Happy dance :)

Yesterday my creative mojo returned - to my great relief! I was on such a roll at the end of January with so many ideas buzzing around my head I couldn't make samples quick enough and then.....whumph.... a dry spell. Nada, nothing, zip. Maybe I used it all up in one go:) or maybe reality intervened and demanded my attention back in the real world, but may I say - welcome back! my life has been a bit flat without you!!

So new to the ideas pool is a variation on my filigree vessel. I'm just tinkering around with different wire types and strengths to crochet around and writing copious notes and ideas as I go. I thought I'd introduce some colour into the mix as the last one was uniform white and I wanted to compare and contrast a bit. The white one didn't have a wire base either and I'm seeing a lot of 3D moulding, bending and manipulating in this one's future.

I have the perfect circle shapes, then the ovals, and once I find the best wire, some organic squidgy shapes randomly altering the circumference any way it pleases. They might all work well together, they might prefer to be just a family of squidgy shapes instead. I don't know, but that is the beauty of it - and I never get bored experimenting:)

Beginning to group them together here but need to make more before I can gauge how effective they will be. The hand dyed yarn is working well on the bigger shapes but finishes abruptly on the smaller ones as the dye repeat is too long. But that's another element to play with! I don't want it overly stripey either so maybe just a slightly shorter length of skein. Or dye two varying length skeins the same colourway and hope I remember which is which!

Righty-ho, just another 10-20 more circles to go and then I can play with the 3D manipulation. Happy, happy! x

Hidden Stories

Still thinking about colouring fabrics and building up backgrounds, I thought I would show you a book that covers just this subject - 'The Painted Quilt' by Laura and Linda Kemshall.

Although their main outcomes are quilts, there is a full range of ideas and techniques for the preparation of fabrics using printing, layers, drawing with stitch, painting with dyes, tie dyeing, overdyeing and printing combinations.... You get the picture!

The layers of techniques are very rich in colour, texture and visual contrast and the book explains the development of ideas from source, the techniques and processes used towards both conventional and unconventional interpretations of the quilt.

It highlights ways to use all elements of visual language in a balanced and considered way to enable a strong overall outcome making good use of texture and colour as well as detailed imagery.

I do like the layering of techniques and the way the use of photographic imagery doesn't dominate the compostition and manages to be seen but hidden at the same time. Some of Laura's work has a 3D quality using flaps - telling another aspect of a story that is partially hidden? It is an intriguing concept to play with.

If you feel you must own this book then you can find it here. If you are interested in Laura and Linda Kemshall's work you can visit their website here. They also run creative courses in all these techniques if you live near enough - and can afford it! It would be lovely to be able to indulge!!
Update - apparently the courses are all now online. You can view the details on their website.

Anyway, more ideas to add to the creative melting pot. Time to go away and think and then start to experiment!

Experimental Flowers

Being in the process of producing a report on a printing and dyeing workshop I attended last summer, I realised I hadn't shared any photos at all. I was limited to 4 photos for the report so I cheated a little and used the flickr toy link to make a mosaic. So 20 pics for the price of one! ( it also looks quite smart and peps up the presentation!) But since I'm not quite so limited here, I can give you some larger images to see.

Bleach paste printed through photographic stencil

It was a really interesting workshop that concentrated on photostencils for devore and discharge printing (bleaching out colour) - something I hadn't done a lot of. My main interest was to see if I could introduce this to my students without overwhelming them!

Seed heads - discharge printing (bleach)

The techniques were fun and the devore visually works best with the japanese rose pattern. The shine and two tone colour of the velvet is just lovely.

Each design had to be worked out as a repeat pattern for the design to follow across the fabric and the double dyeing of the fabrics was fun and very enjoyable - instant colour! I had forgotten just how much I love playing with colour and dyeing makes it so instantaneous. You can't see it well in the photos but some are dip dyed and overdyed to get just the right colours. Can you tell I had fun?

Since I was meant to be updating skills for my students to use as a resource, I kept a mini sketchbook of the design and techniques processes as I went. I must admit I was so busy trying to get the huge amount of printing done that I did neglect it a bit and had to add things later...

Working out repeat pattern for lace flower photostencil

As a teaching resource it was an excellent course and now looking back at it, it has sparked lots of new ideas for my own personal development in creative textiles. Hopefully I will have the time to experiment on mixing print and mixed media collage and see what happens.

I'll keep you posted!