Cooking cloth

In complete contrast to the previous post,

a little pot of gnarly bits,

a little tub of things from the garden

an old aluminium saucepan and some copper pipe, wrapped in cloth

Yes I'm having another try with eco printing/dyeing. There were so many lovely pieces at FOQ this year, and I wanted to experiment, to see what happens, which is always a fun way to learn.

The gnarly bits are Oak Gall -  a good source of tannin for dyeing or as a mordant; collected on one of my local "constitutionals". Two galls ground then simmered to extract the tannins. The leaves and flowers from my garden, collected on the day they were bundled, with the exception of a couple of eucalyptus leaves from Yorkshire. Fabric (ancient sheeting) soaked in the tannin mixture, bundled and then simmered rather than steaming. Now I will wait a few days to unwrap and see what happened.

very slow Homage

I was rather taken aback to see that I have been stitching this piece, albeit very intermittently, for more than years now. That seems to be taking slow stitch to a new level entirely! I have started, and sometimes finished, several other things in between, and have begun a new phase at Studio 11, having had a rather unproductive year last year for a variety of reasons. Christine and I discussed working to a theme, and seeing how I can express that theme in cloth and stitch. So, something I have had as an interest, and read around for many years - Mesopotamia. I will, hopefully, talk more about that later, but for now, just a few images of my little homage cloth, which still needs a few more stitches to feel complete, but has progressed since my last post.

raindrops - or are they tears?

those extra seeds drifting in the breeze

Nearly there

I hope life is being generous to you.

Alice Fox at Studio 11

We had the pleasure of Alice Fox teaching at Studio 11 last weekend at one of the studio's "Re-Treats". It was the hottest weekend of the year, but that didn't stop us from enjoying ourselves.

We were 8 students plus Alice, and Christine was there to greet us, and to provide us with a lovely lunch each day. The participants ranged widely in experience and practice from my still very novice, to artists who exhibit nationally and internationally. We were asked to talk about ourselves and what "our thing" was to start with. It was really interesting to hear different people's paths to textiles, though I had to confess that I was still trying to find my "thing". Alice talked to us about the way she looks on using found materials as deeply bound up with her desire to tread lightly on the earth and work with the places and things that life brings her.

We spent some time on each of the first three days wandering by the seaside picking up items that could be used for rust printing, eco printing or monoprinting, hence the title of the workshop "Printing the Coast". The first day was spent on Eastbourne beach, on day two it was off to Cuckmere Haven, and day three was foraging at Birling Gap - where I inadvertently discovered the nudist part of the beach. I felt very overdressed! The weather each day was wonderful, the sky pure blue and the sea gentle on the shoreline.

Each trip involved collecting; collecting objects, impressions, marks, feelings, sensations. Alice encouraged us to just sit and be with the place we were exploring, and it was such a delight to do this; to walk and absorb the locality, looking closely, asking ourselves how this place feels, and collecting things to work with later. We took little folded books, which Alice showed us how to make, and used these to record thoughts and impressions; using local materials to colour the paper, making quick sketches, noting down marks on the landscape.

These, along with the things we collected, and other papers and fabrics we had brought, were what we worked with back in the studio. A period of each day was spent with a different process, and with preparing materials for the following day's foraging.

On the first day we explored rust dyeing. Alice noted that although lots of instructions online suggest using vinegar for this, you can also use tea of all sorts - the tannic acid being a more sympathetic catalyst on the collected metals. Vinegar tends to just give you tones of orange, whereas tea will bring all sorts of other greys and deep tones to the mix.

An important element is serendipity - different fabrics will take the marks differently - here a slik noil above, and a dupion silk below show quite a variation in the type and colour in the impression from rusty nails and "stuff"

On the second day we were taught eco printing, using the plant materials we had collected, bundled with fabrics, pressed between the leaves of our books, and placed in the steamer to do its magic. I experimented a bit more this at home. The colours here slightly more subtle than in real life, on a fine weave silk cotton mix whihc really shows the detail from maple and hawthorn

and silk noil again with ash leaves from the Cuckmere walk over rust prints from the beach

The third day was spent monoprinting with the objects we had collected. Mine were mostly made using plant materials and feathers. Other used the printing press in the studio to create collagraphs.

