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A Peek at the Knitting and Stitching Show in London 2015

A Peek at the Knitting and Stitching Show in London 2015

Our guest artist/author/photographer today is Leonor Calaca from Felt Buddies.

If you’re in Europe and a fibre aficionado, you’ve probably heard of the Knitting & Stitching Show. It happens in a few different locations and dates in the UK, and is probably the largest fabric/fibre event in Europe when hosted in Alexandra Palace here in London.

As it happens, the Alexandra Palace (or Ally Pally as it’s also known) is only 45 minutes away, on foot, from my place; as it happens as well, I’ve been volunteering for the past two years as a member of the London Guild of Weavers, Spinners and Dyers, to work a few hours a day at a booth that serves as a hub for all such UK guilds. Not because I’m such a wonderful and helpful person, mind you, but because this means I get a free pass to come and go anytime during those 5 days (and, at £16 for entry only, I think it’s well worth my time).

Last year I got all mesmerised by the fibres and materials I saw, and almost went bankrupt. This year I decided to be good,  more sensible and buy only the things I absolutely needed, which worked to an extent. I also decided to focus more on my energy on the really good exhibitions, and that’s what I’m going to write about.

Let’s start with an embroidery. How lovely and detailed is that?

Photo 1

Art wasn’t just in 2D, the sculptures were very interesting as well.

Photo 2

A glass and wool sculpture by Helen Pailing. She aims to use remnants from the glass and wool industry and incorporate them in a way that makes them not only art, but something you can keep instead of take to a landfill.

Photo 3

The Wishing Tree by Eileen McNulty. Just look at those little details.

Photo 4

I don’t know the author of this one, but here is ‘Palace,’ made with cocoon stripping paper and silk organza. The theme of this booth was vessels.

Photo 5

Elena Thomson embroidered a sieve. Would you have thought of that? I think this would be wonderful to confuse old ladies.

Photo 6

‘Stumpwork’ by Alana Chenevix-Trench.

Photo 7

And a lovely sheep by Margarita O’Byrne.

Photo 8

Then I went to Studio Art Quilt’s Associates (SAQA) booth that just blew my mind. I had no idea these detailed works of art could be made in that technique. The theme was Food For Thought and this is ‘Mushroom Frittata’ by Jean Sredi.

Photo 9

‘Pepitas’ by Vicky Bahnhoff.

Photo 10

‘Yum! Pineapple Upside Down Cake’ by Diane Powers-Harris. Yes, this is still a quilt.

Photo 11

‘Il Mercato’ by Jeannie Moore

Photo 12

‘Elegant Edibles’ by Jennifer Day.

Photo 13

Who doesn’t love dolls?

Photo 14

This one was my favourite: what a grumpy face.

Photo 15

These two sculptures surprised me, as they’re made from a traditional paper folding technique native to the Philippines.

Photo 16 Photo 17

And I saved the best for last: a fishmongers called Kate’s Plaice! Everything you see here is either knitted or sewn, and the details just make it extraordinary.

Photo 18 Photo 19 Photo 20

 

The artist herself.

Photo 21

Did you go to the K&S? What caught your eye? And am I going mad for taking more time to look at art instead of yummy yarn?

Thank you Leonor for taking us on this great fibre adventure!

Make Textured Textile Art by Stitching Into Nuno Felt

Make Textured Textile Art by Stitching Into Nuno Felt

Today we have a guest post from Lyn

Last Sandcastle of Summer
Last Sandcastle of Summer

The inspiration for ‘Last Sandcastle of Summer’ came from a recent day-trip to Sandbanks in Dorset.

Day trip to SandbanksWe’ve enjoyed weeks of glorious weather and I love wriggling my toes in the warm sand and watching the sun sparkle on the sea, but the weather’s broken now and I’m not looking forward to the cold of winter. When I got home I looked through my old photos and found some of my grand-daughter playing in the sand.

making sandcastlesI wanted to capture the last of the summer in a picture so I started to lay out merino fibres to make the background beach, sea and sky. I didn’t want to add details such as boats or other people so to add interest I placed three strips of fabric across the wool fibres.

The pieces of fabric were cut from loose-woven scarves that I’d found in charity shops. The blue/white scarf shown on the right has been my favourite for making skies and I only have a couple of inches left – I’m desperately trying to find another!

fabrics sand sea skyThis is the resulting piece of nuno felt, after drying, finished size approx 36cm square – I didn’t worry about the edges because I knew it would be trimmed and placed behind a white mount before framing.

nuno felted backgroundI made a paper template of the shape of the child then tacked it, with large hand stitches, in place on the nuno felt. I also pinned a piece of lightweight interfacing onto the back of the felt – it helps with stitching and with moving the felt around on the sewing machine table. With the feed-dogs down on the sewing machine and a darning foot fitted, I used black thread to make a quick outline of the child.

I removed the template then I cut scraps of organza into small rough triangles and attached them to the nuno felt using fine fusible web. The shadow was formed with dark grey organza and the skin areas were covered with a few pieces of very pale grey.  The hat and clothes have layers of organza – bright on the bottom and darker on the top – in autumnal colours to signal the end of summer.

Tip: unless you like cleaning the sole plate of your iron, use plenty of baking paper under and over the felt during ironing!  Also, the felt needs to cool down before moving it as the fusible web will be stronger after a rest.

Then it was back to the stitching.  It’s all very quick and ‘rough’ – except for the face because the profile needs to be sharp – and the eye was stitched by hand.

To add textural and colour interest, I gently abraded the top layer of organza, on the hat and dress, with the tip of a craft knife.
The lovely ‘quilty’ texture is achieved by the machine stitching on the nuno felt.

close up abraded organza
The finished picture has been mounted with white board and the size of felt that is on show within the mount is 31cm x 22cm.

If you have any stitching on felt pictures that you’d like to share, please leave a link in the comments – we’d love to see them!

New Blog

New Blog

Well i know i mentioned this on the forum but as i’ve havent done much else but try to get into my blog ive finally given it up and started making a new one. I’m actually quite happy to be doing this as i’ve had so much trouble in the past that i believe someone or something was trying to tell me something . Get a new Blog, so i have !! New Blog for New Creations and of course a New Name, although maybe i should have not stayed with blogger ???  we’ll see what happens ,

I’d love for you to take a look although its not finished yet and i’d be more than happy if you added yourselves to my friends list and followed along, i’m slowly adding in the blogs i’ve been following but thats going to take some time as i did have a lot !!!!

I dont have any show and tell other than  this right now  but i did just want to apologise to my blogging friends, i wasnt ignoring anyone i just couldnt work my blog, i’ve also had a pretty sick hubby but after a little spell in hospital is doing really well and back at work, fingers crossed he stays that way 🙂

Oh i almost forgot, its a bit bright so before you click, better grab your sunny’s lol  Well i needed some color !!!

http://fibrenmixedmedia.blogspot.com.au/

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