Another Coral Variation

 

 

I had intended to make quite a few more of these coral variations but unfortunately my machine is playing up and I only got this one done.It is a hassle as it is the same problem it had last time I had it seen to and that took more than three weeks to fix, because the service centre is so busy . I can't afford to be without my machine that long this time.I wanted to make these pieces to try and get together money to try and get to Europe for January where I have workshops organised. The red coral variation from the previous post is sold.The second photograph shows the transfer dyed lutradur.I also wanted to make more pomegranate cards and printed the fabric this morning- but they need to be stitched.

My contract with Editions de Saxe for a French version of a coloured 72 Ways Not to Stipple or Meander will go ahead but because the company has been taken over the timeline has been changed. I had hoped to have had part of my advance for publication by now as I have completed all the work and delivered it in September and delivered further drawings about a month ago.I am not sure when it will actually get published now either. I retained the rights for the english version until such time as they decide to publish it in English- but the english version is based on the black and white quilt and is available form me.

Coral Variations

 

 

 

I finally got out my machine yesterday- it has been nearly a month and I could simply not face it ( though I did do a bit of sewing on the machine I have my eldest daughters room- just straight seams). I had previously painted the transfer papers to print onto lutradur, and I finally did the transferring today, then decided I may as well do a bit of stitching. These are coral variations. I have made a lino cut and then transferred the print onto lutradur. I still have to do some of the satin stitching edging on two, but I am always surprised how different they look depending on the background fabric and colour thread you use. These are for sale and measure 8 3/4 inches square( 22 cm square) and cost $50US inclusive of airmail postage.

Khan Assad al Pasha

 

We are off and running with our Expressive Books group- and will set up a public blog once we area bit further along. But as part of my catalogue/ideas I have been playing around with images from Syria which I took earlier this year. This one is of the big dome of the Khan Assad al Pasha ( where the Across Australia exhibition was also shown in 2006).It is an old caravanserai from the eighteenth century and has been restored so it is in fabulous nick. My daughter and I saw some whirling dervishes there as well.

I have played around with my photo in photoshop- not altering the photo a great deal, but playing around with filters and then I printed it on my printer after having previously painted fabric with Matte medium from Inkaid.However I purcahsed mine from Zijdelings in Tilburg in the Netherlands.This stuff does alter the hand of the fabric and I am yet to try sewing it but the image is so well defined and the colour so good I am prepared to sacrifice some flexibility of the fabric. And Sue asked in the comments and seeing I am editing I thought I would answer here- I do back the fabric with freezer paper, but I have to say my printer is also a little sensitive to this sort of stuff so I take extra precaustions.I really like how clear the print becomes. Kathyanne White uses it in some of her work too- and it is worth having a look at her blog and website if you are interetsed in trying different mediums on fabrics and papers- and take a look at her hand made books as well!

And there is a blogreader form the Netherlands Antilles- I would love to know if you are a quilter? And for some reason Neoworx does not seem to recognise Lebanon as a country- I have someone who visits from time to time- but whilst sitemeter notes it Neoworx doesn't.

And Moving On

 

Thank you for all the complimentary comments about my mind map- I suppose I have always doodled so it seemed only natural to combine the two things. Doing it this way made me also think harder about what I might find visually in the ideas I wanted to work with- some will happen and some will not and yet others will use theideas as jumping off points. With that in mind i wanted to make some of the patterning of the bottom left hand corner of the map which is actually the pattenring of the cloak of Ibbit Lim of Ebla which dated from 1900BC. I must admit I just love the depth of history in a place such as Syria- and yet the patterns are still relevant today.I also liked that the clothing/cloaks of the time were so highly decorated, I can only imagine how beautiful they might have been. I did this patterning with breakdown printing- though I disappointed myself with being too rough in creating the patterning when painting the screen-in fact I nearly washed the screen- and then decided I may as well print with it to see what it would bring- going by the theory there is no such thing as a failed bit of dyeing.I do want to do the patterning again with a squeeze bottle so I can refine it better- but on the other hand once this was printed it was more interetsing than the painted screen might have suggested.

