The final fascinating fungi workshop

The third and final Fascinating Fungi took place a fortnight ago - where does the time go?

This time we were looking at how to translate our drawings into stitch. There have been a few artists on the classes and I really wanted to give people a chance to go some drawing and then to stitch into it. This is a bit of a challenge in a polytunnel where you have no guaranteed way to dry the fabric. Luckily it was a lovely warm day so the sun did all the hard work for us.

We started off by using Inktense bars and pencils  by Derwent to do our fungi inspired sketching. If you havent used this product before it is really great. It is basically a solid ink in bar or pencil form and after you get it wet it becomes an ink so once it has dried out it is pretty much permanent on fabric (or paper) with no medium or heat setting etc. Perfect for our work in the Polytunnel. 

 I never fail to be amazed at the colours and shapes of fungi - we used these as our starting point.

my demo of how to use the pencils to fill in a background. that lichen loooks like seaweed

Some lovely abstract work next to a detailed sketch

 All was going well  and it was so warm we moved into the story telling area to get some shade.
It was just before this that I had a biscuit in one hand and an inktense bar in the other. Guess which one I decided to eat?! Yes, I was spitting blue for about ten minutes as I tried to get it out of my teeth etc. I am pretty sure from my work with Derwent that they are perfectly safe to eat but that doesn't make them tasty nor was I taking any chances.  To the others it must have looked quite funny but I was mostly cross with myself at the waste of a bar. I think this is one episode that will go down in Boundary Way history.

 Once the drawings were done we picked one to transfer onto fabric. As always using recycled materials these were second hand (very high quality) cotton sheets.

this piece has such a lovely movement to it

the background has been coloured with very subtle stitching on the actual fungi.

beginning the stitch on this piece.

 As we got into the stitching everyone got quieter and more relaxed. I honestly don't know why it isn't used as therapy in this way. With no pressure and no expectations it is so relaxing to just concentrate on the feel of the cloth and the sound of the needle pulling through the fabric.

 The finished and not quite finished pieces at the end of the day

as we will be displaying them without the hoops we thought a background wold work for this one

a very pretty interpreation of the gills

a second piece that wasn't finished but it is lovely in its own right

Given that I was teaching it was a real treat to be able to do some work myself. The class was small and with a few pointers along the way everyone was very happy to just get on with their pieces so I did some sketches and some sewing in the gaps. I managed 2 quick sketches  as part of demonstrating the materials

 I was really drawn to that "seaweed" looking lichen so thats the one I chose to transfer onto to fabric.  Stitch is a slow medium (not a bad thing as an antidote to a fast paced world) so even with my speed I only managed to get some of the outline done.   I like the way placing the fabric over a bit of wood and rubbing the bars over the top has given a feeling of wood to the background. (since the workshop I have been carrying on with this piece and I hope to have it finished very shortly)

It was a lovely day (bar eating activities not withstanding) and I was really pleased how much everyone else seemed to enjoy it. The resulting pieces are just lovely and I think demonstrate very nicely how inspiring fungi can be.

It has been a great experience to teach at Boundary Way as well as take part in a few workshops there and I am sure I will be there again in the future.

Thanks for reading.