Jackie Cardy Workshop

At the end of last month I went to a workshop led by Jackie Cardy.  I went with two friends from Traverse - Dia and Cath.   The workshop was organised by Becca from Textile Explorations.

We started with a practice piece.

 After felting and drying.

Then we moved on to pre-felts which I don't remember ever doing before.  We made double-sided pieces.

In the afternoon we moved on to making our main piece.  This is the background.

I didn't take any photos whilst I was adding the pre-felts so my photos skip to the felted piece.

The piece needed to dry overnight so that we could start sewing the next day.

We started machining on our practice piece.

Between my inability to free machine properly and my dislike of the black thread I didn't get along too happily.  I switched to navy blue which I preferred.  Then I moved on to my main piece.

Photo by Becca Birtles

I really struggled with the stitching because I thought I had to get it really accurate and around the shapes but once it dawned on me that it could look more like this drawing I did, I relaxed a bit.

After the machining I started adding handstitching.

I'm not totally keen on the fact that the uprights are slanting so I may cut it up.  I haven't yet but this is what it would look like using cropped photos.

I loved the technique and may start another piece soon.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Textile Tags

Recently I attended a workshop called Textile Tags at Littleheath Barn Studio run by Liske & Claire.  We were encouraged to rummage through their scrap bag to find fabrics to print on.

I chose the pinks and oranges and after printing on them with stamps and thermofax xscreens I tore them up and collaged bits onto a piece of fabric-backed bondaweb.

I did another A4 sheet starting with the blues and neutrals but added some colour when it looked too neutral.

I used my machine both with straight stitch and preprogrammed stitches

Then I machined shapes on the collaged fabric and cut them out.

I didn't like the shape of the one on the right so machined it again as a triangle.

I've still got some of the collaged fabric left.  Not sure whether I will make more tags or do something else with it.

Thanks for joining me today
Bernice

Photos for Inspiration

While I was away I took lots of photos that those who do art or craft of any kind will understand.  They are of strange and wonderful things - not at all related to the holiday in terms of memories but inform your creativity.  I have whittled them down to 24!

A rusty roof

Unfolding

Rusty chain on a boat

 Lichen

 Decaying wood

Decay

Weathered rocks that look like rust

Kauri tree bark at the Kauri Museum

Weathered rock

Fountain and its reflection

Ice

Rust on old trains

I don't know that I will ever reproduce any of these photos exactly in my work but they will inform my thinking as I work on my projects.

If you would like any of these photos let me know.  You can download them directly from the blog or email me and I will send you the better quality versions.  Blogger insists you compress the photos for uploading so are not really print quality.

Thanks for stopping by.
Bernice