'Fragments from a Life'

As promised some time ago I am posting more details of the pieces I exhibited earlier this year for the exhibition ‘HerStory’. I made two pieces. The first was a fabric book. I used pieces of rusted fabric together with various fibres and scanned notes bonded with cocoon stripping. I also incorporated pieces of waxed paper which had been distressed with a wood burning tool. I wanted the book to look and feel very fragile and used ‘fuseFX’ a gossamer bonding mesh which was helpful to get the effect I was after. I was given a pair of rusty scissors the builder found in our garden which came at just the right time. I also added some pine needles which came from the road in Bournemouth where my mother lived.

Here are the notes for my submission for the exhibition:

‘Fragments from a Life’
When someone dies one can wish that, like the great diarists, they had left fulsome accounts of their life, telling all, answering all the unasked questions; however, most often we have only the odd fragments of fragile lives from which to try to piece together a story.

‘Fragments from a Life’ One and Two are based on this theme.
One piece is an artist’ book and the other is a small wall hanging.
Scraps of recipes, misspelled notes about how to manage a pension, very little is left, yet saying so much.

The second piece was a hanging loosely based on an open book. The pleated spine is padded. Some of the added elements use sheer fabric printed using a foam block. You may recognize the woman from my drawings of people in Dubrovnik last year; which shows that sketchbooks are really useful.

I thought I would post these here as now the excitement of the exhibition is well over it seems unlikely that they will see the light of day again for some time.

Rare Bird

Rare Bird, a photo by stitchworks-jackie on Flickr.

The paste papers dried nicely, almost their best property being how nice they feel.

I wanted them to use for the spine cover of the two books I intended to make from the For Sale board.

 I have to show the sewing cradle as usual just to prove to my son that his efforts in making it were worthwhile. By looking at some other sites showing paste papers I moved on to draw into some of them, and on one that I didn't like particularly I used a string block to make an additional pattern. It improved so much that I put a piece on the front of my sketchbook. Another thing that came to me this week was to use a stamp pad with a string block; it works well. No doubt some of you think this is a pretty obvious idea anyway.

I like the new lightbox feature on blogger, and there seem to be a number of updates in the pipeline, but I do wish they would sort out the commenting problems. Sometimes it takes me ages to make a comment, and often I have to start all over again, which makes it easy to give up at times.Well I've now discovered that the Lightbox feature has been scrapped as it broke a number of blogs. Shame, I was in the minority who thought it worked well. It does make one a bit unsure about trying any of the other new features just in case all is lost.

'For Sale'

The house we stayed in near Windermere, in the Lake District, was for sale. The weather was rainy, with the wind literally howling round the house. An old for sale board had been knocked down and was in a broken state by the rubbish bin. Well ,just imagine my excitement. My husband just could not unerstand why I wanted  to find space for it in the car with the inflatable boat, bike frame etc...

After a good shower it is perfect for making book covers.

I decided to make some paste papers as part of the binding. Here is a link to a really helpful tutorial.

 

 Be aware that I only made half the amount of paste mentioned and still had enough to take into my day centre group for them to have a go. It really works best if you use your fingers and enjoy the tactile quality. You will need plenty of paper and space to spread it out.

Close up.

Here are a few more pictures of my work from West Deane practising with my macro lens this time.

The next sample seems to have lots of potential for a fabric tunnel book.

I received my sketchbook and textile piece back from Sue Bleiweiss today. The book is due out in April and at some stage will be available for preorder on Amazon; how exciting is that! You will, I am sure, hear more about this. It is kind of strange to get it back and to think of it over in America, being photographed etc... Hard to explain, it’s like it had another life I know little about. I suppose its something to do with what you create being part of you. I had a similar feeling when I sold something in an exhibition and never met the person who bought it.

'Unfurled' Sketchbook Challenge.

'Unfurled' Sketchbook Challenge., a photo by stitchworks-jackie on Flickr.

