Sunday 30 October 2011

Coming Home

I have been away from home for 8 days and this is the sight that greeted me at home this afternoon. The maples strutting their stuff. The whole garden is incandescent - and gorgeous. Why does yarn not come this colour?


From Monday to Thursday I was on a course 'Beyond Background' with Leslie Morgan of 'Committed to Cloth'. They have a wonderful purpose built studio formed from an old barn. Everything is perfect. A large table for each student which is easily height adjustable, an IKEA storage unit on castors for under the table. Masses of tools, paints, dyes, sinks. The only imperfection was me. The other eight students were all quilts/textile artists and had a much better grasp of shape, design and colour than I had. One of the next sessions was where every student in turn pinned up a work and everyone criticised it. I learnt a lot from the discussions on all the works. I managed five works but only one of them is finished.



The above shows two completed works on cotton. The piece on the left is dry-brushed and I will use the top part as covers for books. I don't like the tartany bit at the bottom.

These two need further work. The fifth and last piece is in an early stage and I might show it when I have decided what to do with it!.

On Thursday I moved to Reading and stayed over. On Friday a gang of us hung the Weaving Exhibition.  We had a good 'do' on Saturday evening and a fair few visitors during the day on Saturday and Sunday. I have a load of photos and will save these for a later blog.

I am not at all sure about the pieces I did at the course. I can't think what to do with them. Everyone else was a quilter and I shall not be making a quilt any time soon - certainly not the size these pieces are. The smallest is 1.5 yards long. The techniques were interesting and useful  and could be used elsewhere.

2 comments:

  1. Your garden is more than beautiful. Right out of Kyoto. Thank you for sharing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I regret that we missed the autumn colours in Kyoto but a later date was impossible for Ruth. And I am thinking of re-doing a bit of the garden in Japanese style! Pat

    ReplyDelete

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About Me

I am weaver and - -. I dye my yarns with acid dyes, I paint my warps, put fabric collages and stencils on my weaving. I have three looms, a 12 inch wide, 12 shaft Meyer for demos and courses, a 30 inch Louet Kombo which is nominally portable but has a stand, two extra beams and a home-made device containing a fan reed. And last a 32 shaft Louet Megado which is computer controlled, has a sectional warp and a second warp beam and I am the proud owner of an AVL warping wheel which I love to bits and started by drilling holes in. I inserted a device for putting a cross in. I have just acquired an inkle loom and had a lesson from an expert so I can watch TV and weave at the same time. I am interested in weaving with silk mostly 60/2 although I do quite a bit with 90/2 silk. I also count myself as a bookbinder with a special interest in Coptic binding.