Fibre Forum Frenzy

That is what it was like the last afternoon of the fibre forum as each class member attempted to finish their bag ready for display on the public day Saturday. It is a funny thing that a hand embroidery frenzy is actually very, very quiet. All the chit chat and storytelling ceased! I had completed my bag (which was much smaller) the previous day and was relaxedly stitching a ‘fritillery’ tassel (another of Catherine Howell’s beautiful designs) with the help of Claudia who had come along for the last day.

My finished fritillary:

So here is a photo journal of the week’s stitching and some photos of the very lovely ladies with whom I had the pleasure of spending the week: Calm Catherine, Terrific Tina, Super Sue, Krafty Kate and Marvellous Marlene

Catherine and Marlene:

Kate sewing her bag together:

Sue constructing her bag:

Tina also happily constructing:

Claudia offering the resident nun, who popped up in a different place continuously, some smarties:

The other cane couple who were often up to no good:

Here are some photos of my bag as it progressed during the week:

Felt flowers added:

Beaded and frilled flowers added:

Berries and dangles added and bag completed:

Here is our lovely tutor Catherine with the finished bag display:

A close up of some of the bags:

And a picture of all the happy gang:

Thankyou all, it was wonderful to share this week with you and get to know you all.

Perhaps we could reunite at another Catherine Howell workshop!!

Cheers.

 

Giveaway

Check out the giveaway on this blog, leave a comment before 18th September

 

Cheers

Time Goes By (not slowly)

I don’t know how anyone can sing a song about time going by ..so ….slowly, certainly not me, it seems to fly and another week is over. We are already  at the end of the first week of the mid year holidays and I don’t seem to have made much of a dent in the list of things to do.

Last weekend, however,  I zipped up to Melbourne on the train and managed to do everything intended. First stop was the Melbourne Museum for the teacher preview of the Pompeii exhibition. It was fascinating and the artwork from that period is truly inspiring. We have a shed at school that could do with a garden frescoe or two!!

Then it was onto the free city circle tram and a short walk to Craft Victoria. They had a couple of interesting exhibitions: ’small things’, from which I bought this lovely beaded ipod case as a gift for a friend’s birthday and a really interesting knitted fibre exhibition.

 

Then it was on to a new fabric shop in Flinders Lane, just a little down from Craft Victoria, Tessuti. This is situated in the heart of the design district in a fabulous huge room up from street level. All the absolutely gorgeous fabrics are arranged by colour. If you are sewing something special or looking for fabric in a special colour this is the place to go. I resisted temptation very well and only bought some organza for the sea angels and some reduced fabric that was the perfect colour for some cushions. But I will be back.

Around the corner and down a block and I was at Federation Square. Cutting through to St Kilda Rd next stop was the Arts Centre where they had a display of the gorgeous costumes of Ballet Russes:

Final stop, just a hop, skip and jump to the National Gallery Victoria,where I had a look at all the free exhibitions, and there are lots of them: Persuasion fashions in the age of Jane Austen was an interesting look at the fashions of the late 18th century, unfortunately Mr Darcy wasn’t in his suit at the time!! ‘Light Years’ was another interesting exhibition of photos taken during space exploration in the 60’s & 70’s, which sparked off a few ideas for the Galaxy challenge/exhibition being held later this year by the Victorian Embroiderer’s Guild. I will have to go back another day for the special Salvador Dali exhibition and I’d also like to see the exhibition ‘Shared Sky’ at Federation Square, works by indigenous and non-indigenous artists based on the Southern night sky. Both these exhibitions include children’s activities so I may take Claudia up next week, she loves a trip to Melbourne on the train.

Stand by tomorrow night for installment two of holidays week 1, which includes some textile art fun. I’m off to bed

Cheers

ATC/Postcard swap complete

Just a quick post of the swaps we recently sent, now they have been received in Canberra and North Devon.

For Ebony from Claudia (Doreen emailed this scan for me, thanks Doreen)

Ebony made this gorgeous ATC for Claudia:

And for Val;

Val sent the most beautiful postcard and ATC for me and an ATC for Claudia shown here.

The theme for the swap was spring, and I had a piece of fabric on which I had originally painted four roses (for a spring swap last year with Susan!)

