printing at Llantrisant

Had another lovely weekend teaching at Llantrisant with a felt group, who all worked really hard and did a wide variety of printing with Thermofax screens,using natural dye extracts.It's always a joy to see other people using the same basic methods,yet coming up with such different results.

Loved these little chickens.

I love this but I can't turn it round the right way-sorry!

This lovely sample is Mandy's,who organised the weekend in the lovely Model  House craft centre,where the facilities were excellent.I'm sure she will do wonderful things with all her printing when time allows.

Pat's trees with woad and rust worked well and will go on to be developed into a final piece for her exhibition later in the year. 

I love the 'drawn' feel of Claire's images on muslin.All together a very happy weekend and thank you Pat for the hospitality.

  

Finally finished a lot of work!! And got the computer back!

This is a blue version of the white piece I posted earlier-much bigger and with more varied felting techniques used.It has mostly been naturally dyed and uses applied fabric in the felting process-some of the scarves are from my mother who died recently as a sort of memorial.I've also used fabric picked up on my travels so it makes a sort of journal for me.I can still add to it, but I'm trying to stick to the re cycling idea,using old samples and old fabric-upcycling really, as hope it ends up improving the lot of the fabric.

This felt vessel has been waiting to be finished for quite a while.It has layers of rust dyed fabric,woad dyed silk,digital print and surface print using thermofax screens and natural dyes.These are my favourite combinations.Inside is rust dyed fabric too, and below is a detail.Hand stiteched again,with paper string.
Happy New Year  ,anyone who is listening.

In my other studio!

Something very strange is happening to my picture uploading skills today, but I have run out of patience so I'm leaving them as they are anyway.As you can see, there is a lot going on in my studio at present and as it is smaller than the French one, it does look even busier.Below right is a close up of an altered book I'm preparing for the weekend course at Farncombe,using a children's board book and the theme of trees.I'm using some of my not so successful prints on the pages.Plenty of those!

Above is a studio over view,showing the felt pieces I'm working on, some for a Climate Change exhibition(hoping they will be accepted!) and some are throws I'm assembling from my naturally dyed and stitched pieces-a slow process.

This corner has all my thermofax screens and some inspirational pictures, along with a few samples I made for the Climate change pieces.

Finally,more felt waiting to be finished.Lots of work to do and the weather is getting a bit cool, so I need my Ugg boots, bought by my daughter in Oz.It's a bit like an expedition, going down the garden to work, but still a lovely space.

Back from Cornwall

I've been off blogging for a little while , mainly because there hasn't been enough hours in the day, but have just returned from a lovely sunny three days teaching in Cornwall for the I.F.A and these are some of the glorious results.Once again, it's felt collage and print with natural dye extracts.

It never ceases to amaze me what very different results each student achieves-everyone has a different colour sense & that accounts for some of the variety.The work shown here is by Maggie Richards and Jill Whittaker.Thank you to all members of the group, who made me feel very welcome.

Also received my first copies of the new Felt collage book I have written to go with my courses-just like having a baby!

22nd November 08

Where has the time gone?

Lots of things have been happening family-wise, none of which have helped creatively.However, amongst all of it and preparing for two classes this week, I have finally managed to finish my felt piece, which began as some dyed chiffon and has grown to include discharge on natural dyed fabric, laminated fabric/paper sections and some large rolls/pleats.

It's been a satisfying process, but taken much longer than normal. Obviously ,I need to become able to say 'NO' more often and harden my heart to 88 year olds.

This is the final piece.

OCTOBER 1ST ALREADY

Having returned from beautiful sunshine in SW France, teaching a creative sketchbook course in my studio, it is now raining again in the Cotswolds.This is my first post ever and so may be going very wrong, but I'm trying my best.

We have printed in the books, made them all to begin with and had a thouroughly enjoyable time together.Roll on next time!