Christmas Eve

 

It has been very satisfying sharing my photographs and work with you over the last few months. It has taught me a great deal and I hope the learning curve will continue. Thank you for visiting my pages and I hope that you found something to enjoy along the way. I wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year and look forward to returning in 2022.

Small Pleasures

As I get older, engaging with my own creativity (in whatever form it takes) has become more important to me. From walking to photography to making, the daily journey has become integral to my well being.  It fulfils the inner urge in me to make a statement of creativeness and to use my imagination; a daily celebration.

I value family, friends and living life to the full above everything but small pleasures add so much. One of my favourite is the making of cards, a little creation to share with family and friends to say Happy Birthday or just Hello. There is much so satisfaction both in the making and also the giving.

 Time to Move On

Lutradur is quite an amazing product that can be used to achieve some wonderful effects when painted, stitched and heated. It will melt, distort and disintegrate and with a degree of effort I have found that it can be moulded as well. Any product I can use to bring about a 3D effect always gets a 10 from me.

When I first decided to feature leaves I came home from my walk with handfuls of suitable contenders. The number was soon whittled down to a single leaf variety with a very pleasing size and shape which has added continuity to the finished tubes. Following the same logic I restricted the colour palette of the threads and the urge to add contrasting colours. Overall I am pleased with the results as each tube can be a standalone vessel or grouped together.

It has been a very satisfying few weeks but it is time to put the Lutradur away until next year. Once again I have been on a journey of learning and discovery; I have amassed copious notes and numerous samples which will be of great benefit in the future. I am always wondering where I can go next with a project and have made notes and a few doodles (not quite sketchbook standard!) to begin again. Why do the tubes have to be circular? How many layers and what effects could I achieve by adding more products that like to be heated such as chiffon and organza. I think I have found a supplier of larger pieces so how big could my vessels be? My list goes on and on but always begins with same question I ask myself when I step into my workroom..... What if??

Leaves and Lutradur

I found some little experimental tubes from long ago with chiffon and melting fibres filed in the 'unfinished / unresolved' box. No longer either as they are a perfect stitch reference guide and colour scheme for my current efforts.

I had announced ‘experimenting’ was over in my last Blog but it seems that I was rather premature; there was clearly a need to continue the process. For a start, I needed to look at different paint mediums and their properties and then to decide on which paint(s) would work best for printing. I finally settled on acrylic mixed with some iridescent and pearlescent paints to give a lovely sheen to the finished surface. Years ago I used a lot of soft textured Lutradur (sadly no longer available) so I tried various ways of scrunching the the wet fabric to achieve a similar effect.

Then on to the stitching where I tried using different thread combinations in the bobbin and on the top to see if it would alter the distortion effect of the heat gun.  I am pleased with the results and think the leaf printing was a success and in proportion on the larger tubes. Hopefully without too many interruptions I will be able to finish the printing, stitching and coiling before the week is out.

Leftovers

 

The first of the leftover pieces of Lutradur was quite dense with acrylic (even though the paint was diluted) but would serve for an experiment. I was neither very precious with the choice of thread colour nor the quality of stitching; I was far more interested in adding texture and a raised surface with machine embroidery.

The previous Blog entry was limited by the largest metal knitting needle in my possession to wrap the Lutradur around but I wanted to work on a larger scale and was forced to search the house and garage for suitable heat resistant tubes. After distressing a little with the heat gun and getting hot fingers in the process, I was encouraged with the results and to my surprise the cylinders were very stable.

Like a small child I delighted in wading through the fallen leaves when I was walking this morning. As they moved like twirling, swirling dancers at my feet I thought about transferring the images before me onto the Lutradur. When I got home I used a lighter weight Lutradur in a continuous coiled piece to achieve a more lacy and delicate finish. I think there is room for added dimension with additional techniques and possibly some textural hand stitches. 

Experimenting over, I now need to think about a colour scheme and possible sizes.....

 Finished for the moment!

(following on from "Thus Far")

I was thinking of a gentle curve and a series of graduated tubes and not much else to begin with. I used paper straws and card to view the idea in 3D. It looked promising so I cut the stitched tubes into sections and began to fix them to a base. It became quite obvious that the Lutradur tubes had ideas of their own and clearly wanted to lean at much greater angles. I rather liked the effect and let the line meander in a slightly drunken fashion.

Embellished wool fibres over organza provided a foundation layer on which to work and finer details in the form of free machine embroidery, wrapped wires and coiled wires were also added. The tubes and felt base are fixed but everything else has fallen into position and been allowed to remain rather like an ongoing flower arrangement which permits fluidity and change.

Moving forwards I think I will try a heavier weight Lutradur (a 70 perhaps) and play with some larger cylindrical shapes.

Thus Far ...

After trying and rejecting several colour combinations I decided to try something completely out of my comfort zone and found myself clutching a tube of bronze acrylic paint. I was looking for colours to reflect the subtle stem shades along with the burnished hues of the approaching autumn. The gold foil was an afterthought suggesting the golden rays of the sun.  

