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.