Cinder Embers by Mister Finch at Anthropologie Kings Road London

Last week I was lucky enough to be invited to an event to mark the opening of the new exhibition by textile artist extraordinaire Mister Finch.

What an amazing exhibition it is.  Inspired by the devastating fire that tore through Parisian taxidermist Deyrolle, the work reflects the post-fire remains with soot-blackened animals, books and papers.  All created in achingly beautiful renditions of animals, insects and magical creatures.  For those people wanting to get a taste of the work we see online and in Mister Finch's book Living in a Fairytale World, then look no further.  There are special edition copies of the book in the store and the gallery at Anthropologie is a wonderful space for stepping into a magical place.  The exhibition runs until 4 January and I would urge a visit to get close to this wonderful stitching magic.

Crowned Swan and giant toadstool in the window of Anthropologie

I loved the hands of the Toadstool on his travels.

Wonderful giant fox

Dancing toadstool fairy folk

Detail of swan

Stately hare

The seven foot fox draws you in by its sheer size, but don't miss the delights of a suitcase-wielding funghi, dancing toadstool pixies and a regal swan.  I have written more about this fabulous exhibition in the December issue of Workshop on the Web, which will be published on 1 December.

But if this exhibition wasn't enough for a visit, you can ignore the wonder that is Anthopologie at Christmas-time.  The festive decorations instore were a delight, and I need to go back clutching my Christmas list as there were many beautiful things to buy there.

Mister Finch: Living in a Fairytale World is available from Anthropologie and Amazon:

http://www.anthropologie.eu/anthro/product/7584093003808.jsp?cm_vc=SEARCH_RESULTS#/ 

 http://www.amazon.co.uk/Mister-Finch-Living-Fairytale-World/dp/099134197X  

Gelli Plates

I was sorting through the work I produced doing demos at the Crafts4Crafters Show in Exeter back in January.  Some of the best ones went into the Product Review section in the March issue of Workshop on the Web, but there were a few more that didn't make it.

This Gelli Plate print was made using a homemade stamp (more about that later) and acrylic paint onto black cotton sateen.  I pressed the stamp into the Gelli Plate before printing.

 This was done by using a Catalyst Wedge to make marks in the plate before printing.  The Wedge was W-04.  Art Van Go supply these wedges and they are great for mark-making on the Gelli plate because they are made of silicone and shouldn't damage your Gelli surface, as long as you aren't too heavy-handed.

This was done using a feather stamp pressed into the Gelli plate.  The fabric used had already been printed (the blue colour is Pebeo Studio acrylic, an interference colour which is fabulous with the Gelli).

I like this one because it's such a bright colour.  This was made using another Catalyst Wedge.  W-03.

This is made using the homemade stamp again and the Pronty A4 Leaves mask stencil.  The colours came together really well.  Again, the Pebeo studio blue was used.

Another Catalyst wedge print.  The feather mask is also in there.

Going back to the home-made stamps.  I went on an Angie Hughes Velvet course, and she showed us how to make our own stamps.  It really opened up our imaginations for creating interesting and bold designs.   Angie then did an article on this subject for Workshop on the Web  December 2013 issue, which is a brilliant article.  We took this article to the Crafts4Crafters show as well to demonstrate how the articles can teach you skills that you can then take further.   Here are the stamps I created:

I did make some leaf skeleton stamps and plain fatter stamps to frame those.  The feather I used to print onto the Gelli plate (further above) is also made in this way.

The Show was fabulous.  All the people there were very friendly.  We met some great exhibitors, including Farno Designs, who had some fantastic hand-dyed fabrics which I used Decolourant on with various stencils.

Knitting and Stitching Show

Please excuse the hiatus in writing.  The world seemed to have moved too fast over the last few months and I am just gathering myself together before half term starts and I get lost again.

Last weekend saw a trip to Alexandra Palace in London for the Knitting and Stitching Show.  I had a great day, meeting up with Maggie Grey, Fiona and Lauren (from Workshop on the Web) and my lovely friend Paula Watkins.  It was incredibly busy and too packed out in places to be able to walk around and see some of the stands at leisure (much better at half past four, when my feet were starting to complain) but I think I managed to see a good proportion of the show.

