How it's going

You may remember my Changing my Mind blog post.  If you don't or if this is your first visit to my blog, click on the link to read what I'm talking about.

On to the update.  I changed my mind about using the torn squares and wondered about stitching gold lines to represent the Kintsugi style repairs.  I took a photo of the kimono, printed it out and drew on it.

 

Then I tried assembling the lining, the felt wadding layer and the outside layer.

Nightmare!  The three layers together were quite unwieldly and I couldn't get the seams to match up particularly under the arms.  Plus, I was pretty sure I would not be able to manhandle it through the machine.

(Are we allowed to still say 'manhandle'?  Person-handle doesn't sound right.  Apparently jostle, hustle and shove are all synonyms I could have used.)

Back to the point of this blog post!

First I drew lines with a Frixion pen to represent the broken shards on the outer layer.  I machined with a straight stitch so I would know where to stitch later.

I sewed the lining to the front and turned it inside out (outside in!) so the seams were in between the layers.  You know what I mean!

Then I satin stitched along all the lines sewing the two layers together

The Back

The Front

It hasn't been all plain sailing.  Several times I've had to remove a line of stitching and re-do it.  However I have finished one pass of the whole thing.  It just needs going over again.  And sadly there's something wrong with the left sleeve by the underarm.

Then just the cuffs and the collar.  'Just' she says.  It takes hours to wrangle the kimono through the machine. And I need to have a rest after 40 minutes of machining.

Still there's less left to do than when I started.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

5 years on

How things have changed!  Roger and I went for a walk on Thursday and as people avoided eye contact and didn't return my hello or smile I thought back to 5 years ago when walking every day was all we were allowed to do, and despite social distancing everyone was friendly.

We walked from Harborne, a suburb of Birmingham, towards the city centre to Edgbaston Reservoir, round the reservoir and back to the start.

Most of the walk was along the Harborne Walkway which apparently was originally a branch railway line built for commuters from Harborne.

There were various bridges and tunnels along the way.

Eventually we came to the reservoir 

We stopped off at the little cafe for hot chocolate and then continued around the reservoir and back the way we came.

On the way back we noticed that one of the tunnels had an unusual construction.  The bricks were laid diagonally.  Not that you can tell from this photo!

Finally we made it back to Harborne where we had lunch at Damascena.  Very nice.

If you're in the Redditch area today, Becca and I will be at Forge Mill Museum for another Meet the Artists event for our exhibition.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

Changing my mind

In a departure from my neutral palette I have been working on a teal and gold kimono.  It's intended to be part of my Identity series.

My original idea was to have squares of fabric on the teal as broken pieces leading down to the solid gold at the bottom.

It was my plan to put gold stitch to represent the Kintsugi type repairs.

I quickly changed my mind about the pointy sleeves as I couldn't work out how to make them.

The same gold coloured fabric at the bottom of the kimono is also being used for the lining.

I played about with gold relief paste on embossing folders as a possible texture to add.

I started adding the torn squares of fabric.

It was really difficult to work on it while it was hanging up so I tried having it on the table.

 

It was at this point that I realised that no amount of ironing or stitching was going to make this idea work and I needed to have a radical rethink.

 

Which I did.

 

But you'll have to come back next time to find out how I changed my approach to this piece of work.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Meet the Artists

Last Saturday Becca and I spent most of the day at Forge Mill Needle Museum attending our Meet the Artist event.

We had a great time with some wonderful conversations with our visitors.

Whilst I was there I took some photos and some video footage which I have put togther as best I can.  My video editing software is not as intuitive as I would like.  Plus some of the footage is a bit wobbly.  However I hope you enjoy it.

        

Our next Meet the Artist is on Saturday 5th April from 10.30 onwards.  It would be lovely to see you there.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Expressions

On Tuesday this week Becca and I set up our first exhibition together.  It's called Expressions and it's on at Forge Mill Needle Museum in Redditch.

I put this video together of setting up.

 Here are some of the pieces I have in the exhibition.

Dancing to Freedom

Chaos to Calm

'O Sole Mio'

Venice Disappearing

I will be at the museum today for a Meet the Artist session and plan to video the exhbition.  I'll share the video next week.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Days 14-20

Currently I'm doing better than I thought I might with the 100 day project.  Although some days I only think about what I'll do and then do 2 days worth the next day.  Is that cheating?

