Embroiderer's Ledger, task 2

Next task is to separate out some shapes from the image, draw them and work with the extracted colours to explore them further.

I couldn't get anything beautiful out of the mountains in the background -that's the attempt at the side. As I was drawing, I realised that I wasn't happy that my shapes were looking like peculiar breasts, so I've simplified them. ( Any advice on how to convey the twisting in the dominant yellow shape from the image would be greatly appreciated. I've tried to draw it in with the yellow and orange shape here, but it isn't too my liking yet.)

I really like the possibilities of overlaying of shapes and blending colours, but that may be beyond my technical capabilities. Trying to match colours under artificial light is tricky, so I'll need to do something about the quality of the light under which I am working. The colours are actually not as bright as this on the page, I'll try to re-photograph under natural light.

It takes me a while to get in to the swing of these exercises, but once I do I am really enjoying them.



Next step is to stitch in to these shapes.

An Embroiderer's Ledger, first task

A colour - filled weekend, working on the first task in the online course with Karen Ruane, " An Embroiderer's Ledger".

" All" we had to do was to choose an image, extract colours in two different media, and then match threads to the extracted colours. To the non-art trained, this seemed a mind-blowing job. Once I managed to select my image, it did prove challenging, but strangely relaxing at the same time. The page below is the result, image about 4 x 6 inches, and the page is abut 12 x 12 inches.


Postcard of Dale Chihuly glass in the desert. Watercolour and coloured pencil showing the extracted colours.

I am using threads that were left by my husband's mother's cousin, therefore many of them no longer have identification bands. I am keeping them on a ring so that I know what shades I used. I found it really difficult to match the ochre, sage green and light turquoise shades from the stock I have, so ended up using blends of threads for some shades.

I must wear something with tighter fitting sleeves when doing this exercise, as some of my circles are distinctly blurred.

The next task is to extract some of the shapes from the image and work those onto a page with some stitched samples. I'm trying not to get nervous about the thought of having to draw - perhaps the scalpel will come out again.

Quilt show, Teddington 5- 7 Oct

If you are in the Teddington area next weekend, do drop in to the Richmond and Kew Quilters' biennial show at the Landmark Centre. Easy transport from Waterloo ( no parking there, I'm afraid) , over 100 quilts on display, craft stall, quilters' bric-a-brac, raffles, traders, tea, coffee cakes - not much more needed for the perfect day out. See this quilt live and come and say hello. I'll be there on Saturday and Sunday.

Guddling

This Scottish word originally meant to catch fish with one's hands. It has another generally accepted use, which is to muck about making a complete mess. Definitely applied to this week's Morley activities. First up, preparation of a screen for breakdown printing with Procion P dye pastes.


Pastes are applied to the screen, like icing a cake, then objects are embedded in to it, and the screen is left to dry. As the paste is quite thick, this screen has been left to dry until next week. An added bonus are the drips that come through the screen, and I used this to make a quick mono print - no pic of this, as I also had to leave this to dry.

Before starting on this, I set up a tray dye,of cotton sheeting, with Procion MX in blues and brown.



Beautiful fabrics emerged. These are not technically perfect as they have specks of undissolved dye on them, but I rather like this effect.



The second piece was folded before pleating, leading to one half with sharp and the other half with more faded versions of the same marks.

Morley Moons

Back to Morley this week, and sanity is restored. The studio has been revamped to give more usable floor space, and a deep clean of all surfaces has been done wherever possible. The course this year has a majority of returners, so will be run as more of a workshop. First new technique discussed tis week has been breakdown, or deconstructed screen printing, so I am gathering interesting bits and pieces this week for embedding in dye paste next week.

I made some more indigo moons ( CDs clamped on a piece of concertina folded sheet, and dipped in indigo for 2 minutes) to add to a piece I have been constructing during the summer. This is about 40 x 50 inches.


Indigo moon, overprinted with Procion P dye paste, through a masked Thermofax screen


Indigo dyed moons with twist pleated inset border



This will probably take for ever to get quilted, but it is a good start to the term.

Paralympics knitting and Morley tomorrow

Too much watching again, but saved by more knitting. Also, a reason to make a roll for knitting needles, after discovering that I had bought sizes that I already had, but couldn't find at the time. Why in such cases, do you always find the item several days after you have bought the new ones? Is is a ploy to keep the economy going?


Needle roll, made of fabric dyed last year at Morley



Inside of needle roll and knitting, made with this lovely yarn although the pattern, adapted from The Knitter's Book of Socks was very challenging to do in the dark bits.



Morley tomorrow, continuing the fabric printing course with Marion, can't wait.

Completely finished and ….. I am in a book

Off to be presented, after a bit of a disaster with dye running. Salvaged by using Synthrapol in a machine wash. I forgot to mention before that this quilt is double-sided. Lots of learning in this one.







And, I received a copy of the CQ@10 book this week and one of my A4 pieces is in it. REAlly exciting to see it in print.