Green Tea Rust Dyeing Experiment

 Home with a day off after my stimulating  CQ Winter School workshop  on rust marks with Alice Fox, I wanted to have a go straight away while  it was fresh in my mind.  I found a  bag with some old tools in the cellar ( mainly some of my Dad's pliers) and some Green Tea bags bought from a herbalist in Iran which I hadn't got round to trying ( good for obesity apparently!)
As before I placed some watercolour paper in a tray and placed tools and items either directly onto the paper or wrapped them in silk or linen  with lashings of tea. I then lay a piece of silk chiffon over the top. The photo  below was taken just after setting up, the photo above was the marks on  paper after 3 impatient days!  I'm thrilled  with most of the results - I used the tea  when it was hot and there's less of the brown  staining resulting from normal tea, more variety in colour and tone.

The chiffon layer on top also picked up stronger marks

 I was also pleased with the marks on the strips wrapped round nails 9 although there were a few that took up hardly any caolour.

I liked the effect of the rusty tin bottom ( above)  and the piece of shelving bracket (below)

The wrapped pliers gave the most interesting  and  pleasing results: linen above, silk habatai below. Definitely an experiment to build on.  

Tozeur Brickwork

Having printed off some Tunisian photos for Ian to show to his Dad (I'm at home with chest infection - on the antibiotics now), time to upload some more images here. In the Ouled el Hadef quarter in Tozeur, the houses are constructed of yellowish handmade bricks, protruding in ornate geometrical designs in relief - the shapes and motifs repeated on local carpets and shawls.
First used in Syria and Iraq during the 8th Century , the only other place it is practised today is Iran(we saw some in Yazd ). The pattern-making bricks create small patches of shade , generating convection currents that cool the surface. Practical as well as picturesque!

Finding the Feisty Fairy ( and other Xmas Tales)

To decorate our first Christmas tree I was keen to buy a fairy/angel that wasn't too whimisical and cute and found the perfect gal at British Crafts in Chiswick - she's a generously proportioned Trapeze Artist made of wire by Jo Dewar. After trying various heart-shaped ornaments, she acquired some fuchsia pink wings which Jo generously didn't charge for as I'd given her ideas for future 'fairies'. No, our Christmas tree is not dead - it's supposed be like that! We chose a 'chocolate' artificial tree with fibre optic lights.

It gently shimmers in the corner of the 'parlour' in front of some of my textile books and we didn't have to worry about buying extra lights.

I spent some time and elbow grease black-leading our original Edwardian fire place ( and cleaning out the grate and replacing the coals with fircones). With an artificial berry garland on the top (decided real holly would scratch the surface), it looks very cosy.

I don't normally go in for answering questionnaires but there's one circulating on a number of blogs about Christmas traditions that I've found entertaining so thought I'd share mine.

I should point out that apart from my childhood, I've escaped abroad for most Festive Seasons ( 12 countries visited) and have introduced Ian to the habit ( Syria and Iran so far ).

This year is our first spent entirely in our new (ish) home and we're looking forward to inventing our own traditions.

Egg Nog or Hot Chocolate? Neither - can't stand eggs and although I love chocolate in a solid format, hot chocolate gives me headaches. Cava is good and Santa gets left a glass of ginger wine.

Does Santa wrap presents or set them under the tree?

Wrapped and put in stocking and/or pillow case

Coloured lights on tree or white? White fibre optics ( a colour disc was also supplied - but that involves taking apart the base and losing the miniscule vital screw)

When do you put your decorations up? First weekend in December. If you go away for Xmas, you don't get the benefit otherwise.

What is your favorite holiday dish (excluding dessert)? As a Marmite fiend it has to be Twiglets!!

