I arrived in the UK right at the beginning of October in
what felt like the end of summer rather than heading into autumn, the trees
were still green, the temperature was pretty much on par with those I was
leaving behind in New Zealand. I have to say that I don’t miss New Zealands frequent wet weather, and during my weeks in the UK there have only been one or two rainy
days, for which I am grateful. Autumn did finally arrive with misty mornings
and sun streaking through the fabulously coloured trees. And during this last week
we have seen temperatures dropping to -8 degrees C overnight and the frost
lasting right through the days. The compensation for this are the most
beautiful sunrises and sunsets with clear blue skies.
You may wonder (and I have been asked many times recently)
what I do about family during my times away. Well, for the first year we are, to
use a horrid phrase, ‘empty nesters’ – does anyone else find it an awful term? What
this means is that our children are now working or at University, and so no
longer living with us on a regular basis. Simply, another part of life has begun. Husband Brian
has been left ‘home alone’ for a few weeks until the end of the University year
and the return of our youngest progeny who, I predict, will drive him mad very quickly. On a day to day basis, Brian is much more domestic and capable
around the house than I am, so I have no worries on that score. To spice up his
life I left him coping with me having converted a perfectly good house into a
building site, in the hope that it will be liveable in by the time I return!! Not
long now until I find out what the results are.
When it all comes together we
will be able to offer two self-contained holiday units and a studio to work in
and invite people to be creative with me (and perhaps Brian if I can persuade
him to teach his jewellery, metalwork and woodworking skills – but I haven’t
told him that part yet, so please keep quiet). Get your bookings in now –
beaches, bars, water sports, walks and creativity. The only downside is having
to put up with our company!
As usual, the trip has been a whirlwind of workshops, talks,
exhibitions, planning, applications and social events. Who could ask for more?
In no set order, I would like to thank the members of Cotswold
EG, Chelford EG, South Cheshire EG, (lots of C’s there), Trent and Erewash EG, London
Quilters, Art Van Go, Zoe at Thimblestitch, and Living Threads, Hillstone Fibre
Arts and the team at Upper Street Events who do such a great job organising the
Knitting and Stitching Shows.
Also thank you Dr. Jessica Bain at Leicester University for
organising a textile researchers networking day which fell beautifully into my
schedule and gave me an inspiring day with other textile makers and researchers
and left me with food for thought about future possibilities.
What did we get up to?
What Lies Beneath
Using the 'mola' or reverse appliqué technique, we will
layer fabrics over a base of metal, machine stitch (free or with the feed dogs
up) our design and then cut back through the layers to reveal colours we have
hidden and finally the metal layer at the bottom.
Complete the piece with a little surface decoration and you
have a piece which could be used at both a large, bold scale and
a very small, delicate one
This will lead us to create a deceptively simple piece and
stitch into metal with none of the accompanying worries about getting metal
under your sewing machine.
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop |
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What Lies Beneath 1 day workshop | |
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One of my examples, with chance to stitch into the surface for longer than one day gives us chance |
Hanging Pods
Needle felted
surfaces with subtle glints of metal foil, knitted metals and metal fabric completed
with flourishes of beads and metal plate couching.
There were lots more images, I just can't lay my hands on them right at the moment. But we did have fun, in both in Chelford and South Cheshire.
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Surveying the results in South Cheshire! |
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Hanging pods underway. |
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One finished piece a few days later. |
Vain Devices
Who could fail to be impressed by the
bold, bright and brilliant designs and colours of Elizabethan era costume? The
rich colours; elaborate trimmings; the magnificent and extreme sculpting seen
in the clothing of the higher classes are the inspiration here.
Go completely to town combining the
padded hose and shoulder rolls, ruffs, gold ‘points’, lacings, fabric roses,
stomachers and the finely detailed and embroidered coifs, the decorative
scabbards worn by the men etc.
Translate your selection of these
features into a textile using velvet, silk, Angelina fibre, metal shim and
metal cloth, along with stitch.
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Bonnie's creation |
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Detail from Bonnie's work |
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By Carol, the first cuff of a pair of gauntlets |
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Detail from Chris |
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A wonderfully free interpretation of the theme and materials by Daniela |
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Well on the way, with miles of zig zag cord from Denise |
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From Gill |
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Lovely piece by Judy |
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Pauline -hope this was finished in time for your exhibition? |
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This was much larger than the image makes you think - a bold piece by Penny |
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Detail from Penny |
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Janet's on the day |
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Janet's complete a month later |
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Detail of Janet's piece |
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And from the lovely ladies at Thimblestitch:
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Vain Devices |
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Vain Devices |
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Vain Devices |
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Vain Devices |
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Vain Devices |
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Vain Devices |
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Vain Devices |
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Vain Devices |
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Vain Devices |
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Vain Devices |
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Vain Devices |
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Vain Devices |
Gems from Scraps
I am sure that it is not just me who collects the offcuts
and trimmings from larger projects! Do you have a bag of bits too special to
throw away, but which you haven’t yet found a way to use? On this day we take
these and layer and assemble them into collections of small treasures by adding
a few beads, stitches or found objects to create unique greetings cards or
small panels without wasting anything.
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Girls all heads down and being creative |
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Gems from Scraps |
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Gems from Scraps |
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Gems from Scraps |
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Gems from Scraps |
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Gems from Scraps |
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Gems from Scraps |
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Gems from Scraps |
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Gems from Scraps |
Starting from Seeds
A little bit of drawing, but mostly having fun developing a
multi textured paper, fabric and stitched surface based on the fantastically
varied patterns and textures we see in seed pods from around the world.
It s really a 2 or 3 day process, but we squeezed what we could into one day:
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Starting from Seeds |
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Starting from Seeds |
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Starting from Seeds |
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Starting from Seeds |
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Starting from Seeds |
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Starting from Seeds |
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Starting from Seeds |
Devore Developed
Richly textural, coloured, gilded velvet for a very special
surface to incorporate into your own projects. Devore is a technique for
creating a sculpted fabric of two layers from a particular form of velvet. Once
sculpted colour is added with easy ink and dyes add gilding to create a luscious,
rich surface for stitch and beads.
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Devore Developed |
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Devore Developed |
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Devore Developed |
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Devore Developed |
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Devore Developed |
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Devore Developed |
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Devore Developed |
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Devore Developed |
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Devore Developed |
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Devore Developed |
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Devore Developed |
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Devore Developed |
Zipperdy Do Dah
Upcycle old zippers by creating a needle felted surface
using lovely coloured wool tops which twist and swirl around the zip. Add
simple, bold stitching and beads, and - viola! A broach, necklace, embroidered
panel, book cover etc. - the choice is yours.
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Zipperdy |
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Zipperdy |
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Zipperdy |
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Zipperdy |
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And I love it when I see developments later, so from this ... |
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... to this! |
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And this development was great too. |
Still to come before I get back on a plane:
Fernery Vessels
A workshop based on ideas from my book
‘Stitch, Fibre, Metal and Mixed Media’.
A lovely subtle and elegant sculptural
vessel exploring a variety of coloured and patterned surfaces Rich, varied and
highly patterned panels are shown off to best advantage on this simply
constructed vessel. Each panel takes an aspect of the fern. Pictures later
A reminder, if anyone would like me to visit your group in
the UK during July and August 2017 or October and November 2018, do get in
touch on alysnmm@gmail.com to get something
organised.
And the next post will concentrate on the exhibition I have been
working on for it’s first outing at the Knitting and Stitching Show.