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Sunday 15 June 2014

All Done

I finally finished my course work, and completed my portfolios for my City and Guilds, on Wednesday night.  I took everything into college on Thursday, and discovered I needed to write evaluations of my A3 samples too.  That took until lunch time.  Now I'm on holiday until the level 2 course starts in September.  Of course that doesn't mean I won't be actively creating things.  I have a lovely piece of ice dyed cotton scrim that I want to nuno felt along the raw edges to make a shawl; two maxi skirts to turn up, as they are too maxi for my mini height; a piece of ice dyed cotton that I want to use to make an upcycled skirt, using the top of an old pair of jeans; and the patchwork quilt I want to make for my cousin as a wedding present.  So I have plenty to keep me busy.

If anyone in Northumberland would like to see the work that the art faculty students produce at the college there is an end-of-year exhibition at the Ashington campus, on the ground floor of the college.

Here are some photos of City & Guilds level 2 and 3 students' work.  The first one is Denise Primrose,with the corset she made.                                
                                         

                              






Sunday 8 June 2014

Another week flown by

I can't believe it's been a whole week since I posted anything here.  It has been busy, tiring, and, at times, enjoyable.  

I'm currently preoccupied with finishing my C&G course work.  The Texture book has been completed; I'm doing the final bits of stitching for Line, and I need to take some photos for my A3 pieces.

Although I have enjoyed my art evening class I won't do another one next year.  It's just too tiring, especially as I've enrolled for my level 2 C&G in Creative Textiles.  I've also been elected onto the local MS Society branch committee, and been asked to do the newsletter, so I'll have more than enough to keep me busy.

I finally made it to an Embroiderer's Guild meeting in Alnwick on Saturday afternoon.  There was a fascinating speaker called Joanna O'Neill.  She's a really multi-talented woman.  You can see for yourself on her website: www.richstitch.com. Pop along and have a look.


Sunday 1 June 2014

Complex Cloth

I bought a used copy of "Complex Cloth A Comprehensive Guide to Surface Design" by Jane Dunnewold on Amazon Marketplace, and it was delivered yesterday.  So far, due to doing other things yesterday, I've only managed to read the introduction, but what an introduction - I quote: "How can we make the cloth sing?"  This question deeply resonated with me, as did Jane's assertion: "It is possible to create fabric of great depth and complexity - what I call 'complex cloth' - simply by beginning with white fabric and layering surface-design processes like dyeing, painting, bleaching, and foiling over one another until a pleasing result is achieved."  If you've read my earlier blog posts you will know that I love dyeing and block printing fabric.  Now I have a guide to these techniques, and more.  This book was written in 1996, and there have been further developments in textile art materials, but it should give me a good jumping off point.  Many of her techniques are used by fibre artists like Angie Hughes, so by combining the things I learn in college with this book and my Colouricious DVDs, I have lots of scope for experimenting to create my own complex cloth.