moving on a bit

 after a lot of procrastination i finally tried out my oak and walnut extracts, i won't call them inks as i have not added the relevant ingredients 

i used some to reproduce some pavement patterning - using slightly diluted extracts as background, adding a thickener for the dots

then i used my print blocks to build up a background pattern with slightlly different dilutions, again with thickener

the blocks show some of the routes i have been walking - traced from a map shown here and mentioned in an earlier post

this time i kept the prints separate 

these will all be used as bases fo further stitching

in the meantime i have continued to collect and add stitch to found items

i have a particular soft spot for leaf skeletons, the network patterns fascinate me - i'd love to stitch these to some organza with gossamer silk ....... if i feel that i can do the skeletons justice.......?

another half leaf, with a repair at the point

and a combination of finds

i am beginning to think about ways of bring some of these elements together but am a fair way from attempting it yet

sampling

 

an image from a walk, converted to stitched textile (in progress) - threads and fabric from my stash of materials dyed with local plants

leaf stitching - not sure what the leaves are, they are really big and almost leathery, i added a bottle cap for scale 

- i don't think they are magnolia as those have no leaves left round here and the tree still had leaves hanging on - these were on the ground and picked up with the kind owner's permission - i dried them, lightly pressed between sheeets of acid-free paper, sadly most of the subtle colour and markings merged to brown - but they are a great surface for stitch 

routes for my walks - to be converted into stamps and used to build up patterns with the inks i am making 

inks: walnut husks from garden behind EG meeting place - oak galls from our oak tree - both macerated for years, concentrated beside our stove

a digital version of potential patterns

found during a walk - now cleaned and ready for embellishment with dyed yarns

tracks and marks observed

i need practice with capturing the textures in mud, probably need to use a lower angle, but it gets mucky!

screws seem to catch my eye

i visualise this in shades of walnut and oak inks with some stitched detail

collecting thoughts 3 - principles

11TH Dec 2020 - listening to the other group members today helped me to distill my guidelines which remained vague even after a couple of weeks of reflection

explore - 

• the routes i currently walk, several of which are new to me, others more familiar, all offer different potential for collecting

collect - 

• occasional natural resources and found objects
• images, textures, impressions, observations

record and express - 

• on paper, where & when relevant
• later on fabric with my dyed yarns
• digitally here and as photos 

materials: mostly what i have in stock already with some additional collected materials from my walks - use ecodyed fabrics and yarns from my stash - these draw on earlier learning and experience and form the foundation on which this project is based - they come from the place i have occupied for the past many years

 work towards making a variety of useful items which express and reflect "my place"  through the materials and imagery used -  until recently my environment has mostly been indoors in my home and the garden - so exploring my local enviroment and getting out of the house independently on a regular basis represents a new beginning for me - i want to use this course as a way towards recording it in a tangible way, sometimes as objects i can hold and use 

some finds

loss of function seems to be a common factor in many of my finds

embellishing the scissors is my way of making this a feature

strange brews

 poor mick is worried about me spilling some of my nasty looking brews! i have been using the wood-burner to help concentrate my oak and walnut liqours by evaparation - using a wide stainless steel bowl allows a large surface area, but this is always risky as i tend to be a bit clumsy - no slips so far though

for once i have been noting results:

other ongoing brews are onion skin and budleia .......?

also during my walks i scavenged* some cotinus leaves which still had colour - after getting some information about obtaining blue prints from cotinus i tried a few bundles - got some lovely prints, but nothing i would really call blue although i was close in one case 

cotinus + some sumac, cotton fabric, wallpaper, folded bundle

cotinus + odd sumac leaf on dupion silk and hot press watercolour

as above

the silk and watercolour paper gave the best print definition where the lower leaf surface was in contact, but the cotton and lining paper gave pleasing results too - fresher leaves would probably have yielded different colours but in december i was limited to what i could find

the process involved iron water and alum, i know that my alum solution was correct but suspect that the iron water was too strong, the fabric soaked in it took on a rather more yellow colour than i would have wanted - i will try again with a solution in which the sediment has settled more, leaving a lighter coloured solution - but my stock of leaves is small so i will be cautious

- - - - - - - - - - - 

* at one stage this involved knocking on a stranger's door and getting down on my knees on their wet lawn! i'm sure they think i'm bonkers, but i know i am so that's ok

collecting thoughts 2

 

i have become more aware of the textures and patterns around me 

i stop and look closely at these every time i pass them - the colour gradations and lacy decayed flowers captivate me

our local level crossing was recently refurbished with an enclosed approach, for safety (and thereby hangs a long tale and much local outrage, but the locals won) -  i keep eyeing up the pattern of built up of layers of this grid ........

