Caladium Leaves (3)

I finished off the Caladium Leaves yesterday; top and bottom edges were bound with black bias binding and machined stitched to form a pocket for a carrying rod. I have used curtain weighting for the bottom.  Looks good. The birds are not so good. There are a lot of skipped threads. I repaired some but decided to repeat it, omitting the warp faced row. I have found some nice metallic thread in the stash and will try that first. The forms have to be in by 24th July so I have taken a risk on it and said I would put in one of birds, the same dimensions as the existing one. I did inspect because that's what it looked like and there were several faults, shaft supports crossing etc. That has all been put right and one hopes for the next piece to be okay.

Last night, the leaves pinned to the devore scarf were transferred to freezer paper cut to the same dimensions as the the scarf. The leaf shapes were cut out and the freezer paper ironed on to the scarf. This morning, I applied the chemical gel. Tomorrow I will iron it and hope it has all worked.

Today is Wednesday, my half-day off. So I went to Droitwich Spa. It is about 40 minutes drive from Malvern and I don't think I have been there since the 70s. Lots of narrow streets with half-timbered houses. In the town centre is a large shopping mall and on the edge of that backing on to some gardens is the library which is having an Exhibition of textile work by Bolt Hole. There was some first rate work by Dianne Carrington which is 3-D, for example, the top of a fluted column and a swag of tropical flowers. All 3D with texture added using lace and beads, then everything sprayed the same colour. Very effective. Another interesting artist was Deb Jackson who makes waistcoats frothing with lace although they look too fragile to be worn. They definitely gave me ideas for projects!

After that it was to Bevere Gallery just North of Worcester to buy Anne a birthday present and of course look round, Lovely watercolours of the Wye Valley by John Harris and some fine porcelain bowls by Thomas Headley. I bought a garden pot for Anne and two sheets of wrapping paper for me. Interesting stuff and suitable for covering books. It is far too good to wrap presents in!!!

Home by way of a shirt shop for Michael. I got caught in a thunderstorm walking to the shop and came home sodden. Never mind, it was a good day.