Glacier River

For each Thread and Shutter exhibition I always like to create some pieces of work that are directly inspired by Brian's photographs.  Luckily he travels to some exotic places and as one of his more recent holidays was to Iceland, I used two photos on Jokulsarlon, a glacial river he visited.

 

The first piece was a felted panel for which I used wool and silk fibres, Angelina fibres, silk and cotton scrim.   I needlefelted the various materials together into a sheet of felt and hand stitches were then added, along with beads an sequins.

The panel was then stitched to a hand dyed cotton background which had been machine quilted with icicle shards.

 

 

    

 

The second creation is a quilted wall hanging  which uses the actual photos.   These were printed on to cotton fabric to form two larger panels within the quilt as well as smaller patches throughout alongside my own dyed and printed cotton fabric.  

Icicle crystals were then machine quilted and further ice shards were also quilted before finishing with foil, beads and sequins.

 

     

 

Thread and Shutter Exhibition

Once again Thread and Shutter are holding an exhibition at our local theatre, The Hawth.   We would love to see as many people as possible at our Meet the Artists days so hopefully you can make it.

Thread and Shutter

We return to The Hawth for our third exhibition of new and exciting textiles and photos.

There will be hand and machine embroidery, quilts, felt, mixed media and collage together with inspirational photos.

  22nd November – 11th December 2015

at The Hawth, Hawth Avenue, Crawley,

West Sussex, RH10 6YZ

  Monday - Saturday 10:00 - 20:00

 

Meet the artists:

Wednesday 25^th November 10:00 - 13:00

Saturday 28th November 10:00 - 16:00

Wednesday 9^th December 10:00 – 13:00

 

Admission Free.   Free car parking.  Disabled access.  

Further details:  Lynn Collison  email - lynncollison@threadandshutter.co.uk

www.threadandshutter.co.uk

Dyeing for New Work

Happy few hours spent dyeing some fabric and threads for my next two projects.

You can tell from the colours that it is a watery theme!  One will be inspired by Chichester Harbour and the other will be inspired by photos taken in Iceland by my Thread and Shutter friend Brian Baker.

It's the first time I've set out to dye very pale colours and I'm now worried that they will be too pale.  At least I will be able to dye them again!

Can't wait to get started......

Review of 2014 and looking ahead to 2015

I have a mixture of feelings about how 2014 was creatively for me so I thought I'd start by reviewing the targets I made for the year.

1.   Add regularly to my Folksy Shop - I suppose the definition of "regularly" is what is appropriate here!   I have added several times through the year but instead of a slow "drip feed" which was my intention, I tended to add in bulk.   I know this does not have the best effect of attracting customers but it was really a result of my lifestyle.

 2.   Set up an Etsy Shop - this didn't happen!   I spent a lot of time considering it but in the end I thought it was yet another thing that would take me away from the creating!

 3.   Submit my work to a local gallery for possible selling - this has been probably the most successful aspect of 2014.   I had an exhibition of my Rust collection at Green Tree Gallery, resulting in a sale of the largest piece which gave my confidence a big boost.  I also started selling smaller items in two shops near Chichester - Rose Green Art and Craft Gallery and Birdcage Barn Craft Emporium.  Both are going steadily, although a little slowly.  

 4.   Work in my sketchbooks at least 2 or 3 times each week - again not really achieved but I do use my sketchbook when I am working on a new piece of work.  Again it takes time away from the actual creating!

 5.    Post regularly on my blog - well I've posted 26 times through the year so an average of 2 a month is an achievement.  Unfortunately there were a few months when I didn't post anything.

 As I said before, my feelings about the year are mixed.   I am really pleased about selling my work in galleries and I hope this will continue and expand in 2015.

However, I spent much of the year making items to sell, particularly for a craft fair that was not successful, and the net result is I have not created the textile art that is my first love.    This is all the more significant when I think about the exhibition Thread and Shutter have booked for November 2015 and the fact that I have very little completed so far.

Some serious thinking has been done so my targets for 2015 are:

1.  Make smaller items alongside larger items - when making a quilt, prepare smaller similar pieces that can become smaller mounted textile art, postcards or cards.