.....and the wood edging, with blue "cat's eyes" which light up so attractively at night (meant to prevent us from straying onto the rail line)

this security fence topping has always caught my eye, but here the green blue and silver-grey composition seems to offer so much stitching potential

session 1 tasks

collecting and storing are already an established habit so the focus for me will be working out my "manifesto" - wrong term as far as i'm concerned but the right one is elusive

for me it's the what, how, why and where - and i need to establish some rules and limits to encourage focus - one thing i have really accepted lately is that small achievable targets are much better for me so i need to bear that in mind

where this is the point of the course as it is about recording "my place" - at the moment i feel it is about my recent and new experience of exploring the area around my home - i have a rough idea of the geography, it's the area within which i take my daily walks, mostly without using the car - 

that's roughly it - i need to firm up the boundaries on the map, but i know where they are in my mind - the pink area is moot - it's the golf course which has only been available for part of the time and i relied on the car to get to the starting point of the walk 

i tend to stick to footpaths as rough ground is a bit risky due to dodgy balance - it's also rather wet and claggy at this time of year

basically an urban area with patches of nature in varying states

what is the stuff i find, collect and already have - i might collect physically, but also photographically and mentally as thoughts, ideas and images - also included is the parts of my stash which i feel appropriate by way of textile supplies

it is also what i aim to produce - while being process led i know i want to end up witha a useful product, something which has a purpose other than just decorative - so i think my aim will be small vessels or containers, like cloth pots and/or wraps for small items, books etc

to be continued

 

collecting thoughts 1

 walking to sainsburys in the rain i noticed the lichen patches on the tarmac pavement - randomly scattered, looking like something trodden in - but i have noticed them before and realised what they were, this time it was how different they look in the rain which caught my attention - they look even more like random patches of trodden in grunk! 

the  patches seem to increase in density nearest the grass allongside the tarmac - must take some photos when dryer

on the way home i found some lichen which has fallen from a tree onto the path - a rare find and i don't like to harvest it since it takes so long to grow

so fragile - i love the way the branches become filigree and the white crustiness on the other surface (not shown)

two days later passing a small oak, similar in size to the one in our own garden - i was thinking about how successfully it had been pruned and how large the remaining leaves were - noticed a falen leaf on the edge of the drive, with lovely water drops

impossible to collect physically, the image is lovely - the contrasts of water drops on the leaf surface, organic leaf edge against the hard bricks, grey and red bricks ...and the tiny leaf to the side - a natural composition, happy that i caught it - maybe something to preserve in another way...?

 

beginnings

 a new course, a new blog - just for me to record what i am doing and thinking 

trying to achieve some focus and purpose

lockdown has been something of a release for me - for once everyon is limited in what they can do and where they can go - i've been like that for 20 years so suddenly opportunities are opening up to enable those who would normally be out & about to carry on and access he stuff they are used to - for me that has opened doors which i could not even get to let alone through!

this Place Making course with Alice Fox is an example of that - and it is bringing together participants from all round the country as well as overseas - fabulous - i really hope we make the most of the opportunity and build on opportunities to exchange ideas from a distance 

this morning was the first session and i will say more about that later - this is simply an opening ramble to get down some of my thinking around doing this course 

i've finally started to explore my own surrounding area a bit more recently - taking walks to increase my physical activity, very gradually, for various health-related reasons 

a by-product of that is that i am getting to know the area and my own "environment" has expanded - it just struck me that untitll i started the walks my main environment was indoors, home, kitchen focused - but i now feel increasingly familiar with the neighbourhood - it would be good to be able to record that transition in some way and this course gives me a good starting point for that

some of the things which have gone before and could help me on the way: 

• collection found objects and materials
• eco and natural dying classes and experience 
• attempts at nature-art
• learning to look and notice
• improvising and making from what is available
• a life-time of dabbling
• having time on my hands
• curiosity
• learned to focus more on process than end product (i'd like to reflect the process more in the product somehow, or is it inherent?)