Thursday 21 April 2011

To dye for........ April workshop

What an exciting day we had!   We were low on numbers today, as several members who had planned to come couldn't make it. They missed a treat.


Jackie Cardy , whose work we had been looking forward to seeing for real, began by giving us an idea of her journey into textiles, and showing us examples of stunning work. There was an astonishing variety of techniques here, and we were fascinated by the stories behind some of the pieces! 







Then we got to work, as Jackie took us through the art of dyeing teabag paper. What fun!   With lots of samples to bring home, ranging from vibrant to subtle, we should all have plenty of inspiration for our own work. It will be interesting to see what we all make with our dyed 'fabric'.  Jackie generously left us with some teabag paper and dyes, so those who missed the workshop may yet get the chance to have a go!







Many thanks to Jackie for a thoroughly enjoyable day.

Tuesday 12 April 2011

Folded Book...... Lynda Monk Workshop and April Meeting

The only workshop I did at the recent 'Fashion Embroidery and Stitch ' Show in Birmingham was with  Lynda Monks, making a book with clever folded pages, using some of her mixed-media techniques. The sample books she had on display for this workshop looked very exotic, and it was intriguing to see how some of the effects were arrived at. Seeing the ideas in books is always interesting, but there is nothing quite like being shown how to achieve the results!  Lynda is generous with her ideas and encouragement, and everyone in the workshop managed to end up with a lovely book. Mine, actually, would benefit from some more embellishment on the cover, which it will get, someday!








In the meantime, some pictures of my book in its present state, and a link to Lynda's website, where she is known as purplemissus.        Her blog entry about the NEC show is here, and she has much better pictures of the books.




A reminder about April's workshop .


This is a talk by Jackie Cardy about her work (see her blog, Dog Daisy chains, on our list), followed by an afternoon session of 'playing about with shibori dyeing', using inks and teabag tissue paper which is very easy to dye and can be used as a fabric, or base for embroidery later. It promises to be messy but interesting!


Requirements;


Rubber gloves and apron
Plastic to work on (even a cat litter tray might be useful in case of spillage)
Strong cotton thread to bind and perhaps stitch   needle required.
Plastic clamps or clothes pegs
Some squares of thick card about 2inches square (roughly)
* Tubes for tie dyeing. These can be plastic drain pipe type about 1to 2in dia, and at least 12 ins long. If you don't have any you can wrap a cardboard tube in clingfilm..... bring a few if you can.  Different thicknesses give different results.
Scissore  (Not fine embroidery type.)
Polythene bags to take dyed wet' fabrics' home




You are also invited to bring along your own inks or dyes and fabrics , if you have them. Jackie will provide us all with 20 sheets of teabag tissue paper 12" x approx 30" ; a charge of about £1 will be made for these.