News - 2 x sad, 1 x great

Sad news 1 - what did I make this box for?  After 15 years (yes 15) my goldfish 'Pooh' finally died on Friday.  The box is a coffin as I buried it in the garden - I could not flush it or chuck it in the rubbish.

Sad news 2 - my exhibition at Whitchurch silk Mill is over.  I collected the fairy costumes and the Muse hangings today.  I would like to thank all those people who went to see them and who wrote comments in the book - much appreciaated.  The work is now back in the wardrobe.














The Good news - I collected my New new 'toy' yesterday.... isn't she lovely.....

More pictures from Whitchurch Mill

Below are more pics of the Midsummer Night's Dream Fairies and my Muse hangings at Whitchurch Mill

The Fairies are set up and a surprise for the Muse hangings

I went over the Whitchurch Silk Mill today to set up the Mid Summer Night's Dream Fairies.  I am so pleased and proud!! Sue Oakham popped in as she lives locally and was a great help with the set up.  You can see a little of Sue's work by clicking HERE. Here are a couple of photos - difficult to take pics as for once the sun was shining and there are several  reflections on the glass - to see them properly you will have to visit the Mill!! 

 

The other really lovely thing is that Julia (the organiser at the Mill) very kindly accepted my Muse hangings to go in the cabinet they have downstairs!! - Here is a pic of the start of Julia setting them up....

What have I been doing??

Sorry I have not blogged for a few days but I am still excited and nervous following my announcement.  I go on Monday to set them up and I hope they will be well received!! In the meantime - in what have I been up to?

Well I had a great day last Saturday with Maggie Harris (click HERE to go to Maggie's blog), playing with collographs and the Big Shot. I did just a couple of prints... very subtle,  and I have been stitching on some of the previous ones (will show you another time).

This one was stronger but its second print was delicious.

 

QUEEN OF HEARTS

I have started a new idea for the Queen of Hearts costume.  I needed first to create a back ground fabric. i need 3.5 metres of black cotton - so I dyed my own and for once it actually came out black!! (Sorry photo is sideways - I hate this new Blogger post writing thing!!)

PIECED QUILT

 I have finally put this quilt together.  The photo does not give it justice - look at the photos HERE for the correct colour way. 

SARI SILK BODICE

I purchased two bundles of recycled sari silk.  

Spent a whole day ironing the stuff - that was an exciting exercise as several of the pieces looked boring until ironed.... see this tangle ...

became.......

 This tangle was

  really exciting when ironed....

  

 Then I stitched the strips to a backing fabric 

and added some sari threads....

Today I cut out a bodice but there is nothing much to show just at the moment. So that's up to date.  I have loads of ideas and not enough time to work on them!!

FANTASTIC NEWS

As I mentioned in my previous post - today was the day of a secret try out.  
It worked....


SO


With sincere thanks to Hazel Credland I am very pleased and extremely proud to announce that all 7 of my Mid Summer Night’s Dream Fairies are going on holiday!!

Yes from 1st May to 31 July (long hols) they are going on display at the Whitchruch Silk Mill, Whitchurch, Hampshire, UK.!!!!

The Silk Mill were meant to be displaying some beautiful pockets but the artist is now unable to bring them from  somewhere in Europe, so Hazel suggested my costumes as a replacement exhibition.  Today I took the costumes to try out their mannequins and with a bit of padding they will work.  So on 30 April I go back and set up the cabinet.

Whitchurch Silk Mill will be putting up the information on their website in the next few days.  To visit click HERE for their website.

Can you see me grinning?? 

A couple of finished projects

When I made Oberon's costume in my Mid Summer Night's Dream Fairy Costume project I had some pieces left over from his hose - these I turned into a bag and forgot to show you.... Here it is Oberon's Mischief Bag...... close up, of all the additional cording. The other project was a small 'journal' make in the style of Ro Bruhn (click HERE to visit her blog and see what I mean). It's only A6 in size (that's 4 x 6 inches) and has about 30 pages - I am quite pleased with it but know I will not 'use' it so I am popping it on Etsy - if it sells ok if not I will just add it to my collection of books. Cover. close up of various pages - a couple are fabric, some art watercolour paper, space to write in, stick stuff in etc.