I really enjoyed some of the exhibitions that were there this year.  Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn had a wonderful exhibition, Jan being inspired by fields and how different times of day and the year affected their appearance.  Jean Littlejohn's work came from the glimpses of times past as a result of renovations in her home and her fanastic works of distressed surfaces were a joy to behold.  The fantastic stitching had us bowing at the altar of Textile Royalty.

Jean Littlejohn - Reclaimed Victoriana

Hoar Frost Jan Beaney

Moving on from there, Ruth Issett and Bobby Britnell had a joint exhibition Equal on all 4 Sides.  I loved the contrast between the two here.  Bobby's work was based on a Ugandan game, and the bold colours and pattterns were striking (left).  Ruth Issett's work was a bonanza of colour, and having reviewed her new book A Passion for Colour in the September issue of Workshop on the Web, it was fantastic to see how bright and vivid her work is in the flesh (it was incredibly vibrant on the page).(right)

Also on show, and not covered in my WOW review was the work of Nicola Jarvis, The Embroidery of Nicola Jarvis and May Morris.  The daughter of Willliam Morris, May Morris was a designer and embroider in her own right, and ran the embroidery studio of Morris & Co.  Her work is held in galleries around the UK and it was these textile designs of May and her father that inspired Nicola Jarvis to create embroideries, drawings and paintings.

The birds featured in the work were beautifully painted and stitched and I loved how Nicola Jarvis incorporated the colours and patterns into each bird.

All above pictures Nicola Jarvis

A lot of great stalls were there and I bought some fantastic fabric from Alter Ego (www.handdyedfabric.co.uk)

I also bought a few thermofax screens, some seagull masks and some yarn for my sister.

But aside from the shopping opportunities, at the end of day, we met Stuart Hilliard from The Great British Sewing Bee.  I have to say that he was so delightful it was the perfect end to a great day.  We all chatted about the Sewing Bee and how lovely and British it was to have people all supporting each other and being competitive in a non-competitive way!  He was hand-stitching some lovely pieced fabric.  His life in textiles has taken off since the show and it is fantastic that someone so enthusiastic about their work has such a life-changing experience and embraces everything it has to offer.

Lindsay Taylor's Embroidered Art Book Launch

Today I have had the most fabulous day at the Book Launch of Lindsay Taylor's book Embroidered Art, published by Search Press.

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You can see from the cover that you get a pretty fabulous book with some of the most beautiful stitching fashioned into exquisite shoes and necklaces and pincushions and more.  My full review will be in the September issue of Workshop on the Web, but suffice to say, I would jump at the chance to buy this book and immerse yourself in Lindsay's welcoming and open account of her life in stitch.  It is a book you will treasure.

The launch was at Kew Gardens, and I couldn't think of a better venue for a book so immersed in nature and beauty.  On one of the hottest days of the year as well, it couldn't have gone better with the venue, the surroundings and the company.

I had the chance for a quick chat with Lindsay Taylor and told her how wonderful I thought the book was, and how beautiful that artwork is.  It is refreshing to talk to someone with so much enthusiasm about her work and generosity in sharing her story of how she got to where she is now.  Dressed in an amazing outfit and a rather splendid bag (home-made I'm sure), the whole atmosphere of the event was of a family affair (many of Lindsay's family had come along), and I felt privileged to be part of it.

Another high point was meeting the lovely Mary of Search Press, who supplies me with many lovely books to review for Workshop on the Web.  Making our introductions purely by chance, I chatted to Mary about books and fairs and some of their upcoming projects.  I left without any more time to have a sneaky peak around Kew Gardens, but it was worth it through having had such a lovely time chatting away.

An amazing lampshade and stand hand felted and embroidered with leaves.   

A close up of an embroidered leaf on the lampshade.  Beautiful work.

One of my favourite pieces, with beautiful pastel coloured roses in a bouquet.

An amazing cabbage teacup.  I loved this - doesn't it just look exactly like a cabbage???!

There were several beautiful necklaces, so elegant and again showing a huge amount of detail and artistry.

Another necklace.

Lindsay Taylor and myself, feeling very tall and very short respectively.  Lindsay did have high heels on and I was wearing flats, which probably didn't help with our height difference.  Lindsay has a natural style and looks amazing.

Me and my New Best Friend, Mary from Search Press.  After several years of communicating via e-mail, it was great to finally meet her.

