Feltique

I am very excited about a new book about feltmaking in which I am in! It comes out today and can be ordered on Amazon.

One of the authors of the book, Brookelynn Morris is the guest blogger this week on Craftzine and is giving away 10 copies to those in desperate need!

I have yet to see the book but will post a couple of pics up once it arrives. It is full of different feltmaking techniques including a nuno scarf made by me!

Enjoy!

Feltmaking Workshops

I am planning some new workshops for the coming Autumn. If you would like to be on my mailing list please contact me and I will send you the details once I have confirmed the workshops. I am currently teaching at Barton Peveril College, Eastleigh and will be running a 5 week feltmaking course beginning in June. For more information about this workshop click here.

 

 

5 Week Feltmaking Course
Begins Monday 8th June
7.00 – 9.30 pm
£45

Learn how to felt using wet felt and dry felt methods
Use different fibres (silk, jute, denim, soya and wool)
Make flat felt
3d felt
Make seamless felt

Batik and Machine Embroidered Bible Covers

I’ve had a lot of fun this week making a couple of Bible Covers for a commission. 

They are both made with cotton that has been painted with batik wax and fabric paints. I have then machine stitched on the top before constructing the cover so that the picture or pattern is slightly random as to where it bends around the spine. 

Batik is a lot of fun and I like the fact that it is difficult to control and that it might drip accidently – it makes it interesting to stitch onto afterwards as it provides you with different shapes. The heart in the middle was kind of an accident – I foolishly forgot to put the paint on after the wax and was happily ironing away when I realised that I hadn’t added any extra paint. When I took the iron off there was a heart shape so I thought I would let it stay there and make it a feature of the cover!

I’m feeling very crafty at the moment which makes me a very happy bunny indeed. I do hope the recipients like them – all I was given were the measurements and one colour suggestion for one of the bibles. I guess if God is a creator and we are made in his image and he is always with us – perhaps I was co-creator or sous-chef!

Spinning

I was very kindly given a spinning wheel by a friend of mine last year, and this weekend I finally managed to take it out for a spin, so to speak. It was a little tricky at first to get the hang of the pedaling and drafting the wool but I found this video very helpful to get me started.

This is the result! It is a combination of merino and Icelandic wool, slightly over spun in some places and under spun in others but I am quite pleased with it. 

 

River Hamble Stitch

River Hamble Stitch

First piece of work for a while! Good to be back at the sewing machine. :-)

Student-Teacher/Teacher-Student

PGCE PCET (as a student), NCFE in Textile Art (as a tutor), Taster Days in Feltmaking, Weaving and Sketchbooks (tutor); and starting this week – A Level (Year 2) Textiles (tutor – covering maternity leave). Why, oh why am I even looking at the beautifully tempting courses at West Dean College in Chichester (as a wannabe student)?! Sigh. 

Since September last year I have been training to be a tutor in adult education, studying the PGCE PCET. (Post Graduate Certificate of Education in Post Compulsory Education and Training.) Despite a rocky start and the temptation to run out of the door on a number of occasions I have made it through to January and am finding it hugely useful in my working life. The course runs until June and consumes one evening a week at Southampton University. The course includes at least 75 hours teaching time (including session plans and evaluation write-ups), session observations and 7 assignments of varying lengths.

I decided to enroll on this course to develop my professional skills as a tutor and having completed the PTTLLS (Preparation to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector) and CTTLLS (Certificate to Teach in the Lifelong Learning Sector) City and Guilds Courses the previous year, knew that if I didn’t do it now or in the next 5 years I would have to redo the PTTLLS and CTTLLS courses (and I really didn’t want to do that. Really.)

So here I am – almost half way through and feeling quite busy. It’s an interesting course and it is good to be learning again. Being a student again is very interesting and being a tutor at the same time as being a student is also very interesting as I am becoming quite aware and paranoid of my own body language as a student because I really notice it in my students when I am a tutor! 

Anyway, I am really enjoying myself at the moment and have been reflecting on the art work that I haven’t done for the past few months. My studio space became the junk room again and so this morning I cleared the desk and arranged my fabric paints and threads ready for some new work. I have missed creating so much that when I am teaching and watching other people be creative I get that achey feeling in my stomache (like the one when you are in love for the first time and you really miss your boyfriend). Ah.

