Fragments...

is an ongoing theme in my work; if you pop the word into the search box top left of the page, you'll get a selection of posts on that theme.  So it's perhaps not surprising that I've come back to it yet again, while thinking about another book.  It might be a reflection of my scattered mind...  Whatever the reason, I found myself collecting scraps of rust dyed silk.  I find them fascinating; in fact, I find rust dyed anything. fascinating, but silk in particular. The combination of lustre and texture is truly seductive. 

I don't have much in the way of scrap, as a couple of my friends will testify...they kindly donated some when I bemoaned the fact last year.  I got rid of lots and lots of it during The Great Purge.  I kept most of the rust dyes, though.  The fabric itself is fascinating (I think we've established that, right?), but it's in the scrap that we get to have the best view, I think, because there's not so much detail to look at.  Here's one of the pieces that started me off raking around in my silk collection.

It's very small indeed.  I'm drawn to the texture but mostly, to the curves.  On a larger scale, this might inspire a piece of work (oh lord, another idea...aaargh...).  I started raking through the rust box because I don't have enough scrap to fill a book, and I don't want to mix in other types of fabric.  I found a piece to fussy cut into smaller segments...which feels like cheating, certainly, but needs must etc.  I chose it, not because it's particularly interesting, but because there are small random spots of dye, which I don't want to feature in anything I make... not sure how that happened, but it would have been a long time ago, so not worth worrying about.

There's certainly enough interesting bits to supply the book, so that's done... but of course, when faced with a box full of fabric, it would be rude not to continue... and look what I found, without really trying...

This wants to be hand stitched, as I have done with a number of rust dyed pieces (check it out here).  The first one I did, I tried machine stitch, but really didn't like it, not enough texture, and have stuck to hand stitch ever since.  There's a short series entitled 'Flotsam and Jetsam', which I posted about here.  I don't think this wants to be part of that, though... it makes me think, not of the beach, but of autumn.  One to contemplate....in any case, it'll need to wait until I can stand long enough to sort out some batting.

This next one, though, I can do something with Right Now.  It wants to be a scarf...

...it's just long enough.  It won't tie, but a small brooch or pin will hold it beautifully.  All I need to do is hand roll the edges, which is about all I've got the energy for at the moment, albeit in small stages, one thread at a time. 

And at that point, I stopped looking.... no point in planning more than I can reasonably do, given my fractured mind tends to throw up more ideas than I can cope with, on a daily basis.  I'd like to do some more rust dyeing, but at present I have more than enough to work with, and, of course, all of my rusty bits were ditched before the move, so I'll have to find some more before I can continue...sigh...  it may be the only type of dyeing I have the energy for.

Minor Adjustments...

...can make a big difference.  I love working with transparency, but sometimes it just feels a wee bit wishy washy...   I'm still working through those scraps, and came across this lino cut on bandage muslin, which had been rust dyed before I printed it.  I've frayed the edges a little, to add a bit of texture and visual interest, though it's not obvious in the image.

It fits a small piece of evolon like a dream...even if I have positioned it the wrong way round, sigh.  But you get the drift.  There's a piece of yarn running across the top and bottom of the piece, which I'll couch on with some hand dyed thread I found yesterday, while tidying up (handy, huh?).  But... I want to beef up the rust colour just a bit... so...I'm going to double up the muslin... clearly didn't print on all of it, fortunately. 

Not sure that it's showing up well in the image, but again, you probably get my drift.  It's a good way of working with lutradur and other patterned fabrics; the combinations can be really interesting.  Meanwhile, I need to think about stitching this...but that will have to wait until the arrival of the brown hand dyed perle I've ordered on line.  I'm just not set up for dyeing at present, unsurprisingly, though work on the studio is progressing; might show you that tomorrow.  The shelves are full, all except the one set that needs to be repositioned.  I've moved the cutting table to its proper place...just need to remove the empty boxes, shift and fill the shelves and move the work table.  Then I can get the machines out and we'll be pretty much good to go...hurrah!

