Planet Textile Threads

Friday was all about printing, but at 6am my fourth block was still to be cut. I decided to use the lines - perhaps in nostalgia for my "travel lines".

At class, there was still much to be done before any printing could start. Registration lines to be added, edges of non-printing areas to be beveled, the blocks checked and generally tidied up, at which point I discovered an entire uncut corner of one of them ... hmm, how did that happen!

After an hour we were ready to run the block under the tap (right) and wrap it (left) in a damp teatowel and then plastic - it would have a couple of hours for the water to soak into the wood fibres -
Having folded sheets of newsprint into a book, we wet alternate pages (starting at the back) and wrapped them in plastic - this would be the damp pack for the printing paper -
The paper was cut to size to fit the area marked out on the blocks. Because it had deckle edges, one edge needed cutting off to give a basis for measuring our little sheets -
Dabbing the nori onto the areas to be printed, after which a soft brush is used to smooth it out -
Then it's the turn of the pigment -
again with the brush -
Several applications of pigment may be needed, until the printing surface is properly covered.

The paper, lifted from the damp pack, is placed into the registration marks -
Being thin, it was covered with a sheet of baking paper to stop the baren rubbing loose the fibres -

It was rather thrilling to see the layers building up, and to play with the colours -




A further step is to stretch the print - it dries, then is briefly dampened again, and placed on a surface (eg perspex) and taped round (in one direction, eg clockwise) with sellotape, which is rubbed onto the paper to hold it firm. When the tape is removed, it takes just a few of the fibres of the paper with it -
To my right, Mags was well away with beaches and groynes and beach huts -
An important thing is knowing how to sharpen the different tools. We were given a basic set of tools to use and keep, but even these work better if kept in good condition. So, find the bevel and first use the coarse stone
then remove the burr and finish off on the finer stone -
Here's a lovely bit of cutting - look at those thin lines! The block is a work of art in itself -
Samples of the finished prints
After class I went along to Intaglio to get a few things (brushes paper, sharpening stone) so that I could finish up my set, and perhaps play with the blocks in different ways -
 When I took the prints out of my plastic folder, 24 hours after the class, they were still damp, hence the buckling. Back in a damp pack before further printing, they'll straighten out, and after printing there's the stretching process for the ones worth keeping.

The one at top right is the most complete, it has all four layers, but unfortunately it has unwanted inking -
 Perhaps I used too much nori and made the block too wet? After seeing that, I used a scrap of the absorbent paper to mop between the motifs, and that helped a bit -
The yellow and violet print over the grey areas quite well, but the green is wildly misregistered on the right side -
Possibly the paper was badly placed, but it's also likely that my tracing for the grey layer was inaccurate. There's a lot needs looking out for! It's a bit like learning how to drive - you have to practice and practice till things become automatic.

Next step, making more blocks, based on a photo I took on the way to Intaglio, as a result of an idea I'd had on the way to class. Something caught my eye that just seemed right - but I must reconsdier it away from the heat of the moment. I quite like it when things happen quickly, so that you're swept up with the enthusiasm and urgency of it all.

A two-day course at Morley College. Monday to learn how to cut the woodblocks, Friday to learn how to print them. In between we take wood and cutting tools home and finish the cutting. 

somewhat late for tanabata, but it has that atmosphere.
have a good weekend.17ºc here,please do not hate me!


neki desu

Eyelight thrown
on a dark question
to darken it further,

Time to take in
the view, the entire
daily tablescape.

Earthenmost shades -
and yet the effect
is of airy redemption.

That pledge of mud
the soul needs
to make its abstract journey.

Shapes huddle
in improvised families
out of the storm of seeing.

Wedges, half-moons,
rough squares: a simple
bag of tricks.

But everything
is accounted for
by these economies.

The epicurean
saint attends
to his plot of paint.

The world beyond
staying just the same,
only more so.

(via)

Found via an obituary of Breon O'Casey: "Moving out of St Ives to the village of Paul in 1978, O’Casey developed his vocabulary of geometric forms, the world seen through a collection of circles, triangles and squares rather than fields, trees and skies. This unique pictorial language is celebrated in Christopher Reid’s poem, Nine Triangles (for Breon O’Casey)."

