Reclamation, part 2

Well, the previous reclaiming of the blog didn't come to much, did it? I realised that it was mainly because the blog didn't really feel like me any more, I have moved on quite a bit since I started it. As you will know, if I have any readers left!

So yesterday I finally decided to do something about it; I hope you like the new look. The menu now links in to my main website so I'm not having to keep up with 2 separate sets of pages - and now my website links back to here too - a definite incentive to post more often! I did think about moving the whole thing over to wordpress (which hosts my website) but I felt I had too much history here to leave behind. So I'll see how it goes. I hope the transition from one to the other doesn't feel too clunky.

But enough of the tech talk... in the meantime the 'Reclaimed' exhibition I spoke about last time is up and running, still plenty of time to see it if you are anywhere near; for more details see the TX Creative Textiles website. It really is an excellent exhibition, well worth a visit, though I say so myself! There are two other exhibitions running at the same time in the arts centre and a rather nice cafe on site - perfect for a day out.

Exhibiting here...

Some of my work will be on show at the Society of Design Craftsmen 'Designer Crafts 2014' exhibition at the Mall Galleries in London, from Friday this week. As we have been hanging the exhibition I have been stunned by the quality of the other work and feel really honoured to have been selected. I can't recommend a visit to the exhibition highly enough if you can possibly make it.

TX Creative Textiles exhibition 2012 - more pictures

Just a quick one, reposting my slideshow from the Collections exhibition as I have added a few more pictures to it.  The exhibition is on until 16th September if you want to catch it, details here.

TX Creative Textiles exhibition 2012

Just thought I'd show you a slideshow of my photographs from the Collections exhibition for those of you who haven't spotted them over on Flickr.  I will try and do some more, I seem to have missed a whole wall out when snapping, oops!  And some of the ones I did take didn't come out that well, apologies for the dodgy bits, the gallery spotlights are not very sympathetic.  But these will give you a flavour of what is a really lovely exhibition, if you want to see more then you need to come along in person!  Details on my Events page.

And don't forget the 'Meet the Artists' evening on Friday 10th August (that's tomorrow!) from 7pm to 9pm.  Everyone welcome!

Collections

This year the annual exhibition of the TX Creative Textiles group is centred around the theme of 'Collections'.  For my part I have been collecting leaves and rusty things and kitchen scraps and using them to colour cloth. I started my experimenting back in October and every month or so I have tried something else.  Due to the pressure of other work I've not been so good at documenting my progress here, but I have been documenting it all in a journal which forms part of my exhibit.

Not everything has been successful of course, not every piece of cloth has made it into the exhibition, but I have been really pleased with most of my results.  Left to right, these hanging cloths have been coloured using

1. Various fallen autumn leaves on cotton
2. Fallen autumn leaves, mostly copper beech, on silk
3. Ivy leaves (aka weeding!) on silk
4. A variety of seaweed on cotton
5. A variety of seaweed on silk
6. A variety of seaweed on silk
7. Rust, with tea, on cotton
8. Rust, with green tea, on cotton
9. Rust, with green tea, on silk
10. Onion skins on silk
11. Onion skins on cotton

I will try to tell you about some of them in a bit more detail over the next few days, now that I have time to step back from them a little.

But back to the exhibition, it runs from 8th August to 16th September at Castle Park Arts Centre in Frodsham, full details on my Events page.  There is a really wide variety of lovely work this year, more pictures to come.  It's definitely our best yet.  But then, we say that every year! 

And on Friday 10th August we have a 'Meet the Artists' evening from 7pm to 9pm, everyone is welcome.

Upcycling

Like it says over there → in my profile, I really don't like to throw stuff away without trying to make it into something new.  So recently I've been using my newly learned skills to make these

from the likes of these (we did finish the contents first...)

And then of course, vases need flowers so I made these

out of these...

This is all in preparation for the 2012 DeJunk ReJunk exhibition, by a group of Merseyside based artists creating art and craft from 'junk'.  The exhibition is on from 2nd - 20th July at Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre, see my Events page for more details.

Light and Space

Part of the reason I have been so madly busy lately is that we have been preparing for an exhibition as part of the current module at uni.  The exhibition is called Light and Space and features work from all the second year applied arts students, so there is ceramics and jewellery/metalwork on display as well as glass.  It is on at Theatr Clwyd in Mold for the next month - find the details here - all welcome!

For my pieces for the exhibition I have been working on incorporating images into glass blocks.  The images I am using are taken from some of my collagraph prints, recreated as screen prints and printed onto the glass.  I've then been layering up the glass and fusing it together.  The next step is to trim the sides of the block - here is a block-in-progress.

As you can see, the trimmed side does not have that nice clear 'glassy' look to it... it takes a LOT of polishing to get it back to that state.  And it's very easy to chip corners and edges during the polishing process.  And each block has four sides and eight corners... you get the picture!  I still need to iron out a few problems, the kiln temperature is not quite right yet, and the polishing needs more practise (probably not being in a rush would help!) but I'm getting there.

You can see the rest of my pieces here on my Flickr.

Days off

I was chatting the other day to Mel of feltmeupdesigns about the necessity of days out doing something nice when you are on your own working from home much of the time.  And I thought about how bad I am at taking my own advice... there is always so much around the house that I think I ought to be doing but I would much rather be doing something creative so I end up procrastinating and not doing either.  And certainly not going out anywhere nice for the day because of all the other stuff I should be doing.  Hmmm.

