Friday 30 November 2007
The Secret of the Plunger
Glad you liked the Frome Exhibition. The review will be in the March WoW, Aussie Jo. We have to work a good way ahead. I've got some more reviews to do for March - there seems to be a lot going on in the early spring. Tomorrow (December Wow) you can see a great review of the Ruth Lee exhibition, written by Fiona Dix of the TextileArts.net site. It's in the free bit. Here's a pic of the Chapel (should that be ex-chapel?), fairly plain on the outside but I love the windows.
Here's just one more pic - a very delicate mixed media piece from a lady called Sue Conrad. All hers were glazed, so difficult to photograph. Lovely work, I think.
Hey, Sharon - you certainly need WoW - but then I would say that, wouldn't I? I do think that the December issue is one of the best we've had. I got very excited and spent ages trying out some of the ideas. I'll be interested in your feedback, folks.
I think you nearly invented a new technique with the glue, Carole. Pity nothing groundbreaking happened. I don't worry too much about proportions with the glue stitck but, if you put too much in, it doesn't pour well. You still can't stich through it though - it just stops it from being too brittle and snapping. That's why you need to push scrim, fabric or WS paper onto it. These can then be stitched, securing the moulded piece.
Must look into the wormspit site. Love the name. Of course I don't mind the questions - love to share. Do you know of a good mail order site in Canada for all our weird stuff, like puff paint, etc?
Now, what was I doing yesterday? Well, I can't tell until tomorrow, but you can have a guess. It involves a sink plunger and a toilet roll.
An embellished, foiled surface with lots of cut-out stitching applied.
Plus a couple of computer prints on cotton, but I'm not showing you that as it would give the game away!
Wednesday 28 November 2007
Frilled in Frome
I must say first that I had a great lunch with Jane. We went to Walford Mill - our local craft centre and saw the Christmas exhibition. Good stuff. I wanted to buy a bronze hare, he was so lovely and very well priced, but I came home and hinted heavily to Clive instead. The food was excellent and we giggled a lot.
Today's exhibition was in Frome (pronounced Froom) and it celebrated the 300th birthday of the Rook Lane Chapel. This one-time Methodist Chapel has been renovated by a firm of architects, who occupy the upstairs, and the whole of the ground floor is gallery space. Very impressive conversion. This is a view of the chapel, reproduced in earthenware by Steven Jenkins.
This is a detail of a rusty found object with a glass plate made to match it. I'll show the whole piece in the review (our exhibition reviews are not password resticted). By Fabrizia Bazzo, whose work was wonderful.
Tuesday 27 November 2007
Guns, Cars and Inspirations
I like the big black heat guns, Carole. The ones shapes like a small hair dryer take a long time, although they are fine for embossing powder. Don't write off your paint stripper before trying it. I have a ferocious looking one. When Jane Wild saw it she said, 'Wow, that comes from the dark side'. I think of this remark every time I use it and it always makes me laugh. I do add Lustre powders to UTEE sometimes but the ones I was using in the video are the bronze and gold commercial ones. I often mix the colours.
Yes, Kate, - more is much more. Look forward to checking your blog for the results.
Yesterday disappeared in a car hunt. We want to change ours and have been doing lots of on-line research. I have to explain that our usual way of buying anything from a house to a sofa is to see one, say 'that looks good' and buy it straight away. No looking around. This time we wanted a change from our usual VW/Seat purchases, so much time was spent looking. Went out and drove loads of different cars, which is a hairy pursuit with all those different clutches. What did we get? The same model as we have now - a Seat Leon. Just loved it the best. Could have saved all that time and angst. However it is a very pretty grey/blue. We are now pursued by car salesmen offering better deals than yesterday!
Ages ago I said I would look at things to do with an inspiration pack so here is an Oliver Twists one. It contained abaca tissue, yarn, wire, silk pods and silk fibres.