Long time no see, eh? Don’t faint–it’s a new blogpost!  It has been crazier busier than usual in my life, which is saying something.  Lots of quilt made, shows entered,  accepted in more than half, taped 3 segments for QA TV in March, went to a dyeing fabric workshop in Massachusetts, son’s wedding came and went (three days ago), it was perfect.  It was a DIY (do it yourself) affair with daughter-in-law and me planning, and me absolutely delightedly doing a LOT of the prep.  I’m so happy it came off without a hitch, was perfect (will try to share pics before too long).   So now I get to SHARE all this good stuff I’ve been doing.  First is that I am on Quilting Arts again, episodes 2001, 2007  and 2012.  The series will air on PBS this fall but you can purchase the series at Interweave now; this link is to the download, but a DVD of the series is also available here.

On the 2001 show, the first of the season, host Susan Brubaker Knapp and I talk about how to get from where you are to being a professional, our own journeys on that path, and things we’ve learned about ourselves and how we each found our own “thing” in the industry.  You can see a recap of episode 2001 here.  Since I’ve known Susan for years, it is so relaxing to be around her, and she is such a professional and skilled at guiding those not used to being on camera all the time.   Thank you so much to Susan, Quilting Arts Editor Vivika Hansen deNegre and all at QA TV for inviting  me to be on again and making the process so wonderful.

If you go to the page link for Episode 2001 and click on the photo (seen above) you’ll even get a download link to my hints and tips about finding your own path to being a quilting professional.

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I have been seeking a folk song.  Several years ago, while I was my mother's sole carer and thus not my usual otherwise alert self, I happened across a television programme of a folksong gathering.  A woman described the folk tale behind the song she was about to sing - perhaps in Gaelic (Irish, or Scottish, I cannot remember).
It was the story which gripped my mind.  I do not remember it at all clearly except the bare bones:
There were two sisters; one - let's call her Catriona - had a lover that the other - let's call her Fiona - coveted.  So while Catriona fell asleep at the low tide edge, Fiona tied her hair to the rocks.  The tide inevitably came in, and Fiona walked off with the lover.
I cannot remember enough details to google effectively, so have not been able to track down the folk song, or the tale.  I keep trying at odd moments, but meanwhile the worm has been at work in my mind.  The seaweed on the shores of the Outer Hebrides provided the hair.
It is not a literal illustration of a mis-remembered story, but what hearing the story generated within my well-established relationship with the sea.  After my return from holiday I have been working on the idea above. 

The Cut Cloth exhibition, and its associated events, were what spurred my recent trip to Manchester. I got there on the last day of the exhibition, which was held in the amazing Portico Library, with its delightful "original features" dating back 200 years - the library was opened in 1806. The central exhibition space , which also functions as a cafe - is a modern intervention -
The "Polite Literature" category would include the literature that was read in the Polite Society of the Georgian era, the sort of literature deemed sufficiently suitable for a wife or servant. But these shelves also hold some risque novels and a few books on witchcraft and philosophical and theological arguments. (Read more about it here.)

We had a simple lunch on tablecloths rumoured to be by Alice Kettle (and indeed she and ceramicist Stephen Dixon are leaders of the Crafts Research Group, year-long artists in residence) -
In the vitrines, historic documents - The Subversive Stitch by Roszika Parker was published in 1984, and the Art Textiles exhibition, curated by Jennifer Harris  was held at the Whitworth in 2015

Textile art and contemporary feminism (click on the image to enlarge,  for reading the text)

 A few of my favourite pieces -


 In one vitrine, historical textile production in Manchester, which in 1853 had over 100 cotton mills and until early this century produced "wax cloth" for export to Ghana, and also Shweshwe indigo fabric, "German print", which was exported to South Africa -
Some days later, "the hanky workshop", led by Sarah Corbett of the Craftivist Collective. She supplied a kit with hanky, thread, needle, instructions, a lovely woven label ... and there are other stitching-for-action kits on the Craftivist website -


