A Summery Summary

Owl cushions commissioned for a wedding

Each owl had the wedding date embroidered on the back

Crazy Owls!

July and August, even more so than the rest of this insanely busy year, seem to have flashed before my eyes. Instead of attempting to recap and explain all the madness I thought I'd just post a few pictures of some of the things I've been up to. I've just got back from a much needed holiday and feeling pretty much human again. I think I might need to reassess that whole work/life balance thing. It's been fun but there has definitely not been enough sleep!

Appleby Agricultural show

It was very muddy

Cushions!

Images from Impecunious' Summer Project, Wonderland. A week long community arts extravaganza held at Botcherby Community Centre.

Wonderland art work

Mask making

Mushroom making

Mushroom making

Butterfly decorating

The crystal cave

Crystal Cave

More plastic stuff

Magic mushrooms in the crystal cave

Decorations

Pom-pom caterpillar

UV wool and butterfly decorations

Mushrooms...the start of something?

Felted Mushroom

Today I have typed up a proposal written by my friend Helen and I for a piece of performance/installation art involving felting and mushrooms and Kendal. I do not wish to give too much away suffice to say that if our proposal is accepted I think it will be one of the most fun, and random, projects I've worked on, and I've worked on some strange projects!

I have also made a small felted mushroom from Jacob and Shetland fleece to get into the spirit of things. I think it's really quite sweet. I used a seamless felt method where a plastic resist is used to form 3D shapes, in this case a bell shape and tube shape. The Jacob, used for the cap and mixed with the Shetland for the stalk, is quite a coarse fibre and the resulting felt is still quite hairy which gives the mushroom a rather fuzzy texture and appearance. The spots are merino which felts much more easily and is a much softer fibre which I think works well as the spots kind of melt into the cap.

May Day Madness!

Detail of the van covering

Detail of the minibus cover

We won!

Parading behind the bus

Banner of painted flowers

I was in Penrith yesterday preparing for and then watching the May Day Parade. I've never been to one before and it was a glorious day, which was lucky as most of the van covering was made of paper! To explain; I help run an art group for Eden Mencap Society (http://www.edenmencapsociety.co.uk/) and one of the things we've been working on recently is preparations for the May Day parade, with a theme of Alice in Wonderland. We didn't have a 'proper' float, i.e. a lorry, so we decided to improvise by making a covering for the minibus. We used card board and paper and then went to town on the decorations; flowers, mushrooms, flamingoes and other madness. We also made various costumes and the guys walked behind the minibus, all dressed up and looking fabulous! At the very back they carried a banner painted with exotic flowers that we had an enjoyable morning painting. To top it all off, we won 1st prize! So, a big cheer to all the people at Eden Mencap Society who all put so much hard work in, it was all worth it.