Mind Mapping

 

I have been creating a mind map with ideas for the work I want to create for my exhibition in Munich next year. I have decided to go with things relating to Syria- because the experience I had there was enriching and the textiles gorgeous. I also loved the layers of history, the myths, the legends, the architecture ( and I left a french book on Damascus at my aunts... i need it). I also want the map to be part of the catalogue I hope to create to go with the exhibition. Now I shall have to mosey on and dye some fabric- I especially liked some fabric I encountered in the Damascus msuem which dated form Roman times- it was indigo and red with ecru resists of some sort - though the fabric did appear to be painted-- I would love to have photographed it.

Tree ferns

The weekend before last we had a deluge of rain which caused the Gellibrand River to rise dramatically. A few days ago when I took my daughter for her driving lesson we went and looked at one of the camping grounds on the river and found this lovely tree fern. I love the fronds as they begin to unfurl- there is something really magical about them.

I tried some more breakdown printing yesterday - this time on silk, and the printing paste was thinner, so it bled more.

Someone asked how I got the rust effect- it really was just the combination of colours- which I painted on the screen and also dripped a layer on which I allowed to run- so I started with golden yellow , turquoise, and a reddish orange, the drips were in black and then I printed with golden yellow dye in the paste.Because I left it outside overnight the blue that is in the black mix bled into the rest of the dye so this was an accident as I forgot to bring the fabric in.

More Breakdown

 

I have been doing some more breakdown printing- part of the problem has been that the print paste has not been quite thick enough so that it spreads when painted on the screen. I may have to invest in a blender to get the right consistency. Oh and a little tip if you add a couple of drops of methylated spirits to the print paste it will keep indefinitely if stored in a cool place. I also accidentally left this piece outside last night so that the dew really got to it and it actually caused some very nice bleeding which I have accentuated with some over painting. This piece reminds me of rusted metal not unlike the piece I picked up on the beach at Porto San Giorgio in Italy. I can see some stitching goning into the flat mossy green areas- at the moment I am still procrastinating colour of stitching.

Blue Tongue Lizards

 

 

It was a stunning summery day today- I must admit I love it when the weather gets hotter . I mowed the lawn first thing- or when the grass had dried off a little- we have a lot of grass to mow as we have 2.5 acres ( a hectare) and we have had a lot of rain recently so that grass has grown a lot. And with summer comes the lizard and snake season so all the more reason to mow the grass- at least you have a chance to see anything scarey then. I found these three lizards engaging in goodness knows what under an old fashioned rose I have . There used to be only one lizard which we would encounter regularly but they seem to be multiplying. They say when you have blue tongue lizards the snakes keep away but I am not so sure about this as I remember snakes and blue tongue lizards from my Jerilderie days and tiger snakes took no notice of the lizards whatsoever. On the second photo you can see a bit of blue near the lizard's mouth as it is biting the other lizard- that is it's tongue hence their name.

I am mulling some work at the moment and setting up the book challenge project. I have to set the theme for my exhibition next year- I would really like to do something about Syria, but then to do something about the region where I live, is also tempting and it is a while since I have done anything about my surroundings. Maybe I will do both

Colour!

 

 

As you can see from the dyed silk, my dyes have arrived and I can feel myself getting enthused again for colour.I have tied the silk which is 12mm weight habutai with rocks and then painted on several colours.I am thinking of selling pieces worked in this way but arriving at the right price is a bit of a problem as they are quite labour intensive. The "painting" on the half fortyfour gallon drum appeared by itself. The drum had been cut in half to accommodate a fire to sit around at night- and this image emerged- there is something very comforting about it.

To all that responded to my challenge of sorts there is 15 of you from all over - can I ask that you email me ( 3 of you have already) so that I have a record of everyone.Some of you already have quite well developed ideas, others need to begin. I always find charting a useful way to work with ideas- so on a blank piece of paper- think of an idea you would like to work with and then write down associated ideas that arise from that idea- ways you might work, associations, alliteration, artists who have worked with the idea, history,aculturation- creating a map of sorts- this idea also comes with other names ( mind mapping for instance)but I actually find it useful to think of as a map/chart- we are visual artists after all- in that way you can make the idea an island or a cosmos of its own- and of course we will be exploring as well.You may find it useful to have a blank A4(legal) paper size journal, or other art journal to work in with conjunction with the actual book you will be making, to record, to store, to experiment and to research.This will be the beginning. You can work in cloth and/or paper whatever you wish- for myself I will be using both from time to time and I love soft cover books and I have been using momogami papers which I have sewn and stabilised with cloth to make covers- but more on that later. I intend to write a bit of structure for those involved- like a beginning middle and end, types of materials you may need ( but I bet most of you have these already and probably some I don't have already!)- and as I stated in a previous post I would like some commitment to try and finish the project because it is about developing your won work.Ok I need to go explore how I will set up the blog-I am inclined to use blogger , though I know how to use wordpress as well- simply because of the way posts scroll in length rather than as a labyrinth which I find a bit confusing with wordpress.And I am, open to more joining in.