Sarah's Little Book of Craftivism contains thoughtful, do-able projects that bring the political a bit closer to the personal -
 Here we are, stitching away in the Portico Library - changing the world one stitch at a time!
The hanky, explained Sarah, is a way of gently confronting and connecting to "a powerholder" - onto which can be stitched not only your concerns about their actions and policies, but also encouragement for doing a better job in future ... with the added dimension that you'll be thinking about these topics and issues as you stitch. To me, that is much more sane than yelling angry slogans. But to whom, about what, would I write or give such an object?  When we said a few words about ourselves at the start of the workshop, I said I'd come because this was an area that I'd not been involved with yet in my life. And indeed, I felt very much out of my depth and hadn't thought who for, or about what, such a handkerchief missive might be.

At the end of the session I hadn't got very far ... and Sarah gave us an "extra length of encouragement" to take away - "little by little, we travel far"

After that bit of agony came the joy of stitching - with two strands of anchor cotton, or rather one strand doubled over through the needle, so the needle wouldn't get lost during stitching on public transport (the sturdy, reclosable envelope of the kit was very useful for carrying it around) -

 Finished -

 And the back .....

 However, drawing the shape gave some inkling not only of how different drawing in is from cutting out, but also of how much easier it is to get dark areas with the one-step process of using ink than with the two-step process of water-soluble pencils.

My next bright idea was to cut out the shapes -
 and then a bit of tracing, which really makes you pay attention to the details of the lines, and again to the difference between delineation with pen or pencil and creating a form with a gouging tool.
 I started using the shapes as stencils and as frottage -
 Hope to develop this further before the course.

In the self-portrait exhibition currently showing, Joyce looked at the different ways painters depicted themselves -
 Judith worked outside, finding a sculpture and an urban landscape -
 Carol was outside, near the canal, until it started raining -
 Janet B was sitting comfortably but said she was out of her comfort zone with the architectural subject - "every time I looked, there were more and more lines" -
 Najlaa found sculptures by John Beck -
 Mags tackled "the big red thing" with biros of different colours -
 Tool of the week - biros of different colours - these are "ink joy" -
 Extracurricular activities

Mags had been making little sketchbooks (from a sheet of A4) and filling them in odd moments -
 and she was also going great guns on her train stitching -
 Carol started a new (larger) sketchbook with an iconic motif -
 Janet B has done a series of drawings of her other hand -

one thing is clear: if i want to continue making cloth for apparel either a new wider loom or dress japanese style. their looms are narrower than mine and their system is minimum  cloth waste.
researching the net for kosode history and patterns i spent a good morning finding all kinds of information.
from there i developed my take, a short top with the  length  of fabric i have.



making a muslin first to avoid hand tremor as i cut the fabric.the pattern is extremely straightforward however.
i can even use the length of fabric i have folded over and opened in the front, as it has a separate piece that conforms the collar.
let's see how this fits i'll be sewing the toile tomorrow. sewing used to be summer activity as my studio was an oven.
still haven't get used to having a cooler temperature. although i have to say temps are expected to go to the high twenties or even 30. poor people here,they are not used to these temps. still much,much better than barcelona because nights are cool.


neki desu

A sunny summer morning is a gift and not to be ignored. I have a (self-imposed) daily walking goal, in the absence of longer walks, and got out early on the Parkland Walk - convenient, peaceful, green, what's not to like?

One of the joys of walking is noticing things, and now that I'm using the phone camera for all my snaps, it is always to hand. Nor can I resist documenting ....

"Weeds" beautifully backlit by low-slanting morning sunlight

Ingenious storage of supplies for the wood-burner (but...London is a smoke free zone?)

Prolific blooms, what are they?

I'm almost convinced these slow-down signs are on some sort of random timer, rather than related to traffic

"Back home" in BC these fuzzy pink things (what are they?) grow prolifically in slightly-wild places

Recently repainted, this proud sign is on Stapleton Hall Road

...and round the corner on Stroud Green Road (heading into the home stretch) the cafes are open at 7am but shop shutters are still down

The local off-licence, Jacks, has recently had a face-lift - boy oh boy,  has this area changed since I moved here (to Sparsholt Rd) in 1983!