On day four we brought all these things together, using our fabrics, booklets and printed materials to create slightly bigger books. In my case one of them turned into a bit of a monster, albeit a small monster, since each signature is only 7.5x10 cm, but there are twelve of them bound together.

You can see pictures of all our work here, though you may have to scroll down a bit if it's been a while since the course.

As with all previous courses I've been on, along with the teaching, one of the great pleasures is meeting others, seeing what inspires them and enjoying the company of like minded souls. One of the things we commented on during one lunch break was the prevalence of women on this sort of course. Alice said she'd only had a couple of male participants on her previous courses. Something to ponder I think - are we women more willing to integrate creativity into our "ordinary" lives, rather than needing the kudos of being part of a bigger commercial artistic (or sporting) movement? Do we enjoy the participatory and non competitive nature of this sort of artistic expression, or are we simply a self-selected group whose minds and lives move with and are moved by this sort of making? I think a long conversation could ensue - perhaps I'll suggest it to Christine for one of our studio discussions.

So, a wonderful four days, some great fun, many new ideas to absorb and work with, all mediated by Alice's generous teaching and willingness to share. If you want to know more, I recommend her book Natural Processes in Textile Art. It is one of those books I will read and re-read to glean ideas and inspiration.

Thank you Alice and Christine for such a lovely Re-Treat.

Homage update

No, I haven't stopped stitching on this, but other things have been taking precedence, like learning all about colour and dyes!

Here is where I am so far. The three maple leaves all stitched around now, some spirals

and some little seeds floating down.

I will add more of these as I like the floatiness of them. As ever, forgive me for the blurriness of iPad images - I can't work out how to improve, though I'm sure there must be something in the settings I can change!

I'm happy with how things are going but, as with all projects like this, the further along I get the more worried I am that I'm going to mess it up with the next thing I do. While I was away learning about colour I did a little trial with two types of thread, to see if I could stitch some maple seeds to tie in with the leaves.

Problem is, I love them both! Christine's very wise suggestion was that I scan the image in, cut out several and try them each to see how they look on the cloth. What a wise soul.

Quietly continuing

There's still a lot to be done on this, but I'm slowly finding my way along, taking each section at a time and seeing where it leads me next.

As I haven't posted about this for a while, here are a couple of close ups

and the whole piece in natural light

I love the delicate turquoise and the way it interacts with the eco colour. I'm aware that those leaf prints may well fade with time, so am accenting them with stitch. I think there may be some floating seeds scattered about at some stage, it has a feeling of Autumn about it. Hardly surprising considering when I started.

I haven't decided on a border yet, I'm waiting to see where I get to with the stitching first, feeling for what the cloth is telling me as I stitch it. Truly a slow stitch project.

Framing - preparation

so I've stitched these little bits of cloth together to make a bigger bit of cloth. Now to frame it. I don't have a big enough piece of the remaining fabric to make one long border, so will piece in strips to make a three inch frame. A suggestion of some dark blue to add into that mix prompted an impromptu ice cream tub shibori session. I've kept some of this fabric as it is, but have taken a couple of bits to darken down. An opportunity to add another layer - remember this started as white fabric with some onion skin eco printing done in 2011

First stich the cloth, trying to regularise the pattern underneath, whilst keeping some of the subtleties of what's gone before, reserving little bits of light or colour with stitch to draw up tight and save from the dye.


Tie up good and tight and fluffle (yes, that's a technical term) out the wrinkles to make them lie evenly and flow away from the pulled up stitching.

Then in to the ice cream tub with a good dose of salt, more turquoise, a splash of black and a grain or two of scarlet.












Half an hour and on with the soda.


Now we just have to wait for morning.

A little homage cloth

This is a little something I'm working on at the moment. Some Conny and Harry's sheeting, eco printed with onion skin and maple leaf some considerable time ago, left to be thought about.

Last weekend I took them out, extracted the leaf prints and dyed the rest a gentle turquoise, some shibori'ed, some just dipped.