Ohh and I have found the perfect place for us to work- a monastery near Urbino in the Marche countryside of Italy, make sure you check out the image gallery- the scenery is wonderful, the lanes perfect for musing( having recently been close to this place- wish I had known!) wouldn't it make a wonderful place for an artist residency and inspiration centre in real life? In my dreams......! And maybe a bucket of gold will fall out of the sky!

Dye Printing

 

This is the way my printing screen looked yesterday when I had painted it with the second layer of dye paint/print paste. Unfortunately that is not the way it looked this morning- the overnight dew/condensation got to it despite it being stored undercover- blegh! The darker print is the first print and you cna see it has lost much of its definition. I think I like the second print better- the colouring is much more subtel.

I don't know whether you have been following the progress of a group known as Twelve by Twelve- but they have created their own website and blog- doing a themed challenge which is 12 inches by 12 inches on a regular basis. Their first efforts "Dandelion" are up and I must say I am impressed by the variety and inventiveness, and the blog is very colourful!

I always like to think I would like to do challenges but in truth I am away so much it is difficult to do at times- and I have enough trouble meeting deadlines for some of the art quilt shows I would like to enter. There are a lot of missed deadlines over the last few years.

However I would like to suggest a challenge of sorts if anyone is interested ? ( but there will be a limit of numbers- say 10- and I would like people from all over the world to be involved-after all 135 countries have visited the blog) and that is creating books inspired by your own work ( I have a motive of course because I want to create a catalogue for my exhibition in Munich at Quilt und Textil Kunst next year) but I thought it could also be a way for others to learn book making techniques, bindings , explore their own work/content, some print making, lino cut printing etc. I would envisage that we would share techniques relating to bookmaking etc and links- share a blog ( though I can't promise a website as classy as Brenda Smith has made for the Twelve by Twelve group)- the deadline would be August of next 2008.I am happy to be the the instigator- as I need to do this for myself- by this I mean suggesting things/techmiques etc- though I woulkd like a commitment - though I understand if life gets in the way.

St Pierre d'Albigny

When I was in Europe recently, I went to see a friend, Margo Bimler, a Kiwi living in France- for a few days . She lives in the Haute Savoie in France near Grenoble. The scenery is spectacular- I am sure this is one of the areas where they invented chocolate boxes! And what was even better , despite snow and bad weather the previous few days we had absolutely glorious sunny weather. We had a play with a lot of dyeing and printing techniques ( I don't always get to play as much as I would like as I have to make work to earn my living) and we had a play with breakdown printing which is all the rage at the moment. I must admit I did this technique about 15 years ago with an Aussie called Sharon Muir and it was called polychromatic printing then- and she did it on silk. To be fair the breakdown printing does allow you to do more than one print because of the thickening of the dyes that you paint onto the screen which creates a resist in its own right, but the method is exactly the same. I have even made some backgrounds for some of my very early quilts using the polychromatic system. So it was fun to do again- and really gave me some food for thought. So I have been patiently waiting for fabric and dye to arrive- yes really patiently.....blue and black dye is not enough!But the silk is here!


Both cats are sold. They are about 10-11 inches high.

Cats and Tifaifai

 

 

I sat and embroidered two of the cats today. I always feel guilty to sit and hand sew- it does not seem like work somehow, so when I do it during the working week I feel as if it is not real work even though some things are much better sewn by hand.

The tifaifai was on a whim this morning. We have had something rather disturbing happen in the village- it has all of us reeling and thinking what now and it has a rather unpleasant impact on us. I have been feeling like the cowboy who walks into the bar through those swinging doors but i never get to the bar or to the gun fight because I keep on being hit in the moosh by the swinging door. This feeling always impacts on my work and I can't seem to lift my feet ( or scissors) because they seem leaden- but a thought struck me this morning- back to basics- back to what I know, back to the colours I like and just go. So I cut out this tifaifai without drawing a pattern I just cut it without thinking too much- just cutting- I always like the play of positive and negative and tifaifai is such a wonderful example of how different they are- one is vertical and the negative is horizontal- it makes a big difference as to how they look- they seem like hearts to me- and perhaps that is as it should be - I need to mend my heart.

