Thinking inside the square...

A garden cane grid.
An interwoven mess.
Crocheted rings and loops.
Enclosing straws, ribbon & threads.
Weaving.

Embossing & beyond!!!

On Saturday I attended an EG workshop with Suzanne Shaw, who is a member of the Scottish Embroidery Tutors. It was a fun day getting to grips with the delights of heat guns & soldering irons! Firstly I painted bondaweb was ironed on to organza. This was then covered with heat resistant glitter, mica flakes and accent beads. Another layer of organza was layered on top and ironed over. A light brushing of metallic acrylic paint was painted on the surface. Although it seems quite delicate, it is actually quite strong.
Next a piece of velvet had some garden fleece ironed on to it (apparently nappy liners will also work). This was then painted with acrylic paints, and a pyrography tool was used to create the triangle pattern in the surface.
Other samples were made with Tyvek, plastic bags & fusible film, kunin felt, wadding, metallic tape, plastic ribbons and a glue gun.
Possibly my favourite sample is this:
Looks to me like a dinosaurs skin. What to know how it is made? If you turn it over the secret is revealed.
Ironed crisp foil covered in acrylic paint!

Dreamcatcher weavings

Using three chopsticks to create a triangle, I explored weaving, winding & interlacing. I purposely used bright colours, and like how this contrasts with the shadows.
I realised that I had yet to post a picture of the front of my third tapestry sample. This sample uses wire, mohair, ribbon, string, plastic bags, sock yarn, embroidery threads and many other weft materials found around the flat.
Notice how the warp is revealed when using wire as the weft.
Fancy knitting yarns and mohair threads create interesting textures on the surface!

Yarn bombing isms...

Due to an IT hiccup, brain ache and a couple of photos sneaking into the wrong folder, I'd completely forgotten all about this yarn bombing I seen last September in Davie Village Community Gardens, Vancouver.
This yarn bombing had obviously survived the elements! This lovely knitted wall is apparently the work of Jessica Glesby. Yesterday whilst wasting my time (I mean being 'creative') on Craftster, I saw a new addition to this very garden from WooWork. Raining cats and dogs quite literally!
In between all this internet browsing I have finished reading one of my Christmas books ...isms: Understanding Art. As someone with aspirations to next study art history, this is a fantastic book. This book does not pretend to be ultimate art history resource. Each movement is given a 2 page spread with a definition, key words, artists and key pieces associated to each isms. A great book to go back to time and time again. I'll admit there were quite a few isms that I wasn't aware of!

Twist & Shout

Rope goes back to prehistoric times, though they probably didn't make them quite as vibrant as these.

I've also made a selection of braids, chevron, round & flat.  Reminiscent of childhood 'friendship' bracelets.

Words & the Slow Revolution

Today we went off on an adventure to Edinburgh. It really is a beautiful city, though the east coast wind can certainly make it feel chilly! It's nice to see that seagulls are just as cheeky that side of the country!
First stop was TEXTiles a exhibition of work from the Edinburgh based Frayed Edges textile group. All the pieces shown were inspired by words. These varied from novels, poems, children's books and folk stories. From the book a piece of string is a wonderful thing, Sara Macaulay created a knitted hammock full of fun characters lazing around. Despite them not having features on their faces, personalities are shown through posture and costume. The knitting was very textural with natural colours. And just who wouldn't want to wear trousers on their head?
Jennie Louden took Wizards by Alfred Noyes, to create not one but two pieces. Three delightful wizard puppets and very organic growing felt with sprouting bulbs and flowers. This smelt wonderful! A Nigerian folktale about mankinds greed inspired Nathalie Cortada to use commonly discarded items. Carrier bags are turned into crochet strips spilling out of a takeaway carton. It is amazing the power of advertising, as we found ourselves trying to work out from which shops the bags originally came from!
Philippa Johnston took the poem The Panic Bird by Robert Phillips to create a powerful and frightening creature. Tin wings spread out and wires surround. Its beak could certainly rip off strips.
After a hearty lunch at Henderson's, we went across the city to the Dovecot studios for Taking time: Craft and the slow revolution. A direct response to our fast paced, want now, society. Over printed polyester shirts by Becky Earley hang alongside stone drawings by Sue Lawty. And an interactive piece by Shane Waltener and Cheryl McChesney Jones encourages the viewer to knit, crochet, knot and create an addition to Garland # 21.

Code breaking Chewit Monsters?

My plan to blog at least weekly is slipping... I spent the last few days in my home town of Bletchley (most famously known for its code breaking). The delightfully retro leisure centre is currently being pulled down. It is quite sad to see this iconic (if not rather bizarre) structure with a chunk out of it. I wonder if it is work of the Chewit monster?
A walk round the corner revealed some beautiful mehndi patterns painted on a path. What a welcoming entrance to a house!
Finally thank you to art4moi for introducing me to the work of the artist Ton Schulten. His broad bands of colour remind me of patchwork quilts and are very inspiring. Hopefully by my next blog post I might actually have some work to share!