So I will hopefully be doing some more of my own work soon and having a break from it has actually been quite refreshing. West Dean College will have to wait although I would love to go on one of their courses at some point this year. Part of being a qualified teacher means that I will have to show I have been continuing my learning in my subject area. I wanted to do some more weaving (I’d like to try tapestry weaving on a proper loom) but the only course I could find locally was the one I am teaching at Barton Peveril (which is weaving on a very tiny hand made loom) plus I can’t really go on that one so I will have to travel further afield. I think they have one at West Dean…

Update: Just to confirm that the course I wanted to run out of was not the one I am teaching but the one I am a student on. One of my students said to me today that I had made her laugh when she read that I had wanted to run out the door and thought I meant on the course I was teaching! I confessed that I had also wanted to run out of the door on this course too (I was very nervous in the beginning and my first lesson didn’t go to plan which knocked my confidence a bit for the first few weeks) but the course I was talking about was my PGCE at Southampton Uni. And just in case any of my tutors happen to read this – I am really enjoying the course now and glad I didn’t run out of the door. :-)

The Knitting and Stitching Show – Alexandra Palace

The UK Hyperbolic Coral Reef

Walking into the entrance of Alexandra Palace in London when The Knitting and Stitching Show is on is always a colourful and lively experience. This year visitors were greeted with a giant crocheted coral reef by crocheters from around the world. The Hyperbolic Crochet Coral Reef has been created by crocheters from all over the world and managed by the The Institute For Figuring.

This installation was just the Uk contigent still in its growing stage, and was sewn together by Sara Noble. and another crocheter.  

The show was busy and full of women (and a few men) carting around bags and pull along trolleys to store all their new woolly wonders.

A few of my favourite exhibitors were:

• Jan Beaney’s ‘Out of the Mist’, ‘In Decline’ and ‘End of Season’ embroideries.

• The Mechanical Drawing exhibition of The Schiffli Project: Alice Kettle’s ‘Nepenthe’, Stephen Dixon and Alison Welsh, and Lynn Setterington.

• Louise Gardiner

I also came across a company called Cornish Organic Wool who are really passionate about well, cornish organic wool and I was so impressed by them and their enthusiasm wanted to link to them. Beautiful colours and knitting patterns and very soft wool.

How To Make Felt Slippers

I recently taught Sue how to make a pair of felt slippers from merino wool and hand spun silk. Sue filmed the making of the slippers in order to watch the process again for her own slipper making fun. She very kindly made me a copy of the film so that I could share it with other slipper making enthusiasts!

Here is the video and a list of equipment you will need if you want to make a pair of slippers.

• Merino Wool – around 200g and other fibres for decoration
• Bubblewrap – you will need three pieces – 50cm x 50cm
• Scissors
• Paper and Pen
• Warm water and a bottle or plant spray – you can buy the spray bulbs seen in the film from www.winghamwoolwork.co.uk for around £8
• Washing up liquid, Olive Soap or soap flakes – I use Ecover washing up liquid which I find easier to use
• Sink, bowl, draining board, washboard (the washboard in the video has made the felting so much quicker. This one that Sue has is from www.carbolicsoap.com and I thoroughly recommend it)

Cibas – Artist’s Breakfast Meetings

Over the summer I have attended a couple of artist’s breakfast meetings run by Cibas at Portsmouth University. Cibas offers a free service to artists, assisting them in their businesses.

“Cibas supports artists and creative enterprises by providing one-to-one creative business advice, professional development training, events and opportunities.”

Once a month Cibas runs an Artist’s Breakfast Meeting where you can have a croissant and a cup of fair trade organic tea and meet other artists and creative professionals. The meetings are held in Purple Door at Portsmouth University between 8.30am – 10.30am on one Friday a month and are free to attend.

Recent subjects have included:

• The Knowledge Bank – Sharing ideas about opportunities in the arts
• Making Statements – on writing an artists statement
• Creative Marketing
• How not to get ripped off – Copyright issues

I usually run an embroidery group on a Friday morning and so miss meetings that run during the term time but I did manage to attend ‘The Knowledge Bank’ and ‘Making Statements’. Cibas also runs one to one sessions, networking events and all day training events. This is such a brilliant service for artists who often work independently at home. The advice is useful and the events are well run, being sponsered by Portsmouth & South East Hampshire Partnership, SEEDA, Arts Council England South East, and the University of Portsmouth. It is hosted by Steve Fisher who also led the ‘Making Statements’ meeting and other guest speakers also come and share their knowledge and expertise.

The ‘Making Statements’ meeting was a very useful session. A lot of work went into the meeting which had around 15 people attending. A Cibas factsheet about writing an artists statement was given out and Steve took us through some main points that could help us out. Writing an artists statement is always the last thing I do before I have a show and this is because they are so difficult to write! At university we were given advice and lots of information about writing a statement which was very helpful but I still find it difficult and wanted some fresh ideas and needed a bit more confidence.

So here are a few helpful ideas that I came away with (and I have Steve’s permission to share them here.)

