Nuno Felting with Recycled Fabrics

my very first finished piece of Nuno felt

Making felt has never really appealed to me, it just looks like a lot of repetitive warm and wet work….  but the opportunity of recycling some old silk scarves and a much loved shirt that had beem ruined by a too-hot wash, overcame my reluctance. The technique for this fusion of felt and fabric is Nuno sometimes called laminated felt as the woollen fibres are felted into fabrics and is a comparitively new development of the age-old wet felt making.

Nuno felt scarf by Kirsten Hill-Nixon

I was shown a lovely colourful example of Nuno felted scarves, by Kirsten Hill-Nixon, that she had designed for a new workshop at  Heart Space Studios   and I could see endless possibilities for this technique. But with any new technique I have to experience it to develop and design for it. Teaching craft subjects via  design-led software on a computer is not for hands-on makers….I want to feel the material, turn it in my hands and go through the whole basic process; get bored, frustrated and eventually assess how I feel about what I have made – and is it worth my while to do it again – differently or  better?

samples of Nuno felting belonging to Kirsten

Kirsten brought many and varied examples of her own Nuno felt and pieces that she has collected from her world travels to conferences and workshops.

a wonderful piece of patchwork Nuno felting by Kirsten

The class members were really excited by these revelatory fabrics - it is so fascinating to see excellent examples of what you are about to begin to make. But first we had to choose the basic materials for a small sample to test whether our own fabrics would let themselves be felted.

a selection of blended Merino wool

I had selected a range of colours I knew would work together, even so it still took quite a while to decide which to actually work with.

my own range of silk scarves, lace and ruined shirt

and then which ones would actually submit to the felting technique? we made a small sample which we felted onto a strip of pre-felt.

my range of fabrics placed onto pre-felt strip

I really wanted to felt the coloured lace as the colour is so vibrant and I imagined that it would produce unusual results. However…..

wet felted sample strip

the lace just looked like purple scribble, the soft cotton refused to felt and the gingham organdie wasn’t adhering very well either. But the flowers on my ruined shirt looked really brilliant.

my eventual choice of fabrics laid onto bubble wrap plastic over my bath towel.

I laid out the workable fabics in large strips, about 2 metres in length and about half a metre wide. When I start any sampling process I usually work with stripes…I move on to checks and if things go well I do spots….stripes were sufficient for this exercise. However the 2 other students were much more adventurous.

Jane O’Leary’s patchwork pieces.

Carol Clarke’s geometric tie dyed silks

Having carefully laid the pieces of silk onto the bubble wrap plastic sheet, overlapping the edges a tad to stop any gaps; we then had to get it very wet just spotting it by squeezing a sponge in drips and drops. Next we laid over rows of pulled wool fibre – in sheets as fine as possible, this takes a bit of practice, first one way….

laying the first row of woolen fibre

then the other…

second row of fibre at right angles to first row.

The colour of fibre will affect the finished fabric when seen from the silk side…Jane chose to put a multi coloured wool onto the back of her silk, Carole chose palest grey-blue

cloudy felt fibre for back of the geometric design.

I chose stripes of course, first a coating of heather mixture all over for the first coat, then heather and mauve stripes – I feel that by experimenting with the  coloured backgrounds in different patterns I could become fascinated by this technique.

rows of wool fibre laid in stripes across the back of the very wet silk design

Now to agitate the felt into shrinking and meshing the fibres into the fine silk woven fabrics. This we began by winding the lengths into large towels and simply rolling them backwards and forwards for about as long as I could stand it…. when the wool fibres had started to adhere to the silk, we took out the sheet of very delicate fabric and using warm water to heat it up, began to throw it at the table.

Kisten demonstrating the agitating technique

Kirsten demonstrating the throwing technique

  This took quite  bit of courage on my behalf – but I was beginning to sense the real satisfaction to be got from this simple technique… the slooshing about with the wet soapy water over sheets of plastic (very sensuous) contrasted with the tedium of rolling that actually affords  you enough time to think ‘how can I develop my ideas for the next time”? and last of all, the bashing – what’s not to like?

felted back of Jane’s scarf

The result of this agitation process is remarkable; first the fabric has shrunk to about half its original size,

Carol’s finished scarf – half the size of the original size – which originally filled the length of the table

and now you have a whole piece of fabric in your hands - it is truly integrated, no longer just a patchwork of silk fabrics with a woolly backing but an complete length of fabric to do whatever you want to with – wear it, embroider it, cut it up?

the 3 almost finished scarves

Jane sent me this photograph of her scarf that she took home to dry – it looks like a jewelled snake with its large scale folds and creases…

Jane’s finished scarf – small but perfectly coloured

So – Is it worth my while to do it all again? The jury is still out. I really really like the fabric I have made, it is rich and subtle in both colour and texture and as a scarf will tone with lots of my clothes – but that was the easy bit to get right, the textile designer bit. On the other hand, I don’t really like the feel of it, it is just too stolid. Maybe if it had been made in cashmere or a softer wool or maybe I need more free silk fabric with less felted areas?

silver embroidery from a sari

But the one thing that may coax me back to doing this whole process again is the small sample of silver embroidery from an Indian cotton sari. It shines out of the soft background like a tiny jewel, very misshapen but luxurious and very precious…this may possibly become part of a metallic stitched piece of work that I have had on hold for some years now – waiting for an opportunity to redevelop my stitched metals, enamels and metallic leathers… maybe a patchwork of some description?????