Sunday 25 November 2007
Back in Action
I never worry about using ready made stamps or stencils, Kate. If I'm working to a particular theme, I often make my own but there are such good ones about and they often fit to a particular topic. I love Sherrill Kahn stamps (www.impressmeknow.com) and she does a good line in angels. If you drip the melted UTEE over a shaped stamp and then press on the Wspaper, it can be great fun. Here's one made with Sherrill's angel stamp.
The process is not exact and I like that. I made a series of these small angel panels. The angel above was minus a wing so I called her 'Almost an Angel'. The next one oozed a lot so she was 'More than an Angel'. The one below came out thin and lanky so she was 'Atkins Angel'.
Clive is always interested in anything on the arty or artefact side of textiles. Hand stitching leaves him cold. He does the most wonderful drawings - usually birds but sometimes abstracts. His study of a bicycle pedal adorns an Australian wall even now.
Carole, you will love your embellisher. I have to use mine this week for a secret project which I will reveal next Sunday. It is really silly, so don't get too excited.
Sorry about the Clearsnap mix up. My brain knew it was Clearsnap but my fingers typed coloursnap!
Margaret - I love the idea of a shrine for lost earrings and I certainly think it should house the lone survivor, pining for its mate. Sod's law dictates that you only lose the earring from the pair that you really love. Never the grotty one that someone gave you and you have to wear sometimes in case you meet them.
I met Jan Messent at the Basingstoke talk (they are such a lovely EG branch, we had such fun). She used to put together fantastic design books and her illustrations are wonderful. She now writes meticulously researched historical novels. It was so good to see her again - she used to live in Yorkshire but has moved to Hampshire. She shares an interest in all things Celtic and Anglo-Saxon with Clive, so we are going to visit her soon. This is now sounding like Hello magazine. Will Victoria Beckham leave David and turn to stitch? Read tomorrow's exciting instalment.
Wednesday 21 November 2007
Shrines, Shines and the Keeping of Teeth
I'm sorry not to be going to Harrogate, Kate. I'm teaching for the next few days so won't be blogging until Sunday. The sad thing is that Jane Lemon is not very well, so she won't be going either. Ruby Lever has been wonderful and I can't think of anyone better to set the exhibition up. She will have Val's girls, too, so make sure you say 'Hi'. Val's daughter, Sarah, was so taken with the Embellisher that I have talked Janome into lending them one for the show. Hope that they take photos.
Sharon: Molding mats are unmounted rubber stamps, made by Colorsnap (www.colorsnap.com). In the UK they are sold by Art Van Go or Rainbow Silks. Dale has them in Oz. They are not too expensive and come in lots of designs. Moonshadow Mists are walnut ink mixed with a lovely bit of glitz. If you Google Moonshadow Mists you'll find lots of stuff on them.
The blue metallic paint was Metallica by Jacquard, Wendy. I did add a little blue Pearlex-like stuff called Primary Elements. They come as a powder in little pots and you can see them, below.
Hi to Carole in BC. I love Canada and so want to go back again. The trouble with my life is that there are no longish chunks of time to travel. Glad you like the Stitch, Dissolve and Distort book. I feel so sad that there won't be another book with Val. Yesterday Batsford sent me two choices of cover for my Image to Stitch book and I so wanted to ask Val what she thought. I have to say that they were both great covers - hence my dilemma.
Yesterday's dental happiness was short lived. When the dentist filled the tooth he said it might not last, but that we should see how it went. In the event it went very quickly so I'm off to the dentist again this morning.
Tuesday 20 November 2007
The Big Drip
1. I broke a tooth on Sunday while eating a soft boiled egg and soldiers. Demanding stuff. The dentist has managed to fix it today, and I didn't even have an injection.
2. We have had a pair of Goldcrests in the garden all morning. Tiny little chaps with brilliant flame coloured heads. Lovely.
