Weavings

Lichens woven on a circular loom, sewn on to African strip cloth

Woven piece with lichens 

These are pieces I did a couple of years ago, the top one was bought by my Mum but I thought I had forgotten to take any photos of the other one, then I came across them today. The second one is owned by a friend. They are both quite small, I was very pleased with the little shelves and baskets I might try and do another one for the shoreline exhibition.

Off to Street tomorrow to show my work to the Strode Theatre, they have a small gallery space there, where I am showing work with another weaver for the month of April.

From the Earth

I am thrilled to have had a piece of work selected by From The Earth http://fromtheearthtextiles.co.uk/ for their exhibition in June at the Mardleybury Gallery Hertfordshire. I will be in prestigious company with I think both India Flint and Fabienne Dorsman- Rey as well as many other highly skilled textile artists.

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I've got my weaving mojo back

 Ok there might not seem like a lot of growth between photos no 1 and 2 but thats four hours work, a lot in one day for me. This piece has been struggling for a while and now its turning out differently from what I was expecting mainly due to me coming across a weaver whose work I had never seen. Juliet Martin http://tsgnyblog.org/index.php/2013/12/juliet-martin/ Her work is based on Saori weaving in which I have been interested in for a while but never thought of it in any other way than as another way of producing cloth in a more messy(free form) way. I could relate it to some of my own work but it didn't really click until I saw her work. I feel I am getting somewhere now, my work is moving on from tapestry weaving. I probably shouldn't call myself a tapestry weaver any more in fact I think freeform weaver covers a multitude of sins anyway and I quite like it. So now I am a freeform weaver with a background in tapestry weaving, sounds ok for statements etc. to go with my work, or maybe just a maker which I also like. Anyway I am rambling on a bit, just so pleased to have finally got back to weaving.

Detail

Rusted silk and stitch

Here are two more works to do with the exhibition 'Shoreline' in which I am taking part at Weston Quarry in July, along with Lizzie Matthews and Liz and Dominic Hewitt.
Lots more work in the pipeline, will keep you posted.

Rust dyed cloth and a start of weaving again

Four towers - rust dyed and stitched

 Two small 20 x 20cm pieces for an exhibition in April that North Somerset Arts is organising at Weston Quarry. All pieces have to be this size.

Two hearts - rust dyed and stitched

 And I am actually making small beginnings back to weaving, its been three months now since I last wove anything, this will be four long thin pieces based on the beach. I need to get myself going again now, quite a few exhibitions coming up this year.

Taunton exhibition

 I managed to get a couple of pictures from a friend, two of the general exhibition space and one of mine which unfortunately has a lot of reflection in it. You can also just see one of the pair of my other pieces.
Its a great space for exhibiting in.

What a plonker. Happy Christmas and Happy Solstice.

I don't think this expression is used much these days but I felt like a right plonker when after finally managing to get the South West Textile Group exhibition at Taunton Museum I forgot to take any photos of my own work or anybody else's for that matter. I wanted to show all you kind people out there my finished pieces finally hung.
Its a good exhibition beautifully hung by the museum staff and well worth a visit if you live near though it finishes on the 2nd January.
I am hoping that a friend might have taken a photo they can send me, otherwise I may be able to take a couple when we collect our work next year.
Happy end of year in whichever form you celebrate it and thank you for reading my little offerings and for your lovely comments throughout the past year.

Experiments with iron water

1 Eucalyptus dyed on silk noil

Quite a few images this time, the colours arn't great in the photos and don't really show the subtle variation in colours of the last few photos of iron dyeing.
The first four images are of dyeing I did on holiday in Rhodes, they were bundled and placed in a plastic drinking water bottle and left on the balcony for about 12 days, no direct sunlight.
These are not before and after photos but the undipped ones are very similar to the ones I dipped.

2 Eucalyptus dyed and then dipped in iron water

3 Eucalyptus dyed

4 Eucalyptus dyed and dipped in iron water

 The dark ones were soaked in the iron water for about an hour and then washed immediately. The proportions for the iron water are completely random, I did measure anything. These are all on silk noil and were dipped when I got back.

5 Cotinus and maple leaf dyed then dipped in iron water

Images five to nine are all on wool and dyed with leaves from the garden, again the undipped piece is to give colour comparisons. I wish I could get more true to life colours on these but I can't. piece 5 was dipped for one hour the others slightly less all were washed immediately afterwards. They had all been previously bundled and left to dry before being soaked in the iron water.

6 Maple leaf

7 Cotinus and dipped in iron water

8 Cotinus and maple and iron water

9 Cotinus, maple and iron water

I am very pleased with the results it good to get something other than brown. I will probably dip all the silk pieces and make them into a cushion as the colours go well with my with my sitting room furniture.