Rust and Red: Adventures in Colour and Remembering

Memory Cloth (For Cathy)
Rust dyed fabrics, hand embroidery, feathers and found objects
2018

Over the course of this year I've been involved in a number of projects connected with the centenary of the end of the First World War and Remembrance. When I first began getting involved with these projects I wasn't really sure how my work would connect; military history isn't really my thing. However, the more I thought about it the more I realised that actually there are a lot of connections, particularly with the remembrance element of the centenary.

Memory Cloth (For Cathy)
Detail

Memory Cloth (For Cathy)
Detail

Memory Cloth (For Cathy)
Detail

Memory is one of the themes that I'm interested in exploring in my work, in particular the way that it changes over time and the way that objects, especially textiles, hold memories. One of the reasons I like to work with natural dyes is that they are a way of preserving a memory of that resource in cloth and I also like the way that the colours can change and shift over time, they remain beautiful but they change subtly and slowly just like our memories.

Memory Cloth (For Cathy)
Detail

Memory Cloth (For Cathy)
Detail

Early on in the year I began work on a piece in memory of a particular person; Cathy. A member of Cumberland Embroiderers Guild and a very talented stitcher Cathy was always so enthusiastic and encouraging and always wanted to hear about my projects. When she died her son asked me to help sort through her extensive stash, dividing it up amongst the charities I work for. I kept a few of her unfinished samples and the needles and pins that were too rusty to use. I wanted to create a piece of work that would celebrate her life and provide a way of remembering her.

Work in progress on Memory Cloth

I used the rusty pins and needles and a small pair of her rusty scissors to dye and print some fabric. I then assembled this dyed fabric along with some of her unfinished samples, feathers and various other bits and pieces. I joined these pieces with lines of stitch, representing her journeys through life and connecting all the different elements together.

Silk dyed with cochineal

Wool, cotton and linen dyed with cochineal

Linen, cotton, wool and silk dyed with cochineal

The finished piece was exhibited at Farfield Mill as part of the Nostalgia exhibition earlier this year and then again as part of the Cumberland Branch of the Embroiderers Guild exhibition at Tullie House in September. I like that the piece could be both personal (as it was when shown in September) or more general (as it was in May) but either way I found people could connect with it and find their own stories, memories and interpretations within it.

Flow: Red
Naturally dyed fabrics, feathers, sequins and hand embroidery
2018

Every two years Cumberland Branch of the Embroiderers Guild holds an exhibition (as mentioned above.) This year our theme was Red and the Chairman's challenge was Poppies, to tie in with the centenary and remembrance events. Although I use touches of red in my work it's not a colour I'm very confident with, I lean more towards cooler colours like blues and greens. However, I wanted to create a piece for the exhibition and, handily, earlier in the year I'd been doing some dyeing with cochineal so had quite a few bits of naturally dyed fabric ready to use.

Flow: Red (detail)

Flow: Red (detail)

Flow: Red (detail)

Inspired by the pieces I'd made for Remembrance100 at Cumbria's Museum of Military Life and the piece I made in memory of Cathy I decided to make one of my mini banners, as I call them. I wanted red to be the main theme but I also added touches of gold to hint at the preciousness of life but also as a nod to military regalia and medals. I also wanted the piece to reference poppies and remembrance so I incorporated black and red sequins. As always I included feathers as in my work I use them to represent us and because I wanted this piece to be part of my 'Flow' series, which explores the flow and change of life and memory.

Flow: Red (detail)

Flow: Red (detail)

Although quite different to my other pieces I like this piece, it is much bolder and less subtle and it was interesting working with such a strong colour. I found it very challenging as often it felt too much but I'm happy with how the different elements have eventually come together.

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

An Orkney Adventure

Cliffs near West Manse, Westray

At the end of May we headed up to the Orkney Isles for a week. I've been really excited about this trip, we've been wanting to go for a long time but it is a long way so we've always put it off. We went with a couple of my friends who have been a number of times before which was great as we got a bit of insider knowledge. Orkney is a set of islands and we were staying on one of the most northerly, Westray.