Day 14: watercolour paints and cling film

Day 15: Letters stencilled and coloured in with glaze pens

 Day 16: spray inks through alphabet stencils

Mop-up page to remove excess ink from the papers above.

Plus several hours at a Studio Day at Littleheath Barn working on machining the lining of a kimono and handstitching a wall hanging.

Day 17: sprayed White Linen ink over day 16's papers to quieten the rather strong colours
day 18: zines folded and letters added

 Day 19: ink from stamp pads applied with brushes through stencils.

 Day 20: zines folded and letters added with glaze pens

So there's me up-to-date.  I also put together a couple of PowerPoint presentations using the photographs I mentioned last week and made title slides.

And with the help and support of a friend, continued to declutter and tidy my craft space (dining room!)

Next week Becca and I will be putting up our exhibition which opens on Wednesday.

 An exciting week in store.

 
Thanks for being here today
Bernice

A Slight Hiatus

Before I get on to what happened let's examine the word: hiatus

According to Dictionary.com it means:
1. (esp in manuscripts) a break or gap where something is missing
2. a break or interruption in continuity

Well, this is true of my 100 day project but the word hiatus feels to me as though it should mean chaos, complete disorder or utter confusion.

Not a gap in something.  Hiatus sounds like a LOUD word not the quietness of a lack of something.

Anyway on to what I actually did with my zines since last Saturday's post.

I was distracted during Days 7 & 8 by needing to come up with an idea for a creative session at my Lifegroup.  I decided that we would make zines.  So whilst I wasn't continuing with my A-Z zines I was still doing zines!

On Day 9 I printed out the photos I mentioned last week and glued the pictures relevant to A, B & C in.

On Day 10 I got my gel plate out and printed 8 A4 sheets of paper.  The papers ended up with rather too much Buff Titanium!

On Day 11, having ordered and received some new Glaze pens, I added letters to the front of the 8 folded gel plate printed zines.

The hiatus occurred on days 12 & 13.  These two days were spent with a friend who was photographing my work for me - 32 fabric books and 15 textile hangings in preparation for talks I am doing later in the year.

Here I am trying to arrange the next shot.

 

Today is day 14.  Who knows what I will get up to.

Thanks for being here today.
Bernice

The 100 Day Project

I'm not all all sure that this is necessarily one of my better ideas but I decided to participate in The 100 Day Project.

The aim is to choose something creative to do every day for 100 days.  That's 14 weeks!  What was I thinking?

I decided I would make 26 zines - one for every letter of the alphabet.  The idea is to make each zine about me and my identity. If you want to know more about how to make a Zine lok at this blog post.  If you would like to see some of the Zines I've made in the past put Zine in the search box on this page and it will show you all my posts on Zines.

Day 1: I put moulding paste through an alphabet stencil onto an A4 sheet of cartridge paper.  And then decided to do the same on another 3 pieces of paper.

Day 1

Day 2: I put three colours of acrylic paint on a palette and painted this piece of paper.  Then found I had squeezed out too much paint so painted another 3 pieces of paper.

Day 2

Also day 2

 

 

Day 3: I stencilled Australian flora onto one of the pieces of paper - which isn't actually as blue as this photo suggests!

Day 3

 

Day 4: I made an alphabetical list of words that could be used to describe me.

Day 4

Day 5: I stamped a bubble pattern on the page for B.

Day 5

And also sorted out small photos for some of the letters.  I haven't put the photos of my grandchildren on here but they are in the collection.

Also Day 5

Day 6: I used a stencil to draw the letters A, B & C on the front of the zines.  I coloured the letters in with a Glaze pen.  I love these pens because when the first coat is dry you can colour over again.  And you can keep doing that until the letter looks enamelled.

Day 6

So there's me up-to-date.  I've managed 6 days in a row although not quite in the way I had planned.  I had intended to spend 4 days on each letter, but between too much paint and working on different things simultaneously I have 3 zines on the go at once.

It will all work out in the end I'm sure.

Thanks for being here today
Bernice