Getting Rusty...

...or maybe that should be, rustier... I found quite a lot of the rust dyed silk, and I'm working my way through it.  I stitched this a couple of nights ago, a very simple little piece.  The shape of the rust motif just begged to be turned into a flower, a daisy of sorts, perhaps... and the 'stem' is made from semi felted hand dyed yarn.  After the frenzy of stitch that was the last piece I showed you, I think this is a great reminder that often, less is more.

Some of the rust dyed silk isn't terribly interesting, though, so I have taken a couple of smaller pieces and bundled them up with onion skins, oak leaves and birch bark (I almost typed birk barch..err.. birk works, barch, though, doesn't, except as slang (look it up...)).  Here's one of them...

Because it's such a small piece, I confess that I just popped in what was lying around from a previous bundling session.  I like working in that kind of random way, not knowing what will appear.  It's how I work in general.  It's fun.

Rewriting History...

or, in this case, restitching a piece.   I told you here that I intended to take some of the stitching in one of my rusted pieces out, so that I could do it again; well, once I'd started, I couldn't stop.  All of it, gone.  This particular piece was the third that I'd made of rust dyed silk, in what I thought was a series called 'Flotsam'.  The first I've already shown you, but I'm going to show it here, too, for the sake of comparison.

The second, framed in a similar way, is this one;

I used very little stitch, just enough to keep it interesting, in the same thread that I used in the third piece.  I clearly intended to make the second and third pieces very similar in nature, as the latter also had very little stitch in it.  But while the second piece has flow to it, encouraged by the stitch, the third piece didn't,  The stitch seemed to create little stagnant pools of stillness, which weren't good to look at.  I was happy enough about it at the time...but with hindsight, it just Didn't Work.

This was what it looked like before...

And... here is the final version (believe me, I'm not taking this lot out again!).

Much more stitch this time.  The piece feels very lively, as a result.  I decided that I preferred it the other way round, and as the piece of mother of pearl came off during the process, I turned it over to give a bit more contrast between it and the background.  The thread is a lovely variegated hand dyed brown with hints of gold and yellow.

I work often in series.  What I hadn't realised was that that can be a curse, as well as a blessing  In this case, I was so busy linking this piece with what had gone before it, that I failed to look at the piece itself, and see what it needed.  I've done that now, and I'm pleased with it.  And oddly enough, it links very nicely with the original starting place of the series...so there is a natural, rather than a forced, connection.  All in all, a useful piece of learning.

This Clearout...

means that I'm finding all sorts of things that I'd put aside.  At first glance, this rust dyed piece looked complete; closer inspection, however, told me that I Really Don't Like the stitching.  I'm mostly allergic to frog stitch, but I think, given that the rusted areas are interesting, I'll take out at least some of the stitching, and replace it with... I know not what, yet, but I'll think of something.  The larger stitches definitely need to come out;  I can't make up my mind about the smaller ones.  They are the wrong colour, I think... but better, perhaps, or at least, simpler to stitch over them in a more appropriate colour.  Of course, if that doesn't work, it'll be Even More Stitches to take out...but I'm game to try, because I think it will be okay.

Here's a close up of that bottom element, which I like a lot.

Remember yesterday's pieces?  Well, I decided to try the blue one in a mount, and have decided not to touch it.  It's called 'Rock Fall', and I'm fairly pleased.

What To Do...

with my silk... that is the question...    Sorry, Hamlet.

These are the two larger pieces of rust dyed silk; there are other odd bits, but these are fairly substantial.  The top one was made using a very rusty gate; the other, I suspect, using a selection of odds and sods.  I'm having an argument with myself (nothing new there, huh?)...though actually, I think I've found a compromise for the first piece, at least.  The top piece, I want to cut in half, and work as a diptych; here's what one half will look like.  