2.  Use the smaller items to sale on Folksy and outlets currently used.  Also review all the pieces of textile art that I have and add them to the items for sale.

3.  Attend at least one workshop with an artist who inspires me.

4.  Meet with Thread and Shutter at least once a fortnight, as well as outings to exhibitions, shows etc.

5.  Continue with regular blog posts, at least two each month.

I'm excited about the coming year and have already begun to put some of these targets in place.  Organising an exhibition is always a good way of focussing the mind.  My problem is not letting myself getting side-tracked by other crafty things I see and want to try out!

Let's get going!

Inspirational day out

On Tuesday I went with Jo and Jacquie, my Thread and Shutter friends, for a lovely day out at Hall Place in Bexley.   We all have birthdays around the same time so make a point each year of having a day out to celebrate.

Hall Place has a lovely bright Galley which this week had an exhibition of work by Textile Studio.  There was a wide variety of various textile work including embroidery, patchwork, felt, mixed media and knitting, so something for everyone.   I found many of the pieces very inspiring and it triggered off several ideas that I hope to incorporate in my Seen From Above series.  While we were there one of their members, Brenda Parsons, was stewarding and just chatting with her was an inspiration in itself.

Following a visit to the café for a celebratory lunch, we walked around the gardens and greenhouses which were again most inspiring.    We all agreed that we would return another day and another season.

    

    

    

South Downs National Park challenge - an update!

Following my last posting about "the boot" you may be surprised to hear that I did finish the boot and together with the quilt I came first in the Challenge.   There were only four entries but I felt rewarded for the time and effort that the two pieces took.

Thanks must go to my Thread and Shutter friends who were very positive about what I had done which spurred me on to get the boot finished and to add finishing touches to the quilt.

Around the front of the boot are the wild flowers that can be seen on the Downs but around the back is a reminder of the rubbish that can also be seen in some places along the many footpaths that cross the Downs.

On the quilt I added some stitches and buttons, again to represent the wild flowers often seen at the edges of fields.   I also used gesso to create a chalk path across part of the quilt, complete with foot prints.

The design for the quilted part of both pieces are based on the field patterns that can be seen all over the South Downs National Park and for these I used my own dyed fabric.

 

 

Front

Back



Play Day with Thread and Shutter

Once again, Thread and Shutter members have had a day playing with fibres etc - the thing they like most of all.

This time we decided to make some silk paper.  Last year I had purchased some silk fibres to make silk paper at a Context workshop but at the last minute couldn't go, so I was really keen to have a go myself.  Fortunately, everyone else wanted to too!

Several years ago I bought a silk paper kit from a show and had come home and made two pieces of paper straightaway.   This was then put to one side so when we decided to have our own workshop, I found them and shaped them over a bowl and cup to make two vessels.   I did try to machine embroider one of the pieces before I shaped it but it was too thin so I just made the bowl.   What I should have done was use some water-soluble fabric - maybe next time!

I'm pleased with both the results but feel they need some stitching and beads so I will do this at some time in the future.

 

 

 

 

 



 This time round, I made two pieces of silk paper.

This first one was made from layers of silk hankies with other silk fibres, silk rods and gold flower petals added for detail.   Unfortunately I wrapped it in cling film to bring home and when I unwrapped it, the cling film had stuck to the paper and wouldn't come off!  To try and save it, I put another silk hankie on the top which on the whole has worked okay.  I love the edges that the silk hankies give.

Not too sure what will happen with this so watch this space!

The second piece was created with silk tops in red and purple (definitely not my normal colour range!) with sequins added to finish.   I am going to make this in to some form of vessel, lining it with some dyed fabric and sewing it together with beads - again, watch this space.

 

 

Using the silk hankies again, I made another vessel.  I love the edges around the top of the vessel and again, I'm going to stitch in to this one and add some beads.

 



 

The final piece was made by weaving some stripped silk carrier rods with pieces of cocoon added.

 

Again this needs some stitching on it - add it to the list!

