Just going along

Well, I missed posting on 22/6/22 but the next day is close! And the winter solstice is past too. Now we can look forward to longer days - by about a minute a day, at best. 

It has been interesting to try to do the weaving at this time of the year. I have a spot that I usually sit in but that was right outside the bedroom of a covid patient, so I  moved to a different part of the house. It needed a daylight lamp, which was actually ok as it meant that I can weave at night. 

I am trying to do a couple of hours every day. I take photos to show me that I have actually done something! An hour doesn't produce much progress.

The design is slow at the moment because there are lots of vertical bits that require slow movement. Each time I get on a roll I realise that I have to slow down and attach it to the sections beside it. I am looking forward to the more horizontal parts of the weaving where the progress is less dependant on the accompanying areas. 

And the section with all the horizontal lines has more than 12 bobbins attached!! I'm running out. But they do make a lovely sound when they bobble around. 

                                                      

Ambitious

 I am currently working on a tapestry. I have entered it for the Bendigo Wool Show (aka Australian Sheep and Wool Show). When I entered it, I had a vague idea for a tapestry. I have been lacking in enthusiasm for any art work, thought that entering might inspire me. 

So, now I am busily trying to find the time to get the actual weaving done!! I have decided to do a labyrinth. I think that I am influenced by the need to find some mental space. The world seems rather overwhelming at the moment - bad news wherever you look. 

The weaving is actually working like a labyrinth for me - all those little decisions about colours, texture, making the various sections synch with each other. Slow and steady (I wish!). But the focus is on it, not what else might be happening. 

Having done the texture workshop with Ema Shin recently, I am trying to incorporate some into the piece. It is going ok. I am using the texture to show that the path of the labyrinth can be encroached upon, that the going may not always be smooth - but the path is there. You just have to follow it carefully. 

Also, the texture is allowing me to have not perfect edges and corners. Makes life much easier. 

Image from a couple of days ago. 

The section on the left was yesterday's achievement. 

I did an hour of weaving today - only an hour!! I had to take a photo to prove to myself that I had actually done something, that it is progressing. That's it, the section on the right.

That one small section on the right has all these bobbins involved. No wonder I am going slowly. 

Fortunately, our dog has not worked out what to do with the hanging bobbins, they totally mystify her. 

Collage art

 We had a set of books that we thought we should get rid of. They were too gorgeous to just throw away and one family member had asked a second-hand bookshop if they wanted them - no. Then I thought of Anne Warren, a collage artist who lives in my local area. 

I had heard of her several years ago when she was involved in an Open Studios thing and which I attended. I had her email address. I asked her if she would like them and she said yes. Not sure she was expecting 24 books!

From that, I was invited to attend some casual sessions at a local cafe, where a group of people meet to do paper collage. (Station 9, Fairfield - so generous of them to allow this! And they have really NICE hot chocolate.)

I have been twice and have two small collages to show for it. They are not in my usual style - at all! But it has been a great learning experience so far (and social) and I am hoping to attend more in the near future. 

Thanks Anne. 

This was done on a small paint sample. 

This is bigger (believe it or not) and is about A5 size, using images from a diary from the 1980s and an NGV magazine. 

Putting away the thing that doesn't work

 Today is 22/5/22, so had to post. Lucky I have this things about dates to make me actually post!

I have been working in the idea of a Labyrinth. One of my online textile groups came up with a theme for a journal page - textile, of course. The theme is Place. 

I have been feeling rather overwhelmed by the world news -only the bad stuff gets reported and there sure is a lot of bad stuff! And we have been leading up to a Federal election. Lots of rather meaningless stuff being said, also mostly negative. So I thought a labyrinth might be a good place to be, trying to get away from it all and just find some peace. 

But my latest try is not pleasing me at all! I have decided to let that idea go, for the time being, and see what else I can come up with. 

However, the only ideas that are coming to me are still around that idea - just in different formats. 

