Things of the week

Book of the week - a work in progress, when I've decided what to do with it. I'm torn between trees and shoes. The inspiring tutorial is here. 

Note to self (again): measure twice, cut once. On the other hand, the brown paper tape idea worked well, even in my clumsy hands.

Knitting of the week(s) - also works in progress. I have been playing around with adding stitch to some of them, and knitted a few more. Both the tall one  and the inky one are knitted in 2ply, but one was felted following N's advice and one wasn't. I still like the texture of the inky one, but if you want tall things to stand up you've got to felt them harder.

Double entendre? What double entendre?

The Oddjob hat is short because getting it that tall took all the super-bulky I had. No idea why the photo has come out yellow, they are  the same colour as all the other and photographed at the same time.

Squirrel of the week. That is a 'squirrel-proof bird feeder' he is feeding from, but as the little guys helped us refill it yesterday, it is just possible that the lid had not been put back properly.

It has now.

Busy week next week, with an extra grandparental day. However I am expecting to have extra time for doing relaxing stuff. I've mentioned my insomnia on this blog - I've been living with it for about 30 years but just after Christmas it got much worse, so when I spotted a poster about insomnia counselling in the doctors' surgery I followed it up. 

I've found it quite helpful so far - well structured and with a sound psychological basis, as far as this long retired psychologist can tell! I have started a sleep diary, and as a result of the challenging maths involved in that (well, challenging if you are sleep-deprived and don't do spread sheets) I have been advised to restrict my time in bed to 5 hours a night! Asleep or awake. So I stay up till 1a.m, get up at 6, and do relaxing things before bed - knitting or embroidery are fine, but no computer games. :(

As a result, I'm knackered (no daytime napping allowed, not that I ever did before starting this), and finding it difficult to wake up in the mornings - but I do seem to be falling asleep reasonably quickly. And I get so much done when I get up at 6 - some of which is worth doing! 

Book Week

Book One

'Another chance to see' the CTW book, which now has contents. Adding the contents took most of Wednesday, about as long as it took to make the book itself, if you don't include drying times. That was partly due to deciding to add a fancy, but not very successful, title, which had to be designed, believe it or not. Then I added the pasta machine prints I made earlier, and some real lace. (The bits of handmade beige paper, and the smudgy blue piece in the middle, are dampened paper embossed by putting them through the pasta machine with the collagraph plate but no paint, although the blue one did get some Rub-On.)

Book Two

Continuing work in the 'tree' sketchbook. You may be looking at some of these for a while before you see any link to trees. I got a bit carried away.

I finished the four-sided stitch trees. Then I got a bit patchworky with a couple of my Gelli prints, one on paper and one on fabric. I really like the paper version, lots of little 2" square bits of inspiration. Appliqué, or surface embroidery perhaps, or canvas work?  There are also a couple more knitted samples, and some of the grottier prints cut out and layered.

My thoughts have been turning, as they often do, to vessels, so I used some Gelli prints to cut out 'sketches' of cylindrical ones.  Then I actually drew some, if you count oil pastel and Brusho as drawing. And finally I knitted a couple of tension samples for felting, using a mystery white Aran/chunky from my stash, which are so boring to look at I haven't even photographed them. And it didn't felt much either. Lovely texture, not much felting. Time for Plan B, I think.

You may be thinking 'enough of all this sampling, what about making something?'  I have to agree. Wensleydale always says Plan B is thinking of Plan C. In this case it was deciding to try to knit a cylindrical vessel like the ones I'd been drawing, to see if they would actually work. I used smaller needles, in the hope that it will get stiffer when it felts.  It took several goes to find a cast on for the base which looked as if it might lie flat: I remain to be convinced. But when it's as tall as I want it - or when I run out of wool - or when I get bored, I shall cast off and felt it in the hope I can produce something which will have a reasonably flat base and stand up by itself, even with added cables/holes/lumps and bumps etc. If not, it really will be time for Plan C. 

Mind you, it will be time for Plan C if it does work, just a different Plan C.

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. 

Another two bite the dust.

This one... 

and this one, have fallen to the ground. Well, it is autumn. In both cases, it's the string, the only organic element, which has given way. 

Six others are still hanging around the garden - these five, and the mirror piece which I forgot to photograph.  They have been up now for 18 - 24 months.

So much for biodegradeable. 

The highlight of last week was learning beginning to learn to spin. I impulse bought a hand spinning kit on holiday last year, and then panicked about using it. Fortunately several other members of neuf were keen to learn to spin too - pictures over on the neuf page on Facebook.

And this is what I am thinking of doing with my few metres of dodgy handspun. (It's just pinned on at the moment.)

On other fronts, the second page of the Visual Marks book is done. Probably. 

And Christmas preparations have begun. Wensleydale has not only made the cake, he had an idea. 

Making blankets with left over Shetland wool resulted in an assortment of left over cones. He suggested that some plastic primer and spray paint would produce Christmas trees, which will shortly acquire some LED tea lights.

And I made a little present. Or twelve. Instructions here, except that I used ribbon instead of fabric.

The black and white Visual Marks cylinder has been on the back burner due to a world shortage of no.3 cotton perlė. As usual I exaggerate, but I had to mail order some, as none was available locally, not even for ready money. It has now come, so I shall be back to that tonight.

From this...

to these.

My responses to the mark making we did for 'Visual Marks'. Both unfinished, both experimental. And the cylinder will have to wait for a while as I've run out of black perlé

Not much, perhaps, for a week's work, but it was half term (Mottisfont, Manor Farm and the Lakeside Railway) and there has been cycling on the telly, although the BBC  did its best to hide it by putting most of it on the red button and not starting it at the time they advertised on their own web site. Grrrr!

Is this a series?

If so, it's still a very experimental one.

The two at the bottom you have seen before, but without stitch - they also appear top right with one of their new siblings. The little one, which is now finished, was relatively easy to stitch into, but I discovered a drawback to making longer ones. I can get my hand inside and stitch right down at the bottom of it, but I cannot finish off the thread. I did think about cutting the cylinder down to a more manageable size, but decided it was better to perfect the art of very neat finishing off on the right side. Or leave dangling ends. 

The one with the black top is destined to become one/all of my 'Visual Marks' pieces, the response to the black and white drawing. I have plans for the colour piece, but they involve a lot more work, so may not happen.

This is the design for the cylinder. With great skill by sheer chance, I made a mould for the vessels which has the same circumference as the length of a piece of A4, which is very convenient. After discovering the drawbacks of a tall cylinder, I've reduced the height to about A4 size too. It remains to be seen if I can fasten off ends at that depth...

The marbled one is very experimental. The original cylinder, made with abaca tissue and bandage, was very soft, so I tried adding an extra layer of fabric, and this bit of marbled muslin fell out of my stash. I discovered that adding more glue to thin papier mâché makes it go very soft, so it was a bit of a struggle getting the extra layer on, but it did suggest that future cylinders could be deliberately distorted.

I'm not sure what is going to happen to it next, but one problem opportunity I shall have to explore is dealing with the area where the fabric overlaps, which is much more obvious with patterned fabric than with plain.

Half term next week, so life will be a little hectic in Cheese Acres. Babybel has planned the programme, and Granny and Granddad have fallen into line. The VHC is a little too young to make his opinion known as yet, but he is working very hard on getting this talking thing perfected!