Saturday 25 July 2009

Pittenweem Fishes






These are my pieces for the Threads of Gold exhibition, part of the Pittenweem Arts Festival which opens next Saturday. They comprise of two layers: knit on the bottom and silk digital print on top and they are felted. I've mounted them on white canvas to make them easier to hang and I still have to finish sewing them on to it. But, hey, I've still got plenty of time!!! The other thing I have to do is name them. The images all relate to things found in aquariums, but they are deliberately obscured and layered, as is our understanding of the sea and sea creatures if our knowledge just comes from days out at aquariums. I am trying to play on the notion of the visible not being the reality and so I want a good title, not just pond life or fish 1 as I have been referring to them. Got to get thinking so they can have nice labels besides them.



Thursday 23 July 2009

Tree hugging


Funny how some days are productive and others are not. Tuesday felt a slog, partly because I had a cold (not swine flu!) and then not helped that the yarn broke on the knitting machine whilst I nipped out of my studio and it took 40mins to sort it all out.

Today on the other hand, I was on a roll. The knitting machine whirred all day and generally behaved itself, so I was able to do some subbing at the same time and I miraculously tidied up a bit too. I got another piece felted, got some fabric prepared to try bleaching for the latest journal quilt and I even made it up to Aberfoyle to try out the tree wrappings. I'm definitely going to need a ladder to get them at a decent height. Even stretching to my full 5 foot 3 1/2in, they are very low down the tree. I hope someone will be able to help me as my talents lie more with textiles than with heights!

Sunday 19 July 2009

Work in progress

Summer holidays are now in full swing here and so my working time has become rather restricted. However, last week I had a fabulous, almost guilt inducing, four full days in the studio. The oldest monster was away camping with his grandparents and the younger ones went to nursery. So I worked from 8.30 in the morning to 5.30 at night, knitting and stitching away. I was really lucky not to have any real amount of editing to do, so I barely wrote a word either.
So at the end of the productive week, I had knitted three hugely long pieces to be wrapped around trees in Aberfoyle; knitted and felted the final base pieces for the Pittenweem Show and then needle felted my gorgeous organza digital prints on to them; done a reasonable amount of machine quilting of the mystery quilt and even managed to do some drawings.
The digital prints are amazing. I did guess the sizes reasonably well and it was with great trepidation I 'destroyed' them by punching them into the felted background. I think the results are interesting. Now I just need to mount the pieces for the exhibition.
The tree wraps used up all my wool and more arrived on Thursday to do some more. They take a full day each, but it my normal over optimistic way, I am hoping to get another four done in the next ten days (total amount of childcare over those 10 days: 12 hours!).
No photos of this work yet, I was too busy enjoying doing it to take a photography break. When I have a moment this week, I'll post some photos. I'm now back into normal life and have just spent a lot of time this weekend editing. September's Popular Patchwork has some challenging projects to check and then there is a redesign on to create an improved look, which is exciting.
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