Studio Experiments

Pick of the Current London Textile Exhibitions

Those of you who are Selvedge readers will have read a wonderful article about the Foundling Museum's current exhibition Threads of Feeling. As soon as I had read that I wanted to go and so today had a chance to fit in some exhibitions before going to my studio. This quote was taken from the website:

Threads of Feeling will showcase fabrics never shown before to illustrate the moment of parting as mothers left their babies at the original Foundling Hospital, which continues today as the children’s charity Coram.

In the cases of more than 4,000 babies left between 1741 and 1760, a small object or token, usually a piece of fabric, was kept as an identifying record. The fabric was either provided by the mother or cut from the child’s clothing by the hospital's nurses.  Attached to registration forms and bound up into ledgers, these pieces of fabric form the largest collection of everyday textiles surviving in Britain from the 18th Century.

The exhibition is small but extremely interesting and thought provoking; connecting mothers to the babies they were leaving behind and to the scraps of cloth they left with them; tokens of a bond that was broken and the desperation that these women faced. I look forward to reading the catalogue when I get a chance. 

I also went to the new Hauser and Wirth gallery in Saville Row where Louise Bourgeois fabric works were being exhibited. An excellent showcase of her cloth pieces from 2005 - 2007. Some really excellent pieces which were not in the Tate's exhibition the other year. I was really happy to see her combining 3D elements with flat painterly pieces and this has really inspired me to continue with my flat + 3D elements in my own cloth works. I also noted the heavy use of cloth strip weaving in her geometric flat pieces. 

If you live in London these two exhibitions are not to be missed! 

Harvest WIP's

So here are most of my WIP's all laid out. The pears will be made into Pear and Almond Cake later on today. The stuffed hearts are most likely ending up as gifts or will be sold at the craft fair I am doing in December. The needled hearts I need to make more of, might string them together or sell them individually. The piece on the right is an old WIP you may recognise, but I chopped it in half recently; feels much better to work on now. The piece on the left is my double sided black moon weave.

You can go to the flickr image of the above and read the notes on each item here. 

My double sided black moon weave; which I cannot put my finger on yet; something will happen with it soon I hope. I needle felted black wool into a circle on this blue poly cloth, then wet felted it to finish and get the nice bunching. I am now weaving the edges to of the blue cloth with some linen cotton to see what happens. Progress is slow. 

Why Hearts?

Needle felted hearts for practice - I am getting better at this. Stuffed cloth hearts too. But why hearts?

And what do you think of the new blog layout? too much sidebar?

Darning the Divide

My sister and I have set up a new blog; one to communicate to each other across the miles that seperate us. If you want to drop by it is here: http://darningthedivide.blogspot.com/

Process

During. 

Happy Birthday Gift Cloth

Happy Birthday to my dearest Sister; I hope you have a great day Jo. 

Felted Teacosies

Made lots of notes during this felting session; things to change, adapt and rediscover. Weights and widths, thicknesses and lengths. How quickly it felts, how much it shrinks in different areas. Hopefully all useful information to keep and use again. 
All in preparation for a pre-Christmas farmers market stall in December with my very talented sister. 

autumnal small gift cloth - a WIP still

So I have been absent for a while; such busy times recently and much to do. Hope to wiiiind down,  s - l - o - w down over the weekend and get this gift cloth finished. 

Autumn Small Cloth WIP

Not very autumnal yet but its a name. Reveals hidden layers.

Holiday Mini Cloth - Cornwall

I felt attached to this cloth during my holiday, even when I put it down to go walking in the amazing scenery and along the coastal paths we were connected somehow. Hand to cloth again, feels so good. A perfect weight; satisfying, with the freedom of guilt free time together. 
Hope this is the start of something new, or something old but forgotten? Either way I am content and ready to set this one aside to make room for other cloth connections. 

Cloth goes with me on my Holidays

Just a note to say I am off on holiday for a week or so; off to the depths of Cornwall for a good rest, coastal walking, sea watching and not to forget Cornish Cream Teas of course.

Hopefully I can fit a bit of stitching in there too; my cloths in progress and needle and thread are packed in anticipation. The cloth above is finished and parcelled up to send to Heike of Gerdiary tomorrow, and the stones were collected when I went to the seaside last weekend; they look like natural mini Barbara Hepworth's. Happy stitching & felting while I'm gone. 

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Cloth as Page

Cloth as page. Textile as book. 


The Moon is fat and wishes it were blue. 


This in its book form here. 


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Amazing how much you can get done during a day off work

'Welcome to Bournemouth' Small Cloth in progress

This weekend I have been mostly stitching. Stitching small cloths for people. Specific people. I need that sometimes. 

This is a little piece I cut out of an old hankie I found in a junk shop. I grew up in Bournemouth so it was a special find for me; full of memories. The other fabrics I selected are supposed to represent some of those memories. Red and White deckchair stripes, neutral linen and some nice green/blues from an old pillow case that someone had thrown out on the street near my home. 

A work in progress. 

Short Cloth complete

Blogger seems to think that the only options you might want for your images are Left, Right and Centre! Where is the rotate button???