Favourites.

Debby had produced this print with Sue Brown and used it to create printed lengths of fabric.She decided she would create a quilted hanging from this one .The fabric she has used for the edge makes a lovely foil especially with the accents of colour on the top right .She found just the right match in a charity shop.She will add accents of metallic to highlight areas such as the beetle.

She had sourced Konjac Gum powder  for laminating paper and strengthening them for for momigami  

www.japanese paper place .com

She had also been experimenting with using a laser cut garden ornament to create a rust print .To make it safer to handle she had used tea to dye with .Tea binds with the rust and neutralises the iron oxide.

She also came across some Cyanotype prints she had set aside and is thinking how they might be used.

Another piece she had found was a favourite transfer paint piece.She had made a start on some stitching but intends to go back and add more .

While on holiday in Chichester she found this in a charity shop .It ties around the shoulders like a cape but is a polyester fabric.She bought it for inspiration and had some interesting facts about butterflies and moths.Butterflies navigate by the sun while moths do it by the moon and stars ,hence their diurnal and nocturnal habits .

 

Fishing.

Jenn printed one of her drawings onto cotton for her ‘Red’ interpretation but didn’t get around to adding any stitch.

She was trying to work out how she might use her fish prints on cotton to create a larger piece.The problem was her printer only prints to A4. Joining them left a harsh line of stitching ,so she thought about piecing them like Bojagi.

Then she tried using a cording foot and stitching curved lines to mimic water.The jury is still out !She was disappointed that Prinfab www.prinfab.com no longer offered organza as one of their fabrics.She may try Contrado www.contrado.co.uk. 

After taking an online workshop with Kate Semple www.katesemple.co. uk  making card jugs Jenn had used the idea to make an oval dish. She had the song ‘When the boat comes in ‘ playing in her head.

Tetrapak prints of Mackerel sit on it .She has plans to create a matching piece which is in the early stages of production.It may happen or not .

She had found a frame ,with three apertures ,locally and was trying out more tetrapak prints.These had included’chine colle ‘,she thought she might get another frame and do some more .

Exhibits

This is Janis’s interpretation of the Red prompt from last  month .It has a ‘flavour ‘ of 

Charles Rennie Mackintosh about it .

          

She hasn’t exhibited with us before but brought along some pieces she has had framed .

We think they will be just fine .

She is starting a City and Guilds in Tredegar House near Newport soon. She went to an exhibition there and was taken with what she saw and signed up !

 

August

Fumi is continuing to develop her miniature crochet .She collects shells whenever and wherever she 

can .She thought the holey ones would lend themselves to having ‘seaweed’ winding through them …….and she was right !

The challenge for this month was RED .As there were an abundance of ladybirds this summer she chose them as her focus.

Being Fumi she carved the ladybirds from an eraser ,they are sooo tiny , before adding some stitch .

Her last offering was a hand made concertina book using up lots of gelli prints and paper offcuts.

It represents a pigeon’s journey spying out hidden gems within the landscape below .

The closure is a tiny origami pigeon .

 

CENTRESPACE .

 August has flown by so Centrespace exhibition is looming large on the horizon.Fumi designed these flyers which look amazing . We hope you pay us a visit .This year GTA is thirty ,our Pearl anniversary !

In case you’re not sure where the gallery is situated here’s a map .

Print ,stitch and origami.

Sue had finished and mounted her Pearl piece and had moved on to considering other work she might include in Centrespace .She has this bridge stitched out after digitising on her embroidery machine . We liked the simplicity of the black on white but she is wondering whether to create more ‘kinoptic’pieces which she thinks have become her signature.

She also brought this fat quarter printed by Prinfab .It is what she can see across from her home .A great image of a mix of textures worth exploring in stitch .

Fumi had invested in a large gelli plate and has been creating some delicious prints of weeds .She was wondering how they could be used .

We suggested taking a viewfinder and isolating areas  she loved , and maybe making collages.

She had already put her skills to use in constructing this attractive box. Using metallic paint as an accent really works.

She had made some more tiny crochet pieces and sought our thoughts on displaying them in dark frames.

We thought they would work especially if she had a block of several grouped together.

Apologies for the poor photo.

She had also bought these lidded glass containers and folded a pigeon to sit inside.

She was thinking of creating a mobile of pigeons made from maps representing the compass points of the UK.

She had been to the current textile exhibition at the RWA and was given an idea how to display them on a wire grid.We thought it could work.

 

Exhibition, birthday and unearthing.

Debby had been to a local gallery , tucked away in Westbury on Trym. She had a drawing day with Nik Pollard on a very hot day where they looked at flora and fauna .

It was her husband’s birthday recently and the card she gave him got her thinking about ways to create simple sculptural shapes just with folds.www.mattillustration.uk

She had also been sorting and had unearthed several pieces.

Some she had put aside after having them printed as they were disappointing ,above and at the bottom .

This batik piece was done in response to looking at cell structures , typically colours Debby would choose.

She has thoughts to revisit these to create work and make use of what was probably expensive to print …..a deckchair was mentioned.Mmmm it could be fascinating.