Information on writing an artists statement / biog / mission statement / business plan:

• The statement allows you to be creative in words that you cannot write on your CV.
• If writing a cover letter – take the time to find out what the person you are writing to is called.
• If possible keep the CV and statement separate.
• If sending a statement with a CD of images and other information put your contact details on the statement just in case they get separated.
• Date your statement so you and the person reading it knows when you wrote it.
• Practice. Jot ideas down about your work when they come to you rather than thinking about it all at the last minute in a panic and not knowing what to write.
• Have a list of words that relate to your practice. Tick them off as you use them in the statement and try not to use the same word too many times.
• Don’t write too much. 200 – 300 words should be enough unless the gallery/residency etc has asked for a specific amount. (I had one this year which was 50 words!)
• Write in first or third person. This is up to you and depends on the context. If you write in the third person you can have fun by adding in quotes from yourself!
• You can add images of your work to your statement. Unless you have been told not to provide images with your statement feel free.
• Ask a friend to edit it.
• Title – the artists statement doesn’t always have to be titled ’statement’! Choose a readable font. Have a look through different publications to see what types of fonts and colours work well.

Structure of a statement:

• Introduction: Who you are, where you studied etc. “I am a textile artist and graduated from University College Chichester in 2001″ for example.
• Context One: What you make. What inspires you. “I make embroidered landscapes from handmade felt and freehand machine embroidery”…”I am inspired by the sea, rivers and landscapes that seem to never end”.
• Context Two: Who you might be influenced by: “I am influenced by Monet’s use of colour and textile artist Alice Kettle.” Some information about what happens once you have been inspired, what you make exactly – how big is your work etc.
• About You: Something personal / relational / spiritual about your work – the main point that will attract their attention. A piece of information that will make the above paragraphs make sense. “I was bought up in Dorset where I visited the coast regularly as a child. It was through my local landscape that I became fascinated with the idea of creation and existence.”
• Looking Ahead: What are you doing at the moment? What are you planning to do in six months? It will be interesting to the reader (for example a gallery) when they read that you are perhaps planning to travel for a year. They gallery may keep you in a file to come back to after you have been traveling to see how your work has developed.

You are allowed to be creative in your writing with the statement and the presentation of the statement. Be careful though as although there are no set rules, if you do do something out of the ordinary to draw attention it has to be good.

For more information on Cibas visit them here. You can also subscribe to the monthly newsletter which includes information about events, job opportunities, exhibitions and future breakfast meetings.

The Gift

After a busy summer of exhibitions and failing to write about them here (oops!), I have just returned from a week in Portugal where I read the book ‘The Gift’ by Lewis Hyde. This was not the easiest read for a relaxing break in the sun but was incredibly interesting and gave me a lot of food for thought about my work and how it fits into the world of money. However the book isn’t really about money, it is about gifts; the history of giving; gratitude; the creative person being gifted; where that gift might come from and how a gift should never stop in one persons possession but should always keep moving in order to continue to be a gift (generosity encouraging generosity and art inspiring artists).

“Most artists are brought to their vocation when their own nascent gifts are awakened by the work of a master. That is to say, most artists are converted to art by art itself. The future artist finds himself or herself moved by a work of art, and, through that experience, comes to labor in the service of art until he can profess his own gifts. Those of us who do not become artists nonetheless attend to art in a similar spirit. We come to painting, to poetry, to the stage, hoping to revive the soul. And any artist whose work touches us earns our gratitude…it is when art acts as an agent of transformation that we may correctly speak of it as a gift.” pg 48.

This being true in my own life, I knew that I wanted to be an artist on a visit to Amsterdam in 1998 whilst walking around the Rijks Museum, deeply moved and deeply certain of my ’self’; what I believed in and what I knew to be true about life. I was inspired and encouraged to the point that my stomach hurt and my fingers ached, desperate to start painting something and be able to speak to someone else the way these paintings by Peter Paul Rubens, Rembrandt, Whistler, and Stanley Spencer had spoken to me. Ten years on and I still feel that enthusiasm but it’s hidden somewhere in my heart or mind. I tend to find it again when reading a book like this – I have an awakening of what I wanted to do, like I had forgotten it or lost it and then found it again. This sense of urgency and passion in wanting to paint or make an embroidered landscape picture is what I should value rather than the moment of glee I receive when I sell a piece of work.

This is an excellent book, nourishing, encouraging, very thought provoking and fairly easy to read. Geoff Dyer writes on the back of the book “Buy several copies: one for yourself and the rest for your friends interested in, well, anything”. So my friends…guess what you are getting for Christmas and anyone else who I do not know…amazon.