PS i have had another finished scarf sent to me htis week

Portfolio Surgery

Inspirational vintage embroidery

This vintage embroidered panel was brought to me by Caroline Doran who has requested a mentoring session recently at Heart Space Studios. Caroline was a member of our regular Knit and Stitch group who meet each week to talk, work and enjoy textiles together. The last time I had seen her she had brought a small hand embroidery she was working on, it was of her own neighbourhood with some enormous cranes from a local building site – she had asked me for some advice on windows . I remember discussing the work at length, which looked really very promising …then I didn’t see her for several months!

original neighbourhood embroidery – Caroline Doran

However she turned up again asking if I could review her work as she was a bit “stuck” : how well I know what that feels like…” is this piece worth going on with? What am I doing this work for?  Why can’t I seem to keep going with the same momentum I started off with? Have I any other better ideas? We all experience this doubt when we make work that is slow going, you just have to keep stitching but it helps if you have some record of the why as well as the way the work came to be made – research – for want of a better word.

a small selection of the inspirational objects

Before Caroline come to the tutorial I asked her to bring some inspirational objects or documents as well as evidence of her personal  research -  fabrics, photographs, books, drawings, scraps books, old work – whatever made her want to commit to actually making her ideas. She brought several telling things and as she unpacked them I started to make groups that showed how her own work connected to what she had brought along. Tilleke Schwarz ( on of my own great favourite embroiderers) had evidently been a real influence, in fact Caroline has attended on of Tilleke’s workshops in England. She had translated Tilleke’s acerbic but generally neutral stitched commentaries and slogans to make her own negative statements…

Tilleke Shwarz catalogue with an opposing down beat message

a sure reflection of how she was viewing her work ( and in complete contrast to my own rather more upbeat slogans)

She also brought in several books, by other embroiderers who use applique and patchwork, notably Janet Bolton, but also the catalogue from the London Foundling Hospital about the mementoes left by mothers with the children they had entrusted to the future to the care of the institution. There is a very strong set of images and ideas being laid out before me. I was very intrigued to see what other work she had brought in to show me. A few years ago Caroline had undertaken an arts  foundation course and she also brought along some of the work that she thought was still relevant to her now.

I find that the great breadth of foundation courses are brilliant for introducing students to a wide range of ideas and media but after a few years ‘at home alone’ the personal and, let’s face it, the available will re-assert itself. This situation can lead people to feel that they are not being adventurous, or the work doesn’t count as it is made of such mundane materials. But I think that this is the real strength of textile practice, for the most part it can be made using materials that are readily available, and these materials are the stuff of everyone’s lives and so are have many and varied associations with which to connect – for both makers and viewers. One thing that good foundation courses do give students is a sure sense of self-critical analysis, and this Caroline had acquired, if anything she was too critical, getting things ” too perfect” had rendered much of her latest work a bit lifeless, and she knew this – but how to remedy this is part of why she has come to me for help.

This set of work looked very different from the first work that had been brought out – a mixture of different media about all connected to her very strong family affinity to Ireland and her grandmother’s home. I was struck by several “necklaces” and embroidered images  that made me think of rosaries,

recycled ‘rosary’

so wasn’t surprised when her grandmother’s real rosary turned up stitched onto a piece of work.

grandmother’s rosary stitched into woven fabrics

and her grandmother’s image was printed onto another fabric applique

photographic print of onto fine voile

I was beginning to see the connection between the vintage embroidered verse – almost a prayer – that had come as  piece of inspiration, with this almost sacred treatment of her Irish heritage. I started to ask about this connection and heard how Caroline still felt deeply connected to her Irish roots,  still retained a religious faith and was now concerned with working with evidence of her family background, maybe using photographs, maps and other found objects. The most arresting piece that she showed me from this set of work was literally found – on a land fill site where she had made a necklace from shards of broken glass, pottery and stones – again a  sort of secular rosary ….regarding or touching the objects made the viewer consider other lives, other places, tiles, bottle caps, lichen, glass, bark…..

shard necklace from land-fill site

I was now considering how to help develop these disparate sets of materials and concerns into a more cohesive textile context, obviously some form of collage, applique or mixed media patchwork….when, as sometimes happens at the studios, we had 2 visitors from ‘Billie Jean’ which is a lively Bristol vintage clothes and fabric shop, they had been sent to us to show some things that we might be interested in seeing; and these were….. patchworks. Asking Caroline’s permission, I invited them in to see some absolutely lovely recycled tweed and knitted cashmere patch-worked blankets, that Billie Jean herself had made from their stash of old cashmere knitwear and woolen jackets, we were soon all chatting away about recycling, the beauty of old fabrics and how much we enjoyed the experience of just handling and making with textiles.

