A couple of finished pieces

While I’ve not been blogging I have been working on various different ideas.

I will be part of the Midlands Textile Forum’s ‘On the Threshold’ exhibition in September and I have finished this piece:

It’s called 1771. I chose the date as being somewhere around where historians think the Industrial Revolution may have started.  The piece is a whole cloth I printed using breakdown printing at Leah Higgin’s studio in 2019.  It’s taken until now to work out what to do with it.

I used running stitch around some of the shapes in the background.  I’ve also used running stitch to outline 10 cogs of differing sizes.  They are not too obvious until you get up close.

And just you know there are stitches, here is the rather ruckled back which now has another backing on it. 

In addition, I've been continuing with my Captivity, Freedom & Identity theme.  I looked to see what image is used to represent depression and found that one of the images is a teardrop.

 

I made three wire teardrops which I wound wadding around and a layer of fabric.  The first is called Tears of Oppression.  It doesn't photograph well because there's black on black. It is tightly bound and has chains and closed padlocks.

 

The second is Tears of Transition which is grey.  It has bits of knotted fabric and chains falling off and open padlocks.   And lastly there's Tears of Joy which is shades of gold with beads.

I've got lots of ideas that I'm mulling over.

 

Watch this space for new work.

 

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice 

I'm back

I'm back! I think! I hope so!

My last post was in the middle of May and I've not done much on Instagram either.  However, from last Thursday to Sunday I was talking about my fabric books in the Creative Textiles Studio at the Festival of Quilts.

 

 

In total I talked about fabric books for around 15 hours over the 4 days.   That's about a month's worth of talking in my normal life!  I had a good time though and really positive responses to all my work.

 

In addition, for the first time ever I entered the Quilt Competition in the Quilt Creations category.  This is for 3D and items of clothing.  There were some superb pieces of work in this category including a beautiful small book using rusting techniques by Gilly Meeks.

 

Guess what I might make for next year's competition!

 

My entry was the kimono that I had shown you before on the blog.  Here it is at the show.

 

front

back

It looks enormous but it is an adult size full length kimono.

 

I had some encouraging feedback form the two judges although I feel one of them missed the message of the piece.

I have been exploring the themes of Captivity, Freedom and Identity and integrating my own creative writing into the textile pieces I have made. Whilst working through these themes I became interested in the Japanese repair technique: Kintsugi. I believe that everyone, however damaged by life they may be, has gold within them which can be called out. I made this asymmetric kimono from linen blend fabrics. The stitching represents kintsugi style repairs to symbolise the beauty of broken people as they are made whole through counselling, prayer or other means. The gold lining represents the beauty that lies within us all.

Sadly on the entry form the information supplied could only be 300 characters so this is what it said, which was printed in the catalogue:

Working on the theme of Identity and inspired by the Japanese repair technique of Kintsugi, the stitching on this kimono symbolises the beauty of broken people as they are made whole through counselling, prayer or other means. The gold lining represents the beauty that lies within us all.

Talking about my books at the show has excited me about books once more and I've already had ideas for a set of 3 books.  I'm also inspired to return to the blog as I do love sharing my work, techniques and processes with people.

See you soon
Bernice