Designer/Maker MA show - Camberwell College of Arts

Some of the interesting work in the Printmaking display at Camberwell MA show. You can find more about the artists here.

 Interesting wall piece which seemed to consist of ramikens strung together and hung. There was another piece which was easy to miss at first, but once you saw the above piece, you looked again. It looked like a white pole holding up a 'ceiling' of sorts. At second glance, you realised it was a stack of ramikens.

 These wire pieces were what drew me into the room in the first place as I was trying to discover the route to Margaret's show.

 I really like the tangle of these. I imagine they would be wonderful to handle!

 This was an interesting bridge-like structure.

 In a dark room, there was work about bird feathers...including a pile of feathers, I think made of ceramics?
But what fascinated me were the containers made of organza to hold feathers. The image is difficult because I didn't change the setting to adjust for the dark. You can see the containers along the shelf on the wall. Below are the black containers holding black feathers.

 And then white containers holding white feathers.

There were large pots sitting on the floor made in the same shape/construction as the organza pots, but in ceramic.

One last Designer/Maker tomorrow.

Printmaking MA show - Camberwell College of Arts - Printing

Some of the interesting work in the Printmaking display at Camberwell MA show. You can find more about the artists here.

I saw this first from the side. I really liked the side view.

So, I moved to see the front view.

I really liked the way these were displayed. The distance between each piece gave a chance to interact with each individually. and moving around the piece gave different glimpses and views altogether.

There were other large works in the room, including a very long piece flowing across the room and a piece about the Japanese Tsunami. But I was drawn to this piece.

I wish someone had been there to explain a bit about the concept. I found it fascinating. The links to artists doesn't include this person's work, but I found the postcard which relates. You can find out more here.

Something on Saturday

HA!

I found my box with buckles and strap adjusters. Now to sort the Cheerful Bag.

Or Pikachu, as my husband calls it. He doesn't even mind carrying it for me now and again because it 'looks like Pikachu'.

MA show - Camberwell College of Arts, London

I promised a few more photos of the work I saw at Margaret Cooter's MA show.
You can see more of the work for the MA Book Arts along with the artists at this page.

A couple close photos of Margaret's blue pieces I showed in the photo the other day.

These pieces also intrigued me.

A concertina book with the letters on edges and 'falling out'.

An enlarged dress to go with books on the theme of 'Mother'.

A series of pieces having to do with disease and its progression...the first one in the series is not in the photos, but you can imagine one block with nothing 'breaking through'.

Over the next few days, I will show some things I saw in a few other MA displays.

I am busy working on a blouse design, so I am not being idle! I have made the proto-type, now working on the real thing.

Oh and catching up on years of paperwork that wants sorting. Now that I am not teaching, I actually have time for sorting some of these piles.

Cyanotype

As promised...a bit about the demo/talk by Barbara Gunter-Jones last Saturday.

Follow the link to see what sorts of things Barbara does with her Cyanotype print processes. Here she explains some of the results and effects. You can see she is holding one of the prints on fabric.

For the demo, Barbara had prepainted papers with the cyanotype solution - a combination of 2 chemicals that react to light. When first painted on, they look yellowish. They had a slight blueish cast already because she dried them and brought them with her. In theory, you should work in a darkened room...not a dark room, but enough to see what you are doing. The fabric/paper has to be dry before being exposed to the sun. She hangs hers in an understairs cupboard for this process.

What I liked about Barbara's process was the step where she clamped the treated paper or fabric into a clip frame, or a piece of MDF with a perspex cover. I have read about cyanotype prints before and was put off by the idea of trying to keep leaves, etc from blowing away in the wind or extra bits falling onto your print or shadows caused by pins creating unwanted additions to your composition. This seems to help keep better control. It also holds the foliage close to the surface so you get a sharper image. Barbara most often works with dried pressed foliage because it is flatter and therefore sharper. It is also easier to get a similar image on subsequent prints such as the type of prints she wanted when making up cushions and bolsters for selling in boutiques.

composed samples underglass - mine is on the right

Once the painted fabric or paper is clamped into the frame, the whole is placed outside in the sun.

my sample is on the right

Depending on the depth of blue you want, you can leave it a few minutes or 15 minutes. But also it depends on the time of year. In winter, it can take 1/2 hour for a light blue. This is because the chemicals react to UV rays, which are not as strong in the winter and early spring. There are other variables, too, but it is part of the charm of what you will get.