This is the one I worked on for Val as it fitted the postcard size best. It has some pink fibres and some leaf shapes from the scrap bits of painted fabric covered with chiffon scarf and FME’d. It is finished with hand stitching and beading.

I still have the other two roses and am trying to decide whether to cut into ATC size for the Creative fibre arts group swap, or keep them whole and finish as quilties. These two have fragments of silk paper added, then FME over a chiffon scarf (I have a great collection of these scarves from the Op shop).

Progress on the casalguido:

 

I think the casalguido stitch is ideal for the tree, great texture. The thread for the stem stitch over the top is cotton a broder, between a pearl 8 and 12 in thickness. Hopefully I’ll finish this off today and add some needlewoven leaves. 

My sampler is a bit haphazard, unlike Sharon’s fantastic examples!!

I’m hoping to try out some of the needlewoven stitches from Effie’s book (which I have borrowed from the library, but like so much I’ve ordered it from Boomerang Books) in the space next to the tree.

Cheers

Off to stitch!

Australian Artist’s Directory

This is a copy of the e-mail I received from Regional Arts Australia for those who are interested. It looks promising for lifting the profile of artists.

 

You have received this email because you have subscribed to the Regional Arts Australia mailing list.
To unsubscribe, visit www.regionalarts.com.au  – in the mailing list box type your email and select “leave” from the dropdown list and click “Go”

 

 

Released:  Friday 3 October, 2008.

 

ABC TV PUTS REGIONAL ARTISTS 
ON THE DIGITAL MAP

 

 

artpost, an interactive website and short video series for TV broadcast, which showcases artists working in regional and remote parts of the country, was launched last night.

 

Peter Garrett, the Federal Minister for the Environment, Heritage and the Arts, launched artpost at the Art at the Heart Conference, in Alice Springs.  

 

The centrepiece of www.abc.net.au/artpost, is a digital interactive arts map of Australia where you can watch artists at work in their studio – from Toowoomba to Lightning Ridge, from Broome to Strahan.

 

The site provides the tools for students, teachers, art lovers and artists to create short videos about who they are and their work, for inclusion on the digital map.  In five easy steps, a video can be created and uploaded directly to what will become a living art gallery of all corners of Australia. These videos will also be broadcast on ABC1 and ABC2.

ABC is seeding the map by making twenty five videos to kick off the initiative and to encourage others to follow- the intention is that twenty five videos will become fifty, fifty will become five hundred and so on until the digital map is coloured in with pockets of creative communities.

 

Kim Dalton, Director of ABC TV said “artpost, through its online platform and its digital broadcast, can provide artists with significant national exposure, providing opportunities to reach new audiences and to expand and develop into new markets.”

 

artpost is a partnership between ABC and Regional Arts Australia, the national body which supports, promotes and advocates for the arts across regional Australia.

 

Regional Arts Australia’s president, Suzie Haslehurst, said “artpost is a groundbreaking partnership. This is an unprecedented opportunity for the rich arts landscape in regional Australia to be broadcast to the world. Artists’ stories and their work will now be there for everyone to see, either on the web or on ABC TV,” Ms Haslehurst said.

 

artpost has the support of the Australia Council for the Arts.

For further information contact: Lesna Thomas, Head of ABC TV Publicity P: 02 8333 3845 / M: 0407 287 320 or 
E: thomas.lesna@abc.net.au

Sorry, the media release wouldn’t copy because I don’t have some plug-in. The above should give you enough info if you’re interested.

Cheers

Messy worker

On Susan’s latest blogs she is showing the most wonderful photos of her artist’s residence at the moment. I commented on how tidy her studio is, mainly because mine always seems so untidy. For me though I think it’s the constant interruptions of family life and four children. However, that is no excuse for disorganisation, so I have ordered a new custom made bookcase to fit the gap between the windows. It is ready to be picked up so then I just have to paint it (I’m doing a white distressed look-Mmmm, and find somewhere else for the keyboard which is under all that.) Stay tuned for the after photo. I love looking at other people’s studios and have ordered the new ‘Studios’ from Dale. 

