Sandra Meech workshop

I recently attended a workshop led by Sandra Meech.  We had to take photos with us that were in colour and copies we had made of the same photos as black and white drawings.  I used Picasa to change mine as I don't have photo elements.

Here's an example of what I took with me.  This is at Kingswood Junction on the Stratford Canal.

We started by painting some of our black and white photos with Brusho.  We also monoprinted with textured wallpaper.

Then we each made a black and white collage and a colour collage.

The collages have been photographed and will be printed onto transfer paper ready to iron onto fabric.  The paper collages can also be put on fabric as they are, and sewn into.

In addition we were given a piece of the transfer paper to drawn on and paint.  This is my painted paper.

Which looks like this ironed onto the fabric. I feel this is a bit dark so I will either sew light threads into it or put a sheer fabric over it to knock it back.

This is the transfer paper after ironing which I can collage with.

You can find out more about Sandra's techniques in her book Connecting Design to Stitch.

There's lots of things to do from this workshop.  I hope to share the results with you sometime.  I have now started Module 2 of the Master Practitioner course and plan to use the ideas I learnt here in that work.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Catch up time

Last summer, just after the bandages were taken off my hand, I spent a glorious 5 days at Committed to Cloth.  The retreat was called Breakdown Printing with Colour Studies.  I went with the intention fo getting as much out of it as I could even if all I did was watch and listen.  I wasn't sure my hand would be up to doing any of the actual work.  But I did.

I have at last spent some time cutting up the colour families I made and putting them into a sketchbook.  I haven't been able to grip the rotary cutter firmly enough to cut up the fabrics into little squares.  But now, here they are.

Leslie dyed a colour family in the washing machine to show us how it is done.  It  produces an all-over dyed  smooth finish (above) whilst the ones I did produce a variety of textures based on the unironed fabric.    Dark Brown - Turquoise

Lighter versions

 Dark Brown/Royal blue - Turquoise/Royal Blue

Various experments

Then a change of colour

I managed to do all the breakdown printing whilst I was there.  All 8 metres of it.   I used the various colour families I mixed on the breakdown screens.

I ended up with some lovely fabrics although I still have no idea what I'm going to do with them.

If screen printing or breakdown printing interests you, there are 2 books I can recommend.
Screen Printing by Claire Benn and Leslie Morgan
Breakdown Your Palette by Leah Higgins


Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice

Felting Workshop with Caroline Merrell

Recently Cath & Deb from Traverse and I went on a felting weekend workshop taught by Caroline Merrell.  We had a fabulous time learning all sorts of 3D and sculpting techniques.

On the Saturday we started by making one piece with different types of samples on it - a ball cut in half, braids, and a tube.

Laying out the various samples

By the end of the day I had one rather large piece of felt with various bits added to it.  On Sunday morning I cut it into two pieces: a third and two thirds.  This is the two thirds!

 The craters cut into the felt around the tails.

Further cuts into the felt revealing the felt layers below

I started a second piece.  This is the first layer with bubblewrap resists.


Another layer of felt and more bubblewrap resists.

This was covered with more felt and a top layer of brown which I hoped would make a contrast with the layers underneath.  It didn't really work out how I hoped.

I started another piece with tails in the centre.   The brown felt reminds me of the old brown underfelt that people used under carpets.

I needlefelted some fibres onto the top of this piece.


The final piece I started was using a bubblewrap mask.


I had put a layer of  fibres over the bubblewrap and then I decided to cut rectangles out of a piece of prefelt and put the on the top with a piece of fabric trapped in between.


Then I cut into the felt where the holes in the mask had been.


None of these pieces are finished.  They all need stitching at the very least.   I will write another post about what I have done or will be doing with the felt pieces at a later date.   At least one piece needs to be finished in time for Traverse's exhibition in April.

Just to whet your appetite - here's what I did with Saturday's sample piece on the Monday after the felting weekend.

Thanks for joining me today.
Bernice