Lots of variety.

Kirsten has the Cass Arts magazine quarterly.This edition had an article about natural pigments now being produced commercially.They are a range of watercolours called Schminke Horodam Naturals .Interesting as there has been such a lot around some company was bound to jump on the bandwagon!

Her take on Miniature with a tiny felt mouse

She has worked up her organza samples ,putting them in hoops with her tiny paper clay sewing accoutrements .This theme keeps giving. Also in the photo are some ‘new’ boxes picked up at Clevedon Emporium.What delights will she use these to contain?

Apologies for the bad photo ,Kirsten’s Printclub took part in the UWE Book event held at Bower Ashton recently .She loved it and picked up this book while there.

A better look at her latest pieces.

 

That’s it for this month except to say our new prompt is ENLARGE .How will we interpret that ?

 

Delft and street traders.

Following on from finding a street trader figurine Jenn found a better doll pattern.It came from Jan Horrox ‘ book ‘Introduction to Making Cloth Dolls’She constructed the one on the right first to try it out .Finding it was fairly straightforward she went on to make two more. They still need to be finished as she wants to use patterns from Bristol Delft to create skirt /pinafores but is not yet quite decided how best to do it .The fabrics surrounding  the dolls was printed with funky foam stamps but are not quite right.

She was inspired by an article in ‘Embroidery ‘magazine about Jane Colquhoun ,a member of Seam Collective ,to create the figures above . They are two layers of cotton organdie with small snippets of fabric and thread between .They have then been ‘drawn’ with free machining.Ideas for what they are trading and how they are dressed came from Cries of London by Marcellus Laroon .

Her fragments based on those seen in Bristol museum collection have been completed and sit in a display box at the moment.Her miniatures are below ,small plates made with paperclay .One imprinted with a stamp the other hand done with a blade then painted.

 

Hand and machine .

Sue had given a talk to the British Legion recently.She came across this piece done after a visit to Monet’s garden in Giverny. She thought it may be 40 years since it was stitched . She said it was a rare example as it is entirely hand stitched by her.

She has been working on her pieces for Prior and had decided to pair Hotwells with SS Great Britain.She works them on her embroidery machine using Khadi paper with a tear off backing . First stage is on computer software , refining a photograph before digitising and sending to the machine .It is a laborious process and not at all straightforward. We admire her patience.

We like the monochrome images  ,and thought they might have a place as well as the Kinoptic versions.

She continues with her watercolour classes ,this time creating lifelike trees .Her favourite teacher is Paul Weaver .She says he teaches technique rather than copying which allows for more progress .

It looks like she is really enjoying the journey.

 

Grandmothers .

A real miniature painting of Sally’s grandmother.Isn’t she elegant ?

She had created her own version in Stumpwork some years ago .She had also found another of her stumpwork miniatures of her other, musical , grandmother.

They are such a lovely and personal keepsake and a reminder of Sally’s needlework skills .

 

Sunprint.

First off from Viv her flower embroidered miniature on hand dyed /painted fabric.Simple but so effective.

She had unearthed some sun printed fabrics done after a prompt from Deryll during Lockdown 

 when we could only ‘meet’ on Zoom.

She had used silk paints and really achieved a good contact giving very sharp images.

She had decided to develop them and was wondering about the kind of colour that might be used to border them .

We thought maybe the lighter fabric to enhance the colours to advantage.

We loved the raggedy edge to the green and thought she should emulate it on the other too.

 

Quilted.

Fumi worked well to get her quilt done since last month .She is ambivalent about it as she pictured it as a book .This was supposed to be the original incarnation but we persuaded her it was a shame to hide all the lovely ‘pages’ away . It makes such a statement.

She has been making use of  odds and ends and turning them into the most original brooches.

        

Putting 

and putting her sewing and printmaking skills to use to create these individual glasses cases.

And ever mindful to not waste anything ,this is a found landscape .It is created from the paper used to iron off wax from the batiks she did at a recent workshop.

Finally with Wimbledon in full swing she created her miniature ‘Is it in or out ?’

 

Bags ,birds and miniatures.

Carol created a Miniature embroidery to be used as a fridge magnet ,even at this size her stitching is exquisite.

She had also come across these little framed pieces .They were done when there was an exhibition of remaining pieces in the www.vam.org

She had returned to www.textileartist.org Stitch club for inspiration for her cards .The workshop was given by www,deborahsstudio.com Carol has kept meticulous notes for each of the workshops so can go back and revisit at any time .

She continues to add to her garden birds,they are so lifelike .She was wondering what she might use as a border for the latest ones. She thought maybe something with some pattern like the piece underneath .We offered some suggestions for her to consider.

Following on from Margaret Maple’s bag workshop Carol had made two more for gifts.We’d all love to receive one !

 

July and this has landed !

                    We hope you will add these dates to your diary .We have excelled ourselves and organised exhibitions for the next few years .Some are in galleries we have visited but never shown .We plan new work ,and will be celebrating 30 years of GTA in 2026.

Please be aware that Found at Prior will open on 12th September at about 3pm and will close at the same time on September 25th . This is because we have to put up ,and take down the exhibition within the booked days .