Graduation exhibition, Centre for Creative Industries, Textile Arts

Tonight I was able to attend the opening of the graduation exhibition for the diploma of Textile Arts students from Box Hill Institute.  It was held at the Manningham Gallery, a wonderful venue.
There were 10 students exhibiting and their work was very interesting.  The range of styles was great and the standard was high.  Quite different ways of working, different techniques, making it very engaging.

I know my friend has enjoyed the course greatly and feels as if she has learnt a lot over the three years.  Congratulations to the students and teachers on a very professional show.

Setting up the exhibition

On Monday, a friend and I spent hours (not doing my tapestry - stress!!!) setting up the exhibition of the felted pieces we made in Turkey.  We have included some other textiles that we bought, as well as some photos of places of interest.  Tony Stewart also donated some pictures of craftsmen we visited, as well as a collage of designs.  (Here is a link to his Picasa pictures of the trip, they are wonderful.)

I have been going through my photos of the trip to Turkey - it is very hard to limit what we will put in the exhibition as there were so many magnificent sights.

Here are some from Ephesis.

Technical solution

I am edging closer and closer to the end of my tapestry. The closer I get, the more problems I seem to have.  This end of the design has more intricate sections, requiring lots of interlocking of sections.  I think I have done more unpicking in the last couple of days than in the whole rest of the tapestry.
It doesn't help that I am finding it a little difficult to work out exactly where I am when trying to match the original photo and the cartoon.  Luckily my work is an interpretation of the photo!
As the work has grown I have found it too high to sit, even on the piano stool at its highest and with two cushions to sit on.  This turned out to be precarious and not very comfortable.

This morning I decided to do something about it.  I took advantage of the fact that I find it hard to throw things out and put other things away - I used old magazines to prop up the loom and the boards I used previously to assist with stabilising the loom.  I put more magazines at the back, to tilt the loom towards me.  I have had to stand to do the weaving but it is more comfortable than the wobbly cushions.  I have music on while I work and I find myself wiggling my hips in time to the music, very good for my sore muscles.

Finally, a use for those old quilting magazines.

Very expensive bobbin holders!

Hopefully, I will be able to report finishing in the very near future.
Then I will have to deal with the uneven edge and how to secure the warps. Then there will be decisions about how to mount it, and how to make the uneven pieces stand up firmly.

My Fair Lady

I went to see an amateur production of My Fair Lady on Friday night.  Fabulous!!
I have a vested interest as Laura Slavin, playing Eliza Dolittle, is my goddaughter.  Of course I think she was wonderful, but so did others at the show.  She just gets better and better.

The whole cast was wonderful, as was the orchestra.  The cast is quite large and there was not a weak performer anywhere.
The sets were amazing.  The costumes had to be seen to be believed, the Ascot races scene was magnificent. They were designed by Phillip Rhodes.  It was great to see such glorious hats, especially in this spring racing season that is not being kind to the ladies.  (But I am happy to see the rain.)
Well done to everyone.

Exhibition of our Felting work in Turkey

We are organising a display of the felting done at the workshop as well as some other textiles and photos we collected on the trip. We will set it up next Monday.

Monday 1st - Sunday 7th November 2010

Featuring the ancient crafts of Felting: 

Here we are at the end of the workshop in Konya

Tapestry and traditional weaving samples, Ebru (marbling) & 

photographs of the ancient sites, mosques and architecture that contributes to our sense of modern design in textiles

Official Opening: 5pm: Thursday 4th Nov 

Guest Speaker: Cr Oscar Yildiz JP.

Location: Foyer, Building 514

More pictures of Turkey

While I'm giving my back a rest from the tapestry, I'll put up some photos I took in Turkey.  The focus here is of interesting things we saw at roadside stops.

Protection from the evil eye.  We saw these all over the place.

This is one of several ladies we saw selling their amazingly intricate, hand-done crocheted doilies.  We saw the ladies making them while they sat and waited for custom.

More hand-made, crocheted work.  The crochet hook was tiny!

A tree covered with tissues and fabric, whirling dervish  figurines in the foreground.

Felting in Turkey

While having a rest from my tapestry, I decided to go through my photos from Turkey.  We are planning to have a display of the felt pieces we made, so I looked specifically at those photos.  I took nearly 100 photos over the two days!

Here are some pics from the first day, the laying out and deciding, day.  As you can see, there was a variety of approaches, all effective.