February already! Where did January go? I was SO ill with a terrible cold that just wouldnt to away and I couldnt think or do anything. Not nice. So I am sorry there has been no Blog for a month now but I am back now and hoping to do at least one post a month. I have to remember to take photos as I am going along - quite often I get to the end of a project and then realise that I havent got any work in progress to show.
At the end of January I went on a workshop with the lovely Suzette Smart with my branch of the Embroiderers Guild. We were making nature inspired textile books - right up my street! I have been to Suzettes open studio several times so I had a good idea of what I wanted to do (as usual not the same as everyone else). I had seen her image transfer techniques and I wanted to make a piece using my sketchbook images from my garden. These are two of the sketches. I think they are quite Quentin Blake-ish. Probably influenced by the exhibition of his work at Compton Verney last year. 
This is part of the piece. As usual for a workshop it is a long way from finished. I have scanned my photos and printed them onto photo transfer paper and then ironed them on. Works well but is quite shiny. I didnt think to tear the edges so they were softened by adding gesso and then acrylic ink over the top. I love the whole fresco feel of this - a happy accident.
I have also bondawebbed and added pages from a lovely French date book I was given. I wish I had thought to photocopy them - I have obviously now not got the images for future use AND the paper is too stiff to fold - so the book cant be a book. It looks nice as a panel but I hadnt thought things through enough.
February is the deadline for the Embroiderers Guild members competition so I have been working hard on that. The title is My Favourite Things and rather than reinvent the wheel I have worked on a base I already had made for my Kinver series.
This is a piece of muslin hand dyed, nuno felted and embellished - a lot of processes but it makes for a detailed base to work on. The moss is couched boucle wool and hand stitched silk threads around it.
I have to say the muslin felt base was a joy to stitch into - so soft. I am keeping that in mind for future pieces.
2020 is a year for finishing things too. I started the rust pieces in October 2018. Got them home from the workshop and then promptly stalled. OK it would be more accurate to say I moved on to other things but part of the problem was I didnt know where I was going with this so there wasnt a lot of motivation to come back to it. So one day in Feb I just sat down in my studio and said I wasn't leaving til at least one of the two pieces was done.
I still need to make a copper rod into a hanging rod for it but this piece is now done. I love the combination of the different colours and textures. It was a real departure for me and I learnt a lot about using paper as part of the design. I still have to do the second piece but at least one is now complete.
I have also been more restrained doing these pieces - more considered and less "chuck some beads at it". Maybe I am growing up in my textile practice?
Thanks for stopping by.
