Ecology and the Bogong moth

There has been a bit of a flutter this year about the migration of the Bogong moth and one of its’ predators, the mountain pygmy possum. See the story at Melbourne Zoo here. I can remember many swarms of these large moths as a child. As we know, the ecological food web means the loss of one species has a domino effect on other species. Our GeeTAG group had a theme of wings for one of our meetings so I decided to make a giant bogong moth.

Normally a bogong moth is about 40mm in length, mine is about 3-4 times that size. I call him a macro moth.

The wings were coloured using tea dyed silk and drawing with inktense crayons and a mixture of water and aloe vera gel (stops the colour spreading too much). They were made like Stumpwork wings using copper wire stitched around the shapes with additional handstitching to create the markings. I also had fun stitching the raised stem stitch band on the wool felt body and using turkey work stitch for that great hairstyle!

Copper wire was also used for the legs and wrapped with thread for the proboscis. The eyes were some jet black glass buttons I bought a while back. With all their little segments they were perfect for the moths multiple eyes.

I am now thinking of creating a baby mountain pygmy possum to join the super sized moth in an exhibit.

Scraps and more

I am calling this one finished. Thank you Anne Lawson for the suggestions. I am very happy with this and need to stop before it becomes overworked. Knowing when to stop can be the most difficult decision!

Phases of time 1

I am calling this Phases of time 1 as I might revisit this concept to complete some more stitcheries of different shapes and sizes. Mostly completed from the stash except for a couple of sashiko threads in blues ordered online Wafu Works. This will be sent off to Rita of Gone Rustic in Tasmania for her ‘Marking Time’ exhibition.

Two more projects on the go at the moment:

Finishing a receptacle for my partner’s treasure in the ATASDA Challenge and

Continuing to work on an artwork for the 2020 Biblio Art Prize.

Design finalised for the piece inspired by The Labyrinth by Amanda Lohrey, just auditioning some metal threads.

The slow stitch boro bag

I am really enjoying the variety of bags that are appearing on India Flint’s bagstories group on Facebook. I began slow stitching a boro bag when I was recovering from surgery and couldn’t focus for long periods of time. It is a great project to pick up and continue in those little moments of rest. For this bag I used scraps of sari silk, indigo dyed kimono scraps, some eco dyed silk and some lovely natural dyed fabrics and threads from Arlee whose blog I follow.

I decided to stitch this in a quilterly way so layered the lining fabric (a lovely print of an indigenous painting), some padding and then the patches of scraps were pinned. The stitching evolved as I sat and stitched with no real premeditation. the strap also evolved, starting with some indigo dyed cotton-thanks Arlee, onto a wool blanket remnant. It was a little scrappy and not strong enough so I added a wrapping with the madder dyed (I think Arlee??) fabric. Some seams were machine stitched as there were so many layers. Having the padding means it will be perfect to carry my laptop to Uni for the PhD meetings.

I enjoyed this one so much I think I will start another in the Spring term break. Next time I will try using the doll needle (a tip I read somewhere) and use a wool blanket padding. I will also add the lining separately for a better internal finish.

 

Goldwork finished

I have been very busy over the last 3 months working on samplers and pieces for the Intermediate course in Goldwork with Alison Cole for Embroiderer’s Guild Victoria.

First piece was to be an initial (very little gold thread in there!)

Second piece was to be based on a traditional form of design-I chose Art Deco style and decorated this very cute round bag I found in an Op Shop (lots of gold, black and purple-Art Deco colours). The dodgy cotton padding was fixed before the gold purl was added :

Art Deco bag

Final piece was to be a major study of A4 size (approx.). This is to be the cover of a Triptych, which will be completed for our EGV Geelong 50th anniversary exhibition in September. The piece was embroidered as a set of separate slips (technically mostly silver work), I hand painted the background silk:

Peacock

 

 

Medieval Dragon is home

My Medieval dragon from Dianne Cevaal’s Medieval touring exhibition arrived safely home this morning.

It is always fun when apiece of textile art returns to you. While heavily involved in developing and working on a piece of art is difficult to be objective. However when if comes back after a prolonged journey appraisal is so much easier with that distance.

Overall I am very happy with the embellishment of Dijanne’s linoprint and my binding is improving. I do find sometimes I do not allow enough time for the finishing details when working to a deadline. It is like finishing knitting a jumper and then underestimating the time it will take to sew in all those ends and hand sew together.

I used a variety of stitches and techniques including beading, foiling, gold leather and I’m pretty happy with the overall effect. Some of the beading has come a little loose so next time I will double stitch all the beads and back stitch each one, especially for a travelling situation.