Well, last week I had actually planned a day out so I have awarded myself a pat on the back!  I took a trip over to Manchester to the Special Collections space in the MMU library to see the current exhibition which is by Kirsteen Aubrey, one of the MMU glass lecturers, entitled The Glass Journey.  The exhibition was small but beautiful and she had all her process and workings up on the wall too like a giant sketchbook - absolutely fascinating.  The exhibition is on until 16th December and well worth a visit if you are in the area.

I managed to to choose the only nice day we've had for weeks for my day out - bonus!  So after I had seen the exhibition I wandered into the centre of Manchester (without getting too lost - it's not a city I know all that well) and had a look around the lovely craft shop at the Royal Exchange Theatre - mostly looking at the glass pieces and how much they were selling for - important research don't you know!

After that, a bit more wandering around the centre and I managed - quite by chance because I had totally forgotten where it was - to find Paperchase.  The top floor of the Manchester Paperchase is a wonderful place - all those lovely papers.  I didn't spend too much...

A couple of sheets of gorgeous handmade paper which may end up as book covers and some lovely square pieces of Khadi cotton rag paper for printing on.  And some paper string I couldn't resist, maybe for weaving, maybe for collagraphs.

All in all a lovely day out, very inspiring.  I must do it more often!

It's up!

Absolutely exhausted having spent all day hanging the exhibition... but it looks fantastic!  Details here.

Prep Work

I think I've mentioned before (once of twice!) that my prints are going into an exhibition this week. A nice feature of this exhibition is that the exhibitors put out their sketchbooks for the visitors to look through.

Now since a lot of my prep work for the prints have been test prints I haven't been working in a book - can't put a book through the press! So I have been collecting together all the bits I have done, the transferred photographs I started with, the charcoal drawings I did, the test prints from the plates that worked and the ones that didn't really, and of course the plates themselves.

And I've bound them together into a book.

Well I haven't actually included all of the test prints because there were so many of them... but a representative selection!

 

I toyed with the idea of adding a little colour here - decided against it.  Although it's something I will probably come back to in the future.

This print was one where I applied the ink with a roller rather than rubbing it on.  It's really surprising how different a print can look just by changing the way the ink is applied.  In the end I didn't use the roller for any of my final prints, it didn't seem to suit the soft landscape look I was after.

And I also mounted (most of) the printing plates and included those too.  Hopefully they won't make peoples fingers all inky - I have cleaned them, but still...

Hanging tomorrow... the exhibition details are here, do pop along if you can!

Packaging the Prints

I've spent what seems like a ridiculously long time this afternoon packaging up my prints ready for the exhibition (see my Events page for details) - framing some and packing the others in bags, labelling them all, and so on.  I had no idea it would take so long!

I just hope I manage to sell one or two after all this!  Although I do have a plan for those that don't sell... and I would be quite happy to keep these two...

I'm relieved to have got them all done - now I'm looking forward to a quiet evening finishing off my first ever hand-knitted sock.

De-Junk, Re-Junk Exhibition

Today I dropped off some of my new eco daisies as they are going to be in an exhibition of art and crafts made from recycled materials at Birkenhead Park Visitor Centre. The exhibition is called De-Junk, Re-Junk and will be running from 18th July to 31st July, open from 10am to 4pm each day. It looks like there is going to be some really interesting art there, well worth a trip if you are in the area.

Busy busy busy

I am very conscious that I have been neglecting my blog of late... my excuse is that I have been gadding around all over the place. First we went off to see my Mum at the seaside and of course I managed to fit in a bit of beachcombing...

As usual Mum was in the midst of a clear out - I have no idea why she was the owner of a polystyrene display head but I was quite pleased to take it off her hands!  Meet Florence - as you can see I have already started to give her a makeover...

Then back home to mountains of washing...  On Friday I managed to sneak off to Rugby for the day to visit the CULTEX exhibition.  This inspiring exhibition was the result of a collaboration between 3 Japanese and 3 Norwegian textile artists.  Sadly it has closed now and is off to Norway but the CULTEX website is well worth a look.  I can't show you any pictures from the exhibition but I did take a nice one of Rugby school - Rugby itself is very pretty, I have only ever been to the station before which doesn't give the best impression...

I had a little time to spend browsing the shops in Rugby town centre before my train home and couldn't resist this find in the fair trade shop...

I'm sure it's going to be very useful for something!

And in between all of this gadding about I have been working on  a couple of lovely wedding flower orders, including some flowers in lovely new shades of blue - the new colours will be arriving in my shop shortly!

Summer Exhibition

Just a quick post to let you know that I will be hanging my veggies tomorrow in my textile group's summer exhibition at Castle Park Arts Centre in Frodsham (Castle Park don't seem to keep their website up-to-date but it's good for directions and opening times!).  The exhibition is on from 7th July to 16th August - check the here for opening times.  There are loads of lovely pieces in the exhibition - well worth a visit if you're in the area.

And I have been playing with my new camera - discovered a whole new level of zoom so I will have some lovely close up shots of the vegetables to hang as well.  Sneak preview here...

Red Cabbage

Onion Rings

Carrot

PS Have you entered my giveaway yet?  Ends Wednesday 7th July 9am BST - so don't delay!