When and how did you learn the truth about Santa? It took a college education to deduce how our stockings were filled overnight when we left them on the hearth ( clue: socks come in pairs )

Do you open a gift on Christmas Eve? No, We were allowed to investigate our stockings
first thing but the rest had to wait until after Mass. Last year we opened pressies on our return from Iran

How do you decorate your Christmas tree? Various handcrafted items bought on travels ( eg Hungarian felt birds) plus patchwork ornaments

Snow! Love it or Dread it? Love it as long as prepared with thermals and sturdy footware. We had snow in Iran last year and it made everything sparkly but then were caught in a blizzard heading back to Tehran and our plane was the last out before the city was snowbound. Never been sitting in a plane as it was de-iced before!

('Modest Dress' is easier when it's cold!)

Can you ice skate? No!! My colleagues persuaded me to join them on a staff skating session on the rink at work but I spent my time holding onto the barrier in terror, watching the others glide elegantly by... I can rollerskate though.

Do you remember your favorite gift? The wierd ones are more memorable - like the fake fur legwarmers ( my brother believed in surprise presents) and the fire extinguisher ( my Dad had requested an extinguisher for his car and for some reason thought I'd wanted one -I don't drive)

What’s the most important thing about the Holidays for you? It used to be that it was the best time for travel abroad as I didn't need to use much annual leave and I came back tanned and invigorated (tho' usually with a cold). Now it is quality time spent with Ian.

What is your favorite Holiday Dessert? Trifle - preferably ginger. Ian is making Tiramisu this year

What is your favorite tradition? Still in development.

Which do you prefer, Giving or Receiving? On the whole Giving ( had a lovely time this year choosing clothes from Monsoon for a 1 year old girl.) It's difficult to make lists for others to buy for you when you're used to buying whatever you want ! At work we gave up doing 'Secret Santa' to jointly support Oxfam Unwrapped projects and at home we've bought goats, and this year innovative compost bins in Sri Lanka via Practical Action ( composting being dear to Ian's heart).

What is your favorite Christmas Song? I sang alto in the staff choir last year in St Annes' Church : 2 songs by Rutter ; 'Torches ' and my particular favourite the Georgian hymm ' Let an Anthem of Praise' with it's simple but uplifting harmonies. This is on the Maddy Prior & the Carnival Band CD 'Carols at Christmas' - I also like their 'Gold Frankinsense and Myrrh' CD as it reminds me of music I've heard on my travels. The most bizarre New Year's music was in a remote hotel in Morocco where all they had was 'Boney M's Greatest Hits'.....

Ever recycled a Christmas present? Some 'Secret Santa' gifts (especially candles) have made their way into the 'presents drawer' where they mostly remain. Trouble is, if I don't want them , who would I pass them on to?

Experiments in Acrylic Inks

One discovery on my recent painting course in Malham was the versatility of acrylic inks , both for drawing and adding different effects to mixed media . A piece of kit that Katherine uses a lot is a Dahlia Mister which delivers a fine controllable water mist, used to move paint and ink around the surface, even to draw with. She graciously allowed us to borrow it and on any excursion, Dahlia came too and there would be frantic calls of 'where's Dahlia?' when we'd come to a crucial point. They are however rather expensive so I was experimenting instead with a £2.95 Ideen 'Funpump' from Art Van Go. My palette of inks has also increased to include Sepia and Payne's Grey (much less harsh than black)

