New year New plan for Hand and Lock competition

My christmas hearts were received with great enthusiasm, with everyone thinking they were shop bought. So a hughe round of applause for me. But now onto more competitive things, with christmas presents out of the way I thought I should start putting all my notes group 1 notws into a new sketchbook where I can really start thinking and planning what my next move was. But even after systematically writing up my thoughts and ideas I still couldnt get enthusiastic about it, I probably have a mental block on the whole 1970s Ziggy period. I keep having flashback of my uncle modeling himself on Ziggy and then theres the nasty orange and yellow sandals my sister and I wore when we were kids. I dont think I need to say anymore Im already having palpatations.

so where does this rant lead me?  Well I re-looked at the brief and suddenly realised I should be doing group two, consisting of Maire Antoinette and French Revolution  combined with space age fashion from the notable Courreges and Cardin. Suddenly everything seemed to fit into place. My synthetic fabric that I had dyed fits perfectly with the Rococo, and the red dyed silk with gold print fits with revolution and barogue - rococo Versailles. And for the combination of space well my final collection from my degree fits perfectly well with it.

I guess ALL I needed was to organise my thoughts. The bizzare thing about it is my project 1939-45 had truthfully got no further than Paris, my ideas, designs and thoughts were all based on Paris which made even  more sense to do group 2.

Today Im looking forward to pulling my ideas together, writing them up going through my dye samples etc. I have done loads of work already so now is the exciting bit focus on my embroidery, start practicing whitework, lattice and filigree. wish me luck

Oh also done this in the last couple of months

Remember the fabric I bought with all the beautiful goldwork, after dying the fabric I tried printing it but some of the effects were pretty miserable, which had a negative efefct on my way of thinking for a while especially as I had planned to use the fabric as scarves for female friends  and family. Thought this would be one way to life me out of my financial catastrophe, home made presents that look a bit less home made. But alas things went wrong. Stupidly I got into my head I should cut my 4 metre length of fabric horizontally which would give me more scarves, wrong move, all the fabric became slightly warped. I must make sure I stick to my original plans esp-ecially when it comes to cutting fabric the wrong way. Well at least I have learned something very important always cut along the vertical not the horizontal. What I am annoyed about is I knew this already. Guess i will put it down to tiredness and trying to cost cut.

Well three of my family received a scarf only because I wanted to give them to somebody and to be truly honest they will probably never wear them outside. And to make matters worse I havent taken photos of the finished pieces, good job they went to family at least I can ask for photos of them now.

just realised how busy I have been also done these

this was a cushion cover for my niece, aagin fabric found in my cupboard

this was going to be an apron but made it into a cushion cover for my eldest dauther instead.You might rememeber the design from one of my Paris blogs earlier in the year.  I saw the image on a wall in Paris which I then redrew and used as a print

I had made some 50s style aprons last year for a photoshoot for a client last year. I re-found these in one of my fabric boxes and thought great I know who loves cooking, once again a cheap alternatice to chrissy presents. Well out of the five I had left two made it into aprons. I used acid dye to print with but unlike the wool which loved the dye cotton did not. So after experimenting on the other aprons I decided on pigment. One went to my 12 year old daughter, the other to my niece. I think they look ok, lthought he red print could have been printed further down the apron, it looks abit misplaced. I was just impresed with how clean my print was.

Hope this explains where I have been for the last few months

Ok so I havent been blogging for a while but this has been down to working in school five days per week then making christmas presents. My 39-45 project has been put on hold although I have used the designs for christmas presents. I am coming around to the fact that this project is definitely going to be a life long one rather than a short term mess about. As for Hand and Lock im feeling back on track but dont want to say too much as will leave that for another post. 
I have printed on wool, never used this fabric before but truly love it. Check me out,  printed with acid dyes not and I repeat not pigment so this in itself is a breakthrough in confidence for me. Lets face it with pigment you know what your getting but printing with acid dyes is a whole new ball game. Im only a novice enjoying her thing rather than preaching to the queens of the screen such as Joy and Ingrid.But  after printing I started to get back into hand embroidery which I havent wanted to do since finishing my degree. I guess this is why I feel ready to restart Hand and lock. Let me know what you think
Each heart contains inside a hand stitched muslin heart filled with lavander fresh form my Dad's garden, surrounded by soft toy filling. Im pretty pleased with them.

