? Yes. 

It is awaiting some hand stitch, probably Cretan stitch, and will then also become a book cover, unless I decide that it isn't robust enough. You can   embellish silk rods but they don't necessarily like the process.

'Spirits of the Cloth' is also nearly finished and will also become a book cover, not least because I found rather fewer spirits on the left hand side than on the right, which implies a back and a front to me.

Just passing through...

with the results of today's Contemporary Textile Workshop.

The brief was to spend the morning making a background for embroidery, and the afternoon embroidering it. Of course, I didn't stick to that.

Bondaweb, paint, Angelina, sheers etc. had been mentioned, but so had the embellisher. I wan't excited by the first four but the idea of a little embellishing appealed. My preparation for the session had been a bit rushed due to an extra day looking after Babybel and the VHC, so I ended up with a rather odd collection of stuff. I'd read somewhere that you can embellish split silk rods, so as I have rather a lot of them, I grabbed all the red, orange and yellow ones, and any co-ordinating fabric and threads that came to hand.

Which is how I ended up embellishing together a bit of tie-dyed muslin and some pink fleece. Oh, and a peeled silk rod, that's it in the middle. The blurry yellowy pink bits are random dyed cross stitches, also embellished, and the white is back stitch, more to be added later. (Sorry for the blurry image, I was too lazy to get a camera so took the photo with the iPD, which is too heavy for me to hold steady.)

My original idea was to make a conical bag with it, but although the fleece was square to begin with, it wasn't after I'd embellished it. So the new idea is to wire the edges and fold the corners up into a sort of pasty shape. Of course by tomorrow I may have a completely new idea - or have gone back to the first one.  Whichever it is, tassels may be involved...

This, plus all the rest of my CTW productions, will appear in the Eastleigh College exhibition, at Desborough Campus, between Thursday evening, 4th July, and lunchtime on Saturday 6th. Please come along! Amongst other work you can also see the exhibition of this year's degree students, which I am really looking forward to. It doesn't seem a year since we were agonising over ours!

A question:

What can you buy from a pet shop that will turn this 

 

 

 

 

 

into this?

 

 

 

 

 

Answer: two of these.

About a year ago, during C&G, arch-carder D suggested using pet brushes for small amounts of carding. I have got round to buying some at last.

 

 

This is the result of my labours – a pile of fluff.

I am sure people who know how to card will tell me what's wrong with it – but I had fun and it is now all ready to use with the Embellisher.

 

While I was at the pet shop I got Quality Control some catnip. It was the only thing she got out of bed for today.

A few weeks ago I made the mistake of putting some old towelling, destined for rags, on the kitchen table. Our house is so lacking in comfortable places to sleep. QC has chosen to sleep on it.

Good job we don’t use the table much …

As I was feeling totally uninspired I decided to play with the embellisher.

I made some backgrounds.

 

 

And then I found an interesting little bit of space dyed scrim that looked a bit like a landscape.

Back to minimal stitch …

 

This has a bit more stitch on it – it is a C&G sample of Broderie Perse – except that I didn’t have any suitable fabric to cut motifs out of. So I scanned some leaves, manipulated the images, and printed them on T-shirt paper before transferring them to a piece of hand-dyed fabric.

I was in my leaf period at the time.

Some unsuccessful experiments?

I’m not sure.

This is the Trapunto’d and quilted on to felt piece after it emerged from the washing machine. It is difficult to see in the photo – but it is now very puffy. The fleur-de-lises are about 1” deep – and I only used low loft batting to Trapunto them. So if the experiment was to find out of the process worked – yes it did. i haven’t measured how much the felt shrank, and I'm too lazy to get up and do it, but I'll try to remember to do it tomorrow.

The ‘background’ where there is just the layer of felt under the fabric, and which I seed stitched, has a lovely texture too – the whole thing is very tactile.

But it still looks like a multi-coloured lump …

I also had these in the washing machine – 3 little bits of knitting [I haven’t completely abandoned  brown.]

This was an experiment in felting some  wool i hand dyed ages ago – and didn't like the colour. It felts beautifully though – very soft and with a faint fuzz to it. I’m thinking this could be used in the embellisher – definitely successful – apart from the colour …

I spent the afternoon working on a background with the embellisher, inspired by Sheila Smith’s ‘Embellish, Stitch, Felt.’ [I had to get up to check the title so I measured the multi-coloured lump – out with the calculator – about 25 % shrinkage. No wonder it went so puffy!]

Back to the embellisher. The piece looked best at Step 1 but I forgot to take a photo. it was one of those pieces where everything I did to it made it look worse …

This is step 2.

This is dyed scrim embellished on to felt, stitched and then pieces cut out and rearranged.

 

 

Step 3, In an attempt to cover up the holes left by my inexpert cutting I embellished some scraps of silk and metallic organza on, definitely not an improvement.

 

So – step 4 - I added some glitzy fibres  - which I think cover up some of the sins.

It was so nice before I started mucking about with it …

And here is the final brown image – and probably the final colour image as I've run out of colours.

An image from the Watts Chapel near Guildford. No floor tiles [that i remember, I may be wrong] but lots and lots and lots of inspiration.