March 2008Last month I taught a course at Plas tan y Bwlch in North Wales. Opposite are some of the samplers produced by the students where they tried out Cern'O, wax, metallic resists, thickened dyes and printing. Below is the group with the scarves they produced by folding and clamping. It was a small course and a lively group to teach. As usual, watching students experiment with materials and techniques that are quite new to them inspires me to look again at familiar things.
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New work There is a selection of my new work in the section below. It is worked in Cern'O water-based resist, which is obtainable through Ateliers Creatifs. Most designs are based on a recent study of lichens. Cern'O has tested well on the whole although I have reservations about it on heavier silks, or when there are several applications of dye. I have made some work which seems to have soft or fuzzy edges - these only appeared after steaming. They are for the chop during the Annual Cull. Read on for this blood-wracked tale. I still have to work out why the fuzz is fuzzing, and am in communication with the manufacturers. It could be because I haven't heat-set the Cern'O sufficiently, or have over-diluted it. At the moment I am making a whole series of test pieces to try out various possibilities and testing it alongside Resistad, which I have for a long time recommended as a water-based resist. I really want this product to work and thus allow me to eliminate the dry-clean. To be able to buy a good water-based resist from a European source would be great.
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Cern'O: first use December 2007 |
March 7thIt's the season of the year when my eyes glaze over and a quartet of exposed canines gleam eerily in the moonshine. The sound of a whetstone can be heard at dead of night as I start sharpening steel and my febrile fingers itch to rip at all that supine unsold, useless, superfluous, overpopulating protein. In other words, it's time for the Annual Cull. All those dreary blue, green and brown scarves lying unsold will be butchered along with the slightly faded ones; the iffy designs, the ones I've loved to hate but just might sell, and haven't. Incisive decisions will be made. Scraps are being created as scarves are chopped. Suddenly I feel a whole lot better. Simple scraps are sold to quilters and embroiderers but recently I've been asked for samples illustrating various techniques, which seems a very good idea. So I am saving good examples and labelling them to explain how they were done. I hate wasting anything, and this seems a good way to not. Waste, that is. |
Labelled scraps showing various techniques and a bag of scraps waiting for lift off to the States. |
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This weekend I tutored a course at Denman College. Denman College is the WI's own Residential Adult Education College, near Oxford. I teach there about twice a year. This weekend there were 11 students - and they were a very lively and responsive group from all over the UK. The aim of the course was to teach the basics of working with acid dyes on silk using resist fluids and wax, and to include a simple shibori project. Part of one day is spent thinking about the principles of design, proportion, and use of colour. It is generally design and drawing which frighten most students, and so I try to de-stress the issue and demonstrate that most people have a good basic eye for proportion and colour.
The sampler is divided into two sections with wax on one half - in this image, at the top |
Students start by making a sampler incorporating several techniques. These include the use of spirit-based gutta; Cern'O and Resistad; thickened dyes, and metallic paints and resists. They also experiment with wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry dye application.
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Untying a twist-tied and dyed organza scarf |
Painting a gauze chiffon scarf. Leaves were outlined with Cern'O on a pale blue ground and a second layer of colour is now being added |
Outlining a butterfly shape using a template cut from thick paper |
Considering the next move on a waxed scarf; the idea came from rocks and a waterfall |
Painstaking work dyeing between the white resist lines on this "tree" scarf |
Painting the border on a floral design |
A Tutor Survives.. The timetable at Denman is long and demanding on students and tutor as the last session finishes at 9.15 pm. So how do we all survive? Well, the image opposite shows a tutor having a quiet hour between two evening sessions with a glass of dark red water. The paperwork is actually a poem by Larkin that I was having a think about and the badge is to remind me who I actually am. At the end of three days at this pace one tends to forget. I have no idea what students are doing at the same time but suspect the red water may be a theme in common. A student has since written to me to say there is also clear water "that you have to put quinine in to make sure you don't catch malaria". And she adds, "but I don't like the light brown water very much." |
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Finished scarves from Denman Course |
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This confident piece and lovely scarf originated from combining the student's sampler and a quick design exercise |
A student used a painter's approach to her design of a boat and sea wall |
Wax was used to create patterns and textures based on the idea of a waterfall and rocks |
A simple design of flowers, leaves and butterflies which used metallic resist and paints as a decorative addition |
A simple but very effective design of leaves outlined to preserve the light colour, with darker backround painted around |
Wax used in textured layers with dye |
Detail of a scarf using a design of grass, leaves and a butterfly with metallic resist as a decoration. The pale green ground is especially effective with the crêpe de Chine |
Detail of the "tree" scarf which can be seen in painstaking progress further up the page. Patience which paid off! |
This detail shows the lovely effects produced by careful control of wax |
A scarf with borders; reminiscent of weaving or embroidery but achieved with wax |
A design of professional quality; poppies at both ends of the scarf divided by a plain turquoise ground. Resist worked in Cern'O |
Another fine scarf, based on a stained glass design. Worked with Cern'O |
Pure, free-painted colours on Hua Li gauze silk |
All the work has now been returned to students by post. I usually have to bring at least some work home to steam. It was an expecially successful and rewarding course with a great variety of work and techniques used to make samples and scarves. I am teaching at Denman College again in June; then again in January 2009. In August 2009 I will be teaching my first Natural Dye Course at Denman. For details, go to the Denman College website. |
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Berrimilla is off again...If you have followed this interminable account of my life for a year or two (and there are those insane enough to have done so) you may remember I have a brother called Alex. To say "he sails" would be similar to describing the late Sir Edmund Hillary as an enthusiastic measurer of molehills. The last voyage in Alex's 32ft yacht Berrimilla was the full circumnavigation, including Cape Horn. This time Alex and crew are attempting the North West passage. Here is the new website. And here is the link to a previous page about Berrimilla and my small part in her exploits. On the left are the red and green ribbons I am sending as tell-tales - to be tied to the shrouds to indicate wind direction. The strange emboidered Thing is designed as Sympathetic Magic. The white ground is a square of the original genoa sail that took Berri round last time; the ribbons are a pair of original tell-tales. After stitching everything on, my fingers tasted of salt. |