Good timing as I have finished my 4,000 word assignment, just have to proofread, print and post off. This is the computer corner and how it’s looked for the past week I’ve been furiously typing.

This room  is also designed to hold a pool/billiard table in the middle so I’m looking for one with a removable top (so I can use it for my sewing etc). Usually I cover the kitchen bench to paint fabric.

Here is Claudia’s fabric which she painted and then sunprinted. The washer marks are quite subtle, I’m assuming this works better on silk than cotton?

Speaking of silk, my visit to the Fibreforum Open Day, run annually by TAFTA, was very productive. I bought a metre of some lovely fine silk from the Japanese textile stall and a loom end from Beautiful Silks. I saw the loom end painted and used in a lovely landscape from one of the workshops. I also bought hand dyed silk ribbons, some hot pink silk throwsters waste for Claudia and some lovely hand dyed stranded yarn from a lovely lady, Christine Cook,  who had come over from Tasmania. She had some wonderful bags hand woven from silk. I now wish I had bought one, might have to snail mail her, she doesn’t have an e-mail or web-site on her label. I also bought some wool felt from Juliette. Might have to visit her next time I’m in Melbourne as she had the cutest little felting kits Claudia would love. Also a few other bits and pieces I picked up.

Now some very sad news, the city of Geelong is in mourning for the mighty cats lost the Grand final of the AFL footy yesterday. As the only regional town in Victoria to have an AFL team it is a major interest for the entire city. Luckily daughter no 1 was working at 5 am this morning and didn’t go clubbing in town last night, the police had a torrid time of it.

I used my afternoon watching the Grand Final productively. This silhouette is stitched in Bayeux stitch with a stem stitch outline, in a very dark purple appleton wool. It is one of five to be attached to my box. Racaire does a fantastic tutorial of Bayeux stitch here and here.

Off to stitch some more

Cheers

Busy, Busy again

We were preparing to go to an 18th birthday lunch. Firstly I made a batch of Irish Cream which the birthday girl loves, and can now drink legally (although it should be called Scottish cream as I put Scottish whiskey into it). Email if you would like the recipe! Claudia decided she’d like to make a postcard as a birthday card so she selected a piece of painted fabric and we stamped with pink and purple, cut out a fairy and FME with gold thread. While this was going on I was making a bracelet with some silver chain, a gorgeous bead and some charms to decorate the neck of the bottle (but didn’t have time to take photos as sons 1 & 2 woke up and decided they wanted to be dropped at friends). Party was at 12noon so it was all a little last minute. In the meantime daughter no. 1 made the salad. Made it to the party only 5 minutes late. Phew.

Last Sunday/Monday I attended the Embroiderer’s Guild conference, which is held every five years (not two as I previously thought). As well as embroiderers from all over Victoria, there were girls (and one boy) from Perth, Tasmania, and New South Wales. Most of the participants were living in for the whole four days, however as the conference was in Geelong, I was able to go home each night. My two day workshop was with Kirry Toose from Sydney who makes the most innovative wearable art and was such a fantastically friendly, enthusiastic tutor. Our workshop was making a Victorian capelet. Kirry brought some beautiful work to show us and allowed us to photograph also. However I didn’t think to ask if I could put it on my blog so I’ll just show one which we all admired very much.

This cape has the most amazing hand stitchery all over. Mine was nothing like this. I decided to go an Art Deco design based on the braid I had bought (see last post). Kirry had another piece of work in her portfolio based on circles as a focal point, which we used to create the design for my cape. After a quick dash to Spotlight and a visit to the thread shop in the bedroom (one of the Melbourne ladies had brought ‘a few’ items from her shop), this is what I managed to finish in the two days. Hopefully I will get this finished over the next few weeks.

This is the back

And the fronts

It is the dupion silk, backed with whisperweft, which we washed first in hot water to reduce shrinkage, and then the design is traced onto vliesofix. The design is cut out and then I ironed on the organza. Tear away is used while the applique edging is sewn and the FME. My machine and hand embroidery will be minimal in line with Art Deco design. I still have to finish the sleeves as for the fronts and back, do a little beading, attach the braid to the collar and FME and decide on and construct the fringe.
Cheers

Decisions, decisions

I have been painting fabric this afternoon. I layered some zap cloth over damp cotton so I could paint both at the same time. Using Dye na flow I squirted a few drops, sprayed with water and spread out the colour with a brush. I was trying to get the effect of explosions of colour, aka fireworks. I hung the zap cloth up to dry and continued on the cloth, adding Lumiere in burst and dots. The background (white) was still showing through so I squirted with Moonshadow Mists aqua and turquoise.