hand and lock competition

All I can say is Im on a roll. I guess going back to being a secondary school employer has achieved what I had hoped for, a bit of time for me to get my head together. Im glad I didnt return as  a teacher, at least as a teaching assistant I have time on an evening and weekend to enjoy some creative experimentation. Getting back to my title, I am thinking of entering the 2013 Hand and Lock competition. I dodnt expect to get into the second round, but third time lucky or if its 'all things come in 3s' at least I will have a body of work behind me. It could  come in useful if I can afford to do an MA.
If I do enter H and L the section I will be choosing is to combine Tudor England and 1970s rock concert.
I got hold of some original vinyl Ziggy, Roxy music and Marc Bolan LPs,  but no  records unfortunately. Theres something to say about album covers and inner sleeves, nostalgic overload for someone who would have been 3-4yrs at that time. Anyway got a few sketches, took some photos and a bit of research done, in between removing  goldwork  from my fabric.


Im thinking Bowies 'spiders from Mars' merged with the web of deceit  amongst Elizabeth 1st royal court.



Also though web would be a good starting point as they look  like crystal lace work. This image however also has a feel of a cobweb on a ships mast which is another idea I am thinking of going down.



this cobweb could be inspiration for embroidered wings but Bowie style. 





I dont even mind the terrible quality of the phots, I think it adds  inspiration. I might print of this photo and embroider a drawing to see if  things develop further.



have I used the fabric?

The answer is of course yes. However I did have a few problems trying to dye it becasue although the fabric was silk Im not sure if it is a silk mix because there has been some interesting results when removed from the dye bath. Procions didnt work well at all, colour didnt take at all, acids did take but not in the way I had expected, But on a positive note the colours are just what I was wanting for my 39-45 project, which I havent forgotten, but am now back on track with due to mesing around as if I am a student again.


original colour before experimenting with dyes. 




the dye is very subtle




a few samples, subtle but elegant I think and to think I only used four dye baths for the whole collection.




the beautiful red and dark grey were put into the same dye baths as my 2nd hand fabric but the difference in colour take is amazing. This is the best prt of dying fabric. 





I think this has got a Japenese military feel about it, which did help to re-inspire me with my life long project



But thats not all! theres goldwork and beads too.







Found this fabric in a second hand shop, thought even if I dont use the fabric I could use all the gold work and beads, that was a border around the fabric, so since September I have painstakingly sat most evenings and removed each bead and strand of goldwork, and this is why I guess I am able to send a blog. I feel I have completed something and now I ready for my other ventures, but let me show you some of the fabric close up before you see what I have done with it.

my apologies for the terrible photos you know they are not my strong pioint, just wanted to show you the ammount of work that was involved in removing this embellishment. By the way the fabric was 3-4 meters long. The box of goldwork and  tin of glass beads are what I emoved. What a treasure eh.



where have I been/ what have I been up to ?



its amazing what you can do when you play around with ideas.



I know I have been away for a long, long time but things have been pretty hectic. But at last I have finally put together a few print designs. These were taken from my markmaking drawings, some of which I posted on my blog in the Summer. I played around with ideas, mixing things up a bit and hey this is where I am at the minute.



This is my first print of the design. Not bad since I have not done any print since may time. Looking forward to adding some of my embroidery and embellishment magic. Will post result as Im going along.



keeping on the right track

As you know I wanted to keep my 39-45 project focused on positive aspects of ths period, as these years were for me. So I started to research films, dances dancers, and mucis of that time. Talk about an abundace of material and ideas, I think this project will be a continuing life long one rather than something I will finish in the near future. Check out this you tube its amazing http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R0BHxhUnokU

My ideas are spirilling out of control. Not sure where the ideas are ggoing to go but if I can capture someof this energy I will be happy. Other influences and inspiration will come from films like gone with the wind, pinocchio, judy Garland, 1939 worlds fair at New York, and this is just 39 - 40.

more mark making



Im thinking tie? collar? cuffs?



Small but still relevant

As promised I did some embroidery. I know its only small but once I have phoocopied it, cut it out and then placed into onto fabric it will be something else. But this will take a while.