West Manse

Dining room/workroom

One of the sea views from 'Holly'

We stayed at the beautiful West Manse. Sandy and Willy have restored this beautiful Manse carefully and lovingly to create a cosy, peaceful, welcoming space. Mr Stitches and I stayed in 'Holly' which is decorated in calming aqua colours and has views of the sea from all three windows. They were so welcoming and did everything they could to make sure we had a good time without being intrusive in any way. Sandy even let me use her spinning wheel, which I was very pleased about. I took my Electric Eel Wheel electric spinner but it's not the same as a proper wheel.

Whales bones outside the excellent Westray Heritage Centre

Beautiful side door, St. Magnus Cathedral (Kirkwall, Orkney Mainland)

The Knap of Howar, ancient neolithic farmstead

The Knap of Howar, ancient neolithic farmstead

There is so much to do up on the Orkney Isles, so much history and wildlife that it would be easy to get caught up in a rush to see everything and tick all the sights off your list. However, we knew we needed time to relax and recharge our batteries so we decided even before we went that we would just take it easy and do what we felt like doing each day rather than planning lots of trips and sight seeing. I'm really pleased we did this as we ended up having a great week, we did lots of walking and looking but we also had plenty of time just to be and enjoy where we were, meaning that we came back relaxed and calm and feeling inspired.

Coming into Stromness from Scrabster

Coming into Stromness from Scrabster

Waiting for the ferry to Westray at Kirkwall

Coming into Papa Westray from Westray

We were really lucky with the weather, most of the week we had bright sunshine and not much wind. All our ferry crossings were unusually smooth and I even ended up getting sun burnt on Papa Westray as it was so warm! The sunshine also meant that the colours, especially of the crystal clear waters, were beautifully intense. When going to northerly Scottish Islands on holiday one doesn't expect great weather but it's always a bonus when you get it.

Grobust Beach, Westray

Papa Westray

Mae Sands, Westray

Papa Westray

Orkney is famous for its ancient monuments and is believed to have been an important cultural centre of the neolithic world. We visited the Knap of Howar, an amazingly well preserved neolithic farmstead, whilst on Papa Westray and you really can feel a connection to the people who lived there. It's really not so different from a croft or modern cottage. We also visited Westray Heritage Centre (Pierowall, Westray) and the Orkney Museum (Kirkwall, Orkney Mainland) where we enjoyed looking at the various artefacts and learning more about the history of the islands. I was really drawn to the bronze and iron age artefacts and did lots of sketching in both museums.

Guillemot

Fulmars

Bonxie (Great Skua)

Puffin!

One of the things I was most looking forward to about our trip was the bird watching. As anyone who knows me or my work will have gathered, I love birds! We were not disappointed, we visited two of the RSPB's 13 Orkney nature reserves, North Hill and Noup Cliffs, and we also saw plenty of birds on our walks and explorations. Highlights have to include the Skuas (both great and arctic) and their amazing aerial displays, arctic terns diving metres in front of us and my first sighting of a great northern diver.

Guillemots at Noup Cliffs

Gannets at Noup Cliffs

Noup Cliffs

We spent a lot of time walking during the week, almost everywhere is picture worthy so I ended up taking nearly a thousand photographs as whichever way I turned it was beautiful. We walked along the beautiful beaches looking for treasure, we walked along spectacular cliffs admiring the wildflowers and being impressed with the sea birds and geology, we wandered through abandoned crofts reclaimed by starlings and lush farmland teeming with oystercatchers, lapwings and rabbits and we ambled through picturesque villages in search of coffee.

Beach patterns

Beach Patterns

Barnacles and rust

Over the last couple of years walking has become really important both as part of my practice and as a way of keeping happy. Mr. Stitches is a proper walker and whilst I'm not I really enjoy being out with him, it's a relatively slow activity giving us time to think and talk and there's always something to see. It gives us a chance to stop worrying, enjoy the present and experience new sights. Often on our walks I'll find ways of overcoming things I'm struggling with in my work, either by talking it through or just by having clear head time or through something I've seen or found.

Wildflowers

Wildflowers

Cliff walk

Abandoned croft

Whilst we were up on Westray I had some time to do some work, inspired by my surroundings and treasures seen and found out on our walks. I kept a diary of my week and did lots of sketching and sampling, as well as spinning, All the walking and relaxing we did this week has given me lots of ideas for my work and I'm looking forward to taking some of them into my studio and getting stitching...

Spinning yarn from fleece gathered on our walks

Spun yarn from fleece gathered on our walks

Rust dyeing using rusty metal collected from beaches

Knitting and sewing samples