We all like to stitch a perfect circle and the free machine stitch on the tubes would have been excellent practice were it not for the melting and distortion of the heat gun.

On that note it is time for a good tidy up and hiding of some equipment including the heat gun. Two of my grandchildren are arriving shortly for a half term sleep over and whilst they are both very competent on my sewing machine I fear for my workroom if they get their hands on the hot air gun!

Stubble and Stems

A few months ago I could walk through the fields and listen to the sound of oats, wheat and barley swaying in the breeze whilst running my hands through the heads of grain. After the harvest had been gathered in, the golden ripe grain fields have been reduced to lines of stubble; such a stark contrast in such a short space of time. Although the crops are no longer tactile or moving, the stubble lines remaining are quite severe and make a statement of their own. For the past week I have found my eyes drawn to the lines painted by the changing of the seasons and my camera has been busy as I walk.

I do not use a sketchbook, I have tried but it is not a process that comes naturally to me. I prefer to work with samples in a more physical fashion enabling my hands to endeavour to interpret what my mind is imagining. When I visualise a finished item I have to work backwards, unravelling a design until I am at the point of the beginning; I often find this process is very helpful when it comes to the actual construction.

After a day spent trying various methods of making stems (tubes) it was clear that the most robust were those made from Lutradur. I ended up with a small selection of short stubby and a few taller slender cylinders to help decide on a design or two.

And thus the work process begins......

Autumn Fruits

Over the last few weeks I have watched the berries adorning the hedgerows growing plump and glossy. Higher up in the foliage they contrasted beautifully against the green leaves like sparkling jewels in the early autumn sun. The weather has been glorious and the rain on Monday was refreshing and welcome indeed. Many of the branches have become so laden and full that they hang low, dancing in the Fen wind. Some birds, like redwings, fieldfares, thrushes and blackbirds will find most of their winter food from this year’s great profusion of berries.

An image of a cornucopia, the horn of plenty occupied my thoughts for the remainder of the morning and I thought I might make a version to celebrate the fruitfulness and abundance of the countryside around me.

I decided to continue working with merino wool fibres and made a piece of Nuno felt in the deep rich colour of the hawthorn berries. The finished piece had some lovely distortions and edges which lent itself to embellishment with beads, wired coils and hand stitching. A very satisifying process.

A Little Vessel

Without too much persuasion the felt coiled neatly into a freestanding shape.The next step was to add further interest in the form of hand stitching, beading and covered wire. I felt that the top edge was a little harsh so I added a toning piece of chiffon which was then distressed with a heat gun giving a softened more pleasing rim. I now have a permanent reminder of hedgerows laden with ripening blackberries.

   

I used the remaining felt to make some more samples to add to my collection. The first four are simple machine lines and grids. The second four are free machine stitching, all giving an interesting mix of raised surface distortions for future work.

Work in Progress 

On my walk today, I found a hedgerow of beautiful blackberries ripening in the sunshine, a ready made colour palate. My journey home was spent contemplating how best to use the colours.

The embellisher was my machine of choice and very quickly I had a base colour of ripening blackberries.

More colour was added along with some scrim to give a little extra texture to the finished felted fabric.

A little experimental sample before stitching with purpose. I made the felt over a medium weight silk so it was soft, pliable and lovely to stitch into.

Lastly, a little steam and some magical distortion gave a raised and textured surface. The fabric is naturally curling and seems to want to be 3D, so tomorrows task will be some surface embellishment to see where it leads.

Horse Chestnuts in the sunshine

 

The colours around me as I walked this morning were enhanced and intensified by the September sunshine.The low sun in the sky was both warming and uplifting and so good to feel after the grey clouds covering everything over the last few days.

The Horse Chestnut trees are just beginning to show their autumn colours on some of the leaves nearest the ground. When the production of chlorophyll slows down the lush green fades and the yellow and red pigments are revealed. The colours are quite beautiful to look at and the camera is a wonderful tool for exposing the finer details. 

September 1st

I found the colours of autumn very inspirational last year and from what I saw on my walk this morning – this year is set to reveal some beautiful autumnal colour palettes.

I walk 5 miles every morning come rain or shine. Walking in the beautiful countryside which surrounds my home fills me with the greatest joy. I have many routes that take my feet on a huge variety of terrains from bluebell filled woodlands to fields, hedgerows and if it rains enough a babbling brook or two. So much to see and no day is ever the same visually. It is quite simply my very special time when I can think with peace and clarity. 

Having fun!

The whole process of having the wax pot on high and being surrounded cups of procion dye is very soothing to my soul. After two days of mixing colours and dyeing I was left with an absolute riot of colourful fabrics just asking to be cut and stitched.

My plan simply was simply to have as much fun as possible with the colour palette I had created. I had no drawings to work from, no photographs or even a clear idea of what I wanted to achieve. My head and hands simply collaborated as clashing colours were selected, cut, bonded and stitched.

I often feel that stitching can be quite a serious affair; this exercise was just about the pleasure that only fabric and thread can give.