Fascinating Fungi part 2

The weather was very changeable on Sunday so I set off for the Boundary Way (Allotments and Community Garden - phew! what a mouthful) with layers of clothes for every eventuality.   The first thing I saw when driving onto the site was all the amazing flowers everywhere. Now I don't know if they are to attract the insects, just happen to pop up or are grown specifically but they were on most plots. What a way to start the day - really lifted my soul.

 There were some little mushrooms sprung up inside the polytunnel - sadly as the day went on they wilted in the heat - they seem such transient things.


For this workshop we were looking at how to represent the gills of the mushroom by using fabric manipulation techniques.  These all originated in China as part of the art of Shibori (now associated with Japan)  After a quick look at some samples of fungi (straight from my fridge lol) we got straight into making suffolk puffs, by stitching round a circle of fabric and then pulling it tight.

 This is Sarah being super speedy. She churned out a whole ring of puffs in short order.

 Anne was a very neat and tidy stitcher and Moya took a considered approach. A small group gave us plenty of time to chat and to look at each section in detail.

After puffs we went on to ruffles using long strips of fabric.

Sarah made a whole mushroom out of a face wipe

More ruffles. (the biscuits went down well too)

A whole set of puffs and ruffles 

 It got quite warm by lunch time so we moved outside to carry on sewing in the fresh air.

Once we had finished all the manipulation we had lots of samples to work with. The next step was to prepare them for rusting - a natural decay process that seemed appropriate as fungi feed on decaying material.   All the samples were dipped in either tea or vinegar water and then placed in trays. We used found fencing, nails etc to provide the rust element.  The trays were wrapped in clingfilm and the rust marks will develop over the next few days. Part of the fun of this technique is you never know quite what you are going to get! 

The ladies were a joy to teach and it was a fabulous day of stitch explorations. I hope they send me pictures of the final results and I will upload them here.

Really looking forward to the final in the series - mark making into stitch, again inspired by fungi. Details on my events page and on the Boundary Way Project website.

Thanks for reading.

When a challenge is a BAD idea.

Anyone else a challenge junkie?  You know when you need to join in every stitchalong, crochetalong, 100 days of XYZ, etc?   Well I definitely fall into that category.

I love a challenge for many different reasons. It can stretch my boundaries, motivating me into trying new things. It often gives me deadlines to work to and without those I tend to just bounce from one thing to another without completing anything.  It also gives me a sense of belonging - because most of the challenges I find are online and there will be a group of people all doing the same challenge and posting about it. 

A good example of a positive challenge was the Attic 24 Sweetpea Blanket crochetalong in January. My father passed away at the end of December and my creative mojo left with him. I needed something I could already do, with simple instructions and positive progress every week without any stress. It fitted the bill perfectly and I love the blanket I made.

So if I see so many positives in challenges why would I write a Blog about why they can be a bad idea? Well its the old adage of "too much of a good thing". I am a challenge "junkie". I just can't resist one. Every time I read about one I feel the need to join in. I only have to read the description line to be thinking "oh yes I could do that" and start hunting for the right materials. So I often end up with challenge overload. I belong to several art and/or craft groups and each tends to set its own challenges, group projects, competitions etc. All of which I need to join in because FOMO (fear of missing out) is writ large in my head. So I over commit to the group activities and then add online challenges to my workload. I see it as failure to not complete something once I commit to it so the overload is pretty well permanent.


On top of that I am wedded to the rules of a challenge. I am well known for not being able to stick to the guidelines when on a workshop but instead I metaphorically wander off and try and a myriad of variations. Somehow though this doesn't apply to challenges. I treat them like I am doing them under exam conditions and every "rule" set is one I must adhere to strictly - even when it isn't working for me. 

The classic example of this is the daisyyellowart.com challenge ICAD. Don't get me wrong, I love ICAD and I would be the first person to recommend it (and I do frequently) but this year I have realised it may not be the right fit for me.

I started ICAD with a lot of art journal type work

  
Having finally got my creative mojo back recently I  made a plan for the year designed specifically to help me manage my projects better. I made a list of all the things I had already committed to (mentally and actually) and then allowed myself space to finish one or two pieces that had been on the go for sometime (known in the trade as WIPs - Work In Progress).  ICAD was on the list automatically because I had already completed it for the last four years and enjoyed it. 

All well and good - but you can only work on an index card (for more details on ICAD see daisyyellowart.com) - yes that rubbishy substrate that is pretty much useless for making art on. I understand why that is a rule but the tiny size doesn't suit me. I work better on a bigger scale.

Collage became a theme using added text

it was a chance to play with different materials

ET put in an appearance on a paper towel.

You make one piece of art on an index card every day (hence Index Card A Day).  I am a sporadic person; once I have started one piece of work I quickly come up with a whole list of "what ifs". I need to work on them pretty much straight away so last year I ended up making 6 or more cards in one go and then not making any for a week. 

There is also a series of (optional) prompts - both daily and weekly. The first 2 years I did the daily prompts, the third year I did the weekly prompts and then last year I loosely followed the weekly prompts but often went off track.   This year I thought it would be good to use the art materials I already have and get more familiar with them. 

using pastels to extend a photo

more collage

2018 was definately the year of collage

a stitched piece

So - having automatically added ICAD to the list of things to do, on reflection I had decided not to use an index card, not to work daily but in batches and not to use the prompts. So the only thing I am keeping is the timetable - 61 pieces of art in the 61 days of June and July.  

I admit it feels a bit lonely. I can't join in the ICAD fever on instagram because I am not really doing ICAD and its not the same sharing with my art friends because it is not a shared activity this time round.  On the other hand I am enjoying playing with my existing materials and learning a lot. I have my own guidelines now that should work for me and help me get to the end of the challenge. Who knows...maybe I am finally outgrowing my challenge addiction?

