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Sunday 20 May 2018

Textile Wall Hangings Inspired by Nature: RSPB Geltsdale

Getting set up for the workshop
Poster for the Workshop

Last year I ran two textile workshops (Bird Portraits) at RSPB Geltsdale, following on from my 'As the Crow Flies' exhibition. I really enjoyed the sessions, it's a lovely environment and I had a great group of participants on both workshops. I was asked to run another session this year to run alongside my 'Wingspan' exhibition. I didn't want to run the same workshop again so we decided on my Mini Textile Banners workshop, but with a new title as they thought 'banners' might put people off!

Ready for everyone to arrive

Getting stuck in

Playing with layers

This time my exhibition was still up when I ran the workshop (last time the workshops took place after the exhibition) which I really liked as I was able to refer to my work throughout the session and I thought it helped 'set the scene' a bit more. It's really good working in the gallery space as you have the work all around you to refer to and, hopefully, to inspire people.

Finished piece from last years workshop

Experimenting with layout

Experimenting with layout

Once again I had a really good group of participants, including quite a few who'd been on the previous workshops or attended some of my other workshops. It's always a good confidence boost when people come back! One of the participants from the last workshop brought her finished piece, it was a beautiful piece of work and I was so pleased she'd been inspired to carry on and finish it after the workshop. It was a very relaxed session and what I was really pleased with was that people really made it their own, everybody's banner was different and I was impressed and inspired by how willing everyone was to get stuck in, try things and experiment.

Adding stitch

Adding stitch

Adding stitch

When I'm running a workshop I'm not interested in everyone doing exactly the same thing and going home with a carbon copy of something I've done, I want to inspire people to be creative in their own way. I aim to encourage people to try something different and to have confidence in their own ideas. I love being able to show someone how to master a particular skill or technique but what I really love is when they then take that skill and do their own thing with it.

Pieces growing and developing

Pieces growing and developing

Pieces growing and developing

During the workshop I showed people how I create my textile banners, using naturally dyed fabrics, natural objects, stitch and other embellishments. I demonstrated different techniques and stitches but my focus was on encouraging people to create something unique to them, exploring their interests and ideas. It was great seeing everyone get stuck into the materials and start selecting bits and pieces and I loved seeing how the work changed and evolved over the course of the day. My pieces change and evolve as I'm working on them so I was keen for people to enjoy the process rather than worrying about doing things in a particular, set way.

At the end of the session 
At the end of the session 

At the end of the session 

I usually find that when I'm running a workshop I learn new things too and I find that some of my most exciting and enjoyable workshops are the ones where there is plenty of collaboration between myself and my participants. Sometimes it's discovering an artist to research, sometimes it's learning a different way to work a stitch and sometimes it's firing ideas around and finding something that really gets the creative juices flowing. Running workshops also gives me a good chance and a good reason to experiment, it can be easy to get stuck in a rut when working all alone but sharing my practice with other people opens up more opportunities for experimentation and new ideas.

At the end of the session 

At the end of the session 

At the end of the session 

During this workshop I had a chance to try out something I've been meaning to do for ages; incorporating limpet rings (limpet shells that have had their tops worn away, leaving a ring) into my work. Whilst we were away on Westray last year I collected lots of limpet rings and started experimenting but hadn't done anything with it since then. Seeing everyone working away with all the materials I'd brought got me all inspired to have a go and I'm really pleased with the results. I was so pleased that the next day I carried on working with the shells and made a small piece of work about tide and memory, which has been selected for Cumbria's Museum of Military Life Remembrance 100 exhibition, but more about that in another post.

At the end of the session 

At the end of the session 

At the end of the session 

Detail

Wednesday 2 May 2018

Rust Dyeing

Dyeing with rusty pins and scissors

Following on from my last post about natural dyeing I thought I'd write a post about rust dyeing. Dyeing with rusty things is so easy and I've been playing around with some of the pattern making possibilities. It's not technically natural dyeing but it is dyeing with things that I have already (and which are otherwise not very useful on account of being rusty.)

Pins and woollen fabric

Dyeing with pins
Preparing samples: Fabric and pins

Adding water
One of the things I've been experimenting with is the pattern making possibilities of rusty dressmaking pins. By folding, pleating, twisting and then pinning fabric in place before getting it wet and then leaving it for a couple of weeks I've been able to create some really interesting results.


Pattern making with pins

Pattern making with pins

Pattern making with rusty pins
One of the other interesting possibilities of rust dyeing is the print making element; I find it fascinating being able to transfer the image of a rusty object onto fabric using nothing but water and time. I love these rusty ghost prints, they hold traces of the object and are like memories; not quite like the object and subject to change.

Preparing a sample: scissors and fabric

Rusty scissor and pin print on organza

Cochineal and rusty metal on wool

I'm currently working on some larger pieces of work, one of which is to do with memory and remembrance.  Using objects belonging to a particular person I have rust dyed pieces of wool and organza and am using these pieces to create a piece celebrating this persons life. It's currently a work in progress but I'm excited about it an am looking forward to sharing it soon.

Dyeing a large piece outside