I have visited Cornwall a few times over the years and this year I finally got the opportunity to visit the magical Lost Gardens of Heligan. Here are some of my photos, with a bit of Photoshop witchery…
Friday, 30 September 2011
Tuesday, 20 September 2011
Wedding Cushion
I am often stumped when it comes to choosing wedding presents, so when my friend Tracy got married earlier this month I decided to make her something that was more of a sentimental keepsake rather than buy her a toaster or whatever. I believe it is much nicer to receive something handmade and I prefer to use my time making something myself rather than traipsing through shopping centres or trawling the internet. For my textiles projects I have made myself a rule that I can only use fabrics that I already have (as far as possible) so I dug out some shiny silks that I bought in India 15 years ago and matched them with other fabrics I had lying around. The middle heart is red velour, as is the cushion. My favourite heart is the one in the top right corner which was from an old shirt that got ripped. I ironed the hearts onto Bondaweb and bonded them to wool from an old grey cardigan that I boil washed so it wouldn't unravel. Then I machine stitched around the hearts and couched some recycled silk sari thread around the middle heart. Tracy's name is embroidered in chain stitch and Ali's using the machine. To finish it off I blanket stitched the wool onto a cushion that I cheated and bought. I was in a hurry and wasn't sure if my cushion making skills were good enough for a special wedding present!
I am often stumped when it comes to choosing wedding presents, so when my friend Tracy got married earlier this month I decided to make her something that was more of a sentimental keepsake rather than buy her a toaster or whatever. I believe it is much nicer to receive something handmade and I prefer to use my time making something myself rather than traipsing through shopping centres or trawling the internet. For my textiles projects I have made myself a rule that I can only use fabrics that I already have (as far as possible) so I dug out some shiny silks that I bought in India 15 years ago and matched them with other fabrics I had lying around. The middle heart is red velour, as is the cushion. My favourite heart is the one in the top right corner which was from an old shirt that got ripped. I ironed the hearts onto Bondaweb and bonded them to wool from an old grey cardigan that I boil washed so it wouldn't unravel. Then I machine stitched around the hearts and couched some recycled silk sari thread around the middle heart. Tracy's name is embroidered in chain stitch and Ali's using the machine. To finish it off I blanket stitched the wool onto a cushion that I cheated and bought. I was in a hurry and wasn't sure if my cushion making skills were good enough for a special wedding present!
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Friday, 16 September 2011
My Inspirations: Jessica Ogden
About ten years ago, at the end of my first year studying Textile Design at Chelsea College of Art, I managed to secure a placement at one of my favourite fashion designers' studio - Jessica Ogden. I had first seen her work at Fabric of Fashion: a Crafts Council exhibition in 2000. I was struck by the earthy simplicity and inventiveness of her designs; she created dresses from vintage linen tea towels (back when the word vintage was far less ubiquitous!) and old 1970s Clothkits fabric. It was almost anti-fashion - much of her designs used recycled fabrics.
So I was delighted to spend the summer working in her studio. I don't think that I realised at the time what a huge influence her work would become. I sat there distressing skirts with sandpaper and then darning them, to give them the appearance of a WWII relic. I used a smocking machine to make a beautiful gathered silk skirt. Tattered old quilts were cut up and transformed into jackets. I was seduced by the character and history of these ancient textiles. I had just written an essay on sustainable fashion - which seemed to me to be an oxymoron, and came to the conclusion that the least damaging to the environment was to recycle old fabrics. The word upcycle was yet to be invented.
I helped dress the models at her fashion show and took some photographs...
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| Dress made from old Clothkits fabric |
So I was delighted to spend the summer working in her studio. I don't think that I realised at the time what a huge influence her work would become. I sat there distressing skirts with sandpaper and then darning them, to give them the appearance of a WWII relic. I used a smocking machine to make a beautiful gathered silk skirt. Tattered old quilts were cut up and transformed into jackets. I was seduced by the character and history of these ancient textiles. I had just written an essay on sustainable fashion - which seemed to me to be an oxymoron, and came to the conclusion that the least damaging to the environment was to recycle old fabrics. The word upcycle was yet to be invented.
I helped dress the models at her fashion show and took some photographs...
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| Hand stitched patchwork skirt |
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| Dress made from vintage patchwork quilt top |
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| Pleated skirt with hand stitching |
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| Smocked and hand stitched wedding skirt |
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| Patchwork skirt |
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| Jacket made from vintage Durham quilt |
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| Dress made from vintage patchwork quilt top |
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| Jessica adjusting the wedding outfit |
Tuesday, 22 July 2008
'Making Pictures with Fabric' workshop with Janet Bolton
I haven’t managed to add anything to my blog for a while, a combination of lack of energy and inspiration, the end of my Artist’s Way course and the group we were going to form fizzling out immediately, and a much needed trip to Spain to celebrate my father’s 80th birthday. All of which has interrupted my creative momentum. But last Saturday I treated myself to a on day workshop with textile artist Janet Bolton. A series of synchronicities led me to the college hosting the workshop – West Dean College, housed in a magnificent mansion, which is a set in beautiful gardens near Chichester, West Sussex. I was really excited about the course, as Janet Bolton is one of my favourite textile artists; her quirky, naïve embroidered pieces reflecting everyday country life are delightful. However I was so excited I couldn’t sleep the night before and the long drive to West Dean left me exhausted before I’d even started.