And as several of Caroline’s inspirational books had been about patchwork and applique, this seemed to be a good omen for the way to go…..as part of the mentoring session we now had to decide the way forward. I advise people how they might develop the next stage of their work, it is entirely up to them if they choose to take that advice. I see my mentoring role to be that of a person immersed in the same materials, techniques and often similar subjects as the people asking advice, and having been through similar making (or not making) experiences many times I have developed several strategies for looking at the work, getting some perspective on it – finding connections and as any tutor will do – suggesting new things to research to take the work forward.

group of half worked embroideries and drawings

We now had to look at what was in front of us, decide what was to be developed immediately, what could be parked for working on later when there had been more time for fresh research, and what could be safely consigned to a folder or file of  past experience. I had grouped several half – worked embroideries and drawings together, they seemed to relate to a celebration of the city and street life, I liked their vivacity and thought that they could be somehow ganged up together to make a larger patchwork piece. This means they have to be somehow made to work together, more of the simple line drawings can be assimilated worked as appliques or linear stitching and as made into a textile map of Caroline’s geographical space.

We will wait to see if she brings anything back to me in the month ahead. I am considering developing mentoring as part of Heart Space Studios activities…so I do hope that she has gained some benefit from this initial session.

Felt Foxes and Mad March Hares

needle felted foxes, the results of the first workshop by Jenny Barnett

Needle -felting appears to be the most popular form of model making in textiles if the success of the 2 recent classes by Jenny Barnett for Heart Space Studios is anything to go by. Jenny gave her first workshop last month – foxes, and this month, hares……

all the mad MarchHares at end of the workshop

I was amazed by the range of expressions and attitudes that the different people managed to make using the basic kit that Jenny brings along to get everyone started.

Jenny’s needle felting kit

It comprises just a few simple things – wool tops in assorted colours, the special barbed needles for felting,  a sponge to work on and some written instructions. Jenny also packed some love-heart sweets into the bags for her first visit to Heart Space Studios.

models waiting to inspire the makers

But most importantly to my mind, she also brings everyone an individual model to use as a personal reference – they look like sentinels or guardian angels watching over their allotted maker…the small perfectly formed creatures look on while the rolls and swatches of felt are poked and prodded into a brand new being.

a model looking on while another being is formed

Jenny makes the most realistic looking creatures of all the needle – felted wild life I have seen, her naturalistic animals come from real observation – she lives on a canal in Gloucestershire, but she also she brings a lot of different reference materials to the workshops

research material for the Hare workshop

Needle felting is very different to wet felting, this is quick, really quick…the small scale animals take shape in rough form within an hour, the basic characters  just seem to be conjured from each maker by alchemy. One minute you are looking at a table full of basic animal shapes, then the  heads and ears are modelled separately ready to be applied

and with small adjustment of the angle when placing of the head, or an ear, the tiny being looks different – it has attitude……

alert and ready

thoughtful hare with Jenny in the background

and suddenly all the animals took on their own characters….

not at all sure

and after making one successful hare the class had a chance to make more – testing their new – found knowledge.

obviously twins

where are we?

I was very amused though to find this group guarding the necessary packet of sticking plasters  – needle felting is not for the  inattentive maker.

guarding Jenny’s packet of plasters

looking on from a smart wicker basket were several other creatures

box of clothed creatures waiting for their chance to appear

I had asked Jenny to bring them again as I remembered them from her first visit to us last year. I thought that now, having seen her work so successfully with the groups, she should conduct a 2 day Master Class for Heart Space – I had this idea when she brought out a simple winged horse that had broken a dream I have had recently…I wanted to try to make my dream creature ( more of this later, possibly - I often embroider my dreams)

little winged horse

I thought that it would be an opportunity to get different types of makers to develop their own characters. starting with the felted heads and bodies then dressing them in patch- worked clothes….so Jenny is developing a new Master Class for mid September at Heart Space.

But now it was time for all the new animals to go to good homes; they traveled in style – in the pretty bags that Jenny had provided each person’s kit in.

going home in style

Vintage Darning for Mending-Nerds

it does what it says on the card.

I really love vintage clothes and still wear pieces I bought 30 years ago when they were at least 30 years old at the time; keeping my old clothes alive and wearable has probably prompted my fixation with darning and mending. So I was very pleased recently to help Cleo Holyoak-Heatley, the owner of my favourite vintage clothes shop, Clifton Vintage Boutique, in Clifton Arcade in Bristol.

wall of beautiful embroidered gowns and shawls at Clifton Vintage Boutique

I was talking to her about the current  Mending Exhibition while scouring round looking for something -anything fanciable; it’s not worth going to look for something specific in a vintage clothes shop – the eyes, mind and purse have to be open to anything and everything on display, in season or out…..

rack of fair-isle  knit wear.