What happened in the sun was the opposite of what I thought it would do. I thought it would get more and more blue. But not so. It actually gets lighter and lighter grey.

some of the other samples being taken from the clip frame

my sample out of the frame with the composition removed

The next step is to put it into water. Soak about 15 min for the chemicals to leach out. This is where the colour change happens for the blue results.

Barbara's demo piece in the water - she used a very fine paper stencil to show us the fine detail which can be achieved.

Paper needs to just lay there in the water. You can swish it a bit, but you don't want the paper to break down. (This paper was thicker than your normal printing paper.) For fabric you want to rinse it somewhat after it has soaked some. (Use gloves) The thicker the fabric, the longer it takes to rinse out. You can tell if the chemicals are still there, as the 'white' parts are still yellowish.

some of the varied samples - feathers can give real detailed prints of the edges.

When it is rinsed clear, you can see your print! Leave to dry and then use as desired...for fabric or paper collage or in your work in some way.

my piece

DO NOT clean the final piece with soap or detergent as it will destroy the print image. If you must clean, do infrequently by hand in water. Scarves can be dry cleaned, but Barbara has stopped doing them altogether because people forget - a year on they bung them in the wash on gentle, and then all the lovely work is destroyed.

I am now confident to get my little kit out of the drawer and have a go! (yes, I have a kit I purchased. It was one of those things I just had to see and hear about before I was confident to do.) I have some interesting ideas to try out following on from things mentioned on the day.

Edit: I have linked this to Off the Wall Friday at Nina-Marie's.

Words on Wednesday

A lot of bloggers have a Wordless Wednesday. I think to give them breathing space in the middle of the week.

I guess you know I am not so good at wordless. But this could get me some breathing space so I can post something more substantial tomorrow. Maybe you could comment on what you like about the photo. I really like it. Aged Architecture. I think I even like the juxtaposition of the scaffolding poles. It gives even more grace to the tower.

We are back from York now. I have been trying to work on things for the Mini-Wardrobe challenge and tidy a bit, so I didn't put the computer on til a little while ago.

See you again later with something more substantial.

catching up and away

Just a quick catching up from the last 2 busy days.

Friday I went to London to Margaret Cooter's MA show. Intriguing work from the MA Book Arts area. And also in some of the other areas discovered while getting lost in the rabbit warren of a building.
If you follow the link above, you can scroll through the recent posts about how the exhibition is going from Margaret's perspective. Oh and a photo of me and another visitor friend.

Some of Margaret's work.

Saturday was the TVCT meeting. Great brainstorming session in the morning.
And a fascinating talk and demo by Barbara Gunter- Jones about her work using cyanotype on paper and fabric. She calles them photograms.
I was really interested in the background of the discovery and first uses of cyanotype in the mid 1800's.

All sorts of ideas, and especially after the demonstration. I used one of her precoated papers to make a little print of my own. I actually have a kit in my drawer, but now I have the motivation to have a go with it.

Will post more about both later in the week, but today we are off to York again to see the MIL. Tuesday she will be 92. She is sounding a bit better in herself, which is a great relief.

parfait dyeing - or not

The idea from yesterday's photo teaser was to follow the parfait dyeing concept.

I used cotton and Dylon dyes. Rayna and Goodworks both thought it would look wonderful. So did I.

However, this was near the beginning of the summer around the time that we added a unplanned for trip to York because my MIL had a fall. So I didn't get back to the jar of dyes for about a week.

Tip of the week:
If you do parfait dyeing, don't leave it that long. They rather go all the same colour.

Which is why I have waited til now to show it.

So, I guess I will have to try overdyeing methods on these...some batik...some discharge...some flour resists...
some outright covering it up in hopes it gets better...

The above photo shows the fabrics folded to show the 'one' nearly redeemable bit of the fabrics. most of them nearly fit under the classification of Solids.

I keep forgetting that my ideas of what scarlet might do always disappoints. I just don't like it. It isn't red and it isn't orange. Just a poor attempt at inbetween. It doesn't even look good when you add more of one or the other to it. As I tried here.

