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???

Short Cloth in progress

String, Felt, Thread

Ive been reading String, Felt, Thread: The Hierarchy of Art and Craft in American Art for the past two weeks or so and it is probably the best book on the history of textiles in contemporary art. It deals with the struggle artists (especially women artists) had for art -world legitimacy in the 60's and 70's; the artists involved in the art/craft divide (Faith Ringgold, Miriam Schapiro, Harmony Hammond & Judy Chicago); the artists who did get recognition and why (Eva Hesse & Robert Morris);  and all the things that have come out of this now. I have to say im only two thirds of the way through the book but I would already say it's a must read! I only wish this had been written sooner so that I could have read it sooner!

I think its also been influencing my ideas, especially those surrounding my bundles.

More Bundles

So I finally made some more bundles. Been thinking about amulets, talismans and spells; ritualistic acts, intent and magic and how close they are to each other. How close I feel to the materials, how linked the idea is to intent, how linked materiality is to an idea. 


Make. 
Making. 
Made.

What you think?

Check out the Millinary skills!

If you live in London and like hats and headbands then you should head down to the latest East London Craft Guerrilla fair and check out my good friend Little Yellow Birds. She makes delightful 1940's and 50's style hats and headbands. This one pictured below has been entered into the fair's tombola, so if you buy a ticket you might be lucky enough to win it! Although I kinda want it for myself!

Craft Guerrilla August Craft Market.Saturday 28th of August from 10 am to 5.30 pm. Beautiful Interiors shop garden. 34 Orford Rd. Walthamstow London E17 9NJ.

The Aftermath

Its been a week since my open studios and I am still trying to catch up with sleep! It was so tiring but really good too; hundreds, no thousands, of people passed through our doors over the 2 and half days and I had so many productive conversations about my work that I am still trying to get it to all sink in. Some surprising discussion about my textile pieces that are still 'works in progress'which have really helped my confidence in that area; I wasn't sure what reception they would get and so I was extremely happy to find so many people being drawn into my studio space to see them up close.

I took this photo in a rare moment of relative quiet just to show you my space with people in it looking at my artists' books and

my textile work on the wall and the textile bundles work in progress in the foreground there. Thanks to everyone that came along and sought me out in the melee and to those who just came across me by chance; I hope to see you all next year!

Open Studios - 30th July to the 1st August

So its open studios time again! My studio will be open as part of the Hackney WickED Art Festival this weekend so feel free to come along if you are in London.

I will have a selection of current works and works in progress out on display plus there will be a special chance to see Micro-Pages (the book arts exhibition on microfilm that toured the UK earlier in the year) on my very own microfilm machine!

Opening Times:

from 6pm Friday 30th July

10am - 7pm Saturday 31st July

10am - 7pm Sunday 1st Aug

There is a map here; and you will find me in the Mother Studios block (no. 8 on the downloadable map):

Studio 9.5

Floor 3/D

Mother Studios

Queens Yard

White Post Lane

Hackney Wick

East London

Nearest station is Hackney Wick station on the London Overground line (orange line on the tube map).

I look forward to seeing you there!

scarf experiments

Tried out some nuno felt scarves with muslin. Cant seem to get this second image to flip round the right way - blogger image upload seems to have a mind of its own these days.

Long Slow Cloth just got Longer

textile bundles

So bundles, yes, bundles. I have been inadvertantly making textile bundles since my degree and its only now that I have started to make them with a certain purpose. The ideas behind them are those of archaeology, mysticism and archives. Documentation as bundles; bundles and a form of archive; a repository for memories?

Anyway; they are certainly going somewhere. . .