It was a freezing day and I was checking out a rack of Fair-isle sweaters and vests, when Cleo asked if I knew of anyone who could possibly mend a favourite Fair-isle sweater of hers  with a hole in the elbow? I at once volunteered – it could be a bit of a challenge but as I am currently running mending classes at Heart Space Studios, I thought I could get some practice in.

Fair – isle sweater

When I called back the following week, the sweater she brought out looked pristine, with band after band of different patterns, it almost looked like a sampler with sleeves. The hole was in the elbow and very small. I thought that this looked easy to stitch, what was going to be tricky was getting the right darning yarns in the right colours. Luckily Cleo had some old stock of vintage mending yarns, including a card of “Chadwick’s Wool and Nylon for Reinforcing and Mending”, the Nylon is included for strength so that the darn will last longer. Amazingly we found 2 perfect colours, I had to find the others – the background and some blue to mix to get the heathery look of the original wools. although this is a chunky jumper the yarn used is very fine, 2 ply – this is called crewel wool is embroidery terms and I have a stash of it to work my stitching samples when designing canvas needle work kits  for Ehrman’ s Tapestry,

damaged sleeve with selected mending wools

The first thing I had to do was secure the knitting form un-ravelling any further, easy enough in a small hole but needs quite a bit of reinforcement in anything bigger, I decided to try to re-knit the loops left over, but the wool was very weak and kept fraying. I have to say that what follows is for mending nerds only….. but if you want to see the finished result just go to the end of the post.

starting to mend the  damaged area with the 2 colours of wool

The problem with any patterns, knitted or not, is that several colours have to be used to make an imperceptible mend , and here the damage extended through 2 colours, the pattern and the ground colours. so threading up 2 needle with the colours on each row, I started a few cms. away for the hole and using a type of  French Darning , which is covering the knitting stitches along the row in a zig -zag pattern, this covers the hole and reinforces the surrounding fabric.

working the brown stitches over the existing pattern

 The back not so wonderful to look at but the extra stitching makes for reinforcement and elbows wear out first

back of darned area

The mending looks OK on the front, you can just see the different colour tones of the darned area -

finished darn showing different tones of stitched threads

When I returned the sweater, Cleo was really thrilled and was wearing another of her Fair Isle collection…

Cleo, in even more intricate Fair – Isle.

Africa and England in Print

Batik effect hand block printed African cotton

When I think of African cloth, block printed or woven strip cloth is what I imagine; bold colour in figurative prints or geometric woven designs…

So it was with real delight that I saw and met with Magie Relph the owner of the African Fabric Shop  recently. Initially I met her at a quilt show last year and was introduced to her by a colleague, Liz Hewitt, who thought we should connect; then about a month ago she came and visited us at Heart Space Studios to talk about selling some of her magical fabrics and beads through the shop.

selection of African glass beads

I remembered her stall at the show so clearly, lovely fabric prints of all descriptions,

subtle batik resist dyed cotton lengths

  as well as baskets and beads made from all types of recycled materials….

hand-woven baskets on the African Fabric Stall

I really like sea glass – broken glass that has been dulled by time spent in the sea – nature’s perfect re-cycling system; the milky colours and softened shapes are really appealing and looking at this selection below I am wondering why I didn’t buy any if not all of them?

sea glass bracelets

Then just after Magie’s visit, another piece of Africa found its way to Heart Space Studios; Marina Harvey, a South African designer and pattern cutter, came and talked to the Thursday Evening Knit and Stitch Club about her printed fabrics that she made several years ago on the ‘MA in Print’ course,  at UWE, Bristol.

Heart Space Knit and Stitch Club, Show and Tell with Marina Harvey

Marina has written a course for Heart Space Studios to make and decorate a skirt in a series of evening classes, using some of the techniques she developed on her MA, (this will run later in the year) but I asked her to take part in the ongoing programme of “Show and Tell’s” we hold occasionaly at the weekly Club sessions, as it is a chance for local makers to bring their work and talk about it to us.

Marina printed and patched fabric swatches, based on African batik fabric scraps

Marina talked to us about the idea behind her MA collection: when she came to England to teach and study she was fascinated by the archetypal British fabrics notably woolen tweeds and in particular the cloths worn in traditional sporting pursuits, hunting, shooting and fishing but for dressage in particular …… we were all very surprised by this choice, but of course woollen tweeds in South Africa would be a novelty. Marina set about blending the differences between the cultures by using fabric as her medium, the Queen and her Majesty’s interests as her subjects!

sketch book with paper print featuring brollies, herringbone tweed and Queen Elizabeth 2nd

 Marina used African printing systems, block prints, batiks and discharge screen printing to pattern the tweeds, and she patterned them with tea cups and saucers, she was very generous in bringing all her research materials, work books and fabric samples for us to study closely.

printed tea-cup tweeds with African batik samples

Designing her textiles to make into clothes for her degree exhibition, she chose to work in the 3 colours only, indigo blue, red and dark brown, predominantly found in sishweshwe  or shwe shwe – the traditional South African fabrics of the Zulu and Lesotho nations.