I dyed them in little batches, each of thirty minutes, then took out of the dye and plunged in a soda rich solution in another bucket.

Now cut into pieces of regular size and proportion, I've been hand stiching them together using the Jude method of (in my case) finger pressed paperless piecing. She has made a significant proportion of her early online classes available free. It was these that got me started, though I have changed her basic nine patch construction for something a bit more free form.

Influences paid homage to with this?

Jude              India                 Susan                   Judy                    Lotta

all women whose blogs I follow regularly and whose ideas I ponder on and absorb.

I am struck, as one can only be from personal experience, by the portability and ease with which this human powered assemblage of pieces can bring small scraps of fabric together into a larger whole. You can finger press seam allowances, stitch anywhere, become absorbed in the rhythm of the stitching, recognise a deep link with stitchers everywhere and at all times, that swish of thread through fabric, the shape and pattern found in stitching, the way the whole thing, because it's taking place slowly, allows for modification along the way.

Not quite complete yet, and pre proper pressing here. I have changed layout, orientation, combination of these bits of fabric as they have joined with one another and, because I'm working with regular blocks of 1,2,3 and 6 inches, I can chose to combine elements in various ways, which all build to a maximum 6 inch block. These are now being assembled into a larger whole, which will then get a border to frame. A twelve patch.

Then, of course, more stitch

butterflies

A few for you

happy sunshine evening

A busy weekend!

Gosh, what a lot we seem to have done.

Yesterday we went to this amazing place to choose a wood burner for the sitting room. I'm hoping to be warm this winter!

Mark Ripley Forge

It was an eclectic space, full of all sorts of architectural reclamation, most of it to do with iron or fires, or fire irons! We have ordered a little chunky stove, to fit our small narrow fireplace. We have to have a survey and stuff done to the chimney, all of which should be delightfully disruptive, along with the hall floor being sanded and vinyl being laid in the conservatory!

Then we went to our favourite Merriments for garden tour, lunch and a bit of plant buying to go with those I brought back from Hampton Court. The garden was, as ever, delightful - a showcase for the plants they sell, but also a lovely space to wander through, with a dell full of wild birds at the bottom.

curious development of flower head

birch grove

Common Blue Butterfly on clover

Goldfinches here and gone!

Today, in a fit of delight in the sunshine, I cleaned all the downstairs windows at the back of the house! Then, inspired by India Flint's book and blog, I had another go at some simple eco dyeing.

First I assembled some cotton, yet more sheets from the past, but good for tearing into bits and doing "stuff" to. Soaked in washing soda to prepare them for dyeing.

then the copper pan, which has spent at least some of its life in red soiled Africa, and has the most beautiful verdigris on the bottom.

and the plant material - onion skins, walnut leaf and bark, and bits and bobs from the garden, soaked first in hot water.

onion skins and hypericum

laid out on the fabric, which was then folded around the leaves

and finally tied round hard objects - here a rock from the nearby beach, before being

bundled into the pan on the stove to simmer for a while, then left to steep for a while more

Then unwrapped - or at least two were, after around four hours in the pan simmering and steeping.

Results! I am amazed - though the colours here are on wet fabric. You can really see the way the copper has brought green into the mix - it's very different from the hankies I dyed a while back. The one on the left above had hypericum leaves wrapped in as well, the other had some elder leaves, which had no effect, but the hypericum has given a very clear yellow.

Two are still steeping, I will leave them overnight and see what happens after work tomorrow, we are due some sunny days so time for drying.

Meanwhile my dear one was digging and delving in the back garden creating a new bed,

A well earned rest

or rather extending the one he created last weekend.

As with the moon bed, we are clearing grass to bring flowers into the space.

These are all in shades of rusty reds and orange, though there is a steely blue eryngium hidden away, which we brought as a seedling from the old garden. I am hoping that all these will delight the bees and hoverflies - there's also achillea, echinacea and bergamot, along with some rather lovely grasses to sway in the evening breeze and catch the light as it slants across the lawn. 

Raisin, unimpressed by all this activity, saunters up from the bottom dell, hoping he's in time for a few biscuits.