The second, though, isn't so cohesive, and therefore, not as easy to decide.  Looking at the image, rather than the real thing (a good way of distancing oneself from the actual work), I find myself wondering if I should leave it as a wholecloth, and hand stitch patterning into it, working as if it was a painting, a mark here, a mark there, creating pattern and cohesion.  Or I may cut it in half (note to self, not quarters, you have enough small pieces lying around!!), and use other natural dyestuffs to add colour and pattern on one half, and simply stitch the other.  Decisions, decisions.  Any thoughts?

This is part of the half that I'd stitch; plenty visual interest here.  

There is, of course, another option, and that is to leave both of them alone, and simply stretch them.  If the silk wasn't so fine, I might have done, but I think stitch is the better option; layering and stitching will support the silk.. so, watch this space.  All comments and suggestions welcome, as always..

New Directions.

Firstly of course, Happy (if belated) New Year!  Our festive season introduced us to a new person, our grand daughter, Cara, who was born shortly before Christmas...here she is on her quilt...well, okay, half her quilt...

The quilt features some of my hand dyes, as well as some hand painted and printed fabric, along with a mixture of commercial fabrics.  I wanted to make something that represents my creative life, as well as something pretty..I think I achieved what I wanted to  The quilting is different in every block, featuring hearts and flowers, as well as a doll like shape, plus some stylised Macintosh roses, for a Scottish baby.  Though Charles Rennie was credited with these, it was, in fact, his wife, Margaret MacDonald, also an artist, who designed such  motifs.  She was a skilled artist, working in textiles and other media.  I hope she'd approve of my use of her motif.  More information about her is to be found here.

But I digress.  As usual.

Last year was difficult, for a variety of reasons, and it looks like this year will be little different.  I've been struggling with the demon depression, and my lovely husband has been struggling with unemployment, also a demon, with its own nasty consequences.  So this year is the year where I don't spend any money, but try to be as creative as possible with what I have, and with what surrounds me.  What I have, is quite substantial; like all quilters, I've got a substantial stash of cloth and threads.  And plenty of ideas about what to do with them!

I've been inspired, recently, by the work of a new Facebook friend, Fabienne Dorsman-Rey; check out some work and an artist's statement by her here .  She kindly suggested the book 'Eco Colour' by India Flint as a starting point, and I was given it for Christmas..  So, any dyeing I do this year, is likely to be of the natural variety.  But I had already started down that path a couple of years ago; if you are familiar with the book 'Exquisite Evolon', you will know that I give instructions for rust dyeing that most flexible of fabrics.  Mainly, though, I have rust dyed silk and cotton, and started a series of work called 'Flotsam', featuring hand stitched rust dyed silk with found objects.  This is the first of the series;

...and here is a detail;

I'm particularly fond of the piece of wood at the bottom of this image; its textures seem to echo the textures created by the hand stitching.  I started out machine stitching this piece, but soon realised that it just didn't look right to me.  Machine stitching gives a hard, regular line, regardless of how you vary the stitch length within the line.  That seemed lacking in the subtlety that the cloth shows, so I removed it, and started again by hand.  I think the piece has benefited from it, regardless of how long it takes.   It is, of course, a good thing to pick up and put down, and to take with me on journeys.  I find myself using hand stitch more and more, either in conjunction with machine stitch, or on its own.  It feels very personal.

So, I have looked out two large pieces of rust dyed silk... more in my next post.

Preparing For Festival Of Quilts...

...continues apace, making up kits for the workshops and finishing off samples and new pieces of work to hang on the stand, to give you an idea of what I'm up to, and about to write about next, to boot.  One of the workshops I'm teaching this time is called 'Take Two Shapes (...and a Line)', and it's about making your own appliqué designs.  I don't suppose I'm particularly associated with appliqué, but I frequently use fusible appliqué in my work, though it is never the focus.  Over the years, I've watched people make ever more complex applique designs; for myself, though, I prefer to keep things simple.  Dear Jane has nothing to fear from me... I'm more likely to make and use abstract and naive designs.  I admire realism, but I'm more interested in suggesting a flower, than describing its every detail in cloth.