colour strike-off sample print in brown and blue

The combination of British imagery,’ Pheasants Flying for Cover’ which is printed in the traditional shwe shwe colours is a perfect combination very successfully in keeping with both cultural traditions.

red block printed design for tweed jacket

the resulting fabrics are subtle blends of African colours and British icons, T.pots look like African flags are printed on traditional gamekeeper’s woollen drab,

red T pot print on tweed

and the ultimate indigo shwe shwe inspired print of miniature T.pots for elegant court shoes

tiny T pot indigo printed shoes

Making a Mending Exhibition

my sentiments about the Mending at the Museum exhibition

The exhibition ‘Mending at the Museum’ has finally been launched at The Bristol City Museum and Art Gallery - and it runs until April 2013….which sounds simple enough but it is the culmination of at least 3 years collaborative practice based research between academics and professional makers and artists. The ‘Stitching and Thinking’ research group, which I facilitated in my post as a senior research fellow, evolved the exhibition via a series of  mixed media workshops, visits to the museum’s mended collections, many meetings, discussions, conference papers and a small sample-stage exhibition; and it also caps off my academic career which started in 1973  and finished last year in 2011….. So no pressure then.

mending Sampler from the Bristol Museum collection

I co-curated the exhibition with Dawn Mason, currently the award leader of Drawing and Applied Arts at U.W.E. Bristol, and my long-term academic colleague and collaborator in all things stitched. In the museum we worked with Karin Walton, the Curator of Applied Arts at Bristol  Museum, and who holds the secrets and the keys to the museum’s sampler collection, the mending samplers were the main inspiration for the work that has finally been exhibited.

school’s sampler from the museum’s collection

table of samples and exhibits

Steph Wooster’s wrapped work

 

When I arrived on the first morning to hang the work, Dawn and Karin had already placed the exhibits, still in their wrappings, on the floor below the wall space allotted to them, but there were piles of extraneous pieces, scattered over tables and chairs, it became my task to sort these out.

The idea of the exhibition is partly to show how ideas evolve during the making process – Dawn and I have written and spoken many times of the necessity of makers to have time for reflection; making work worthy of contemplation requires as much time for the thinking as it does for the making process. It is a constant making and thinking about what you made, re-making, re-thinking until somehow the pieces resolve themselves and you wonder how they could ever have become anything other than what they are.

Each exhibitor was responsible for physically putting their own work on the wall, this saves so much argument later….but with only 7 exhibitors who know one another well we each respected one another’s’ space – well most of the time. So during the next 2 days each member of the group came and sorted their own work out meanwhile just looking at all the unwrapped pieces was really fascinating as work seen only at the sample stage 4 weeks before, now appeared ready for the wall. Work can made or marred by the way it is hung and also what it  is hung next to. We were all acutely aware of how the whole exhibition must work together. It comprises 3 different elements; some of the museum’s mending samplers, our own samplers of work made throughout the research period, and the pieces made specially for exhibition.

Steph Wooster draping her knitted shawl

Steph Wooster’s knitted and pieced work looked different when it was stretched over some embroidery hoops that acted almost as magnifying mirrors – drawing the eye to the details of her messages. She writes of museums being ‘houses of high culture; they show the best of us’. Finding evidence of mending within the museum’s exhibits she delights in glimpses of ‘everyday life’ . Her work, influenced by the written messages on samplers, ‘celebrates the ordinary’ by using simple fabrics with ubiquitous machine knitting.

one of Steph Wooster’s knitted and stitched wraps “you are my rock and my hard place”

Jilly Morris‘ children’s aprons came neatly laid one on top of the other with a Fragile label printed on the cardboard wrapper – a comment, I felt, not about the fact that the contents could  be damaged but of the fragility of what was inside and already ‘ damaged’ .

Jilly Morris’ stack of children’s aprons

The title of the work produced is ‘Mending Takes Time’ and refers to the functional stitching that was traditionally taught as part of their general education to girls, as transferable skills in an era when fabrics were ‘treated with regard’ and material was frequently mended to preserve a precious commodity – so at odds with our easy access to all types of fabric from all over the world.

Mending Takes Time – Jilly Morris

The cross shape made by various commercial medical dressings recall the basic shape of most darns seen on the samplers; when executed in ready-made modern plasters she references the ‘quick fix mentality and disposable culture’ of the present day.

Jillt Morris, child’s apron with first aid pocket – paper

Jilly Morris, Child’s apron pocket with commercial first aid plasters and staples

Jess Turrell came in with a box of assorted table-wear cups, saucers and a range of metal components such as spoon bowls, fork tines, knife blades and their specially made handles – which she made up before she placed them in a large vitrine.

Jess Turrell making her Fork Handles

Jess Turrell first aid plaster wrapped ceramics

Her work is called “Inappropriate Mendings” and she is having some fun at the idea of making aesthetically elegant mending that is really useless for any practical purposes, fork handles are whittled from wax candles (gedditt?) cups are mended with calico, and spoon handles wrapped in plasters from the first aid tin.

