Some of the wonderful work produced on the course....

11th March 2017

Back in Richmond after a wonderful week of creativity. On Thursday afternoon we displayed work on our tables and I was amazed by the quantity and quality, so many very talented ladies......

....weaving on hessian...

...just LOVE these quirky bird fabric sculptures...

....fabric stitched in a variety of ways on wool then washed in the machine, indigo dyed, fabulous texture....

....I managed one last walk on the last day before it began to rain....

...wild primroses on the bank...

....this is Gerri with her amazing creation, so many hours of stitching, the circles are made using chick peas.... 

....the whole group have so many beautiful fabrics to use at home, can't wait for next year!!!

More Dyeing....

8th March 2017

Yet another grey, rainy day but I have been having so much fun experimenting with resist dyeing using indigo and potassium.

Strips of seaweed, thoroughly rinsed and pinned together....

.....stitched with shells added, coated in acrylic wax to prevent it becoming brittle....

.....I had to make quite large running stitches to avoid splitting the seaweed, think I will display on my workroom wall.

Playing with Ko in Or paints on wet fabric for use as background or collage...

....more colour can be added....

....also a good base for printing.

Indigo dyed silk re-wrapped around a bottle ready for potassium dipping, unfortunately all the rubber bands popped when lowered into the pan of hot solution so had to re-dye! This time I had help twisting the silk until it wrapped around itself, made a new solution as the old had turned 'sludgy'....

.....love the result!

My experiment using folded calico, two tin lids and a really strong clamp....

....delighted with the result....

....same method using a triangle resist.

Can't believe it is our last day tomorrow, it is 'show and tell' so hope to have some photos of the work done in this workshop.....

Busy, Busy Day....

7th March 2017

Today was a free day but we all worked hard in the studio!

It is so lovely here, everybody shares ideas and equipment, we all need another week!

Indigo dyed cloth, refolded....

....dipped in potassium solution....

...rather like the result...

..stitched...

...result after a soak in the indigo bath...

...I am pleased with this result.

Painted Bondaweb, ironed onto calico...

....sea background...

....sky....

....beach/rocks...

....folded calico, square resist clamped...

...thrilled with this result...

....scrim...

...result

....buttons fixed with wound thread.

>>>>>>>>>

Went to Heligan for a delicious lunch, unfortunately the weather was very wet and grey!

.....these amazing hyacinths had the most amazing smell at the entrance to the restaurant.

Also today I have been stitching sea weed!!!!

Show you the results tomorrow.....

More Photos....

6th March 2017

Mevagissey Harbour

....Bodrugan Cove....

....the wind was whipping the water off the top of the wave....

....incredibly mesmerising...

....if it hadn't been so windy I would have sat on the rocks and watched for a long time!

Wonderful rocks...

Photos!!

6th March 2017

These are photos from this morning, I am still having trouble storing the photos on my lap top (I need the skills of my eldest son!!!)

Stitched around my shape with double running stitch....

...pulled the thread tight...

....after being in the indigo vat.

...this is my favourite...

.....BUT it took 2 hours to unpick as I overstitched the outline!!!

Silk rods and silk dipped in potassium....

.....love this result, silk rods tied, indigo vat, re-wrapped using cotton yarn and dipped in potassium...

.....silk square tied, indigo ....

....re-wrapped and a quick dip in the potassium...

.....scrunched cotton-indigo....

....re-wrapped and dipped in the potassium pan BUT all the elastic bands snapped immediately.....

....so not quite the result I was hoping for...

....may put it in the indigo again ....

....folded..

...result...

....hemp from my trip to Vietnam, folded, banded...

....a viscose scarf after wrapping around a bottle and put in indigo vat...

...after rinsing, re-wrapping and a quick dip in the hot potassium solution!

I AM HAVING SUCH A GREAT TIME!!!

Dyeing with red cabbage this afternoon.....

Cornwall....

6th March 2017

Greetings from a vey blustery, showery Cornwall!!!

Have had a very enjoyable two days on our course, stitching, indigo dyeing and beach combing.

I dodged the showers yesterday and walked down to the beach in my new red wellies, so glad I took them as it was very muddy after all the rain!

I took some beautiful photos of the waves but they have just disappeared from my computer!!!

To make it worse I have deleted them from my disk!

Will have to try again today.

So I have no photos but will tell you what I have been doing. Lots of folding, stitching a variety of fabrics then placing them in the indigo vat and waiting very patiently for about 30 minutes before revealing the result. It is always a surprise and rather exciting!

We also have a pot of potassium for dipping the indigo cloth after it has been refolded and this is even more magical....

.....hopefully will have photos tomorrow to show you todays results.

Won't be down on the beach today as the forecast looks a bit grim!