Rayna might remember my attempts to redeem similar scarlet messes at her Master Class at FOQ a few years ago. I just have too much of these sorts of experiments with scarlet combinations. but, I think there are a lot of posts out there that show everyone always wins at these things. Well here is a post showing it isn't always the case.


Note to self...put unused scarlet into the box for the TVCT meeting on Sat. Put it on the "Been There, Done That" table. Someone else might like it.

Or not.

What About Wednesday?

Looks interesting?

I thought it might, too.
Results to follow...

'Try it out' Tuesday

Some might recall my quest earlier in the year for a blouse I like. Sort of disheartening because it still wasn't getting anywhere. The reason I had started a different blouse was because the pattern I had didn't fit in various ways.

Anyway, in the meanwhile, I have lost weight. A few weeks ago, I put on a red blouse I made some years ago and was pleased to discover it fitted better than it did then.
and then I had a moment where things clicked. So, if this blouse fit, why not get the pattern out for that and dispense with getting necks and dodgy sleeve fittings right on the other one?

So, today, I used some lightweight stripe that I seem to have miles of (previously used for DH for pjs). First I sorted the shoulder seam on the pattern - probably the next thing I would have sorted with this particular blouse pattern quest, only I was put off by the blouse being too snug and having no more time because I started teaching.
I cut a 'Try it out' blouse from the stripe just to make sure there wasn't something I had done to the red blouse but forgot. Fits! then put in the adjusted sleeve - the sleeve head was too full for the armscye. and found it works, too!

Here are both blouses...the stripe is only a shell at present.
So now I can go ahead and use that pattern as the starting point for all these other blouse styles I want to try!

and the stripe will continue to be a 'Try it out' blouse. I have an idea for a collar, for one of the mini-wardrobe blouses so I am going to see what happens on this blouse first. I also have an idea for some surface design, so I can 'Try it out' on this blouse to see if it will work.

If it ends up wearable it will be a plus, if it doesn't, it will still be a plus because I have been able to 'Try it out' without worrying about messing up 'good' fabric.

In case you hadn't thought about it, getting a pattern right IS part of design development. There is no point in making something to showcase your work, whether is technique skills or style possibilities or embellishment, if the pattern is going to let you down. In the first place, it will make the rest of your work look rubbish when it is not. and in the second place, you won't wear it or show it (garment or otherwise) because you know it doesn't do you justice.
So, if you do your own patterns or use commercial ones, take the time to get them to look right or check they go together right before you put all that other work into it.

If you are wondering...yes I do save the patterns from previous years. I write the year on them. My weight is often up or down, so it means I can go back to such and such year because I weighed 'whatever' at that time and see if the pattern will work again.


This one said 2007!

mini wardrobe - 1

I showed these fabrics I got at the Festival of Quilts. I am taking part in the Mini Wardrobe contest at Pattern Review.

Rules:Mini-Wardrobe Contest - Expand Your Wardrobe

This is a contest to create a 5-piece wardrobe in 4 weeks. Four of these pieces must be sewn during the contest period.

**The 5th piece, known as the KEY item, can be something you already own, something you purchase, something you have made in the past or something you make during the contest. The KEY item must work with all the other pieces. It needs to co-ordinate with the other four ITEMS, but need not be included in every OUTFIT.**

These 5 items must combine to make a minimum of 6 different outfits.

The fabrics will all work together with my new white dress as the key piece.

However, when I was looking over my plan, I realised I needed another solid in there. Those fabrics are pretty stand alone, so they need to go with something besides the white dress.

In digging around my stash, I realised this silk noil which I dyed would be just the right colour. So, yesterday I cut a skirt.

Today I interlined it with cotton lawn to give it more body. The colour in this photo is more like the blue of the fabric.

Originally when I dyed the fabric I was a bit disappointed because it looked too much like terry toweling! So, I have been about a year considering how to use it in the way I wanted. I am not into floppy clothes, so I realised underlining it would be the best way to go for more fitted clothing.

I am pretty happy with this now. I just need to hem it. I do have an extra style idea I am considering, but I will show that if and when it happens. If I run out of time, I will at least have a simple straight skirt to go with the blouses and jackets I make from some of the other fabrics. If I get the 4 other garments made up, the silk noil skirt can be the key item.
I do have more of the blue silk noil...maybe a jacket, but maybe not til after the contest.

Texture

Still enjoying flowers sent by SAQA for looking after the exhibition at Festival of Quilts.