The End, Bow, Curtain Call (Mustard Seed and First Fairy)

So after 2 years and 3 months (started 26 Feb 2009 and ended 24 May 2011) - the production is complete - The End, Bow, Curtain Call. I have finally finished the 7 Fairies for Mid Summer Night's Dream - The last two being First Fairy and Mustard Seed - more pictures are available to see on my A Body of Work blog. The three volumes of notes and photos are complete....stitched... labelled and fat (my mobile gives you some idea of the quantity of 2 years 3 months worth of notes). It feels really odd to have finished after all this time. I have laughed, cried, shouted and pulled my hair out during the last couple of years but I also feel I have achieved something special and have grown in my skill. I would like to thank all my friends (esp the members of MEG) who have encouraged and supported me through this project. I hope one day that they will all be displayed/exhibited together I will keep you informed if I find a venue, but for now they are all in the wardrobe.

Busy Busy Busy and Mustard Seed

I have had a fantastic few days recently and more to come now too!!
Where shall I start to tell you... In no particular order - yesterday my daughter and I went to see Matthew Bourne's ballet Cinderella at the Bristol Hippodrome! What a brilliant production - set during the Blitz - such an original idea - it was just superb! Last weekend I attended a course at Urchfont tutored by Viv White - Learn to love your sketchbook - what a fun weekend that was - brilliant - We had to take our favourite things to draw - I took this statue - my first drawing... not bad! Then a close up - I got inspired by copies of my drawings and did several coloured versions - which then had a grid over the top - I won't bore you with the various combinations just suffice it to say I am inspired and when I have finished the costumes (very soon) I will be working on this design to see where it will lead me - possibly a panel or hanging - although I have ideas for costumes too I think I need to break away for a little while - especially as I currently have nowhere to exhibit them. OK Just one more design picture then..... Of course I had to Zentangle a version.... (This is the most inspiring for me !)
Now an update on Mustardseed.. I have been working on the seed pods, but the more I do the more I thought they were too heavy looking to hang on the bottom of the dress - then on Wednesday morning I woke up at 5am with a start the idea had come to me...... Don't have them hanging from the dress - give her an accessory to carry them in - I had to tear a piece of paper out of my diary and draw a rough idea..... but that was not good enough - I had to get up and pin a very rough idea straight away...I have also been busy hand stitching on the Volume Covers as mentioned in the last but one posting.. progress so far - all three have had some of my favourite Sorbello stitch in swirls (Little Secret for you ---- if you look carefully at the above photo you can see the covers were resting on a very rough draft of a future costume - The Queen of Hearts - but shhhh don't tell anyone!) and I have started some beading - yes beads - I don't often use beads but I have a large collection so time to use them up.
So this is what I will be working for the next few weeks -
Finishing First Fairy

Finishing Mustard Seed

Finishing the Volume Covers

Statue designs - she really needs a name - any ideas?

Queen of Hearts costume (design is in my head at present)

Blue silk Corset (fabrics collected and laid out in the workroom but not worked out yet).

This weekend (ie starting tonight) I have another fun packed weekend at Urchfont with the MEG group so hopefully some of the above may be close to done. Busy Busy Busy!!

Taking a break

Decided to take a short break from the costumes to create a fabric which will form the background for the covers of the three volumes of notes relating to the Mid Summer Costumes. As there are three volumes it is difficult to make fabrics relating to the costumes so I am making three matching covers that are bright/pastel and hopefully nice. The volumes are going to be sorted into quantity of pages - vol 1 is just Titania, vol 2 is Oberon and Peaceblossom, vol 3 is Mustard Seed, Cobweb, Moth and First Fairy.
I started with a layer of muslin, with a piece of mauve/purple net then a very fine layer of merino wool/silk mix, topped with some brighter merino wool and lots of various pastel tops and throwsters waste. It does look quite bright out on the washing line.. but I hope once I have stitched over the top it will not be quite so 'in your face'. The stitching will probably be all over free machined circles and maybe some hand stitching later. If it does not work I will come up with another idea.