French Knots

This short video was made for a group some of whom are getting to grips with the delights of the much maligned French Knot for the first time. It is quite simple but some of them asked to be able to view it on-line.



019 from J Bowcutt on Vimeo.

I am researching a good tripod attachment for the ipad, not too expensive, so any suggestions would be appreciated.

Monoprint

I am not currently signed up for Design Matters TV  but no doubt I will join again in the future as I enjoy the stimulation of their weekly videos. I wanted to let you know that at the moment they have just added two extra free videos to advertise what they offer. The two new ones happen to be two of my favourites from past weeks, one is about monoprinting on fabric and the other is showing an easy way to wax papers. You may enjoy them. I was reminded of a technique for monoprinting designs onto fabric and had a go with my rabbit sketch.

I used a piece of fabric which had been dyed and one which I had rusted.

I then added some handwriting.

Playing around I added an extra rabbit to the photograph;this could now be transferred to fabric using TAP. 

Endless possibilities.

Knit and Stitch Show 2013

Last Friday I ventured to the Knit and Stitch Show at Alexander Palace, it involved a journey comprising of many buses, tubes and trains, and I must admit it all went smoothly in comparison with last year’s problems due to signalling breakdown. I hadn't planned to go this year, but like some groupie I could not resist going just to be in the presence of my current stitch idol Dorothy Caldwell.

 I joined her two hour Kantha workshop in the afternoon, and learned a good deal and had some nice chats with fellow textile enthusiasts.She has been involved with Indian young people producing contemporary Kantha work over the years, and this type of recycled textile work relates well to her aesthetic of repair/reconstruction, darning and mending. 

 There was a display of Dorothy Caldwell’s work made in response to the Australian outback and the Canadian Arctic  which was fascinating. 

The other highlights were the showcase of work by recent graduates; that of Jean LittleJohn and Jan Beaney and the work of James Huntley.

Really just too much to see and so little time (and not enough energy).

My journey paled into insignificance compared to that of Dale Rollerson and her husband who had come over from Australia to run their stand ‘The Thread Studio’ and for a holiday in Cornwall. It was good to say hello briefly to Dale, of Down-under Dale, who was extremely busy and doing good business. She has kindly asked me to write an article for the next issue of ‘ThreadInfusion’ which will be the third edition of her emag, which will be all about stitch, both hand and machine and is entitled ‘Stitchy Stitchy’.

A Walk in the Country

The theme on the Sketchbook Challenge Blog this month is animal companions, as we don’t have pets, other than tropical fish, I have focused on a photograph of a rabbit which I took recently, the poor thing had been partly eaten by predators, not such an unusual sight if you take a walk in the country.

 I drew in my sketchbook from the photograph and then used TAP to transfer both the image and those I had manipulated on the ipad onto fabric.

The straight forward stitched pieced using Bokhara Couching worked more successfully, whereas the other piece became more experimental.

 I machine stitched the outline of the two rabbits and then had the idea of cutting them out and placing them on quilt wadding prior to embellishing with wool and muslin. The piece was really distorted so I backed it with acrylic felt before further embellishing, free machining and adding hand stitch.

 To retrieve what was becoming a failed experiment I then took the scissors to the back, slashed into the rabbit areas and stuffed them Trapunto style with wool tops. Makes me exhausted just writing it down. 

So it looks as if I am gradually being taken over by rabbits, for anyone who knows the comedy 'Father Ted' it reminds me of the episode where the same thing happens.

Tie-Dye book a Winner

The winner of a copy of Shabd Simon-Alexander's book 'Tie-Dye' is:
Sheila of 'TEA and TOAST.

She loves teal but is a bit shy of grey.

The replies were fascinating, and prompted quite a strong response.
For me, I like purples, lilacs and am not keen on yellow, but then combine a bit of purple and yellow and that is something zingy!