Experimenting with something slightly new.

 I am finally trying something new. It may not work but I don't really care - at least I am thinking again.

I have a lovely scarf that I bought a few years ago. It was made by Michelle Mischkulnig. I haven't worn scarves much recently but it turned out to be perfect for something I went to recently.

I had a good look at it and I think I know what she did. I have done a workshop with her but this was a totally different technique. 

I think it is made using dyed mulberry silk and sewn heavily to keep it together. 

(I have just looked at my blog and looked at what we did - it may be that I should/could have used silk hankies as that seems to be what I used at the workshop. Oh well.)

I was at the Handweavers and Spinners Guild a couple of weeks ago and just couldn't resist the beautiful colours they had - of the unspun silk. 

I laid a bit out onto some dissolvable fabric and sewed over it rather heavily. 

I didn't really have a good plan, just thought I would see what eventuated. I was influenced by the upcoming Embroiderers Guild of Victoria (Australia) exhibition. The theme is Making Waves. Despite my desire NOT to do the ocean, I have done some experimenting with a variety of blue and white silks and it looks like waves!!

Anyway, I don't know what I will do with the two pieces I have made.

 Tonight I decided to try something different. 

I had a pattern for a hanging Christmas decoration. I've had it for years, have used it to make paper decorations but not fabric. 

I traced the pattern onto the soluble fabric, laid out some silk and sewed over it. 

I could still see the tracing on one so have cut it before dissolving the soluble fabric. I couldn't see the pattern on the other one so have just dissolved it and hope to be able to trace the pattern back on once it has dried.  

I have tried putting a skewer through the piece to see if that helps it to dry in a way that would be helpful. I don't think it will matter if the other one dries flat, I can sew the bits into the shape I want - after I manage to cut it correctly. 

In case you are wondering, I am intending to have the pieces wrapped around a skewer or a piece of warp thread so that they can move freely - air waves making them move, 

Workshop completed.

We had our second day today of the Michelle Mischkulnig workshop. My friend and I travelled together and we were a slightly worried that we might be a bit early but we wanted to catch up with the people who had started sewing yesterday. I think we may have been the last to arrive! Obviously, everyone was keen to get going, having enjoyed the previous day so much. Fortunately, Lee had everything organised and ready to go.

Today we sewed the background. Mine was a bit too textural and did cause trouble with the foot of the machine. Michelle helped me to flatten it some more and it behaved much better. I was able to do the sewing without having to put yet another layer of Vliesofix on top, to anchor it down more smoothly. Some of the other participants did this and it worked well, and looked good too. But I wanted to have as much texture as I could and still sew.

We sewed around our butterflies from yesterday. The black thread really lifted the colours. We cut them out, ready to attach to the piece, once we had worked out how to place everything.

Luckily, I had photographed my progress because I had thought I had done 5 butterflies and couldn't find the last one. The photo proved that I had only done 4 and should get a good night's sleep tonight.

We also sewed some flat leaves onto the background, as appliqué.

Then we put some of our leaf fabric onto felt and sewed leaf shapes.  I did it the wrong way around, not having read the notes properly. It didn't work well at all. I tried to sew around the edges but the points of the leaves kept disappearing into the works of the machine. Fortunately, Michelle had given us plenty of fabric, so I had enough to sew some more leaves - and then cut them out. That worked much better.

We attached the 3D leaves to felt and sewed around the shape. Once it was sewn, we then pulled it about a bit to make it twist and bend, giving it a much more sculptural texture.

Once we had the leaves, butterflies, a twisted 'vine' (which is a branch on my piece) and a flower, we fiddled around trying for the best arrangement. As I had not done a great job with my flower, I decided not to include it.

Here is the finished piece. All I have to do now is think about how I want to mount and frame it. I will put is aside for a few days while I think about it.

I treated this workshop as a learning experience rather than one to produce an outcome. Therefore, I have used colours that I would not normally use (not a bad thing, really). I probably would do a bit more research about actual butterfly patterns and colours if I do it again. But I am not unhappy with the result.

I must try to use some of the techniques again soon, to make sure that I embed them in my repertoire and don't have to think "How did I do that again?" So I might experiment a bit this week, maybe on a smaller scale.