I've always thought that there were two ways of working.  In one, you start of with a picture in your mind of what you want to achieve, and then you render it.  This sort of artist keeps copious sketchbooks, plans a lot and often frets at the end if what they make is not exactly what they envisaged.  And then there's people like me.  I like starting at the other end, with no definite plan.  I start with a simple shape, and I play with it, get to know it.  Cut it up.  Combine it.  See what it naturally suggests.  And then, I develop a design or series of designs, based on those ideas.  It's a bit like an exploration.  And yes, I too keep copious sketchbooks (and then totally fail to refer to them...sigh).

Often, I combine two shapes, in a variety of ways, and then think about stitch, which creates the line.
The quilt above is a case in point.  I'm very fond of penny rugs, which were made from felted wool scraps, and, whilst called rugs, were really bed or table covers.  I wanted to make something that referred to that tradition, without necessarily following it slavishly.  So... I took two shapes, a circle and a square.  The cloth is Evolon, which I've rust dyed and then acid dyed.

 The squares are beads; the large ones are made of glass.  It's a (very small) wholecloth, about 12" square; the line, in this case, was first hand quilting, and then, because that wasn't strong enough, I couched sari yarn along the lines.  So now, I have two lots of squares; the beads, and the suggestion of squares made by the lines.  I like the idea of using embellishments like beads and buttons as an integral part of the applique design, rather than added on at the end, because it seems like a good idea...

If this is sounding like a cross between a tutorial and an advert, it is.  I'm teaching this particular three hour workshop on Thursday and Saturday mornings, and there are still places available...so if you would like to come and explore with me, I'd be delighted to see you!  More about all the workshops can be found here.

Colouring Up...

not from an overdose of sun, thankfully, though it has been hot here today... Dyeing is always somewhere on the agenda, and as I taught a dye class last week, and had some dye left over, I thought I'd use it up. And the time, too, yesterday, as my friend, fellow dyer Shirley Goodwin from New Zealand, wasn't feeling very well, so spent the day on the sofa in the conservatory, whilst I lurked in and around the shed. I'm particularly pleased with the results I had on some fine cotton, which the people I bought it from described as 'bandage muslin'. It has transparency, but it has a crispness to it that makes it very easy to handle. I have a thing about transparency, of course, and this just hits the spot. Not sure how I'm going to use it, or even if... I may well just pop it onto Etsy. As I keep telling people who say they can't cut into my cloth, 'there's plenty more where that came from'. The images show the finished cloth, and a snap of the green/blue one just after the dye went into the bucket.

The weather is ideal for dyeing, of course, and I've got a rust box dyeing happily in the sun, filled with Evolon. I'll be taking some of that with me to Festival of Quilts, along with my more conventional hand dyes, so that you can watch me demonstrate for ColourCraft and stroke the cloth at the same time!

Out To Play...

with Big Bertha today, as well as working on a number of small pieces for Open Studios in May. If anyone's in the Dereham area today, you're welcome to drop into the gallery and see me at work. I'm planning a lot of free motion work today, as well as printing off some images that I worked on yesterday. Meanwhile, though, have a look at this piece, rust dyed silk, one of the pieces I finished on Wednesday. I rarely hand stitch, or rather, I used to rarely hand stitch, but somehow this kind of cloth needs it. That led to a bit of hand stitching on Evolon, which is so textured that it somehow also called for it... and here I am, now doing both and enjoying it, to my intense surprise.

There are several rust dyed pieces in the Evolon book, and full instructions on how to rust dye. I know that rust dyeing gets a bad press in terms of durability, but so far, I've had no problems with any of my cloth, some of which is now about eight or nine years old. These pieces feel organic, somehow, and to me, if they change over time, it's simply a reflection of that organic nature.

