Make your mark!

It was such a delight to welcome textile artist, Clive Barnett, as our very first guest tutor to the new studio.

Throughout the two-day workshop Clive encouraged us to experiment and explore our own style of 'mark making'. The first day was spent printing with a discharge medium - who knew Finish dishwasher liquid could do that!

 We used a variety of techniques including masking tape resists,

freezer paper stencils with a screen

and monoprinting with acrylic sheets.

We were hooked - and very busy!

We needed to dry and iron the fabric before washing and ironing again to reveal our designs.

Clive is a very warm and generous teacher and

was always on hand to offer advice and inspiration when needed

and when I found him ironing my samples I even asked him to come home with me!

No InStitches Textile Adventure is complete without lunch

and the studio has plenty of space for us to all sit down together.  But  as much as we'd like to go with Clive's suggestion of a small glass of wine to accompany lunch, we do need to have a productive afternoon!

I think we managed that - judging by all the fabric flapping gently in the breeze!

 We were back the next day eager to get going with a bit more discharge before Clive managed to finally tidy it all away and start exploring stitched marks!

It was inspirational hearing about and seeing Clive's own work.  There was such a lot of stitched mark making ideas for us to try out.

These are a selection of Clive's pieces

and I'm hoping the students will send us images of their work once it is completed.

I used a leaf cut out on a couple of pieces, so I definitely want to try this stitch idea out on it.

If you fancy a creative day out why not take as look at our web site and see what is coming us soon?  We would love to welcome you to our new creative space!

http://www.institchestextilecourses.co.uk/

The sounds of mark making

What do you listen to when you are being creative - sewing, working in your sketchbook, painting or hand stitching?  Terry and I have quite different aural tastes.  Terry often listens to music 

whilst I mostly listen to spoken word, often Radio 4 but sometimes an audio book. 

But recently I've shifted my workspace downstairs into the conservatory (because my workroom is just too messy, but that's a whole different post subject for later!)

Working in the conservatory not only means I have a different quality of light - it's north facing overlooking the garden whereas my workroom is south facing overlooking the road, but I can also fling open the doors to the garden and let the outside soundscape into my working environment.  Suddenly I have another aural choice!  Bird song fills the room, but so does the shrieks of children playing, lawns being mown and, because of the glass roof, the sound of the rain falling.

This change in the sound environment has lead me to wonder what effect it will have, if any, on my mark making - by hand or machine, in stitch or pen.  Certainly the change in workplace seems to have energised the creative process (which, given the lack of enthusiasm of late, can only be a good thing!)

One textile artist who harnesses the creative forces of sound is Debbie Lyddon, who will be our guest tutor in June.

Debbie Lyddon: Marshscape Collage #9, Linen, wax, metal, linen thread

In her artist's statement Debbie states 'My practice aims to present a multi-sensory interpretation of my surroundings – one that can be seen, touched and heard.’ 

Debbie Lyddon: Soundmark Book, Handbound cover, watercolour paper, watercolour, pastel, graphite stick

Our workshop with Debbie promises a treat: You will discover new ways of inspiring your creative work by using the sounds around you as inspiration. Using drawing and stitch you notate and interpret sounds that she has recorded (and ones that you will create yourselves) to create an exciting new vocabulary of mark making. 

At the end of the day you will have a collection of experimental drawings and samples that reflect how you ‘see sound’ and you will have formed an excellent new way of approaching future work.

If you would like to join us then all the details can be found via the Textile Adventures link on our website: http://www.institchestextilecourses.co.uk/debbie-lyddon---seeing-sound.html.  I, for one, can't wait!