Love the texture of these.

And more bits of the arrangement were posted here.

Something on Saturday

I think I showed you photos of these ages ago with a not so great camera in the dark in the rain on zoom. These recent photos should be better (taken after visiting MIL who has been ill in hospital).

We get petrol here in York before we head home again. Cool. Click on the photo and zoom in to see the sign above the door. :-)

In anticipation?
Not sure. It was getting too soap opera-y and I am not into watching shows that are so about relationships. not far enough removed from reality for me. I want to watch fantasy which, if it is scary, I can reassure myself that it is not real...not worrying over the relationship stuff is part of that!

Chipped Bananas

Yesterday you saw the bananas with green peel getting a colour change.

I worked steadily on the rest of the piece and got it done in time to post to the CQ group today. I also had time to sort out the rest of the process photos so I can show you how the work developed.

The first thing I did was to set up a 'still life' so I could have an idea in my head of proportions and shapes. I tried a couple bowls just to see if it made a difference.

Then I took it in to Paint Shop Pro and played with things like background.

I wanted to use the banana slice fabric to make a bowl or basket of dried banana chips. I didn't want to go to the shop to get them and pile them up! I borrowed a free image from the internet and altered the size and shape just to fit into my 'still life' so I could see what I needed to do for the real image.

In this case, colours didn't matter...as you can see above, I only had green bananas, which wouldn't do for a yellow piece! so, I selected the bananas made them a different layer,slotted the bowl of banana chips in there and put the bananas back in place.

Then I played with colour background ideas. At this point I got a bit frustrated because I don't know the programme well enough to get it to do what I wanted and it was taking too long. The local Advisory Committee (otherwise known as a Certain Young Man) was walking 50 miles over the South Downs, so I couldn't ask him. So, I left it where I had got it to and displayed it large enough to glance over and refer to now and then.

The next plan was to pull out all the yellows and figure out what wanted to go where. I found a ripe banana fabric in there too! (It had been purchased with potential dragon possibilities.) I also had a textured swatch of fabric that I had dyed yellow way back when I was doing C+G. One of the other students made a dressing gown of the fabric - white - and I asked for scraps to play with. This is the first time I have done anything with any of them!

As you can see, for the pieces which represented the still life, I just folded or rolled them up to be visually the approximate size. Then I auditioned fabrics for the background. Here are a couple choices.

It was interesting that with all the golden hued yellows that the acid yellow colour worked best - the difference gave it a lot more interest.

Then I tried out background proportion. Going back to the computer 'still life' I had created, I knew I wanted it to look like 2 different walls.

I wasn't too happy with the 'table'. I remembered I had a little bit of yellow check...much better. So, I tried the backgrounds again and found I still wanted the mottled golden with the acid yellow.

After I settled on proportion, I started cutting pieces of the background fabrics and the table. I cut them slightly bigger in case I decided to shift them slightly when I got down to the actual layout. I also cut out a bowl and developed a pile of banana chips from the fabric I had stitched. For the banana shapes, I printed my computer 'still life' and then cut out the bananas and used it as a template to cut them from the ripe banana fabric. I sketched a bit on it with a brown thin sharpie just so I could see I was getting the layout right. It would also work for a stitching guideline.

Before I actually started stitching, I left it laying on my large piece of cardboard whilst I went and made a stew.
Yes, this is part of the process! When you come back with fresh eyes, you can see what might need to be different. In this case, I did shift the background a bit. But I also realised it needed something in the upper right to give visual balance overall. with all the stuff happening on the table, it was too bottom heavy. So, I grabbed a piece of golden orange silk I had with the thought that it would make a great curtain. Not only did it give balance, it also gave life to the monocromatic scheme.

However, I started thinking it wanted stitching or stencilling on it to give contrast on the plain wall. No time for that! Try this piece of swirly golden yellow which I though was too much before. Oh, just right. At this point I didn't have photos...it was time to sew.

And after the sewing...Cool! I used a light brown water colour pencil to create shading and definition.

and here is the result!!!

I learned a lot about monocromatic scenes. They aren't easy. You wish you could use a bit more than 25% of another colour. But you also find out how important texture and colour values are.

Bring on Blue!!!!

Edit: I have linked this to Off the Wall Friday at Nina-Marie's.