Jess Turrell, Fork Handles

Jess Turrell – vitrine of inappropriate mendings

 

Dail Behennah brought in a fragile darned wire piece, mercifully it was framed and so this was the easiest to hang…the piece is simple and refined and references a particular black darning  sampler in the collection, which is placed in a vitrine opposite her work.

Dail Behennah – Holding it Together, copper wire and thread.

Dail reflects that the darning in an old garment are often stronger than the fabric that they hold together, she has taken this to ‘absurd lengths’ by making  a piece of metal fabric entirely compose of darns. The shimmering quality of the image is created by the shadows set up by the work being suspended in a box frame, below is the darning fabric in the making

Dail Behennah, darned fabric detail.

Dawn Mason exhibited a series of different responses to the mending samples, called Face to Face her work reflects the reverse side of the samplers, some how when we look at the ‘wrong’ side of a piece f stitched work it seems much more immediate, the involvement of the maker is more apparent because here we see the comings and goings or the threads and  often the struggle the maker has had is left as evidence where on the front of the work all is perfectly presented and correct. (I know that given the opportunity people usually will look at the back of any stitched work – maybe searching for signs of the maker’s involvement )

Dawn Mason, hanging her newest pieces – cotton organdie

The work she showed was made over the entire duration of the project and shows the progression of her own personal work…

Dawn Mason – early stitched and darned work – printed polished paper and thread

Dawn Mason, stitched texts on printed polished paper and thread

Like Dawn’s exhibited pieces, my own work forms part of an ongoing series of stitched work, that has been a direct consequence of our involvement in this project. “Make it through the Night” includes many references to mending as mending broken hearts has been the major inspiration to my personal work for several years now – as this blog illustrates – there are many postings around the ideas and practice of mending, and the first ever post was about my mended clothes………

a rare photograph of me in action – here pressing ‘Counterpane – Counterpain” on the museum’s walls

I  have made a whole series of embroidered handkerchiefs, let’s face it some nights we have all needed a handkerchief if only to hold on to.  So I have embroidered them with positive mending mottoes and other words of wisdom -  the set is called ‘ Patch Grief with Proverbs’ a sentiment that rings true to me. How often we just find ourselves reciting platitudes in response to grief?

Janet Haigh embroidered linen handkerchief with linen voile patch.

Greek proverb, cotton handkerchief and thread

I made 21 embroideries all with their own distinctive darns and patches to reflect the written proverb, they took quite a time to get onto the wall…..I had to search many different sources to find enough texts to make a wall full – but one lovely Greek proverb was given to me by Basil Kardasis  and this was the last piece I embroidered – an a very large-scale cotton handkerchief I had to purchase new – the rest were all on vintage linen.

Which brings me neatly to the last exhibitor, Basil Kardasis, his exhibit is called ‘The Buttonhole’, and he collected from his family and friends ( we all had to contribute) ” treasured, revered materials…that may represent them ” and also a button;  then , with the help of his sister Ella, spent may months button-holing all the pieces together so that they made a “protective cloak”  for his son.

Many different materials and articles appear in the cloak, which has a very colourful interior as well, the range of fabrics perfectly reflect his wide-ranging experiencing as a designer and educator world-wide, students and colleagues and friends from practically every aspect of his life gave him wonderful and rare pieces of cloth for this coat, my favourite is a piece of lasered leather in a lace pattern – now this I could really get working on – it only I had much more of it…..

lasered lace calf skin

Looking at the image now of this lasered work I am reminded of the joint piece of work that had to be abandoned for inclusion in this exhibition, due to personal reasons by my making partner Hanne Rysgaard. We were making a porcelain hanging from impressed lace fragments but sadly this was shelved until we can both find the space in our very busy lives to get together again and make it. Now I am thinking that these 2 disparate materials may somehow work together…leather and porcelain – Basil where did that lasered skin come from and is there any more?

paper porcelain impressed with Guipure Lace

Beading Exhibition

detail of lamp-worked glass beads based on fossilised dung -  Ilsa Fatt

The intricate hand made beads shown in the detail above are based on Coprolite -  icthyosaur dung, or more simply – fossilised poo...Ilas Fatt has developed these beads as part of a collaboration with Lyme Regis Museum where artists have been asked to work from specimens from the museum’s collection to be shown in an exhibition in 2013 – so a sneak preview at Heart Space Studios

Ilsa brings in her exhibits to the empty exhibition wall at Heart Space Studios

We have concentrated on bead work to advertise the next Master Class given by Ilsa – she describes it as being in ‘Freeform Sculptural Peyote Stitch’ I describe it as an absolutely amazing jewellry – making opportunity where using a variety of bead-work techniques a densely embellished bracelet will be formed – with integral fastening – my favourite aspect of Ilsa’s jewellry – she really has designed elegant and workable fastenings for her bead – work – for this alone, it would be worth taking the class.

