Hand stitch itch.

I can answer my own question now, no, it wasn't finished. Posting a photo on-line helped me to see how ‘flat’ it looked and that combined with an itch to hand stitch meant that I have added areas of hand stitch and worked them into the background by using the embellisher and free machining.

Now I have to decide whether to work further on the light areas which I will probably do.

At the Knit and Stitch Show I particularly enjoyed the work of the Material Space Group in their exhibition 'In Touch'. Take a look at their website and the work of the individual artists. I liked the delicate bark scrolls by Jane Neals and on looking at her piece 'lost language' I am amazed that we had similar ideas, even to the use of red looped thread for  lettering. Nothing is ever truly unique, all we can hope is that we each add a personal touch here and there. I think the sculptural work using old teabags is definitely the definitive use of them. I wonder who first had the ‘aha’ moment when looking at the discarded bags. 
 I was lucky enough to just walk round a corner and come across the work of Fiona Rainford whose felt work I have long admired on Flickr and even better got to chat to her.
 In the 62 Group marquee Louise Baldwin said ‘hello’ and told me that she has shown lots of students what she considers my way of making felt and I told her how I often tell  people of how she persisted ‘like  a  Rottweiler’  to get me to experiment with the Embellisher.

One good buy.

The first embroidery/textile book which I was given in 1988 as a present was ‘The Art of the Needle'    by Jan Beaney.I wouldn't ever want to part with it, even though I am currently trying to declutter – having cleared two houses in a year it makes one aware of all the accumulated stuff that one day someone will have to dispose of. I know I should really ‘get rid’ of some of my City and Guilds pieces which are taking up a lot of space and honestly will hardly ever be looked at again, but it is difficult as I remember all the hours of stitching and' if and butting’ involved at the time. I have actually thrown away a whole basket of samples and acknowledged the fact that I had fun but have now moved on and in fact am accumulating more up-to-date clutter!

The point of this being that I used to pour over  Jan Beaneys' books and they have given me much pleasure; I have also grown to respect Jean Littlejohn as a tutor. When I saw a review of their new DVD I decided I would buy it at the Knit and Stitch Show. I did not expect it to contain any particularly new ideas but I wanted the pleasure of watching them stitch. It was a good buy and it has made me want to start playing with stitches again. I would thoroughly recommend it if you want a whole four hours of pleasure but beware it will make your fingers itch to get out all those piles of thread.

Is it finished?

This is a piece related to the rabbit skeleton that I keep working on and may well be finished now. 

It is really tactile as are most of these embellished pieces. I may well add some more shiny thread to get the idea of light shining on the bones. I know they look like trees too.

 Here is a linkto the post about the drawings and original sketchbook print which I did.

I enjoyed my trip to the Knit and Stitch Show despite a very long journey, due to problems with signalling on the railway and having to stand on the way back. Don’t you sometimes regret the loss of the old fashioned manners; standing in First Class with all the business men sitting I know I did!

I’ll tell you more about my purchases and what I particularly enjoyed next time.

Colour

I thought it might be nice on this overcast misty October day in the UK to have a bit of bright colour here to make a change.

These are some images from a small sample I made to practise when I first bought the Embellisher earlier this year.

I thank you all for your comments and hope I managed to get back to everyone.

Click to see larger images.

Rabbit Bones

Mark making to get myself out of the doldrums led to this little piece, 9.5 inches square, which kept me occupied for most of the week.

 It is initially embellished rusted bandage and silk onto a commercial felt background with a centre of waxed and discharged fabric.

 I did more embellishing, couching and hand stitching and generally just had fun with it. I even used some glitz in the form of a copper metallic thread.

 In order to make the little ‘Os’ I had to go back to my own video for the Stitched Workshops to remind myself how to work them!

I'm looking forward to a trip to The Knit and Stitch Show in the next couple of weeks,  to seeing new work and finding new enthusiasms.
(Click for a closer view).

More September Marks

My posts are becoming more and more wordless. Everything feels a bit blocked at the moment. Today I did some mark making just to work on something, and here are some images produced. Wax and bleach discharge.

 I do have some Jacquard Discharge Paste, but having tried it once again recently, I have decided I just cannot stand the smell. It is one for the rubbish bin. I don't like the smell of bleach either but it is far less unpleasant.

 By the way, and I am sure that as sensible people I don't have to warn you not to try this, but I did; I tried discharge paste on a sketchbook page, completely forgetting that I had previously stuck in an encaustic image -- ironing the page, as you can well imagine, made a terrible mess of the wax on the previous  page. Funny in retrospect.

Pattern from Ethnic Embroideries.

Trying to keep awake today, for some reason I really only feel like sleeping. Despite that I have been practising a bit of pattern making for a U3A course I am running next week.

 We will be developing a design from ethnic embroideries and then going on to do some shisha work.

 What struck me most was the contrast of tufted areas with geometric patterns and neat areas of straight satin type stitch. I made a print block using this idea of contrast.

An Italian online journal has featured some images of my work. The journal is  all about pattern and prints so worth taking a look at the editor’s selections here.

September Marks

 Here are a few pictures of some of the fabric I have piled up waiting for inspiration to use one day soon. 

They are a mix up of wax, discharge, acrylic, tea, rust and lots of messy fun on the way.

Some small embellished 'cushions' and bandage waiting for the right moment.

We had a lovely sunny weekend in Leamington Spa. Here is a link to a blog about a lovely little shop  in Leamington with lots of interesting bits and pieces that you usually don’t see other than on the internet i.e. Washi tape. Don’t know when I will get round to using it but I had to have some; I did resist the toy cameras, but only just.

Welcome to new followers that I have not been able to get back to.

Completed Nuno Felt

This small piece of felt, which measure 8.5 by 5.5 inches, is now finished, other than perhaps deciding how to display it. I have used merino wool tops on a muslin base.

 Embellishing, with machine and a little hand stitching added. I like the colours, it is quite tactile and I am particularly pleased with the edges, which don’t really show up properly in the photos, close up you can see the tiny threads of muslin which appear after embellishing.

Thanks for your comments on the slideshow, sorry Margaret that I could not get back to you 'personally'.

It will be the last week of my drawing class tomorrow. The discipline of sitting and drawing for two hours has been good. Something I would find difficult to achieve at home. I had to add a piece of paper at the top to get the handle in; my sheet of paper never seems to be big enough!

Nuno Felt

Experiments with the Embellisher.

August 2012

Enjoyed my drawing class this week, drawing the wooden manikin used for body proportions, not sure if it has a proper name.

 I was given the idea by DMTV to try the drawing as a lino-cut. I have done some lino cuts before both at home and at City Lit where we did a reduction cut and used the press to print.

 My attempts at home have been handicapped by the fact that my tools came from a charity shop a long time ago. When I went to an open evening at St Brides Foundation I was really impressed by the detailed images that can be obtained and realized my blunt tools were a poor substitute for good tools. There was also a wood engraver there and his work was truly amazing.

Trial run in my sketchbook.

More cut away.

 Still that is what I have at the moment and being impulsive decided to have a go with them. If you would like to see some examples of the real thing take a look at this website.

Forgot to mention that these are printed with acrylic plus Open Medium on low immersion procion dyed cotton.

Rabbit Rabbit Rabbit

Just playing around over here.

Paper and digital collage.

Don't forget that you can click on images for a better view  - I know that I usually forget.