3. I think the longer video clip is OK. I'm sure you'll let me know.
Thanks for all the encouraging messages. Sharon - you certainly need a book on the embellisher. I can recommend one (grin). I printed my design on Jacquard Ready-to- Print Silk. I know you can do your own by soaking the fabric in Bubblejetset but I'm always too impatient. It works really well on the embellisher, although you can't always recognise the image when it has been chewed up. Part of the fun.
Today's instalment of the soap opera features one of my favourite toys, the Melting Pot. If you don't have one you can melt the Ultra Thick Embossing Powder (UTEE) in a ladle by holding a heat tool underneath it - or use a gas flame if you cook by gas. Try to find a ladle with a spout to make pouring easy. To make the results less brittle snip a small amount of a glue stick and melt it with the UTEE. I'm using it here to make a roundel for a Celtic book I'm working on.
I love dripping onto a mini Moulding Mat as these are very strong and don't mind the heat. You need a flexible stamp to make removing simple. The problem is always how to fix the resulting treasure to fabric and this is my solution.
Monday 19 November 2007
It's Short but it Worked
Sunday 18 November 2007
Not Trying a Movie
Friday 16 November 2007
Where Have I Been?
Monday 12 November 2007
Lots of Layering
The weekend class is over and I always feel rather sad. Exhausted, too. (Serious catching up with the Sunday papers is on the agenda today). The course was good - a bit experimental and we took a few risks but they all have some great samples and most have nearly finished pieces to work on. Here are some pics - the light was not great for photos and I had to scuttle round a bit as I don't like to waste teaching time - but they give a flavour. Sadly, some didn't come out too well, so it's a fairly random selection.
This piece (above) by Jenny Younger is a detail of a Lutradur trapping which has been zapped with a heat gun.
A good example of layering from Jackie Wyatt. A three dimensional effect is given with puff painted Thermogauze.
Ann Goodwin has a great idea for her samples - she brings dear little luggage tags and writes the method on them. This motif from layered stitched felt was lovely but the photo doesn't do it justice.
The piece above, by Marion Whitby shows the true layers effect. On a background of velvet we've added foil, organza and zapped Thermogauze. This is in the process of having layered felt motifs applied.
I'll show some more tomorrow. Meanwhile - the papers call.
Friday 9 November 2007
A Saw Point
The details are great. Next week I shall try using them as Displacement maps. On with the packing for the Layers of Stitch course. Hopefully, will have pics of it next week.
Thursday 8 November 2007
Then zap it - this one is half zapped as I want to save it for a teaching sample.
The one above is the other side. I also like to include snippets of net and painted lace.
I followed t'other Maggie's advice about selecting None and Medium for the size. We shall see.
Tuesday 6 November 2007
Experiments
This is my pastel drawing again, loaded small to see if that makes any difference. I have found on other blogs that the click doesn't always work. They say computing is an exact science - I don't think so!
Stitches, Shoots and Leaves
Vonne, so sorry to hear that you can't get out. ME is a horrid thing. My friend's daughter has had it since her teens.
Dianne - glad you are pushing on with the Paint Shop Pro CD. They have been surprisingly popular. We really only offered them as an afterthought when we decided that we couldn't keep up with books on all the new releases. Details on my personal web site http://www.workshopontheweb.com/chezgrey/.
Sabine - I like that sentiment - living with the impression of nature. You are a poet.Help needed. Does anyone know how to get the 'click to make the pic bigger' effect. Can't find it in the settings. Dale says that hers just happens.
Here's my pastel sketch. based on one of the displacement maps. I dabbed some Xpandaprint on the top left, to get the speckled effect. I'd like to work it in free machining on water soluble as a long, narrow piece.
I picked up some fallen leaves at Westonbirt and left them on the kitchen windowsill. They curled up into this lovely shape.
I rearranged them a little and plan to make a little bowl based on the shape. I have a class at the weekend where we are layering and burning so may make this up using poly-cotton and a soldering iron. We have a Beyond Stitch meeting today so I will try to get the stitching done then. It's my turn to bring the coffee stuff so I'd better go and get it all ready.
So many ideas, not enough time.