I’m planning on using this to make a cover and chapter headings for my journal for uni. I chose the fireworks theme as this is what it feels like going back to study after 20 years, all those sparks going off in the brain.

I also worked on an ATC for Doreen. I tried to iron some painted zap cloth onto painted cotton; not very successful, but did manage to get a bit of texture. I then ironed on some vliesofix instead and used that to adhere silk paper and some tissue paper I had used for paintstiks rubbings. I then FME and will finish the hand stitching tonight. I then decided I couldn’t cut it into ATC’s as it looked so good so now you’re getting a postcard Doreen, hope you don’t mind. I won’t post a picture until I’ve sent off, probably Monday.

I forgot to take a photo of Ebony’s ATC before Claudia sent it off, got caught up in all the enthusiasm, so here is a photo of the ATC’s Doreen sent for Claudia and I.
Claudia’s:

and mine:

Sorry about cutting off the bottom, the scanner was being temperamental.

They are both absolutely gorgeous and Claudia now asks me if the bloggers I read have any grand-daughters!!! If there are any bloggers with children or grandchildren who want to swap feel free to contact us. It is a great way to encourage children’s creativity, a bit of a variation on the penpal concept. Hopefully Doreen will post Claudia’s ATC over on her site when she returns from Melbourne if you want to take a look.

I’m just about to send off my postcard swap to Susan Lenz for CyberFyber. Susan asked me to mention that she has the swaps ready for those who missed out first time around. Head to Cyber Fyber from Sunday if you’d like to swap.

Cheers till next weekend

The Cats Roar & the Lions Whimper

As the boys were all occupied with local footy and surfing, Claudia and I used the member’s tickets to watch today’s home game; the Cats v Brisbane Lions in the AFL. Once again the Cats showed their dominance with 7/7 for the season so far.
Despite a heavy cold I managed to finally finish off the postcard for Susan’s Cyberfyber swap. I have had this piece on the filing cabinet for quite a while. My niece, who is studying Textiles & Design for her VCE was quite upset that I was going to chop it up for postcards, so I promised her I would keep half to work into a larger piece. I managed to find two interesting bits for the postcard. Originally I was planning on sending the feet as it showed the orange belly of the parrot but I think the head piece is more visually effective.

And the back:

Mmmmmm I’m still not sure which to send!!!!

To finish off here is a lovely autumn picture taken out the little one’s window. Cheers for now.

Textiles and Tennis

At our Wednesday Night Ladies Tennis we were presented with the photo taken after last season’s grand final. Kim may not appreciate me putting this photo in here, not one of her best!!!! (I’m the one on the left). Our night tennis is as much social as physical exertion so this photo was taken after a couple of celebratory wines!

On Thursday we had our monthly Textile group fun day. We are trying to find a name for our group. A couple of suggestions were Creative Cats (after the mighty Geelong Cats AFL football champions of course) and Creative T*Arts. T stands for Textile. I like them both but we’re open to further suggestions.
Pam brought along a box of wooden printing blocks, average size 12 inches!!! We did some paper casting with water soluble paper, rubbings onto various fabrics using paintstiks and the ordinary transfer crayons and some stamping with xpandaprint. Pauline brought along a big packet of paper clay so we brought out the baking utensils: pastry sheets and rolling pins, and played around with that. I embedded a little muslin in mine and sprayed some moonshadow mist. I thought afterwards I probably should have waited until it was dry to colour it but it seems fine.

I managed a little hand stitching on my Orange bellied parrots, then found I didn’t have the right colour for the beak and eye (I want a purpley black/brown, preferably silk) I’ll pop down to the local fabric shop this morning to see what they have. Hopefully I’ll have a postcard ready to send off to Susan Lenz soon.

Till next week
Cheers