Dijanne is sending out linoprints at the moment for her next touring exhibition: Aussie Bush Project. It is a great way to practice colour and stitching design skills while producing something that will tour for a year-very satisfying and meditative.

Textile Fibre Forum Magazine-I’m in it!

There are many reasons for making art of any kind, but there are some wonderful benefits to being a textile artist. It is the amazing tactile nature of textiles that makes it my favourite way to make art. There is something special about the connection you have to the cloth and the stitch.

The textile art scene is booming worldwide and it is because the items made are not just beautiful or contain thought provoking themes or stories. It is also because it lends itself to such a huge array of applications: it encompasses so many different techniques, is a type of creative therapy and can be a very social activity, among many other relevant reasons.

I received my subscriber copy of the very professionally edited Textile Fibre Forum magazine this morning and was very excited to see my article on my recently completed textile art book, created for the ATASDA exhibition in Sydney earlier this year included, and in such great company.

As an educationalist who has specialised in literacy I am very comfortable with using the book form in my textile art (I love children’s books and have an impressive collection spanning 40 years!).

The research on this specific book took more than six months, and I was happy with most aspects of the finished product, especially the side that specifically relates to the original owners of the land at Sydney Cove. I blogged a little about the processes used in making the book while I was working on it here and my fun trip to the exhibition in Sydney here.

 

GeeTAG and Postcards

The GeeTAG group I belong to meets on the second Saturday of the month to share ideas, inspire each other and learn/have a go at new techniques. A small group of us organise the details including a yearly program, update the blog and forward interesting items via an email list. Each year we propose a program at our February meeting for discussion, based on an online survey we email out at the end of each year. The group often has a flow in and out of members, some move on to pursue their own work and new members are always joining when they see the fun we have with fabric and thread.

For 2016 we decided to scale back on the ‘workshops’ as we found the same people were doing all the work to run workshops which we run over and over again for the new members. Instead of full scale workshops requiring lots of materials we run mini tutorials where we demo a technique quickly and email out a technique sheet for people to try at home. We are also running a ’15 minutes of fame’ session bi-monthly as many of our members are very accomplished textilers and it is great to see all the different ways they produce some beautiful works.

Our program this year has been to propose a theme and a technique each month for which members are encouraged to produce a postcard piece of textile art. Of course some of our members are taking this further by producing book pages, or a number of postcards each month. One of our members, who has a stash beyond life expectancy, generously makes  up little packages for us each year for our xmas meeting. This is designed to be used for a ‘starter’ for the next year’s program. This year we all received a bonbon of goodies, mine included lots of interesting images on paper, stamps, little tiles, embroidery threads, ribbons etc all in a subtle vintage pastel colour range. The idea was to create a decorated box in which to place our postcards. Mine is a layered collage on calico to which I am adding the TAST stitches each week, eventually becoming a very heavily embroidered cover for my tetley tea bag box.

I have all my postcards in various levels of completeness, hopefully I will catch up in the upcoming mid year break. This is the one for May, theme Flotsam and Jetsom, technique recycled . First step was some fabric manipulation using hand stitch of some re-gifted, well washed calico onto a backing of curtain sample. Each day when I walk the dogs at the beach it is interesting to see the different patterns left as the tide flows out. One day there was a distinct smocked appearance to the beach with all the items embedded into the sand so I have attempted that look here.

It has been coloured with inktense sticks and ironed flat. It will be embellished with stitch and found objects to create the beach after the tidal flow.

I am also hoping to enter an item in the upcoming local exhibition at Studio 54 for the Bellarine Arts Trail on Melbourne Cup Week so that will also keep me busy over the holidays. Perhaps next year I will be organised enough to be a host venue.

TAST 2016

I am finally getting around to posting the first four stitches of TAST 2016.

Stitch number 1 for 2016 (but 24 on the total list) is interlaced cable chain. It sounds complicated but was easy to get the hang of and is a great filler stitch. I preferred the effect of lacing every stitch in one direction rather than every second stitch and then reversing to go back through again. My sampler fabric is some ‘mop up’ cotton over calico and the thread used is a variety of perle and crochet cottons.

Interlaced cable chain

Stitch number 25 is twisted chain and makes up the edging of the next leaf. I have stitched close together (rope stitch) and I love the texture of this using Perle 5. In the centre I have used stitch number 26, Arrow stitch, using perle 8, perle 5 and a lovely metallic cord.

