Category: Embroidery

Book Making, Embroidery, General, Printing

Process – Again! – 8th February 2021

annwyndean1

I am aware that I frequently mention process, but it is essential to both printmaking and book construction. This flow of work has not been able to be maintained over the last couple of weeks mainly because of the inclement weather and my warm bloodied self to venture to the studio. Many times I have brought materials into the the house and then to optimistically return them to the studio, only to return them to the house. At the moment it looks as if I will remain in the house for several more days. It means that the process becomes disjointed and consequently I have several projects on the go. Still, following on from the last blog I constructed the plate designed from my second piece of woven silk.

I then started to cut away the background

The cutting away was completed but I got no further, it awaits better weather before I can print from the plate.

I did fold the four books and six greetings cards from my last print run, I need to decide a colour scheme and style before painting papers for their covers, which I want to match, so making ‘Vulnerable to Alteration’ a compact group.

I have read several books and continued with my note taking

Embroidery, Printing, Uncategorized

Steady Progress – 25th January 2021

annwyndean1

Despite the influences of the weather, rain, snow and ice over the last ten days I feel that I have been constructive and made a little progress and that wasn’t just trying out a different cake recipe!

My aims were simple:

To continue working with the idea of ‘Vulnerable to Alteration’

To formulate a plan of work for the next couple of months 

To continue with the reading across my book shelves.

Looking back I’m content with what I have achieved, bearing in mind deep concentration is a little elusive in these difficult times.

I altered my last printing plate by cutting out the top half and undertook a print run, which, when dry will make two books and six cards.

Then I looked at my second piece of woven silk, this had unpicked seams and further seam stitches and a few loose tacked threads in the body of the silk. so it had had at least two functions in the past. It’s a beautiful soft, draping silk dating from the 1760s and probably woven in Spitalfields in London.

I started drawing, re drawing and then working out the areas that I was going to cut away, just in case it might all fall apart.

And then I began to plan the details of each section, considering light and dark, fancy and plain. I am pleased that this plate has a different feel to the last plate, we’ll see how it works out.

My plan going forward revolves around bringing together the prints/plates from these lockdown months, most plates have a life expectancy of 10 prints and I have done very few of each. I am returning to idea of ‘Collection’, I see the work over the last year as a different definition of a collection. I hope that it will present an alternate perspective for me to consider.

My reading has gone well. I have been taking notes from each book, finding information that was worth noting and searching for similar textiles to those in my collection of fabrics, so building up my knowledge and reliving memories held within the books.

Embroidery, General

Disruptions – 11th January 2021

annwyndean1

If I had had a plan then life hasn’t gone that way. I had hoped in these early days of 2021 I would form a plan for the next few months, but it snowed.

So I moved into the house with books, paper and textile fragments to wait for it to get warmer.

I haven’t been idle though. There is a new page on the website called Shop where I have placed the books that I have made in 2020. Do have a look and contact me if you are interested.

I have been reading and continuing with researching my theme of ‘Vulnerable to Alteration”. I still haven’t completed the prints that I had planned to do a fortnight ago, hopefully when it gets warmer. I feel that I need to do these before I really get inside another textile and explore its alterations.

The image at the beginning shows the front and reverse, (top half of the image), of a woven Spitalfields silk, the back with the lengths of floss silk going from flower to flower are wonderfully bright and provide a contrast to the front. There are signs of two seams along all four sides of the 38 x 40cm fragment and I think that this will become the focus of further investigations.

This whitework collar, from c1830, also shows marks of alterations, a row of needle holes going from left to right. I suspect that these are marks where the large collar was turned inside a neckline and stitched in place.

I have read a lot over the past couple of weeks. When I embarked upon the project to go through all my books I hadn’t foreseen all the memories that came with the reading. The bottom book I bought in the 1970’s and was my first text book on sewing/embroidery and was  a source of reference on techniques until I began as a serious student of embroidery over a decade later. The top book is brand new and I have enjoyed reading about how other artists approach their art especially as I know several of them.

So here’s to better weather!