Busy but not Much to Show

 

I have been busy dyeing fabric for a shop in Melbourne, Patchworks Umlimited in Pascoe Vale. This is the only shop I dye for in Australia- I used to do a lot more but gradually they have all dropped off or are getting their dyed fabrics elsewhere. I drove down to Melbourne yesterday to take the fabrics hoping to get to Zart Art to buy more dyes- but as it was Colac Show Day I took teens with me- not a good idea as the anxiety levels of not getting to the clothing outlet part of the city before closing time got too much and I had to abandon the idea of getting to Box Hill.

I have been sewing up my little story dolls and cats- then spent most of today stuffing them. I have often felt tempted to say when asked "What do I do?" to say "I stuff toys" ( I used to make fish and seahorse stuffed mobile creatures as well) though I have to admit "I dye" usually gets a bit of a startled response! Anyway my dolls are ready for the next stage- the hand embroidery and hand embellishing.This is a job I can do at night ( I tend not to work at night as I work all day) as it is quite relaxing.

I have been trying to organise an airfare to Europe for January- but all the airfares are outrageously expensive and I don't think I can afford to do it- so I think I am going to have to cancel my January classes which is a pity, but I can't see any other way around it. I sometimes wish I had my own wings!

Just....

 

 

 

 

When I thought..... all the last drawings and amendments to text for the book have gone off to France and I could breathe a sigh of whatever, I find out this morning that Editions de Saxe have been bought by another company. The General Manager has gone ( he was the one I dealt with) and there is a new one. The contract is signed but I only sent it on the day I left Europe- so it should be there- they had already signed. We had amended the contract as I wanted to keep the English rights until such time as they published the book in English. So now what?? I was hoping the advance would pay for my trip to Europe in January. Hopefully I might find out more tonight- but it just shows how precarious things can be and if the thing is scrapped I will have to cancel my trip :-(

So I decided to make some more of my griot dolls and sone of the cats (one as a thank you gift to some acquaintances in Austria who kindly sent soem Halloween things for the kids). I sold a couple of the dolls when I was overseas- people seem to genuinely like them . So I decided to sell them through the blog as well.! They are $55 US inclusive of postage (airmail). I carved a new figure as I want a variety of faces and patterning as well.

Things left Behind

 

 

I haven't created anything new since being back because I have had to sit and do all the working drawings for my book Seventy Two Ways which will be published in French in January. Serves me right- I thought I would get away with drawing by simply sewing- but not so- they also wanted drawings as well as drawings indicating sewing directions. So I have had to sit and draw these very neatly ( and you know my drawing with the sewing machine is much better than by hand!) it is done- I also had to be more instructional in the descritpions accompanying each square- in the english version I sort of presumed that the people who would be buying the book would already know some of the things, however Editions de Saxe caters to a much wider market than I might reach, so I have had to be much more didactic than I might ordinarily have been. But it is all done- all I have to do is load some images of some of my machine quilted pieces onto a cd and it is ready to send off tomorrow!.

I leave a lot of my things in Europe at my aunts- I get snagged by way too many books- you know how it is- fishing line with attractive book at the end and when I was in Syria I was given a number of artists books as well. I brought one of them home this time. The book was released to accompany the exhibition of the work of Abdullah Murad and is wonderful. I share two images here. The blue one was entrancing- it was quite big and had I had the money I would have bought it. It is composed of so many layers, so many drifts of ideas, a langauge beyond langaue and yet it also captures the presence of Syria/of a Syrian artist working with layers of story and history- I loved it. The other thing I much admired in Murad's work was his masterly use of yellow- it reminded me so of Bonnard whose use of yellow is wonderful.

One of the things I noticed when I visited Artisan Bookshop in Melbourne just before I left, was how miserly the books on quilting are. By this I mean they were all soft back slim volumes on one technique yet many of the other books in the shop also relating to areas of art and craft were substantial weighty beautiful books. I think we are selling ourselves short- by allowing publishers to dictate the quick and speedy way of publishing. I don't mind if it relates to one technique but when the book contains substantial work it desreves better than a slim soft cover volume. So this thought has been ruminating in my mind- as I have been trying to think of ways I can make a catalogue to accompany my exhibition in Munch next year- and I am leaning to hand made books- I know it is a kind of expensive exercise- but if the content is good and the work even goes vaguely halfway to capturing what I have been imagining then it is worthy of something more than a mere invite. Anyway I have still got the thinking cap on , and maybe it is too big an ask. I am thinking limited edition catalogue. Ok off for a glass of champers!

