One Finished ............

I'm very pleased with the bowl ............




but I'm not sure that I'm happy with the pot as a "finished" item ..............


All/any criticism welcome please. This is the second attempt at adornment - the first was button beads all around the top which didn't work out either. I quite liked the idea of machined cords but needed something to "tie" them together and now I'm not sure about it at all - I was really hoping to put these two "to bed" before starting on another. Not being in a class situation or in touch with like minded artists does have it's disadvantages at times.

On a different, more positive note, I am delighted to see that I've got a mention on Sharonb's "In a Minute ago" - that is exciting!

A Couple More Bowls

Continuing to play around with shapes, quite a large bowl which I am really quite pleased with. My husband has tried claiming it as a fruit bowl this morning but it's not really my colours so we shall see!



I tried experimenting with a different sized stitch for the smaller pink/purple batik one but it's a mess and wish I hadn't used that fabric up now - still you don't know until you try do you?


Aside from these two bowls I don't really know what I've been doing since my last post. I did spend nearly a day wrestling with the sewing machine and cheap thread before finally admitting defeat and a day helping my mum with housework since she is recovering from a major operation but apart from that ............. time management springs to mind!


That chicken fabric that I bought the other week had a little too much print to wrap easily - still it's a bit too pretty to cut into strips really!


Thanks for taking the trouble in look in the chandlers for me Chris, I shall keep a lookout for other suitable materials whilst out and about and perhaps do a bit more experimenting!

A Pot!

Working inside the vessel to try and achieve the kind of shape I wanted was quite hard but (one very sore finger and a blunt rotary cutter later) worth it ...................

Embellishment was the plan although I quite like it how it is (apart from the scruffy stitching due to the awkwardness of the positioning).

Shopping

The finished bowl ........




I'm impressed too (it is actually more circular than the angle of the photograph shows) considering that I never removed it from the machine from start to finish - so much so that I've been and got some more "line" (+ a small wallpaper seam roller that will be handy for working sprinkles of dye into fibres for microwave dyeing) .............



I've invested some of the Christmas present fund in some fabrics so I will now have to justify my purchase of them!

Coiled Fabric Vessels

In a round about way, I came up with the idea to make some coiled vessels as Christmas presents. Being unable to source the cotton clothesline recommended in the book locally, I thought about experimenting with some cheap poly. stuff .........



Even though I haven't used anything else to compare it with I think it works really well - the bowl is well formed and not at all floppy (only problem being I broke one of the little pegs which attaches the extension table by leaning on it - still it's not the first time and they don't cost much thank goodness) ..........


As this one is something of a trial piece to see how things work and to estimate the lengths of cord and fabric required etc., I may just do a row or two more to finish it off - it would be a handy little bowl to keep by the side of the machine to house threads/feet etc. to save them falling to the floor during projects.

From the Depths of Beyond

This morning we have been into the depths of beyond (well the cupboard under the stairs actually) and look what I've found ................. the hedgehog by Grace Christie! It is a photo I took with our 35mm camera at the V&A and had used for my History of English Embroidery

From my Indian research book, I spotted this little fish that I sketched (sourced from an old pen & ink drawing of Matsya, the fish avatar of Vishnu)

.

and also this illustration of a Kalamkari painting depicting the incarnations of Vishnu

Eager to get started on something, I'm thinking that these 10 images would interpret into textiles (perhaps pages) really well. I can see a pattern continuing here - too much thinking, zillions of ideas and not enough "doing"!

We didn't find my missing "Q Snap" frame though and have run out of places to look!

The Road to Nowhere

This post is not really textile related and rather morbid so please don't read on if you'd prefer.

My grandad died suddenly on Wednesday and I've been reminiscing, like you do. As a child, many a Sunday would be spent fishing or rather "watching" grandad fish and, much to my despair at the time, his preferred location was "Dungey". Now Dungeness can be a delight to any adult, particularly those interested in the arts with wonderous photographic opportunities including extraordinary skies and lighting at times but, as anybody familiar with the place would know, for little girls there is nothing! For me then, unlike now, it was the "Road to Nowhere" - strong currents and steep shingle banks meant it wasn't even safe to swim! These photographs just seem so apt for this present time - The Road to Nowhere

Only the other day I was thinking about postcards or pages as some kind of journal but couldn't think of anything particularly significant to portray the current time in my life ................. now I have heaps of ideas.

I gave the postcard to my mum to help cheer her a little - she thought it was lovely so there was a purpose after all!