Bristol@last

we got to Bristol at last combining Nelson Street, Louise Bourgeois/Tracey Emin exhibition and relatives! typically we chose a day when there was road resurfacing going on so our views were marred by lorries! however that didn't stop us enjoying it (us being myself and 11 year old). he was doing the directing as to which ones to record! there is an amazing amount of variety and the following are just a small handful.

we were walking down the street and my son said 'that's a good one', i said 'where'? looking all around! how could i have missed it? i have since seen a video on 'the Wooster Collective' where the artist said it was based on 'paint the town red'
beautiful lettering

this chap had 4 arms and legs!
Free Tibet, a cause dear to my heart

dust graffiti!

i hope the Tracey Emin/Louise Bourgeois exhibition at the RWEA hasn't traumatised my son but it was worth it for the Damien Hurst sculpture outside! So that says it all!

Final paperwork and authentication

Here is the final paperwork for this module (i think) as i'm still working on my assessment piece i will fill out the Student evaluation later

Authentication - felt making

Textile artists Felt and text Chapter 13

I have chosen to study two very different artists! Joan Livingstone who works in mainly 3D felt and Rosalind Wyatt who works directly with script. They are not technically 'embroidery' artists but they do use stitch! I first came across Joan Livingstone when I bought a Portfolio Collection book on her a few years ago. I can group her with other artists like Joseph Beuys and Eva Hesse who I love. I love her precise almost perfect way of piecing things together along with the simplicity of her pieces. You can see more of her work here


the other artist i am looking at i came across only recently when i was searching for people who use text in their work. Originally she was and still is a calligrapher but has branched out into textiles. i have always loved the jacket worked by Agnes Richter in the prinzhorn Collection so when i saw Rosalinds work i loved it. Her website is a must, especially if you love the sound of Bill Nighy's voice!!

Chapter 10 and 11 Felt Making or how not to stab yourself while needlefelting!

these 2 chapters cover felt making and resolved samples of said felt. before i started i thought i would like to continue with the above image i made for the chapter on 'slips' and experiment with lettering again.
when i did my certificate i was taught a method for felt making using a container and a potato masher so i had never made felt the more traditional way - so this time round i made some samples using the rolling method. there are also lots of you tube video's showing the many and varied methods of felt making. the above photo shows my first 3 samples. top left made with black merino has strips of cellophane embedded in the layers, the cellophane obviously stays the same size when the wool shrinks and gives an interesting texture, the cellophane also pokes out quite interestingly. top left sample is my attempt at felt seersucker! i bought i think last year at Ally Pally a piece of melted nylon/plastic stuff which i embedded in this piece of felt. the white/natural coloured piece has fine plastic tubing embedded in it.
i then branched out to colour, the green one i used for one of my resolved pieces.
the above pink piece is double sided with black
i then discovered needle felting! it was one of those eureka moments i absolutely love it. i was going to experiment with an embellishing machine but once i had started with the single needles i realised how controllable it is, until you stab yourself, not once, not twice but a few more! the above photo and one below are some test samples in needle felting using pre-felts, fibres from tops and samples of 'nuno' felting onto organdie.
i wanted to try and enclose items and make pockets by needle felting around things, hence the lollipop stick


Chapter 11
Resolved sample based on the image at the front of this post. when you needle felt you basically end up with two surfaces, the front and back and once i had done some experiments i realised how much i loved the tufty reverse side, so i decided to utilise this in the above sample. i wanted to see how precise i could be needle felting and experimenting with various ways of making letter forms using just the front and reverse of the needle felting technique. this piece was worked on undyed wool flannel with the green felt i made earlier, some pre-felt and machine made felt. i used card shapes inside the sandwich for the letter definitions.
above detail at an angle of 'L' shape
detail 'R'
Sample 2 i wanted to see how paper would work in the felting process so with this piece i enclosed torn strips of newspaper sprayed black in the base felt and as i wanted to be able to see it in the finished piece it is only covered with a fine layer of wool fibres. i also wanted to experiment with needle felting paper and even more so since seeing Lizzy's work at summer school. so this sample uses undyed merino wool, pre-felts and newspaper. the base felt and the 3 pockets were all made individually (i wanted very random shapes and wiggly edges) it was quite difficult judging the size that the felt would shrink to!
the letters are made of a sandwich of felt with a larger letter of newspaper in the middle and needle felted to hold them all together they are then needle felted to the base felt in a few areas (so they stand proud). to the right of the above photo you can see some of the newspaper strips and added stitch!
i then took myself off to see a beautiful exhibition at The Devon Guild of Crafstmen in Bovey Tracey called 'Signs for Sounds'. it shows the work of various artists using the letterform. the work that particularly caught my eye was by Julien Breton who makes light calligraphy. it is touring but on at Bovey till 31 October, an absolute must. i treated myself to a wonderful book there 'Shapes for sounds' by Timothy Donaldson who explores various alphabets and more so i am inspired now to use even more letters in the future!

more sketchbook

still working slowly with the baby dresses, above using Ko i nor dyes
Sian suggested holding areas up to the light, so i draped one over my lamp so i could see all the layers a bit like an x ray (husband said 'oh you're going to burn the house down'!) so the above and below are straight drawings through a light source

then i got the Quink out (do they still make it?)and worked quickly looking at creases and tucks

finally a rubbing over a sleeve on tissuetex with a wax crayon, would love to try the idea of pressing in damp paper. Now to finish making felt!

September Sketchbook

i haven't really done much of this but made a start the other day with some old baby dresses that apparently i once wore! i can see that embroidery is really good for this project but i am hoping to get to draw some inner construction, labels and seams soon!

Chapter 9 Section C more playing with paper

wow! this is going to be a long one!
Section C Exercise 1 was the formation of graded 3D shapes, working with simple shapes all of the same size, manipulating and connecting them in some way. #1 i used thick water colour paper with rectangular shapes and gradually curled an edge, connecting them with staples
#2 and 3 i used the same rectangular shape but curled and de-laminated the paper more with each step this was connected with string tied between each step with loops.

#4 i used tracing paper, again with a rectangle and linking each with string. each was gradually twisted more tightly.
#5 and 6 was worked with tracing paper again and rectangles. each was folded in half and stapled at the sides to make a pocket, then they were gradually opened and folded with a creases in the middle.
hanging up by the connecting string
Exercise 2 was to rip/cut several simple shapes and then divide it into two again and work with each shape separately (positive and negative)
#7 and 8 were with negative shapes and the aim was to make an undulating 'caterpillar'. #7 the pieces were connected with double sided tape and a spacer while #8 were threaded with metal wire.
#9 and 10 are the positive shapes folded and connected with shop tags. they look a bit Elizabethan ruff like.

Exercise 2 using colour and 3D shape. for this i went back to my 'R's' and stuck the yellow to the purple so they were double sided, joining up the graded yellows with the purples. i wanted again to make a sort of 'caterpillar' and found an old spiral for binding and stuck the 'R's' upright in the slots. i used 3 different sizes.
somehow from a distance they look quite bird like all with open beaks. the following are various viewpoints.


#5 changing the positioning
#6 i then decided to fold them and linked them together in various ways


#9 is working with the smaller 'R's linking them into shapes. i have found this chapter quite long to do! but this is possibly due to my lack of spare time at the moment however i hope i can now make some felt!