Some things from my Trip

The first photo is of a piece of Kuba cloth which scomes from the Congo. I bought it at Val d'Argent.It is a technique peculiar to the Kuna people , and I have not heard of any other people working with this particular technique. The ground fabric is woven from raffia and then embroidered with raffia- the embroidery is then cut to create the chenille effect. I love the slight irregularity of the shapes which gives it a certain motion. I was very happy to get a piece of Kuba as slowly I am building up a small collection of all sorts of indigenous textiles.

the se=cond piece is some fabric I dyed the day I met with Laura and Annette Jeukens. I couldn't take it with me at the time as it was still wet but Laura kindly sent it to me. It is painted with Trapsuutjies opaque textile paints and fabric liners( copper is the colour I used) I really like this piece of cloth but have not decided what i shall do with it. Oh and btw Trapsuutjies website is now also in English ( and hopefully soon in French as well)

Back in Australia

 

 

 

 

The photos above are from a small textile museum in Hard near the Boden See in Austria.This particular area developed as a textile printing area after a person moved to this area from the great Mulhouse printing factories sometime in the 1700's. The area was chosen for it's pure water which was also ultimately to cause its demise in the 1860's with local town councillors voting to close the industry due to the polluting of the water system. The museum is small but well worth a look if you are in the area- they had a very good video showing the carving of the blocks and transfer of designs and showing the actual printing process and mordanting process for silks ( and much of the mordanting of natural dyes uses urine- for example woad uses bovine urine, and workers associated with the industry often had derogatory names assigned to them because of the odour of urine) as well as a very nice collection of printing blocks and fabrics printed in the region.Wood block carving was a much sought after profession in that it paid three times the money than ordinary work in the textile industry and was done in well lit warm and dry environments. One did a three year apprenticeship upon which one was given or bought ( I am not sure which as my German is a bit rusty)a box of tools as seen in the photo. This enabled woodblock carvers to travel with their tools to various areas and of course resulted in a cross fertilisation of patterns and designs.

I am back after a long journey home not helped by a train strike in France ( my intended way of getting to the airport which had to be changed to hire car as I did not want to miss my plane as it had been incredibly difficult to get a fare home in the first place), to being told the plane was too full and that I would have to fly with a partner airline( which was fine by me) to being told at the last minute they did have a seat for me, arriving in Doha late and having to scuttle to catch the next leg of my flight to find my luggage missing on arrival in Bangkok. I was a bit overwhelmed by Bangkok-the noise and dirt and its skyscrapers- giving an outward appearance of western affluence ( why is this so desired- I find modern western cities soulless) but concealing poverty- and the number of shops selling designer clothing ( how many of these outlets are there worldwide of these overpriced items- there are whole cities that exist on selling hotels and designer malls to tourists- Dubai, Doha, Singapore, Bangkok and no doubt many others).I had hoped to buy some silks but I didn't get to the markets . Then I flew home on Jetstar- and from my point of view never again! The plane was fine but having to pay for meals and drinks on a reasonably long haul flight when you are tired and just want to get home is not my cup of tea. Not only that I used my frequent flyers points for this leg- and my grumble is -- I earned those points on more expensive fully catered flights - yet I get to spend them on a lowcost flight with no services!Thanks Qantas!

So I am home- have to finish drawings for my Seventy Two Ways book to send to France- my book contract is signed for the French edition of the book! Also waiting upon my arrival home was lovely already coloured lutradur/polyester non-woven fabric purchased by one of my students from Paris ( Thank You Catherine!)in a Toto of all places ( though in a sense not surprising as Toto's seem to have all manner of things fabric). Catherine sent me yellow, orange and red- which saves me having to colour the first application before applying the next layer of colour/designs with transfer paints.

Marion tagged me for a meme- but as i can't think of an unsual fact about myself and I haven't yet got around to thinking of any other facts.

And I will be going back to Europe in late December/January and giving more classes so if you are interested please contact me!