New work: Lost in Time

Detail of 'Lost in Time; by Gillian Cooper

Arrgh – migraines!   I had great plans for last week, but my head scuppered most of them as I was well under the weather from Wednesday until this morning.  So I didn’t achieve much in the studio last week and even the tidying up project has been somewhat delayed.  Anyway.  I’m back on feet now and am raring to continue, especially as I got my lovely delivery of cotton and silk from Whaleys last week so I can get on with dyeing for some new big pieces.

'Lost in Time' by Gillian Cooper

I’ve started one, as in my first part of tidying up, I discovered I had lots more hand dyed fabric than I thought, which was rather lovely.  The next pieces are going to follow on from this piece ‘Lost in Time’, which is touring with the CQ exhibition ‘Dislocation’.  I don’t normally make pieces for challenges, but as I could fit the theme nicely with my work on ancient goddesses and I really fancied making this bird woman, I decided to give it a go.  

Detail of handling sample for 'Lost in Time; by Gillian Cooper

Timing was a bit tight due me leaving it to the last minute and also due to summer holidays.  However, I was really chuffed I finished (at least well enough for photography) on the last day of school before the summer holidays and to get my sample piece sent off at the same time.  I received the email that it was going to be part of the exhibition on the ferry as we left for our holiday in Holland, which was a fantastic start to a great vacation.

Detail of 'Lost in Time; by Gillian Cooper

For those interested in the technical details, rather than use iron-on Vilene this time, I used bondaweb on the fabric and then stitched round each patch, as a form of raw edge appliqué.  I couched the outline of the figure using hand dyed yellow cotton, which I had machine corded with red thread.  I would have finished it a lot earlier if I hadn’t decided to cord the outline thread or if I had just used the silk sari strips directly onto the figure without ruching them first.  One day I will make it easy on myself!

Current work in progress