September's challenge. Digital stamps made using a photo of a paper spiral combined with some doodles.

Samples

Back from holiday yet again, this time a family gathering in the rainy Lake District.

The giveaway winners have all been in touch and I will be going to the Post Office next week.

Here are some photos, taken during the course at West Deane, of my samples.

 The course with Dionne Swift focused on 3D structures and there was an emphasis on working with the sewing machine and the cloth itself. Dionne is a fan of going back to using the treadle sewing machine and, therefore, feeling more in tune and part of the machine. Now having used a hand machine and briefly a treadle I can’t say that appeals to me but I get her point and I think it all tunes with the ‘slow stitch’ idea, the use of natural dyes and generally a move away from throwing lots of paint and goo at the fabric; not that that wasn’t great fun at the time!

 Dionne was an excellent tutor, particularly because of her enthusiasm and fresh approach. I would recommend a course with her if you get the chance.If you look at her Facebook page you will find more work from the course,in particular the samples from odd bits from the £ shop, which were made by the jeweller on the course and were very intricate and fascinating.

We used a number of transparent fabrics as backgrounds. It doesn't show up well here, but the use of a shiney transparent fabric gives a new twist to this old favourite.
 One lady came all the way from Dublin for the opportunity. Next time I plan to post a few macro shots of my samples.

Giveaway Draw.

A few photos of West Deane, unfortunately photographs inside the house are not permitted. This is understandable as the house is not open to the public and contains many treasures which could not be replaced. This is the view from my room.

Along one corridor are artworks mostly of the Surrealists collected by Edward James who was a sponsor of the group.

The sparkling lights are from a row of chandeliers down one corridor.

 So these are a few random views before I get together some pictures of the samples from my course.The course was excellent and I feel really tired today as there was plenty to work on and try out.

The West Deane Festival starts this weekend on the parkland infront of the house.

The Giveaway winners are:

Chrissie

Lynda Howells

Robin Olsen

You will need to email your addresses so I can forward the small pieces of work.

Thank you to all those who took part and became followers.

Finished growing.

Finished growing., a photo by stitchworks-jackie on Flickr.

Up-date on Summer Giveaway.

These are pics of the Summer Giveaways.

 I shall be away next week on a course at West Dean College . Follow the link if you want to know more about what they offer. Its exciting just looking at the images and colours.The title of the course is 'Exploring Stitches to Create Structure in Cloth' with Dionne Swift, whose work I have seen at Knit and Stitch. I particularly liked her work with felt.
For those of you who have no idea about West Dean it is a wonderful manor house, the former home of the eccentric Edward James, who set up a fellowship to support artists and craftspeople. He was a sponsor of artists such as Rene Magritte and Dali. His final years were spent in South America buiding a series of follies in the form of towers.
The house is amazing with lots of history and attached to this are very modern studios, including a professional weaving studio where the tapestries for the new Houses of Parliament were woven.
Then there is the food!

It is a real treat to myself to go there again, and I am telling myself to enjoy every minute. I do get a bit driven on courses, rather than just enjoying the moment. We shall be making a number of samples using 3D structures as inspiration, hopefully you will see the results here.

So,if you want to join the giveaway scroll down to the original topic,(July 12th) leave a comment there and join the followers list.Be in it to win it. I am thinking of adding a extra freebie too.

Be part of THIS.

‘A collective charity project directed toward children and education.
This is a community ‘stitch a magic feather’ project’'

Spirit Cloth has started this project and put a video on her blog to guide you as to how to stitch the basic feather.

If you go to her blog ( see my links) and click on the side bar it takes you to the video and the instructions for taking part in the project.

Her plan is to post information about the Magic Feathers each Friday.She is hoping for at least 1000 feathers.
It is a good cause and a cheerful project to be part of, so take a look and join in.

Next week I will post pictures of the giveaway 'prizes' and it will be coming up to your last chance to have a go.