I am thinking I should finish my larger tapestry sample (which isn't particularly large) and then see if I can apply some of the techniques from that to a woven labyrinth. It does mean that I will have to get to and actually weave! 

Another idea I have started is to do a blackwork labyrinth. As blackwork is to geometric, I have started on a more geometric design. I tried to draw it on the fabric using a soluble pen. As I sew, I find that my drawing is rather inaccurate!! I'll keep going but will have to make adjustments as I go, so that things line up properly. That might be a challenge. 

Both of these ideas are in the slow work category. Maybe that is what I need at the moment, to just slow down and try to appreciate the calmness - and that is before the labyrinth is made!!

Challenge - 3D

Can't believe it is May already. Where does the time go???

The Embroiderers Guild has a Challenge for the upcoming exhibition (October). I am going to try for the Challenge this year - it is to be no more than 15cm in any dimension (you can 2D or 3D) and I am thinking to try some techniques from the past and see if I can come up with a 3D piece. It has to have some sort of silk in it - not too difficult really. It could be silk thread, silk paper, silk fabric, sari silk leftovers, etc. I have all of those already, so not too stressful yet. 

The overall theme is Threading a Way but that doesn't have to translate into the Challenge. However, so far I am being influenced by the theme. My current idea is to do some tree trunks and see if I can make them into a little group that has a path meandering through. 

I may try to use some of the silk organza that I collected last year from the Bojagi workshop (which I did not do - I was at another workshop).

I have access to some tiny people figurines - due to a family member being into miniature scenes - and am thinking to have one person, or a few, finding their way through the trees. 

I have played with some sari silk that had a very frayed edge - perfect for the path. I have made the trees using sari silk that I have oversewn, using soluble fabric to provide the 'glue' that will allow me to shape it (over a straw). The base is some fabric collage on a small piece of felt. So far, so good. 

So here it is. I will decide closer to the date if I will put it in the exhibition. 

April is almost gone!

Well, I missed  22/4/22 but that was because I was away at the Ballarat Fibre Arts workshop. I was in a tapestry weaving class with Ema Shin, advanced tapestry weaving. 

It was the usual wonderful week away with a whole lot of like-minded textile artists with the added benefit of some tapestry weaving techniques that I remember we were introduced to in my initial course but have not done for ages. 

We made a small sample - which took two days, tapestry weaving being slow. 

II couldn't decide which way looks better but it doesn't really matter. 

Here is the setting up for the final display of all workshop pieces. Ema's samples were amazing. 

There were only 3 of us in the class. Luckily we all got on!! It was a wonderful week of learning, experimenting and weaving. 

Now to try to keep experimenting and remembering the different techniques. 

Trying to start something new.

4/4/22 - that must be a significant number!!

I am trying to think of something to spark a new work. The Embroiderers Guild, Victoria, Australia has a members' exhibition in October. I know that sounds quite a while away but, at the rate I am currently going, that is a doable time-line - I hope. 

The theme of the overall exhibition is Threading a Way - we still seem to be trying to find our way into the future, so many things are impacting our lives still. 

The Machine Embroidery Guidance group also has a theme of trees - it has been the theme since 2020, we keep getting interrupted by Covid!

I was browsing through some old work I had done and came across one that was based on a labyrinth. It wasn't all that good but it did make me think about the theme - trying to find a way. 

More browsing led me to some tree-shaped labyrinth pictures, mostly from Pinterest. So now I am hoping to kill two birds with one stone, try a tree-shaped finger labyrinth - or just make a wall-hanging. So far I am at the idea only stage - who knows what will eventuate? 

I am contemplating trying some of what I learnt from the Cas Holmes course I did last year, using her collage idea for the background. I am also contemplating doing a blackwork one!! That will necessitate starting soon - I am rather slow at hand stitching. I also found some notes from a course I did in 2011 and saw some twin needle work on the sewing machine that might work. So ideas are coming, alll a bit confusing really.