New carvings have been added to this collection, but the bamboo now obscures those in the other windows

More damage to the diseased chestnut trees ... how much longer till they have to be cut down? I dread the day

From the corner of my block - it too is much improved in recent years; I moved here in 1994

"Here" is the top two floors, a maisonette rather than a flat; there are 33 stairs inside and another dozen outside

The garden, my expensive toy, belongs to the "basement" flat, which now belongs to my empire-building son, thanks to inheritance and my pension contributions. It was two years in the renovation and is now rented out, but even so, that was one expensive bike shed!

neki desu

Summer Garden by Breon O'Casey, 1996

Most popular - what google images puts at the top of the page

O'Casey's studio; more views here

Winged bird, bronze, 18x23 cm (via)

(via)

(via)

Today my Facebook "Memories" brought up a blog post I made four years ago and in rereading it, I found I still like the advice I gave myself back then. I had been struggling with this piece.



Actually it doesn't look that bad to me now, but back then the blue house in the foreground was just not working for me and I had overworked it to the point of having lost any sense of freshness and spontaneity. After all that and some anxious anticipation, I did what I knew had to be done.



I have not regretted that decision, and the real value was in defining for myself, my artistic values. They still work for me. So I am glad to share them once again, and again, reiterate that you may disagree, but perhaps in agreeing or disagreeing you will discover what your personal guides are.

So—the post from 2013....


Guiding Principles

I am cutting it off. The only logical solution, really.

Thanks for all the input and comments. Some of you got what I was after, some did not. The more I looked at it, the more I realized the basic flaw in the blue house part of the composition was that the blue house was just too dominant, too big and too much of a distraction from what were my favorite parts of the piece. Suggestions for adding things like vines and paint and layers of stuff were well-intentioned, but those things would not solve the underlying problem, and would probably only make it worse. I appreciate those of you who said to cut it off. I knew that was the best route to take and it was nice to hear support for that. The suggestion to put it aside and deal with it later was sound. I had already done that. This was the "later."

Less is more. Really it is. I keep forgetting, I guess. So I am making myself a list of rules—no, I won't call them rules. They are "guiding principles." You can ignore them in your own work, or argue with them if you like, but I think defining my own principles is a good way to remember what I already really knew.

1. Composition is the first and most important element. Once you are well into a piece it is hard to change the composition. Spend the time at the beginning to work it out and save yourself some grief later. Composition, composition, composition.

2. Color is important, value is even more important. Exciting art has deep darks and sparkling lights. Too often we are bogged down in the middle tones and that is the way to boring work.

3. Be true to your materials. Fabric art should look like fabric. Paint should look like paint. Paper should look like paper, etc. etc. Fabric cannot do all that paint can do. Paint cannot do what fabric does. Let the materials speak and listen.

4. Doing more is usually not the answer. Less is more. Simple is good. No amount of paint, glitz, buttons, beads, embroidery will fix a bad design. Embellishment should be part of a plan, not a band-aid.

5. Know your strengths and work with them. Just because other people love to make grand, immense work, doesn't mean I have to. Smaller and more focused is my place of greater strength. Large is not my best way of working.

6. Be authentic. Let your own style evolve by paying attention to what works best for you, what feels most honest and the feedback you get from trusted colleagues. Being inspired by the work of others helps you define yourself, but copying others just masks your own voice. Know the difference.

7. Filter what you hear from others. Advice is nice, but consider the source. Praise is lovely, but realize that most of your friends tell you what you want to hear. Questions are often more illuminating than answers.

8. Don't let the work become too precious. Always be willing to throw something away that isn't working. Or cut it up. Or give to the cat to sleep on. Some things are just practice. Not everything needs to see the light of day. But before you do any of these things analyze it and learn from it.

9. Base your analysis in sound practice. Go back to the elements and principles of design and ignore the theories of the proponents of "winging it."