Here are the pieces done by others.  We put them on the floor for better photos. You will see better images here, on Facebook.

Halfway through a workshop

As the title says, I am halfway through a workshop - with Michelle Mischkulnig of Chelle Textiles.
I have long admired her work, having seen it mostly through the Stonehouse Gallery in Warrandyte.
I have also posted about her work previously.

The workshop was at Lee Vause's (Threads and Tangles) studio. I have previously done a Zentangle workshop with her and it was through her Facebook page that I saw the class advertised. Funny how things work out.

Here is the work that Michelle brought along to show us how it might turn out.

Today we painted some butterfly shapes onto silk, front and back (not that the back was all that carefully done as it should not be very visible).  We used Inktense pencils and a variety of fabric pens, experimenting with damp and dry fabric, putting water on after drawing, etc.

That is all we did with them today, we needed to get them done and dry so we can sew on them tomorrow.

Then we made some backing fabric.
This was made with a layer of calico, Vliesofix, silk hankies teased out, more Vliesofix, cut up bits of threads and velvet and various tiny bits of dyed silks, then more silk hankies teased out (a different colour this time). Then it was all ironed together.

I didn't get it all to sit quite flat, so tomorrow's workshop may be frustrating if the silk hanky decides to get caught around the foot of the sewing machine. Time will tell about how well I can handle this.


I think this process will need a few practices to get it right. Something to look forward to. I haven't done much playing around with different techniques and bits and pieces for a while. I seem to have some of the stuff hanging around, I was going to throw it away because I hadn't used it but now I am glad that I didn't.

We also prepared some fabric for making leaves. All we did was use some oil pastels and/or crayons to rub over a texture plate then iron it to set the colours. We will be using this fabric tomorrow also.

All of the materials were provided in packs, all labelled so that we knew exactly what to use when. It was easy!

I am looking forward to tomorrow and may even end up with a finished piece. I was treating the workshop as a sample making event, a technique learning event, but I may actually have a finished work. That will be a bonus.

Michelle Mischkulnig exhibition

I went to Yering Station the other day to see Michelle's exhibition.
It was very inspiring!
I loved the colours, the motifs, the different techniques she uses.

In fact, it has made me think of trying some silk painting again. I haven't done that in AGES!! I have some fabric left over from the 80s (I don't throw out much) and now I might be able to practise some sewing on it, making it useful. I have dabbled since but now I have a use for it - if I get around to it.

She uses a variety of techniques and her work is very interesting to see. I took a few photos but they didn't turn out that well. You can see better images on her website and Facebook page.

I loved the layers in this.

Handing in the year's work.

Today was the day we had to hand in all our folders, samples and exhibition pieces for assessment.
I had diligently gone through my lesson notes over the last couple f weeks and finished off bits and pieces.
Then I noticed that we had had an exercise based on a fish design that I had not done. I wasn't all that worried about it, I had done pretty much everything else and didn't think it would matter. But I had got myself all organised earlier in the week, so decided to have a go anyway.

I recently bought a gorgeous scarf from Stonehouse, in Warrandyte.  It is by Michelle Mischkulnig.

I thought I would have a go at a small sample using what I could see of her technique - using supplies that I had to hand.

First I found a small silk hankie (I think that is what it is called). I was already dyed blue, so that seemed appropriate for a fish image. I teased out a couple of layers of silk and then placed a piece of sari silk that I also had. As the lesson was also about warm and cool colours, I chose a piece of sari silk that I thought would suit.

I laid out the sari silk on one layer of silk the covered it with another. Then I sandwiched this between a piece of soluble fabric and solve (transparent soluble film). I didn't bother to pin it as it was a small piece.

I hooped it up and sewed a pattern all the way across, based on a wave - also based on a handwriting fluency patters of joining the letter c.

The I did a mildly wavy line in the 90 degree direction, to hold the whole piece together.

I then did some continuous patterning over the sari silk to give the piece a bit more texture.
I used up some spare thread I had on bobbins, making the top and bottom colours different.

After dissolving the soluble fabric and film, I laid it out to dry, no stretching necessary.
It is a flimsy piece, not particularly useful or beautiful, but I have had a go at the technique and think that I could work a lot more with it and produce something that I liked.

And now I have done all the exercises for the course - I hope.