Demise of the 92 bus route!

its typical and poignantly ironical that this week of all weeks First bus decide to curtail the 92 bus route from Exeter to Taunton. many of you will know i have based my textile for the TFSW exhibition 'Mapping the Future: Where are you now?' (opening this week at the Brewhouse)on the 92 bus route and the textile related occupations of my forebears.
i suppose in a way it is just another link in the history of this area
but it makes me sad to think that the demise of the bus, independant high street shops,
the woollen industry of the area
and all those people that have gone before will never be regained.
However on a happier note there are still some of us keeping the area 'alive' so do come along to the private view on 23rd Feb 5.30-8.00. We would love to see you.

'Looking into' Sketchbook competition

for 'looking into' i chose my fireplace! As i started this at Christmas and i wanted to be able to be part of the family and do something in the evenings while watching the tv i chose something so i could do both. in the fireplace we have an old railing, a fish carved by my father and some lights.
it seems to have been an excuse for me to go abstract. my sketchbook was slightly less than A4.
i was keen to 'look into' the voids and interstices between structures such as the wall between metal shapes and light tubes
above using a smoothed gesso background
tubes of light with stitch
pages from the Radio Times for the fireplace wall
also using cut-outs to 'look into' the solid lines
exaggerating the lights
using wax resists
dusting black chalk into the cut out page
and finally emphasising the swirling light tubes with ink and stick. it has been great fun to do and to see what others have done.

Chapter 2 Stitchery to create suspended features or how to deface a photocopy

for this chapter i chose to use a combination of historical research and my own research. i have continued with 'the door' which as you can see is ever expanding layer wise and i apologise to the of you with a weak constitution as to some of the additions above!
i have also used an area of wall near the door.
for the above 3 pieces i used removable grounds to achieve lace like structures. i chose to use some left over photocopies of engravings of men wearing gros point lace cravats. for the top left one i used the whole image and made graffiti lace within it. i stitched the areas using a layer of tissue on top and then removed pieces by wetting areas with a paint brush and water. in some places i removed both layers and in others i left the tissue intact. the top right sample was worked in a similar way but instead of water a layer of tissue was torn off the back. the 3rd piece was worked on tissue and water soluble fabric. once stitched i took the surrounding areas off with a wet paintbrush. the water soluble fabric behind the tissue letters was also removed but leaving the tissue intact. it gives the whole a wonderful crispy quality.
the above 2 pieces were both achieved with water soluble materials. the top a clear film which i have left intact in a few voids but after wetting it crinkles and goes slightly opaque. the small piece is worked with tissue and free machining on water soluble fabric.
the above image is worked with images drawn on tracing paper which were cut out and sandwiched with bondaweb (on one side) between two layers of fine bonded nylon. i then used a fine soldering iron to cut out areas and partially cut so they are still all suspended from the outer piece.
the 2 'E's' above i worked as a traditional piece of needlepoint by couching the green outer thread onto a base and then linked them with a fine transparent nylon thread then removed them from the backing. i was very pleased that they stayed as they should! instead of using hot glue gun i used cut up pieces of plastic pipe and melted them with an iron to link the 'E's' together.
for the stitching and threading part i used some left over photocopies of gros point lace and some black waxed paper. strips were cut up and stitched together with straight stitch into 5 pieces, i then stitched the whole together with a series of 'E' shapes. it can also go the other way up
i also wanted to try joining words together, hence the Lutrador 'join' and also joining the left over bits of tracing paper from another piece stitched together with the same shape.

'Mapping the Future Where are you now'

Private View invite for this exhibition. Please come along and spread the word! I am so please they have used an image of my textile!!!!

More Maps

on friday when i was meant to be tackling chapter 2, making lace, i was finalising the way my piece for the Brewhouse would hang. the only great height we have at home is the stairwell so in true Heath Robinson style i have walked up and down the stairs many times and attached a pole to the bannisters! the piece is one long strip looped up so there are essentially 3 lengths hanging side by side.
detail above showing bus stop photograph
playing around with the pieces that will sit on the floor
such wonderful sounding occupations but in reality..........?!

Mapping the Future

in March last year I attended the Textile Forum South West conference 'Mapping the Future: Where are you now?' Out of this conference an exhibition is due to be held at The Brewhouse in taunton 23 february - 24 March.
i have been working on my piece for a while and these are some of the thoughts behind it. to get to Taunton I usually travel by bus from Exeter going through many villages and towns my ancestors lived in.
i have used this directly to make a modern 'strip map' using the bus ticket shape and incorporating all the textile related occupations of my family.
Each person has a ticket, some have more than one as they changed occupation. they are all colour coded to the type of occupation but all linked with one consistent thread (except for those with multiples)
they each have a momento ticket made from either map, timetable, notes, photographs of the areas or copies of census returns all sprayed black and waxed. i am at the stage of putting the final pieces together. more progress later.

Module 5, Chapter 1 Lace

for this chapter i chose, after a long deliberation, to study Venetian Raised needlelace. i am very lucky that i have easy access to many books on lace and a wonderful lace collection(RAMM)to study. that probably made it more difficult to choose but i got there eventually.Italian Gros Point has often intrigued me because it looked quite ugly and inconceivable as to how it was made! although there are many books on lace that cover the subject historically, i found it difficult to find detailed working diagrams or instructions.
i did find one book very helpful, Venetian Gros Point Lace by Nenia Lovesey and Catherine Barley. so i made a sample seen below. i used quite a thick thread to that which would have been used originally so it turned out a bit rustic! however i am quite pleased with it for a first attempt.

it's quite appropriate studying this type of lace in the winter because of the resemblence to snowflakes!
i have concentrated mainly on male attire for this study. i love the collars and their attached tassles
i found really detailed instructions on how to document this type of lace here. there are some great photographs of the main features found on all the Venetian raised laces.

Wishing everyone a Happy and productive 2012!