10. Don't be lazy. "Good enough" is lazy if you can work a little harder and actually make it better. Do it right.

This is a start. I'm sure I will remember or discover others. Maybe I need to print them and post them in my studio. Do you have rules or guiding principles you try to incorporate into your work? I'd love to hear about them.

Posted by Terry Grant at 3:23 PM, July 14, 2013



- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad

Tennis? what tennis?

 Delivering some drawings, hopeful entrants for the Jerwood drawing prize - not my own drawings, though (maybe next year?) -
 Then back to town for what turned out to be a challenging event -
 It wasn't just a matter of sitting and hearing about the project, oh no, it was participatory - the audience split into two groups and did some movement and some painting, similar to the activities for the dementia patients. I am a bit reluctant about dance/movement, so those 15 minutes of what was obviously very pleasurable for most people have given me food for thought.

The painting consisted of each person making a straight line, and then "whatever you want", with one dip into the paint pot each time -
 Watching the making of the long diagonals, uniting the works, was very satisfying ... wish I'd thought of that!! Using the gloopyness of paint with a big brush, not to mention the joy of yellow, was a terrific release after the baffling complexity of the movement session. All told, the event was informative in ways I hadn't expected.

One of the items on display in the Wellcome Collection is a printout of the human genome - some genes occupy several thick volumes -
In the bookshop/gift shop, two young women (art students? they were dressed in black and one was carrying a UAL bag) were having a great time with the souvenir body parts -

Holding hands

 Down the road, the church that I passed every morning on my way to work still has hollyhocks -
 and some legs have appeared, a giant sculpture -

The William Morris Gallery, just up the road in Walthamstow, is trying to raise £15K to put on an exhibition about the work of May, the talented, skilled, and productive daughter of William Morris.

In 2015, the V&A blogged about her as an "unsung artist" (here).

Embroidery design, c.1885, by May Morris (via)

It's difficult, no doubt, to be the child of a famous parent when you follow in their footsteps. And to be the daughter... well, she could do with a little help to get a little recognition, even a century later.

As is usual in crowdfunding, there are rewards for various amounts of support. Donate £15 and get postcards, £25 a totebag, £45 the totebag and afternoon tea for two, £100 for a silk scarf in her honeysuckle design ... and for £995, a personal tour of Hand & Lock embroidery studios!

(via)

Of course if they don't make the target, your pledge will be useless, and no money is taken from your account.

There's an interesting wrinkle: £5000 has been pledged by a single donor, contingent on the first £10K being raised.

At time of writing, just 12 days remain, and it's about a third funded. If you're a fan of the Arts & Crafts movement and have a bit of cash to spare, have a look atwww.artfund.org/get-involved/art-happens/may-morris

The museum says:

"May Morris was one of the most important figures of the Arts and Crafts movement. A successful designer of wallpaper, jewellery and woven textiles, she was most influential as a pioneer of art embroidery – her work and expertise were in demand across the world. But her achievements have for too long been overshadowed by her more famous father, William Morris. 

We think it’s time May was recognised for her own talents. That’s why we’re asking for your help in raising £15,000 to create May Morris: Art & Life, a major new exhibition of May’s work. If our campaign is successful we can bring together rarely seen embroideries, costumes, jewellery, works on paper and personal items from collections across the country – and display them side by side for the first time."

May Morris in 1909 (aged 47) (via)

I am still working my way through Soliloquy, a panel at a time - only eight panels to go before I stitch them together.  I did not want to risk them on holiday, however, so I took Classic viola to finish, and Quiet work.
The latter was my main occupation, with the leaves taking up the time.  I finished the rest once I returned home, and before resuming Soliloquy.
I have written in more detail about the development of Quiet work on my work blog.

It all started with the idea of "the ceramic book"

Gathered fabric, so fragile

Stitching and strips of metallic fabric

Variations on a theme

More and more variations

Unpredictable effects

"A bigger splash" ! (or: "She said what?)

Trio #1

Trying out some "travel lines" as background

Nuclear family

Polygamy

Trio #2

what else?
have a great weekend.






neki desu

The end-of-year show of the Essential School of Painting took me to the Art Pavilion in Mile End park - what a wonderful venue, so spacious and with the evening light bouncing off the lake right outside.


