Thread painting on khadi paper

Not in the conventional sense, of densely stitched threads covering the whole surface of a cloth, done either by hand or by machine, but touches of thread, over watercolour paintings.

Stitched and wrapped, with two different weights and colours of variegated thread.

Wrapping vertically only with one weight of variegated thread

Wrapping horizontally with one weight of thread, coloured by drawing through the watercolour paints

Horizontal and vertical wrapping with one weight of thread coloured by drawing through the watercolour paints.

Lots to explore further here.

Colours of Pembrokeshire - inspired by rockpools

The blue and turquoise seas of Pembrokeshire inspired me to get this ongoing piece of hand embroidery out again. Stitched on to a piece of fine cotton dyed with Pebeo setasilk dyes which also seem to work on cotton. Stitched area is approximately 20cm square.

Colours of Pembrokeshire

Azure seas

Yarns for weaving at Melin Tregwynt

Have inspired some artistic activities with paint and thread.

Busy table - no paintbrush, so I had to improvise with found feathers and sheep’s wool.

“Thread painting” “ khadi paper, watercolour paint, variegated thread

Journal quilts continued, August, Brexit - has all hope gone?

Newspaper painted with a mix of red, white and blue giving a murky grey.

Flash of yellow fabric to celebrate the Liberal Democrat win in the Brecon and Radnorshire by-election, and to represent the conservative party majority of 1 in the House of Commons.

EU stars and blue thread showing inter-connectedness of 'just-in-time" delivery and manufacturing across the EU which the UK will lose access to if Brexit happens on 31 October.

Edged with black mourning ribbon.

Sweets for my sweet............

……and panto costumes for the tinies, who are boiled sweets in the finale.  Yards of crystal organza, 

Waiting to be tried for length, after reference to a very useful guide here for children’s shoulder lengths and armhole depths.

Sherbet sweet

A few leftover scraps and strips, plus some buttons have turned in to hat and accessory trimmings  under my needle

Roll on the dress rehearsal.

Bling bacteria, sleep and stitching on wood

The last journal quilt has been completed, the third on the theme of bacteria. Photographed on a sheet ( I don’t like ironing!) to show the extended, wired threads. A single antibiotic-resistant, flagellate bacterium swimming in a soup of over-used antibiotics. Bling for December.

Hand-dyed applique on commercial fabric with appliquéd threads, some hand-wired, which was much trickier than I had anticipated.

My copy of the book of The Sleep Quilt arrived this week, so I am setting aside time in the Christmas melee to enjoy that and think on how it was made. There is a superb blogpost about the project here.

A visit to Manchester allowed time to visit the Manchester Craft and Design Centre. This is lovely space, with a current exhibition of work by Kate Colin whose skill in paper folding is terrific.

Intriguing work with punched and stitched wood veneers by Jane Blease has gone on my long term wishlist.

Edinburgh, Dovecot Studio, Daughters of Penelope

A fab’ few days in Edinburgh, with a highlight as ever being a visit to the Dovecot Studios. The light was shining down on to the studio floor, making the colours glow

Work in progress in the studio

Surrounding the walls of the viewing floor, an exhibition about tapestry as architectural commissions. One of my favourite artists, Victoria Crowe, has just completed a commission, in conjunction with Dovecot for the Leatherseller’s Company. Seeing the artist's  sketches, initial work-ups, weaver’s ( NaomiRobertson ) workups, the full working process, samples of weaving techniques is marvellous.  The heraldic blue, yellow and red are both historical and contemporary.

Downstairs, a superb exhibition called Daughters of Penelope. So many wonderful things to see here, on until January 2018.

A rug that was made to move within a dance performance

Monotone weaving

Ash seeds woven in to a textile

A recording of spinning songs that, from the comments in the exhibition notebook, divided the opinions of the attendees. I loved it and was intrigued by the circular notation of the singing. Great embroidery potential there.

July journal, seedhead

The journal July is the first of three on the theme of seeds.  Stencilled fabric, then experimenting with different weights of threads.

Finished

May journal - still in fresh water

I’ve got very behind posting about this year’s journal quilts.  May is still on the theme of blue-green algae.

Testing out prints in the sketchbook with acrylic paint

Trying out different way of appliquéing silk, rouleaux strips

Final piece

April journal - turning to fresh water

Blue-green algae

Algal “blooms” form in both salt water and fresh water, but I wanted to focus on a microscopic form that grows in fresh water, hence blue-green algae.  While algae are needed and are beneficial in many aquatic ecosystems, excessive nitrogen and phosphorous, caused by farm or industrial run-off can cause overgrowth and “blooms”. These can be toxic, particularly to animals.

Hand-dyed fabric, experimenting with bobbin work, gathered ribbon, and chain stitch embroidery by machine ( great fun).