Lindsay Taylor with her book in the beautiful surroundings at Kew Gardens.

I had a fantastic time.  And the great news is that Search Press are offering a copy of the book for a Workshop on the Web giveaway.  You need to go to the WOW Facebook page to get the details on how to win this or one of a selection of books reviewed either on WOW or on this blog.  Good Luck!!

https://www.facebook.com/pages/Workshop-on-the-Web/174523459465

Back from my post post summer lull

Oh dear, time seems to be flying at the moment.  I am currently working on reviews for the December issue of Workshop on the Web, and I'm very excited to be working with a selection of Wonderfil threads, Brusho sprays, transfer paper and some fabulous Aarti J trims.  You will find them under products.  I won't be able to put my pictures on the blog though!

Aside from that though, I have been doing a few of my own lovely things.  Taking inspiration from Paula Watkins and her fantastic Herts Open Studios that were on recently, I have decided to revisit the felt panel that I made in Paula's felt class in June (seems like yesterday) and get on with it.

I painted my background with a coral silk paint (my most favourite colour) and then stencilled a flower design using a Crafter's Workshop stencil. Then I melted it away with the heat gun, and left a lovely pattern.  I need to find where my piccie of the melted piece is.  It might be in the Hard Drive of Horror (my computer files).

 

I also painted some coral coloured cotton that I have.  I loved this and will need to do a bit of stitching to make it even more wonderful.  But my favourite bit was the back (not something I usually big up as there's usually a mass of threads and it's the place where I hide my mistakes!).  The paint had embossed the fabric. Now I'm not sure what to sew and what to hide....

 

 

 

My other exciting news is that I have some new threads for crocheting!  My lovely brother bought them for me.  I have done a few bits with them (their purchase in turn necessitated some new tiny crochet hooks).

 

They are Lisbeth Cordonnet Threads size 20.  I saw a pattern for a necklace in the Vogue Crochet 2012 magazine and found some in the UK.  Hurrah!  Will take some pictures of what I've done and post those.  See a theme emerging for this post on colour?? They are also all coral or coral related...

 

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Book Reviews - new

I do book reviews for Workshop on the Web, and occasionally, there are too many to go into the magazine.  When this happens, I am going to put them into my blog, so that my reviews don't go to waste.  My first one is from Search Press, which was published in January, so has been out for a while, but is worth a look at if you are into dyeing.

A Handbook of Indigo Dyeing by Vivien Prideaux

Published by Search Press

Available from Search Press www.searchpress.com

Price £14.99

ISBN 978-1-84448-767-7

This book is a very comprehensive guide to all the different types of Indigo Dyeing that can be done.  From reading the book, you quickly understand that it is not something that you could undertake in an afternoon with pots and pans lying around in the cupboard; in fact, the most effective method that Vivien Prideaux has found involves a big plastic container and 20 litres of water.  There is also a fair amount of serious chemical involvement, and plenty of protective clothing.  It struck me that you would need to be fairly committed to undertaking this type of dyeing and be willing to use the right equipment even before you get started.

Having said that, the book itself is a very full and informative guide.  The history of the process, the different fibres and indigo dyes are all explained fully, and it is a very easy read.  The instructions for dyeing (there are 3 different dye VATS to choose from) are set out with lots of photographs and instructions of how to prepare your fabric, and there are plenty of wonderful pictures of finished cloth, which would even tempt me despite knowing how much work it is to get there.  There are even a couple of projects (ie cushion, tea cosy, scarf) to get you using your new collection of fabulous fabric.  I think it would be a suitable book for those who are familiar (or have dabbled with) the process before and want to move to the next level.

On My Travels

My daughter's teacher is leaving school to go and travel around the English Coastal regions, so I have been working hard to make her a book from the class.  I have once again used my trusty Sizzix to cut out some text with the Wordplay die.  I used the front cover, which says 'Places I've Been' in a review I did for the Wordplay die (forthcoming on Workshop on the Web) so here I am printing a picture of the back cover.

The background fabric was a collage done on Picasa and was machine stitched down and edged with a zig-zag stitch.  I used the same fabric to create a tag bookmark with 'I am here' in white embossing powder.

Inside, I stuck messages from the children in, so that when she is (hopefully) recording her travels, she will come across a few surprises on the way.