The skylights give a hint that the building is partially underground, in the sense of having a grass roof; it's described as "buried in a grass bank".

I went along to see Gill Harding's work, portraiture in various media, of models and family and friends -

As I walked out one evening

As I walked out one evening,
   Walking down Bristol Street,
The crowds upon the pavement
   Were fields of harvest wheat.

And down by the brimming river
   I heard a lover sing
Under an arch of the railway:
   ‘Love has no ending.

‘I’ll love you, dear, I’ll love you
   Till China and Africa meet,
And the river jumps over the mountain
   And the salmon sing in the street,

‘I’ll love you till the ocean
   Is folded and hung up to dry
And the seven stars go squawking
   Like geese about the sky.

‘The years shall run like rabbits,
   For in my arms I hold
The Flower of the Ages,
   And the first love of the world.'

But all the clocks in the city
   Began to whirr and chime:
‘O let not Time deceive you,
   You cannot conquer Time.

‘In the burrows of the Nightmare
   Where Justice naked is,
Time watches from the shadow
   And coughs when you would kiss.

‘In headaches and in worry
   Vaguely life leaks away,
And Time will have his fancy
   To-morrow or to-day.

‘Into many a green valley
   Drifts the appalling snow;
Time breaks the threaded dances
   And the diver’s brilliant bow.

‘O plunge your hands in water,
   Plunge them in up to the wrist;
Stare, stare in the basin
   And wonder what you’ve missed.

‘The glacier knocks in the cupboard,
   The desert sighs in the bed,
And the crack in the tea-cup opens
   A lane to the land of the dead.

‘Where the beggars raffle the banknotes
   And the Giant is enchanting to Jack,
And the Lily-white Boy is a Roarer,
   And Jill goes down on her back.

‘O look, look in the mirror,
   O look in your distress:
Life remains a blessing
   Although you cannot bless.

‘O stand, stand at the window
   As the tears scald and start;
You shall love your crooked neighbour
   With your crooked heart.'

It was late, late in the evening,
   The lovers they were gone;
The clocks had ceased their chiming,
   And the deep river ran on. 

W.H.Auden (1907-1973) (via)

Hearing the lines about "the crack in the tea cup" in Hilary Mantel's first Reith Lecture, I wanted to read the rest of the poem ... and isn't it gloomy! But the lecture itself is a good listen, an insight into not just the writing of historical fiction but the relation of fiction to history and to true stories, and the truth of stories.

Before we hear the poem, the lecture starts:

St Augustine says, the dead are invisible, they are not absent. You needn’t believe in ghosts to see that’s true. We carry the genes and the culture of our ancestors, and what we think about them shapes what we think of ourselves, and how we make sense of our time and place. Are these good times, bad times, interesting times? We rely on history to tell us. History, and science too, help us put our small lives in context. But if we want to meet the dead looking alive, we turn to art.

But is the lane a two-way street? Listen here, or read the transcript here.

neki desu

A few days ago my carpenter son announced that he'd be starting to clear his things out of the (former) studio and take down the plastic walls that had made it into a carpentry workshop for the past ... how long ... few months -
He has now set up the workshop in the spare bedroom of his own flat "over the hill", ready for renovations there, but even so some bits of board arrived, a subtle and inspirational geometry -
This morning, what to my wondering eyes should appear but ... no, not the jolly fellow with the sleigh and reindeer but - even better - two men and a rental van. Wood and paint were moved to the garden and packed into the van -
 leaving a studio, ready for reclaiming ... and sorting.
Despite the plastic walls, dust did settle here and there. Or perhaps that was just the passage of time. But it means that the dusting and sorting can be carried out at the same time - I'm thinking along the lines of Slow Dusting (cf. Slow Food and Slow Stitch), where the aim is to dust the item - ie, hold individual items in your hands - and at the same time decide whether it's something to keep, and where to keep it, or something to "thank" (a la japanese tidying) and discard/recycle/give away. That is my fantasy and as it's a Slow thing, I'm in no hurry to start.