 

 

 

A very productive day all round leaving me with lots of stitching to do!





Good news on this year's Targets

Work on my targets for this year have continued with more items going on Folksy.

The even better news is, the application to Green Tree Gallery to sell my work has been a success!  I had a reply a couple of weeks ago and although they were not interested in the smaller items I sent them because they already had a range in the Gallery, they were interested in my quilts.   They had also looked at my work on Thread and Shutter and have asked me to put together a collection of work that will look good together as they liked the idea of the way I had worked on a theme.

I met with the owner, Victoria Lovell, to discuss what they wanted and what was expect of me and I am so keen to get the collection together.  It should be going up in April so I will confirm the dates as soon as I know.   In the meantime, I will be taking some quilts down in the next few weeks.

Anyone in the Sussex area, do make a trip to Borde Hill Garden, just outside Cuckfield, where Green Tree Gallery is situated in the Car Park.  They have some truly wonderful items for sale!

Challenge Update - and it's not good!

The South Downs National Park Challenge is due in on 8th March and I have to admit, I have not enjoyed this one.

Spurred on by my friend Jo (who's imagination needs a much tighter control!) I had the idea of making a walking boot, combining felt and patchwork.

As you've seen from previous posts, I made the felt by hand and dyed the fabric all ready.  At this point I even decided to make a quilt to go with the boot!   I needle felted some flowers around the to of the boot and shaped it on a wellie and thought everything was going fine.   I then patched together the green fabric I had dyed in a field-like design, getting my inspiration from aerial photos of the South Downs.

Then came the difficult bit - putting the two together!   I have now made several attempts which have only resulted in the felt having to be re-done as the thinner bits were not up to the manhandling it was having, plus a very disgruntled textile artist.

Having put the 'boot' to one side, I went on and made the small quilt to match and I'm very pleased with the result so it all else fails, that will be my entry.

In the meantime, Jo is coming to visit next week and guess what?  She will be given the task of putting the two elements together!



Toe of boot with needlefelted flowers and machine stitching

Section of quilt with hand stitching and machine quilting

 

 

More news, and hopefully photos later.

Thread and Shutter exhibition

The Thread and Shutter exhibition at The Hawth in Crawley comes to a close tomorrow after two very successful weeks.   We have had loads of visitors, many having signed our visitors book.   We all spent the day there last Saturday and had the chance to chat to many old friends and newcomers and the feedback we had was very positive.

It makes all the hard work very worthwhile.

Just a few general shots of the exhibition.

   

   

   

   

 

Finished work from Kim Thittichai workshop

As I mentioned last month, I attended a workshop with Kim Thittichai.   Some of the work I started at the workshop is now finished and are currently being exhibited at the Thread and Shutter exhibition at The Hawth in Crawley.

This first piece, Nightime, was created using painted bondaweb applied to coloured lutradur which was in turn cut with a soldering iron and reapplied to more painted lutradur.  Foil, sequins and gilding flakes were also applied at the first stage.

I added simple embroidery stitches using cotton threads.

 

 

 

Detail



The second piece, Skeletal Fragments, also started with painted bondaweb applied to lutradur together with sequins, gilding flakes and some skeletal leaves.   The lutradur was then "cut" using a heat gun.  I also cut strips of organza in the same way.  The strips were then layered and secured to felt using simple stitches.

Detail

Two Journal Quilts

I have pushed on with my Journal Quilts hoping that I will have them ready for the Thread and Shutter exhibition in November.

Continuing the "Inspired by Art" theme, the October quilt was inspired by the Henri Rousseau painting "Tiger in a Tropical Storm".   I used bonded applique and free machine embroidery to create the foliage for which I used a variety of dyed fabrics including velvet.  This was then machine quilted in diagonal lines to give the impression of the rain.

 

 

The November quilt was inspired by Vincent Van Gogh's "Starry Night".  I monoprinted the 'swirls' in blue ink on to yellow background. The lines were then picked out with machine couched dyed threads and machine quilted lines in gold and yellow.   Some star sequins were added to finish.