A table full of gold and black beaded exhibits

Putting together this beading exhibition was fascinating, seeing  how different designers had managed to make such contrasting pieces by using simple beadwork techniques. Ilsa Fatt uses Peyote stitch  and Janis Taberner and Kristina Ferron use square stitch. When all the pieces different pieces were assembled they looked wonderful just draped and jumbled together over the tables – I was in favour or showing them draped on the wall, but when we saw the hangers for the Janis’ scarves we realised that formality would reign… but how to place all the disparate work together for a successful exhibition?

Blue and turquoise colour story

Sophie, Heart Space’s administrator and general genie, thought we should colour co-ordinate them – well I wasn’t going to deny that so we grouped everything together in ‘colour stories’. This made life much simpler and meant that at least the different types of work would hang together well

gold and bright colour story

First we placed everything on the floor in the colour groups.

the black and gold group on the floor

the long scarves made perfect borders for the boxes of necklaces. The rich colours of each designer’s work really enhanced each other.

hand made Lamp-worked glass beaded necklace based on Coprolite – Ilsa Fatt

black squared scarf – Janis Taberner

black and grey squared scarf – Janis Taberbner

detail of Carnival necklace – Ilsa Fatt

Ilsa is offering students her own lamp- worked beads as part of her Master Class ensuring everyone makes a unique piece of work.

blue group with deco necklace by Janis Taberner and ethnic inspired pieces by Kristina Ferron

The Blue grouping was easy-peasy – we used small stands and simple boxes to show the work, the brilliant blues and turquoises of Kristina’s ethnic necklaces, Kristina explained that she really likes “Big Jewellry” – a woman after my own heart.

blue square stitch scarf – Janis Taberner

strings of beads necklace – Kristina Ferron

The next group along the wall is in brilliant colours with gold; 2 scarves and a necklace that is based on the tumbling blocks patchwork design – Janis’ background in embroidery shows in her wide range of textile inspiration for these works.

Brilliant gold group – Janis Taberner

detail of the tumbling blocks design

detail of edging on patchwork design

and the last group is a series of different items in gold and autumnal colours made by all three makers, including  another collar this time in what appears to me to be a hounds-tooth check pattern.

autumn gold group by all three makers.

plus a beautiful frilled pendant by Janis where she has also braided the cord and tassell using a Japanese technique.

frilled pendant – Janis Teberner

beaded bag – Kristina Ferron

and also this sumptuous and subtle necklace by Ilsa.

autumn colours and gold beaded necklace – Ilsa Fatt

Beading at Heart Space Studios

Free form Peyote stitch beaded bracelet incorporating hand made beads – Ilsa Fatt

Heart Space Studios has gone totally beaded – an exhibition was preceded by introductory beading classes is being followed by a beading Master Class, held by Ilsa Fatt, where students will make a magnificent glass beaded bracelet incorporating Ilsa’a hand made beads.

The beading classes have been run by popular demand from Heart Space followers, because so many people wanted the opportunity to attempt this project but felt they needed a short introduction to basic beading.

pots of multi-coloured glass beads ready for stringing

Ilsa showed everyone how to make a small square using peyote stitch, a simple and stable backing

assembling the beaded square using Peyote stitch

to enable you to start decorating it to your heart’s content

starting the decorations

Ilsa then demonstrated 3 separate beaded drop  formations and the students could experiment with  many types of different shapes and sizes of beads.

starting to develop the pendants

The finished  pieces can be made into brooches or pendants

So far so good, now the students can feel more confident about joining a master class as they will come prepared with the basics stitch with which to develop their own ideas from their personal practice  by using beads – and they will really appreciate the accompanying exhibition at Heart Space Studios which is displayed on my next post….

Embroidering a Pansy in 3 dimensions

stitched pansy in silk thread- Libby Butler

Stitching  3 dimensional flowers is a strange mix of observational drawing, refined stitching and alchemy; the transition of the flat stitched petals freed from their background and applied to form a flower is slightly surreal. I developed this particular skill while making the Flora Embroideries, using the pansy to metamorphose into different forms to develop faces.

winter flowering pansies

I had been asked by a regular Heart Space Studio student and volunteer, Libby Butler, to teach her to stitch a 3 dimensional pansy – her favourite flower, and knowing that she was a skilled embroiderer I agreed. What I did not know was if she could draw the flowers from life; this is the first essential stage as learning to select the colours and study the growth lines of the petals is most important to develop natural petal patterns – and looking really carefully to draw each petal really concentrates the mind for the stitching that follows.

selected pansy and the drawing equipment

Libby looked a little nervous when I handed her the jars of crayons after selecting her pansy – however after a nervous start she achieved a simple working drawing from which we could establish petal shapes and colourings, now to move to the fabrics….

simple drawing of the Pansy face

Now to the fabrics – first a thin silk fabric was selected and the individual petals from the drawing were traced onto it in pencil,  a light dye was then applied with a paintbrush to give a background colour.