I have it in mind to try a scale up of the studies I did of Gordale Scar ( detail above) on fabric, planning initially some Journal Quilt trials of sections of rock. My first experiments with Payne's Grey and the 'Funpump' were on watercolour paper(below) - I love the feathering you get and the separation and granulation of the ink. The 'Funpump' was not as controllable as a Dahlia mister but was still superior to a standard spray bottle being slightly pressurised. For practising on fabric I had a sample of 3 different fabrics sown with a variety of machine and hand stitching and then painted over with acrylics. The result had been very boring and I'd attempted to cut it and re-assemble with no noticable improvement - nothing to lose in drenching it in inks.
The results pictured here are rather interesting. Although any glimpse of the underlying fabric has been lost, the ink has concentrated in the stitching and emphasised it. Ian has already ear-marked it for his office - it reminds him of the snowy landscapes we saw in Northern Iran . I thought it looked coastal but I suppose that's the beauty of abstracted landscape, each viewer sees something different.
The combination of ink and water mist acted quite differently on fabric compared to paper. I thought the acrylic painted areas might act in a similar way being water resistant but most of the ink soaked through along the stitching lines as you can see from the back!
And a considerable amount soaked into my unsealed drawing board - a thing of beauty in itself but I'm afraid I'll have to scrub it off . Might print the photo on fabric though.
What I might try for my next experiment is painting some fabric with gesso before and after stitching to see if that resists the soaking through, to seal my drawing board or failing that, putting a piece of fabric or paper underneath to absorb the watered inks.

100th Post, Labyrinths and Elements

I've had my head down in more ways than one - finishing off my pieces for Festival of Quilts whilst suffering from vertigo and dizziness as a result of viral Labyrinthitus ( as if the tooth infection wasn't enough!) It's just as well that I'd finished the 'Tideline' piece which required machine stiching and some thought and concentration whilst painting.
This 'elemental ' piece was started in Angie Hughes 'Poetic Images' course during CQ summer school last year. Buying some wooden print blocks and printing more lettered fabric extended the piece beyond 'Sea' and 'Sky' to 'Fire' and 'Stone' ( component parts below). I'd already auditioned fabrics and roughly pinned it so only hand stitching was required which has been very therapeutic. It's colours are more subdued and gentle than my usual colour palette - a bonus in being soothing to stitch.


It's almost a year since I started this blog and this is the 100th post!
In that time I have moved house (and had the builders in); travelled to Greece, Romania and Iran; been inspired by Henry Moore sculptures in my work environment; participated in several challenges ( TIF, CQ Journal Quilts, CyberFyber exhange); had pieces of work in 2 exhibitions ( 3 if count the display of 2007 Journal quilts at Sandown).
Throughout the year , I've gained a great deal of insight by working through ideas and thoughts by writing about them here. The links forged between other like-minded bloggers have been even more important and their thoughtful comments have provided encouragement and inspiration. When I first started reading blogs and thought I might like to start one of my own, I had no inkling of the generous community spirit there is in 'blogland' (nor how addictive it would become!) Thank You!

June TIF - Persian Archer

I started off at the beginning of June with ideas around botanical labels and what they say about plants in response to the brief for TIF of 'stories that are, stories that are possible' . But the discovery of some of my mother's embroidery from 30 years ago that had resonance for me now felt far more compelling , an emotional rather than intellectual response.
I've written about this piece based on Susian guards in my previous post which sparked off a number of interesting comments. Where had she got the idea from ? - probably from books in the library (although I've got a lot of her books, this isn't in it). The colour choice is interesting - I'd forgotten until Ian mentioned it that the small museum at Persepolis was painted in colours based on fragments they'd found - everything that we think of being stone coloured would have been brightly painted For my modern interpretation I used a photo of the relica roof of the palace in terracota colours and used a detail of the stone relief of a Susian guard ( an archer) as a displacement map using Photoshop ( good to try a new technique out)

After several trials I was pleased with the result and printed it out on commercially treated fabric and used a linen as a border ( closest match I could find to the original fabric of the hanging)
For the back ( as I seem to be going down the double-sided approach to most of my TIF challenges!) I used a photo of a detail of the hanging using my own bubble-jet set treated fabric. Interestingly not such an intense colour - but then self coloured pieces are difficult to photograph and increase saturation for printing.

I used fairly simple quilting ( loved doing the spirals in the beard) and it had an interesting effect on the back. The edge is some cotton perle over stitched with zig-zag. As many of the hand embroidery threads I have come from my mothers stash, I'm fairly certain it was some of the original thread she used on her hanging.

