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 

Change

I've been missing for a while!

Lots of stuff going on but sadly no inclination to blog or journal or keep up to date with things.

However I'm here today with some fun stuff.  The challenge in the ladies photography group for this month was to change a photo.  These were the instructions:

For the Change activity take one photograph.  It can be a still life, a landscape etc – whatever you choose.  Then edit it so that the image is very different.  It has to be major change or even distortion – not just cropping or turning it to black & white.

This is the photo I started with:

I played with it in Snapseed.  I can't remember all the things I did (sorry).  I definitely used the double exposure tool twice but had done some things before that.

 

Then I used Lunapic online.  It has an immense variety of tools and effects.

 

 

Explode - in the effects menu

 

 

3D Cube in the effects menu

 

 

Implode in the Effects menu

Fairy in the Art menu

I really love the finished image.  It reminds me of the pouring paint effects you can get - without getting paint all over yourself!

Thanks for being here today
Bernice

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