Hope you enjoyed seeing some of the old ICADs from previous years. 

Thanks for reading. 

Fascinating Fungi in practice

People bravely struggled through the biblical rain on Saturday to make it to the Boundary Way Alloments Polytunnel, for my first workshop in the series on fungi. 

After a short introduction to the magical world of mycelium (and I am no expert so it was short) we talked about the opportunities to use unusal upcycled materials to make embroideries.

Everyone started with tea dyed facecloths (yes you read that right) and tea dyed dressings (sourced from a paramedic)  Lots of donated threads were chopped up and trapped between the two to create the impression of the soil.

,

There were lots of threads to choose from - including this gorgeous scarf sourced from a charity shop.  Despite the urge to wear it the scissors got taken to it because it was just so fluffy and appealing. 

It didn't take very long for everyone to be busily stitching away.

Once the bases were complete the next step was to work on couching on thicker threads to make the mycelium.

I just love the colours and fluffy threads chosen

The stitches were simple but the results were fabulous

Some of the final pieces.

the dreaded feedback form lurking on the side

 Most of the ladies on the course had limited stitching experience but bucket loads of enthusiasm, and the results are just brilliant.  There is an exhibition on the 7th September where the pieces made during all the workshops can be displayed. I really hope these pieces come back because they are well worth a closer look. 

There are 2 more workshops - whilst they all have the same base theme they can be done individually and all materials are provided. If you fancy having a go the details are on the Workshops page. 

Thanks for reading.

Fascinating Fungi in textiles

This week I start a series of workshops at the Boundary Way Allotments and Community Gardens.  I got to know Moya Lloyd who runs the project there through my work on The Beyondness of Bees project (with Wildside Activity Centre and Creative Black Country)

Moya has worked hard to secure funding for the Grow Wild project with Kew Gardens and she asked me if I would like to take part in the project. We set a date to have coffee and talk over some ideas and I went home to panic.   My business head told me that I shouldn't have just one idea - what she thought it was rubbish? What if I was completely on the wrong track? So I spent a whole day in my studio drawing and brain storming and generally trying to generate a decent idea.

By the time Moya came for coffee I had the germ of an idea for 3 different workshops and I was confident that she would like maybe one enough to at least give it a go. I was bowled over when she liked all three and asked if I would be willing to teach all of them.  Of course I said yes (my motto in life is say yes first and worry about how to do it after) and we set dates in June and July for them to run.

So how do you represent the magical world of fungi in textiles? In a way that is accessible to people who might not even have stitched before? In an exciting and modern way that expresses more of a depth about the range and fascinating world of fungi?

   

Well you start with mycelium

 



and coffee dyed fabric and waste bandage to make this....

 or this.....

 I  have also found the gill patterns on the fungi fascinating.



They were just crying out to be referenced in some way.  So I started with making some ruffles

 And then some suffolk puffs

 and putting ruffles into circular holes

 and making some pleats.

There are all sorts of off shoots from this currently in progress and I will be posting more about them.
Details of all three workshops can be found on my workshop page here on my Blog or on the events page of the Boundary Way Project website

thanks for reading

Welcome to my world

I have been putting off starting a blog for months now. I think I have a bit of imposter syndrome - there are so many people out there all doing fabulous interesting blogs so what could I have to add? Still not sure I have the answer to that question but as it's my time I am using I decided to just go for it and see where it goes. 

A little bit about me - if you are going to read my writing then I ought to at least introduce myself. I am a textile artist (what qualifies an artist? that is a whole other blog post but for now that I make textile art, and sometimes I get paid for teaching it so I am defining that as being an artist). I live and work in the West Midlands, having moved here from Wales about 4 years ago.  I have taught embroidery, crochet and crafts for quite a few years now on an ad-hoc basis and I am just starting out teaching here in the Midlands after having a break for a while from work.

I have always been fascinated by fabric and thread since I was a small child. I started embroidery in primary school and even won a school prize at 7 for my neat stitching. I have a bit of a fabric stroking habit too - if it's lovely I just need to stroke it and see how soft it is. A bad habit and not one to be given in to when people are wearing said fabric (leads to awkward situations - trust me!)   I did a fair amount of embroidery up until my teen years when other things (mostly boys) became a lot more interesting.  In  my 30's the yearn to be creative struck again and I took up painting. I started with watercolours and over ten years I went to lots of classes and dabbled in acrylics, drawing, inks, pastels, charcoal and even oils.  I did some exhibitions and sold some work and was generally happily pottering along but over time I felt my work needed something else; some way to add texture. I wasn't sure what or how, I just knew I wanted to go in a different direction.

After some months of searching I happened across a craft session at the local library where I met a lovely lady called Carol, who offered to teach me machine embroidery and generally how to use my sewing machine. I went along to the fabulous Craftypatch group and learnt all sorts of interesting things textile and craft related. Somehow however, patchwork wasn't me - I have never been very good at following rules and there seemed to be an awful lot of them. I explored a bit further through the Regional group and the internet and found Art Quilts, which seemed to be going in the right direction but again not quite me.  Still I coudn't find quite what I was looking for.

It wasn't until we moved here, and I met the Wolverhampton Branch of the Embroiderers Guild, that I "found my tribe" - texture, mixed media, stitch, thread, glue, paint..... anything goes as long as it works for you. I had been doing some stitching on my art quilts but nothing quite like this and suddenly a whole new world opened up.

Now, for my sins - well actually because I have a big mouth and bigger opinions! - I am currently Chair of the Branch and getting involved in all sorts of texile related projects. Life is crazy busy sometimes but full and exciting and I love every minute of it.

I am hoping here on my Blog to tell you a bit about my projects as they go along and hopefully it will be fun and interesting for both of us.

Thanks for reading

Elise