Borrowed and recycled.

Last meeting Sally had cut up one of her City and Guilds pieces as she no longer wanted to store it .We each took parts of it to see how it might be reworked.

 Deryll and Jenn took the edges .Above and below are the machine stitched 

landscapes created by Deryll using the right side of the fabric.

Jenn worked on the wrong side of the fabric ,first using Inktense blocks to paint in the bare bones before handstitching over.The bottom right has no stitch as yet.

It shows the possibility of bringing new life to pieces.

Deryll also discovered a previous piece she had forgotten about.It had been dyed by her using Madder also grown by her .The background consisted of strips of the fabric then been woven together .She had machine stitched the Madder plant in green over .She felt that it did not really show up and was seeking some advice as how she might rectify it.Theree were several suggestions so we will wait to see if she uses any.

 

Colour play.

Jane had been creating textiles but not with fabric and thread.She had purchased an automated spinning wheel and had been plying wool tops and some nylon together.The first image shows her first attempts.It felt so soft to the touch.

She had then created lots of yarns by blending what she had.She created this warm shawl by knitting them as they came.Apologies for the out of focus image.

Here are some close-ups showing the lovely blends she created by plying different colours together.

She had also gone back to her using weaving frame and made herself a sleeveless gilet.

The colours just sing!

Her spinning wheel is like this one but in a different colour .It is about the size of a mug so takes up very little space.It runs on an energy pack which is plugged in to a charger just like a phone.Technology can be so innovative.

 

Mark making fragments.

Jenn brought some small pieced  patches of fabrics.They had been  made in the online course 'Perfectly Imperfect Discovering Your Visual Language 'with Lorna Crane and Fiber Arts Two.

They had been selected from larger pieces of cloth which had been spoiled because the ink she used had run.They may be combined into a larger piece or left as small individual fragments.

She had also made a vessel using other parts of fabrics, and felt this had been the most successful outcome of the course.A base fabric with applied patches had been mounted on wadding ,machine stitched and then embellished with hand stitch.

If she revisits the course she will use acrylic ink and base her mark making on a particular location ,perhaps one of her Lockdown walks.

 

All done.

Sally had found a lovely cream fabric to back this piece which had started as pieces produced in a Gelli print workshop we did before Lockdown. The addition of machine lace leaves and hand stitch have really complemented the prints and brought them to life.

She used leaves again on her book cover.She had used Printaid on calico which gives good clear results.

She had been busy sorting through some of her City and Guilds pieces feeling they had served their purpose .She had begun to cut them up .Below is part of her final piece which we thought might be refashioned into a new vessel.Sally remained unconvinced and challenged us to take some bits away to work on and present next time.We'll see what ensues.

 

Winning ways.

Deryll ,as usual, entered the crafts section of the Long Ashton show .This lovely card displaying her exquisitely made courronnes.

A collage depicting waves crashing to shore 

and this stitched piece celebrating the apple.

Not only did she receive some excellent comments and feedback but she won 'Best Exhibit' in the crafts section and was presented with the Rose Bowl  ,which she gets to keep for the year!

 

Collage ,print and mark making

Sue had had some fun looking around the garden to find interesting stalks, seed heads ,dried buddleia heads and poppies.

She used inks and painted and made marks on paper to create some interesting textures for use in collage,

She had continued on from the workshop led by Debby

adding in colour

and creating some dramatic results.

We think she has more to explore and can see this leading into work with her embellisher.

 

September 2021

With fewer of us meeting because of holidays and other commitments you would think we might not have much to see and talk about but you'd be wrong.Debby started off with lots of interesting items beside her lovely work.

First , the book pictured which has been produced by Mandy Pattullo's daughter Alice .She has used her own drawings and illustrations'' in collaboration"with Eric Ravilious who did works about the White Horse ,some previously unpublished .It had the blessing of the family and makes for a delightful book.

Next she had found this ingenious gadget for hanging pieces such as scarves etc.it consists of a wood  batten which has a long magnet attached .The cloth is laid against this then a flexible magnet attached over the top holds it all in place.There is a bottom batten that does the same enabling the fabric to hang straight .

First piece she showed was this little embroidery in preparation for her workshop at Court House Farm  near Portishead on 25th and 26th September .The lavender blue really zings against the lime green ground.

Over this last year she has been doing much more painting and drawing and these two pieces are a collaboration with her husband.He really enjoys applying paint and creating textures, then Debby steps in and adds the imagery.

She hopes to take these into textile and with this in mind had sent the images to PRINFAB to be printed onto fabric ,in  this case velvet.

She had also spent a lovely weekend up in Cheltenham at theYard artspace.

The course run  by the lovely Sue Brown was "Botanical contact print with collagraph"

The first day was spent preparing the botanical printed papers 

Then they created collagraphs using non toxic methods such as glue and card which would be printed onto their papers once dry .

They were shown how to use chine colle to add extra layers to their print using printed tissue and dressmaking pattern paper as well as utilising more than one colour in their prints.

Looks like Debby really took to this ,will we see more developments ?