April Showers

Spring has definitely arrived since we had the warmer weather and April showers this week. The cherries are particularly pretty. I took my camera out into the garden and then had a walk down the lane.

Down the lane the hedges are beginning to come back to life and filling out the winter lines. 

Some of the trees are nearly in full leaf while others are a little slower to get going but I love their shapes against the sky.

 Nesting has begun in ernest and the sounds vary from melodic singing to the quarrelsome noises of the crows building their nests a pecking beak apart!

It was lovely to hear the unmistakable sound of the curlew but I have never found where they nest as they are so well camouflaged.
Back to my garden and I have bought my new tubs that will go in two groups of three at the front of the house. The annuals are already growing in my greenhouse waiting for the chance of frost to pass before they can be planted out.

Cumbrian Waterfall

A few months ago I started a competition piece for the North West Region Embroiderers' Guild Regional day on Saturday 21st April. The title to work to was "The Beautiful North West". I decided I would embroider one of the north west waterfalls cascading over the rocks with a little artistic licence!
I started by collecting fibres, fabrics, silk throwsters waste and silk rods. Some of these I dyed to the colours I wanted. I then placed all the pieces between 2 pieces of dissolvable plastic and stitched to hold in place.

 The piece was then embroidered on the machine to add texture colour and hold the pieces together

The plastic was then washed out in the bath and the piece dried on towels. When dry the piece was hand embroidered to add even more texture.

Ferns were added to the piece by weaving picots and then joining them together along the edges of the water.

The waterfall was woven on a loom with long fringes to look like cascading water. It was then stuffed and sewn into position.

Strings of beads were then added to look as if the water was pouring over the edge.

The piece is now finished and I need to make a bag to carry it to Leyland for the day!

The peacock was hanging in the entrance when I arrived at regional

day and members seemed to like it.

I was pleased to win second prize with my Cumbrian waterfall.

Mono printing

Last Tuesday it was the our Embroiderers' meeting and I was leading a workshop on mono printing. Mono printing can produce some lovely and interesting results but it is not an exact science and some people find too much is left to chance.
I find it useful for sketchbook work and backgrounds for embroidery.
We were using a laminated A4 sheet as the print plate and a poly pocket on which to mix the printing ink.

We practised inking up the plate with either printing inks or acrylic plus extender. We could tell when we had the right amount because when rollered it had an orange peel texture and made a rasping sound.

Marks were made in the paint and then prints were taken on paper so that members could get a feel for the paint.

We worked at adding and subtracting paint, making a mask,using stamps and blocks, stencils and plant material.

Mono print means one print but if you work fairly quickly you can often get a second print and it is this "ghost print" that I usually find the most attractive.

If you get a good print on paper you can then have a go at printing on material.
The blue print above was made by printing onto the plate with lace and various stamps and then a print was taken.
The print was then used as a background for jellyfish which are part of my next workshop on silver.

Woven Medieval Bird

About 2 weeks ago I went on a weaving course with Louise Oppenheimer. I arrived with my frame already warped and an idea of what I wanted to weave.
I love old books and a while ago I came across The Book of Deer which is a C10 gospel written in Latin with C12 notes in the margin in Scots Gaelic [probably the earliest written form] with the most amazing illustrations of  the apostles and minute drawings of beasts in the margins.

The text is in Latin which makes a beautiful pattern on the page but what caught my eye was a small drawing of a bird at the bottom of this page.

I found this enlarged drawing on the computer and thought I would have a go at simplifying the drawing and weaving the bird.

I chose my colours of wool and made a few marks on the warp for to help me visualise the shape and I was off.

I wove about half the bird on the workshop and then completed the weaving at home.  The weaving was cut from the loom and the threads on the back tidied..
I decided to mount it on a canvas covered in "aged" paper and surrounded by a plaited braid.

The weaving is not perfect but I am still improving.
This is not the first time I have used the illustrations in the Book of Deer. I made this embroidery involving metal shim based on two of the beasts. The metal shim used for the beasts is the inside of tomato pure tubes and the leaves are the foil from Ferrero Rocher!

Some time in the future I hope to have a go at making something with the apostles.