Recently (October – was it really that long ago!) I enjoyed a workshop given by Kay Leech (www.kayleech.co.uk) to my textile group. The workshop was described as – ‘Make a vase using Decovil Light’. Perfect for me, as I had always wanted to try Decovil Light.

As with most tutors (not all sadly) Kay was exceedingly generous with imparting her knowledge and experience using this material. There was a small charge (£5) for materials, but WOW….did she supply materials!!!

Kay showed us examples of her vases and gave us the basic instructions, plus large cut empty plastic containers, around which the Decovil would be wrapped. Nothing was prescriptive and we were allowed total free reign for our creations.

To begin with we had to paint our Decovil….I had done my usual pre-workshop research and having seen some of Kay’s work, had decided this would be an opportunity for me to do some abstract ‘stone-type’ creation, for which I had my go-to set of pages already printed. They are a collection from various artists and sources online and I use them simply to inspire my own thoughts.

This particular collection is all based on ceramics, rather than of stones. I dare not start printing my own collection of the latter as I have 1000s of photos, which brings me to a complete aside….

….Before the workshop officially started, I was chatting with Kay, only to find we had ‘stones/rocks’ in common and suddenly we were laughing at our geological adventures standing side-by-side armed with our phones, comparing photos of ‘stones’ of every description, size, and colour etc etc. It was as if we had each been using the other’s phone to take photos!

I’m used to having a textile thinking twin (were we parted at birth Karen L?) Kay, however, was a twin in another direction….but I have digressed too long. Back to painting….

I was off in full Star Trek mode – ‘to boldly go’ – wielding my brush to interpret what was in my mind. Then Kay walked around and glancing over at my usual, most amazing, textile buddy next to me, informed her that she had painted the wrong side. Oh yes, you are ahead of me and have guessed correctly….ditto!

Rather than start totally again, I decided to follow/duplicate my broad-brush strokes in the colours I’d used, pretending the colour had simply soaked through – this time, on the correct glue side. ‘Make in haste, repent at leisure’ comes to mind!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

To the left is my first attempt to the right is the correctly painted ‘glue’ side (seen shining in the light).

 

 

Another aside….

….When I go to contemporary art galleries I’m always fascinated to see which hand the artist paints with, as there is often a dominant brush stroke direction. Why am I telling you this? Trying to follow my previous brush strokes meant I was placing the dominant strokes in reverse, and I found it actually quite strange….

 

Kay had provided sufficient Decovil for each of us to produce two pieces if desired. With my plastic containers chosen I had already cut up my Decovil prior to painting.

 

 

Still in Star Trek mode, I was the first off the starting blocks to the hairdryer, to dry out the Decovil. Then came the luscious part – choosing all the bits and pieces to create my vision, which, for those of you who know my work and likes, includes lichen! We could choose from – fabrics, paper, netting, foils, ribbons, sequins, threads to name but a few – which were all ironed into place on the correctly painted glue side. Each element gradually building up the picture.

My ironed-on pieces included tissue papers, mulberry paper, snippets of fabric, silk fibres, netting, metallic thread and metallic foil etc. Gradually it was heading in an abstract stone-like direction.

Once all the elements were in place, we were advised we could free-motion machine stitch or hand sew our pieces. As time was flying by, I elected to do some hand stitching to help anchor the various added pieces.

Using a favourite yarn I started creating a serious of Colonial knots, also my favourite!

Five hours simply evaporated into what felt like one hour. Then it was time for the group’s show and tell. As I mentioned above, this was not a prescriptive workshop and yet of the 15 participants I was the only one who had not created a landscape piece!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sadly, not all the work achieved during the day was on display in our show and tell.

 

 

 

 

 

I will leave you all here, hopefully awaiting Part 2….suffice to say it is now Feb and whilst the Decovil pieces have had more stitching applied, both by machine and hand, the vases are still not complete.

Until then I’ll show you a lucky charity shop find….

11 My treasure trove smorgasbord

Included in the wonderful collection were silk and gold embroidery yarns (probably from a goldwork embroiderer) – all now awaiting the right destination.

 

 

Have you used Decovil light and if so what has been your experience? Should I be concerned about anything?