I'm far too busy enjoying the wood-free hall, thinking about filling its walls, at last, with some of the framed art that's accumulated over the years -

I had not seen the Hauser and Wirth garden in Summer, so I jumped at the opportunity to meet a friend there yesterday.  I was so lucky with the weather: I drove through a rainstorm to get there, and it poured for hours after I returned home, but whilst there we even had sunshine at one point!
Our own garden has benefited greatly from the rain, so a good day for gardens as well as catching up on friendly gossip yesterday.

multi blue clem. in theory;hardly blue and not double  stamens.  not what i bought,but pretty though.



learning about clems now that i can have them without frying.have created a big pinterest board with information, but not overly concerned with the pruning issues. ignorance is bliss.


















 calamodin in bloom.smells delicious. it's a dwarf tree still more akin to a bonsai without the styling :)
however not all is pretty flowers
rant alert:
a few days ago photobucket decided to charge to enable 3rd party hosting. in other words to link a photo to your blog you need to pay now. business is business and everybody is out to make a buck no mater what.tired of the candy man strategy who offers you free candy for a while and then wants money for what used to be free.in the old days the only ones that offered gif uploads was photobucket, but things have changed, a lot i may say. so i spend a whole afternoon uploading my gifs to get rid of their ugly notices.blogland is full of them. time to say good bye to photobucket as i did to flickr. weird that they don't know better.



neki desu

 Plunging in with pen (and learning how to look more carefully as the page filled with curves, angles, spacing) -
By the third page I'd lost the plot in an attempt to use tone, negative space, negative tone, and goodness knows what else all at once -
 Janet B revisited her fascination with Old River Thames -
 Jo's objects of interest included a dingo from a painting -
Judith took views near and far -
 Her tools include markers and waterbrushes -
 I went back to the Queen's House and joined a short tour, during which we were told about the many films that this floor has appeared in -
 and that the ceiling decoration is by Richard Wright, abstracted from elements of the famous Tulip Stairs -
 It took 5 artists 9 days to do the gold-leafing -
 Another angle on the external stairs and their balustrades -
  and then it was Goodbye Greenwich.

don't have a warping wheel, don't want one and don't have space for one. too many don't in a sentence, but such is life.
i make chains, put them through the tension box then the raddle to keep the width  tying the chain to the beam. then i wind . it goes pretty smooth and event free. i am however, trying different systems to see which one feels more organic .









more than half already warped.
















neki desu

 Back and forth they go, to the gentle sound of gears creaking, having a comfortable chat, until suddenly there's a great CLANK and -
 ... then we're back to normal.

Amid the displays, including a photo op with big books and old-fashioned hats

you can take mirrors to look at the ceiling in comfort -
 and admire Victorian ornateness in all sorts of forms (the library opened to the public in 1900) -

 There are a good few books dotted about, too -
But the main delight has got to be the Historic Toilets -

Historic walls

Historic plumbing and accessories

Historic pipework

Historic lighting casting historic shadows

 Elsewhere the library atmosphere is augmented by old printing presses filling a few corners -

 Great place to visit
 Updated with a new wing
The current exhibition, The Life of Objects, (till 27 August) includes samplers made as a child by Isabella Banks (1821-1897), who went on to publish sewing and knitting patterns every month for more than 45 years - in a design periodical that she created and published (something not yet mentioned in her Wikipedia entry); also aged 17, she had set up a school for young ladies which she ran for nine years, until her marriage.

Other surprising objects from the library's collection are Elizabeth Gaskell's sewing and writing tools, John Wesley's preaching collar, items connected with WW2 air raids that inspired Delia Derbyshire's Dr Who theme music, and a button pen nibs, and the hat lining that belonged to Walt Whitman (the link with Manchester is described here). And an Olivetti portable typewriter, just like the one that came with us to the UK in 1971 and on which I earned good money by typing theses - ah those were the days (tippex, carbon paper...).

i expected the scrunched lines more distinct, but i guess i can live with how it turned out.especially if i wear it with a navy  tent jacket.and it doesn't read as flag.





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