What Do You Do...

when the BBC is showing a feature length episode of Casualty? Well, I don't know what you do, but I sit and stitch by hand. This piece has been hanging around for a while, only a third done. I used to take it to the Gallery to do on open days, but that stopped when I got the Paid Job. Last night seemed like a good moment to resume work on it, and despite a little jockeying for postion amongst the cats, and Merlin deciding that the thread was To Be Played With, I got quite a lot done. I'll be doing Open Studio in May this year, and I'd like to have some new pieces to show, other than the work I'm doing with BB. Besides, hand stitching is possible in lunch hours and the like, when I do go back to work.

The piece is provisionally entitled Strata, reflecting the way that the stitches increase in size in some places, as well as the markings of the rust, which seem stratified, somehow. The cloth is rust dyed silk habotai, stitched with cotton hand dyed threads by Myfanwy Hart. I very rarely dye my own threads, too fiddly for my liking, but I like Myfanwy's. I've got some rust dyed Evolon still to play with; there's instructions for that in the upcoming book, two different methods. I love the effect that rust dyeing gives; must do more of it. In the meantime, though, I'm happy to work on the first of BB's pieces; pictures of that tomorrow.

It's lovely to be back on the blog. Thank you to everyone who has been patiently waiting for me to come back...and a particular thank you to everyone who comments. I read every one, and appreciate them greatly.

Silk And Rust...

are sometimes a marriage made in heaven... I hope you agree. I've been spending time at the gallery recently, sitting in their (very comfortable) sofa, and stitching. It was Judy's birthday yesterday, so the stitching was interspersed with birthday cake, very nice, too. And one customer bought one of my mixed media pieces, so things were going swimmingly as far as I was concerned, anyway.

I thought you might like a look at this particular work in process. It's made from a piece of habotai silk, which has been rust dyed. I'm hand stitching with yarn hand dyed by Myfanwy Hart, which is going very nicely with the overall feel and colours in the piece. I'm varying the length and density of the stitches, and it's giving a wonderful textured feel. I'm pleased...and hope to have it ready in time for Open Studios, which starts on Saturday. The time has just flown past, though, so it's more likely you'll find me still stitching on it next weekend. Please do drop in if you can; whilst I'm only open at weekends, I'm more than happy to make arrangements to see you outwith those days.

Who'd Be An Editor?

Not me, for sure. Dijanne and I have decided to create a printed edition of the Lovely Lutradur book. We're self publishing again, of course, and so have to get the text ready for the printer. This involves a small matter of resizing the entire text, and the images, too, so that they print as well as possible. As you can imagine, this is slowwww work, but I'm sure it will be worth it in the end. Remind me I said that when I'm working my way through this for the rest of the week, and the weekend...not to mention redesigning the cover.

I checked the rusting Evolon this morning, and it's working beautifully, much faster than I anticipated. I think I'll leave it another day, or so, and then rinse it, and see what I've got. Not sure what I'll use it for, but I dare say I'll think of something...

And in the midst of all this, I'm still working on the creativity book, which I had intended to call 'Extending The Zone'...but when I got to the nearly finished point, I realised I wasn't really talking about the Zone much at all, but rather how to organise your work and yourself so that you can spend as much time as possible making art, instead of thinking about it. So I'm wondering about a new title... doubtless I'll think of something. Maybe tomorrow, I'll get out in the shed to work with some waxed and dyed evolon... hmm... though there is T'ai Chi class on Fridays, and a doctor's appointment, to boot. Maybe it needs saving until Saturday...

ps if you'd like to join the mailing list for the printed edition of Lovely Lutradur, please drop me an email and I'll add your name. It should be out in a couple of months' time, but I'll let you know before then, of course! Emails to lutradur@tiscali.co.uk please. Or if you can't wait, and want to have the CD version, check it out here