What would she have thought of the methods and materials we have available today? A lot of her C& G work was quite innovative for the time so I like to think she'd have had a go at most things( she was always far more of an embroiderer than me - I only really like plain stitching ).

Despite using Persepolis as a design source , I don't think she would have actually wanted to visit Iran as I did - she died before I started most of my travelling but when I expressed an interest in going to Turkey she was rather alarmed so she probably would have worried for me. Having said that she was quite adventurous herself, traveling to Normandy, Belgium and Austria very shortly after the 2nd world war on her own or with friends.

Thinking about her piece and how little I knew about its inspiration and construction despite having lived with it for years made me realise the importance of keeping records and sketchbooks

Links to the Past

My interest in and love of textiles was stimulated from a very early age by being surrounded by the fabrics and embroidery projects of my mother , Jennie. In the 1970's she did C&G embroidery parts 1 and 2 and toymaking at Warrington Art College and I remember her staying up all night to finish assignments ( I can see where my attitude to deadlines originates!) She sadly died over 20 years ago but I've kept a lot of her course work, samples and finished pieces. I recently sorted through some of these and came across this wonderfully stitched pulled thread work banner which I'd forgotten about but instantly recognised as having hung in our dining room at home.
What made me take a sharp intake of breath and a sense of connection was that the subject matter of the design was the stone relief Susian Guards (or 'Immortals') from Persepolis in Ancient Persia which we visited over Christmas !

I showed the banner to Ian without saying where it had come from - he instantly recognised the figures and was bowled over that my mother has stitched it over 30 years ago.
After a careful press, it now has pride of place in our hallway.

Iranian villages

Doorway in Abyaneh

One of the more interesting aspects of our trip to Iran was the variety of places we visited besides the tiled mosques, ancient monuments and Zoroastrian sites I've already mentioned. These included visits to 2 villages. The first one, Gharavol Kaneh ( House of watchman) was at the beginning of our trip enroute from Zanjan to Takab. We were to walk through the village and take tea with a family with carpet weaving taking place. Not having my trekking pole with me, I didn't fancy the steep slippy muddy path so dispatched Ian to take the photos while I did some sketching in the lower parts of the village. One of the advantages of travelling as a couple! With such a busy schedule , its often difficult to snatch some time for sketching and usually involves missing out on some aspect but it's almost always worthwhile to absorb surroundings and observe in more detail.

In a village house - the ladies of the house (plus one of our party) snuggle under a table with a heater beneath , covered with a blanket ( Denise said it was very cosy) Ian's photo

A selection of the wools used in carpet weaving above the cotton warp. (Ian's photo)

The village was built of mud and straw and there were some monumental dung heaps. I'm sure it looked more picturesque in the winter when we saw it with the sparkling layer of snow that it would have done later in the year.

Sketches in the village.

In contrast, the village of Abyaneh which we visited towards the end of our trip (passing heavily guarded nuclear installations!) was much more touristy. It's an UNESCO site for its wonderful red mud buildings. Again I found a place to sketch while most of the group went on a walk

The place I found to sketch ( with a wonderful door) was close to a group of 3 old ladies sitting in the middle of the road, gossiping (1 was playing with a plastic crocodile). As far as I could see most of the population was very old, making a living selling dried apricots, apples and cherries, the younger ones I guess going to the cities. Abyaneh is supposed to be known for its embroidery and local costume but the stitching they had on show and for sale was very crude and most of the women were very proud of their blowsy acrylic headscarves. A few had plainer wool checked scarves which looked older. Made a change from the ubiquitous black chador

Once I'd finished my sketch and was packing up, the ladies came to investigate what I'd been doing. They made appreciative noises over my painting but were keener to see what I had underneath my headscarf, see what my hair looked like and admire my earrings. That said, sketching often gives a way into communication with local people that taking photographs doesn't. Or perhaps it was because I was on my own rather than with the group.

Sketch is at the top of this post rather than bottom as I made a mess of the uploading. Grrr.