Jewels.

Patricia brought along a selection of her jewellery pieces.She makes the focus beads by combining threads,ribbons and beads,wrapping and embellishing.These are then matched with commercial beads,often semi precious,before she strings the necklaces or attaches earwires for earrings.

Each piece is truly individual and make lovely gifts for self or others.

More jewel- like surfaces from Ira,using acrylic paint and printed with her own blocks.

By the time she has added her trademark French knots,stitching and beads these will be totally transformed.

These have been cut apart to create some small pieces.We thought they would look very precious mounted in deep frames and all hung together.

And this "jewel" presented by Deryll is destined to be part of a larger piece.She came across it while sorting .It has been stitched and small pieces of fabric applied before being covered with a plastic film and heated ,this caused it to shrink and pucker.Can you guess what she intends for it?

SEASONAL GREETINGS.

Our traditional giving of a home made card continued when we met up at the beginning of the month.

We had a quick show and tell,of which more later,a round up of business before getting on with the main event.........our lunch.

Viv's lovely centrepiece,all from her garden.

Our table with some of the mouthwatering dishes.

W hope you have enjoyed our year and that you will continue to visit in 2016.

HERE'S WISHING YOU ALL A HAPPY CHRISTMAS AND A PRODUCTIVE NEW YEAR!

Flora.

Liz had been working hard to get her exhibits ready for the South West Quilt and Textile Show so she brought along some of them to show us.They are eco -dyed with fallen leaves then stitched and quilted.Sorry if you missed the show but it was worth a look.

She also brought some of her work begun in our workshop.She has printed on the Gelli plate,used a home made stamp  and collaged paper.They make a lovely set of work especially as they are colour related.

Liz is very involved with World Textiles and had purchased this vintage Kantha piece to add ti her collection.

A more detailed view below.

Jenn has been doing a printmaking course at THE YARD ARTSPACE in Cheltenham with Sue Brown.This has used safe methods of aquatinting.The plates are made using card,glue,silk.Oil based inks are used to print and are cleaned with nothing more than vegetable oil!

She has used seed pods as inspiration .Above the collograph plate is flanked by an ordinary print on the left and a viscosity print on the right.A viscosity print is when the plate is inked and wiped as normal ,then a roller with thin ink is passed over the surface ,followed by a roller with thick ink .The inks resist areas creating the print when passed through the press.

These plates above and below are  flanked by Chine Colle prints.

This is where tissue paper is introduced to the plate after it is inked but before passing through the press. Jenn is experimenting with using them to print on fabric and adding stitch to create works for our 2016 exhibition.

Liz keeping busy

Liz is currently exhibiting some of her rust printed cloths and papers  at Centrespace Gallery in Bristol with 6 other artists, including a contemporary knitwear designer who has reconstructed 3 jumpers using delicate Swiss darning. 

Centrespace is a beautiful urban gallery set in an old chocolate factory along a medieval lane in the centre of Bristol. It's a lovely space in which to exhibit textiles, alongside stunning paintings, 3d collagraph structures and prints. 

Hope you have time to visit, before the exhibition closes on Wed 2nd Dec at 5pm.

Wendy Dolan workshop.

Three of us went to Wendy Dolan’s workshop run by the Embroiderer’s Guild which we thoroughly enjoyed.  The subject was Architectural Textures and Wendy took us through every stage with great attention to detail, even giving us an excellent lesson on machine embroidery.  We all thought we knew everything about machine embroidery, but everyone there had something to learn and discover about their machine and the techniques!

A brief idea of the process:   From a simple door or window photo we traced the image with a black felt pen eliminating some detail.  From a selection of light coloured fabrics we layed pieces onto a background of calico, pinning them down and then machining round the edges.  This was backed with Stitch and Tear or vilene.  The image was traced off onto a second piece, making sure it was reversed, placed on the back of the work and machine stitched.  There was only time to stitch the basic outlines to be enhanced later.

Further work will be done at home.

Carol's tracing

Carol's work

Debby's tracing and work

Close up of Debby's work

Sally's tracing

Sally's work

Textures.

Viv had been stitching a neutral coloured piece onto a neutral linen.She kept to one stitch and varied the size and thickness of the threads .A final embellishment with neutral beads and sequins completes the piece.It is very interesting just how much colour there is in this 'no colour ' embroidery.

Another textured piece which has been recycled from an older piece.She has cut it into smaller pieces and plans to mount them in some small deep frames.A different treatment will make them be seen anew.

Carol,meanwhile ,had been persevering with her ribbon embroidery.Not one to give up she had stitched several small flowers and tried out some stitches.Unlike thread the ribbon takes some effort to feed through the fabric,making these neat pieces belie the difficulty.

Mosaic,transfers and indigo.

Debby had been to Rome and was very taken with the very many mosaics she had seen in countless places.Like us all she had spent her time looking down or up at the gorgeousness she encountered.This above was a piece she found at home which recalled what she had observed.She brought us all a lovely little bookmark each,detailing cherubs.

She continues at Stoke Lodge with her textile ladies.This last week she had been showing them the delights of transfer dyes,paints and crayons.

Here we see some of her sampling.

This one on velvet was especially lovely.

Patricia had been sorting through her fabrics and had chosen to bring some indigo dyed silks.The blue achieved is so soft and works so well on silks.We could see some luscious scarves and neckpieces in the making.

BLING!

First some images of a wall hanging or quilt created by Ira some years ago.

She had found it and reacquainted herself .It has her trademark 'bling'.Layers of organza and other irridescent fabrics,gold braids and metallic threads .The surface is very rich with lots of stitch and has been "burnt back" with a variety of patterns to reveal layers beneath.

She has continued with the process to the present day ,adding and refining her technique.This is her latest addition and will be presented in the turned wooden bowls she has sourced locally.

Her next technique is lino printing to create more surfaces to colour and stitch.

This is how the block on the right looks when she has begun to use colour and add some threads.Obviously much more to come knowing Ira.

Catch up with Jane.

Because of our Guild exhibition we didn't meet in October.This post gives a catch-up with September and November show and tell.Jane brought along her results from the workshop in August above.Like the others she was very productive.She had gone on to use some to play with mono printing.This below a multilayered page with her Celtic ideas on top.Lots of scope here for further development.

We liked what she had done with her triangle/pylon pieces.The manipulation of the surface has added to their appeal.The shadows add another dimension.

She had been trying out ideas for a background with machine stitching on a commercial fabric.You can see the difference the stitching makes below.

This close up show it even more clearly.We were wondering if the result was a tad too dark.

The random dyed wool was a gift to herself from Woolfest ,destined for socks ,I think.

More stitching from her machine to test out the quilting patterns on a quilt destined for the sofa.

so detailed and intricate .

A broader view of the back of the quilt and another close-up below.

The quilt front it all belongs with.