Scouring

At the moment I am having a bit of trouble sleeping and I am not able to just lie in bed... once I am awake there is no hope!

But waking at 4.30am ish has some advantages...

the house is super quiet,

I get to listen to my boys sleeping and dreaming,

a mug of tea with no pestering is bliss,

I can work through my course work,

I can make plans for what I want to try next....

Trying to put the time to good use is important me, otherwise I feel frustrated that I am just sitting there!

So this morning I was up at 4.15am and lay in bed for a while, then started planning my day.

After out textile trail day I have been researching natural dyes and how to prepare fabric to dye with leaves and flowers. The effects are really stunning.

One of the things I have discovered is that shop bought cotton needs to scoured before it can be used for dyeing. Even when it has been machine washed it still has chemicals and additives in the cloth that stop the dyes from fixing permanently to the fibres. I have been using Prepared For Dyeing (PFD) fabrics, but having run out I picked up some cheap cotton from Ikea to have a dyeing session.

I wanted to dye some black and charcoal for my course work, which needs to be worked in black, white and grey only.

As you can see the results were varied:

The fabrics are top left to right: Hessian, PFD cotton organdie, Ikea calico. Bottom Left to right: cotton scrim, Ikea cotton and PDF natural cotton.

They were all placed in the same dye bag and the hessian and organdie have absorbed the most black dye. The others came out grey and the Ikea cotton was variegated. Even those these are pretty cool I want more black!

The charcoal came out much better:

The Ikea cotton, which is quiet thickly woven came out blotchy again.

So at 6am I decided it was time to try scouring my fabric form Ikea and some cotton organdie. I know 6am is totally crazy!

It is a interesting process that requires Soda Ash, Metapex, water and time to simmer the fabric for at least an hour!

This is the second pot full this morning and is the Ikea calico. I am hoping this works because this is cheerfully cheap and took the colour well last time, just want to see if I can improve it!

The other Ikea cotton and organdie are drying on the line...

Fingers crossed this works!

Can I also say that I am expecially proud of my dyeing book?

Lots of experiments and colours! Need a new book soon!

Also mixed some Manutex dye thickening paste this morning which is currently being stored in clean margarine tubs... best label them before the boys put some on their toast!

Textile Trail 2014

Today my middle son and I went on the Stroud International Textile Trail. It is a fabulous trail around some of the amazing textile artist and ceramists of the area.

We sat down yesterday with our book and circled the studios we wanted to visit. For an 8 year old he is quite opinionated about the trail! We chose a mix of textile artists and ceramists - he loves all things pottery!

We also plotted the best places to stop of cake and lunch - a major highlight of the day for him!

We started at Ruskin Mill in Nailsworth with Helen Taylor and Clare Herrington. Their fabulous studio is full of amazing felted scarves, owls and bags! It was a great place to start.

Then we went to Stroud to visit Matthew Harris. His work is really inspiring and I was so excited to see his work in black and white. His studio was an amazing space with an grass roof!

Echo no IIII by Matthew Harris

Also on the same path were a couple of Ceramists, including Noah's favourite of the day Tara Davidson.

By Tara Davidson

We then went to visit Alice Fox's exhibition, Tide Marks.

Tide Marks by Alice Fox

It was amazing. Alice's work is full of texture, marks and rust printing love it!

This morning Noah made the decision that we needed to have lunch at the Lavender Bakehouse in Chalford. They have the most amazing panini's with huge salads!

Opportunity for more cake.

Our final stop of the day was the amazing Polly Lyster and her husband. Polly is an amazing dyer, using indigo and other natural dyes to create amazing fabric.

Dyeworks

They had an indigo dye vat set up in the garden and Noah had the opportunity to dye a cotton scarf. I think he dyed most of himself too!

He was so proud of his first attempt at dyeing and I was drooling over the amazing colours that natural dyes can produce!

We drove home inspired and very excited about all the textiles we had seen! Noah now has a list of things he would like to felt and dye!

If you live near it is worth watching out for the trail details next year. It is already in our diary for next year!

An Afternoon of Colour!

I am lucky enough to live in area rich in textiles heritage.

Stroud is 10 miles away and has a wonderful International Textiles Festival every May.

They have exhibitions, talks and 2 Open Studio weekends!

Last Saturday I was able to get a ticket to a talk by my favourite fabric dyer, Ruth Issett.

Her work is inspirational and so bright!

I have managed to buy all her books over the last few months and I use her book Colour on Cloth whenever I am dyeing fabric. It is full of dye recipes, methods and inspiration!

During her talk she explained some of her processes and her inspiration. She is very passionate about colour and exploring it's uses. I really enjoyed the talk and learning how an experienced textile artist works.

I love being able to explore how other artists work. Midi and I are off the on textile trail together on Sunday. We have a list of artist we want to visit and places to stop off for yummy cake... it is going to be so much fun!!!

City and Guilds Module 3

Last term was filled with teaching classes and working on Module 3: Colour and Applique.

I love colour and have 3/4 books by my bed all about the chemistry of colour, the meaning of colour and the development of synthetic pigments.

As usual I had to investigate colour, which was fun! Then I had to choose an artist to research. In February I visited a exhibition about Henri Matisse's paper cuts at Strouds Museum in the Park.

His paper cuts were completed when he was too ill to paint and sculpt, but the need to create art remained. With the help of an assistant he used paper to create huge murals, that were colourful and vibrant:

La Gerbe, Henri Matisse (1953)

I love the mix of colours and the scale of the original pieces is huge!

As well as exploring colour I had to develop the portfolio using a historical theme. I visited Bath and took lots of photos of the gorgeous Georgian buildings and the Fashion Museum. The course notes suggested developing a design around a piece of historical textiles. I chose an 18th Century embroidered ribbon:

From this I explored colouring pencils, felt tip pens and paint!

It was great fun playing around with colouring pencils and pens! Lovely to have the freedom to just play!

The applique element was developed in making my samples for the module:

Needle Turn Applique

Reverse applique

Machine applique with painted paper, plastic, Roses wrapper and hand dyed fabric/felt

Machine reverse applique using felt

The loved completing the applique and I was lucky enough to use Oakshott fabrics. The bundle I used is called Lipari and is simply gorgeous! The best bit is I have loads left to make another quilt!

My final piece was developed from the first portfolio - Line:

I experimented with hand dyeing different weights of fabric, threads, bubble wrap and postcards. It was great fun and I really love the final piece.

Next it's Texture and Landscapes/Geological.... and it has to be done in black and white! So exciting!