Luckily Janet is a very experienced and enthusiastic teacher and I learnt a lot in one day. She was trained as a fine artist so pays a huge amount of attention to colour and composition whereas I think my talents are more concerned with decoration. I started a piece inspired by a photo of the pavement. It’s still a work in progress but this is how far I got during the workshop:
Monday, 30 June 2008
My selection of fabrics for my quilt
Just a short post to say that I have sorted all the scraps of fabric that my grandmother left me and taken a photo to show you. I will start cutting squares tomorrow. I have never made a quilt before but here goes…
Thursday, 26 June 2008
My first project as a newly recovered artist
While doing the Artist’s Way course I wasn’t sure where it would lead. I had no idea what form my creativity would take. I did start a degree in textiles (until I got pregnant with my twin boys) but for my first artist’s date I decided to create an ambitious appliquéd cushion cover, and somehow although I loved the idea, I got bored after a few hours and still haven’t finished it. So I wasn’t sure that textiles was the right path for me. But towards the end of the course an idea started to materialise, I didn’t force it, it just lay in gestation and slowly formed into something meaningful and whole. I think it’s the first time I’ve let an idea bubble up gently without forcing it out. I love Julia Cameron’s comparison of creativity to birthing, I have always felt like creativity is a really painful process – like childbirth, but this time I let my baby of an idea grow until it was ready to pop out more gracefully.
I am going to describe what I want to do, to set the intention (and so I can’t wriggle out of it in fear of failure). The person in my family with whom I identify most with is my maternal grandmother. I was very close to her and unfortunately she died when I was only 17, so I never knew her as an adult. As she lay slowly dying of cancer, she told me about her youth in the 20s and 30s, when she was an avant-garde bohemian, way ahead of her time, who had all sorts of exciting escapades in pre-war Europe and hung out with the Bloomsbury set. It must have been an exciting existence, cut brutally short by WWII. My grandmother was Jewish and her parents did not survive the war, she only managed to through a few synchronicitous miracles. She showed me her beautiful photo albums from the time but I was only a teenager and I didn’t fully take in all this information. Sadly I don’t remember any of her stories. She left me her photo albums which my mother eventually gave to me when she trusted that I was mature enough to look after them properly. It took quite a long time for me to reach that level of responsibility!. The photos are delightful and some of them not what one would expect of one’s grandmother (who would have been 100 if she was still alive). I put some of my favourites on Flickr but I’ll reveal a few here.
So I have decided to use these photos to make some textile pieces, probably in the form of art quilts, as for a long time I have been fascinated by the precious heirloom quality of textiles that have been handed down through generations and where women have taught their daughters to sew. When I was pregnant, my aunt found a pile of fabric scraps in her attic that were left over from dresses that my grandmother made in the 70s. There are lots of beautiful Liberty floral prints that I will use in these quilts. I am so excited to have finally hit on a project that I really feel from the heart. I will keep you posted on its creation.
I am going to describe what I want to do, to set the intention (and so I can’t wriggle out of it in fear of failure). The person in my family with whom I identify most with is my maternal grandmother. I was very close to her and unfortunately she died when I was only 17, so I never knew her as an adult. As she lay slowly dying of cancer, she told me about her youth in the 20s and 30s, when she was an avant-garde bohemian, way ahead of her time, who had all sorts of exciting escapades in pre-war Europe and hung out with the Bloomsbury set. It must have been an exciting existence, cut brutally short by WWII. My grandmother was Jewish and her parents did not survive the war, she only managed to through a few synchronicitous miracles. She showed me her beautiful photo albums from the time but I was only a teenager and I didn’t fully take in all this information. Sadly I don’t remember any of her stories. She left me her photo albums which my mother eventually gave to me when she trusted that I was mature enough to look after them properly. It took quite a long time for me to reach that level of responsibility!. The photos are delightful and some of them not what one would expect of one’s grandmother (who would have been 100 if she was still alive). I put some of my favourites on Flickr but I’ll reveal a few here.
So I have decided to use these photos to make some textile pieces, probably in the form of art quilts, as for a long time I have been fascinated by the precious heirloom quality of textiles that have been handed down through generations and where women have taught their daughters to sew. When I was pregnant, my aunt found a pile of fabric scraps in her attic that were left over from dresses that my grandmother made in the 70s. There are lots of beautiful Liberty floral prints that I will use in these quilts. I am so excited to have finally hit on a project that I really feel from the heart. I will keep you posted on its creation.
Tuesday, 24 June 2008
Screen Printed Poster Art
On Saturday night I took my rediscovered artist to a Screenprinted Poster Exhibition. Ever since I dropped my first acid in a Grateful Deadhead's house and all the rose strewn skeletons and skulls popped out of the posters and waved at me, I have loved psychedelic poster art. I had no idea there was a group of graphic designers in Brighton who make this stuff still. Their work is all screen printed, resulting in a richness of colour and clarity of line that is lost with most mass produced prints. I was smitten by this print (ever since reading Tom Robbins' Jitterbug Perfume I have adored the god Pan):
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