Stitch number 27 is Bonnet stitch using perle 8. I found it difficult to get even stitching around the curves of the foot shape, hopefully this would improve with practice as I like the spiky effect.

Bonnet stitch

 

Pink High Tea for Cancer

Yesterday our footy/netball club held a pink high tea fundraiser for cancer. Despite the dreadful, wet and cold weather we had a sell out crowd and hopefully raised lots of money through auctions, raffles and donations.

To celebrate the event one of our netball players arranged for sponsorship through her husbands plumbing company. This paid for the A grade girls to wear pink netball dresses for their game and a beautiful glass trophy for the winner (which luckily was us!).

The rooms and courts were decorated in pink bras and I was commissioned to construct a ‘tongue-in-cheek’ trophy using a decorated pink bra. My husband did a great job of putting together an old trophy and attaching a pink netball onto which was latched the bra.

I visited a couple of op shops and managed to find a lovely, new, pink, lace bra for $2 as well as lots of glitzy fabrics and ribbons.

Op Shop haul

This was a fun sewing project as it needed to be as garish and ‘out there’ as posssible. No good taste involved whatsoever! I started by making lots of suffolk puffs to edge the bra and then added bows, beads, sequins, buttons and some simple embroidery. It was very well received, the male president in pink shirt and beanie was quite happy to be photographed with it.

The ‘cup Cup’

Close up

Detail

New work, no photos

Hmmm, I seem to always forget to take photos before I send off finished work. I have decided I must get into the habit, as out of sight, out of mind and I forget totally about them!

On Friday I posted off my flag to India Flint’s ‘solace’ project, I used the sleeve of an Op shop linen shirt to cut out the flag shape and embroidered my words in silk/wool thread from Beautiful silks. The button and buttonhole were very handy for attaching the ties. There is still time to participate, here.

I have also sent off my finished dragon for Dijanne Cevaal’s Medieval Project. This is currently on display in  Nantes, France and will also be on display in Australia.

I do, however have some photos from other exploits and stitching.

Over the Easter holiday break, Claudia and I headed off for a few days to the Dandenongs and Melbourne. I have not been to the Dandenongs for at least 25 years. We stayed at a great BnB in Olinda:

View from our BnB bedroom window

We stopped in Sassafrass on the way for lunch and a browse and also enjoyed the quirky shops in Olinda. There were a couple of great pubs in Mt Dandenong for evening meals, Claudia was in heaven in the vintage shop there as well. Within very close proximity to our accommodation we visited many gardens including Cloudehill– $10 entry and not very friendly or helpful but lovely gardens, RJ Hamer Arboretum, which was a wonderfully quiet walk among the trees, William Ricketts Sanctuary with all his magnificent sculptured carvings, the National Rhododendron Garden which was glorius in autumn colours and by far our favourite, Alfred Nicholas Gardens in Sherbrooke which were a wonderful walk along terraced paths but unfortunately the famous ponds were drained for maintenance works and the Karwarra Australian plant garden which was quite small but had a good range of native plants for sale.

We could easily return for another few days to visit all the gardens we missed out on seeing. I highly recommend a trip in autumn, a beautiful, mild weather time for travelling and viewing all the beautiful gardens.

Autumn colour Olinda

We stopped in Melbourne on the way back to see a few exhibits including the excellent ‘Exquisite Threads English Embroidery 1600’s – 1900’s’ at the NGV.

I loved the embroidery with Australian native flowers on this gown.

NGV

Last weekend our branch of the Embroiderer’s Guild held a little exhibition at Wintergarden for the Heritage Festival. We were asked to contribute a postcard on the ANZAC theme of ‘care and compassion’, this is mine here:

I used offcuts from the aforementioned Dragon embroidery fused to pelmet vilene to form the cross, symbolising the amazing work done by the nurses during the war (there is also a great exhibition at the National Wool museum detailing many of the contributions of women during WW1 which I visited last weekend). This was covered with organza printed with a map of Flanders in France taken from my Great Uncle’s Atlas published in 1920. I added the FME of a mixing bowl and spoon, some silk, organza and beaded poppies and some hand dyed wool knitted on the little chopstick knitting needles with painted air dry clay on the ends.

Now I am heading out to the ‘studio’ to finish off:

1. ATC’s for swap with Guild

2. Indigo dyeing for fabric swap

3. Pink trophy for Cancer fundraiser netball game

4. Notebook cover (below) for the stall at our bi-annual exhibition in October

Embellishment to be added, patterned Japanese fabric will be the lining