dyeing the background fabric for the petals

When the dye was dry, a heat transfer fabric adhesive was ironed onto the back of the fabric and each petal was cut out and ironed onto a very fine silk gauze and placed in a small embroidery hoops ready for embroidery – the edge of the silk petal means that the stitches have very strong definition which will be needed later for cuttung out. The silks were matched to the drawing colours and using one strand only, the embroidery was started…

embroidering the individual painted silk petals

Libby worked one  whole petal (see above) by the end of the first day of the 2 day workshop, she then had 1 week to complete the rest of the petals…..she took the drawing home to work from – the drawing is what she is following not the real flower – this is why the drawing needs to be really carefully observed

stitched work brought in to the second session

On her return I found that she needed to work a fine blending thread over the transition between the dark purple and light yellow of the pansy to make it look natural but this was quickly achieved – attention needs to be given for the direction of  all the stitches so that they follow the lines of growth of the petal – but it is easy to see in bi-coloured pansies.

the embroidered petals are cut out

Once the embroidery was complete, the back of the fabrics was once again bonded with heat transfer adhesive and each petal cut out leaving a small area of surrounding silk. Each  petal was then pressed from the back while being stretched around the its edge, this sets the stitches and gives a very life – like undulation to the petal edge – but the stitching needs to be very dense to allow this to happen…..then taking courage in both hands the extra fabric is VERY carefully cut away – the bonding keeps the threads in place.

holding the back petal snipped and waiting to be pressed.

Now the flower formation can begin. On a fresh and final background fabric the original drawing was traced using a water-soluble pen, then each petal is embroidered into position starting from the back, only the middle area needs to be attached – the petals must be left free from the ground

attaching the petals to form the flower

The actual assembly does not take very long but it must be carefully structured so that each petal overlaps the one below it, the original drawing is again of vital importance to this process.

work in progress with an old embroidered sample we used as a stitching guide

Eventually each petal is placed and the inside edges of the of the petals are  is built up and over-sewn and a single central stitch finishes it – Da Da!

the final flower seen against the original drawing

Martha May Maulyou and Felt Friends

Jenny Barnett’s menagerie in a suitcase

Heart Space Studios attracts all sorts of different people, but sometimes we have to invite them in because one of us has spotted work that they feel is really exceptional and that we should try to exhibit or, even better, get the maker work to with us. Sophie, Heart Space’s administrator, has been raving about Jennie Barnett’s needle felted figures for months  since she saw them at a Vintage Fabric fair, and finally we managed to lure her over last week and this is what we saw…..

ceramic and cloth dolls with some odd felted animals

First out of a very battered, old-fashioned and customised suitcase came 2 dolls, well miniature figures would be a better description, they had ceramic heads that were beautifully modelled with cloth bodies and dressed in some lovely old printed cotton clothes. Jenny was a model maker in the ceramics industry before she took up a life living on a canal barge and working in needle felting.

detail of the modelled heads of the 2 small figures

Now I have to admit that needle felting seems like purgatory to me, poking a ball of woollen fleece with barbed sticks until it surrenders itself into a fluffy something or other is not  my idea of a good time …but when Jenny started to unpack her felted animals and other creatures, I could suddenly see why she had chosen this discipline,  apart from the obvious constraints of firing up kilns on boats.

2 needle felted and frocked animals.

It was obvious that her sculpting sensibilities were fully expressed in this simple medium – and she could have some fun while recreating gestures and stances that have surely come from her own acute observation. It is easy to see why she has started to name some of the figures, above Felicity Flowerfield and Bethany Breadbake are  delightful little characters.

warty watchful wild animals

These animals aren’t just cute though, they possess characters that are recognisable – I  have seen these attitudes in my own dogs (fox terriers) particularly the look on the large brown hare in the centre of the image above  – that sort of  ‘ can I trust you?’  specially when they are unsure of my attitude towards some mischief as yet undiscovered. Jenny has many such creatures and her most popular selling animals,the sheep,the hares and the foxes she now produces as needle felting kits.

Jenny Barnett’s needle felted Hare kit

But back to the suitcase, out came another creature, a very foxy looking character, but she was grey and dressed in a sinister green translucent skirt from which her tail stuck out at the back.  She was a wolf in Victorian clothing and her name gave the game away, Martha May Maulyou – you wouldn’t turn your back on her…..

Martha May Maulyou makes her appearance

Now I was intrigued and started to play with the animals – so easy to develop a story with them all – watch out girlies…

Martha Maulyou sidles up to the girls…..the fox is minding his own business

However to the rescue hopefully comes Harvey Hipslinger…he looks a proper gent.

Harvey Hipslinger to the rescue?

But should we trust a gent who wears such flamboyant clothes?

I had intended this post to be about Jenny’s small animals (she has agreed to teach some half day workshops to make some of her popular Christmas Robins and Mermaids with us later in the year) but having realised that her creatures are perfect for inspiring stories I am really pleased that we persuaded her to sell some of her character animals in the Heart Space shop.