Silk, string or sisal?

It looks like string or sisal but it feels like magic - thick, twisted silk - one of my favourite Christmas presents arrived by post  - and I'm thinking about all those individual strands of beauty - all those lines of colour, twisted and intertwined - and all the possibilities ..... 

Silk surprise

As I was leaving paid employment this afternoon the courtyard area was emptied of intruders - just the blustery wind and me left to argue over a piece of red silk. I love the public art in and around the streets of Ipswich - so many ideas, and 40 more circuits of the sun left to do it all!  Thanks for your comments Sue - I still want to know how you get the little bits of shiva off the tiles in the motel rooms. WMBM and I spent quite some time on our knees in New Zealand scraping minuscule bits of gold, cooper and iridescent charcoal from the floor tiles.

Shards of silk

Progress is being made! "Shards" is how I've reconstructed the hand-dyed silk piece made with Ankie last year. I wondered how silk could be cutting and sharp? Shards ...
The stained glass look of the pieces is being quilted in mini-shards with gold shiva used to show the passage of light across the quilt face. Haven't decided on a binding - most likely some of the indigo fabrics, again dyed with Ankie.

Silk Dyed scarf - chop chop

The first of the hand dyed silk scarves I did using gutta resist and procion dyes was with my friend Ankie. The scarf has been bonded to vliesofix and cut into smaller sections, pieces and individual triangles and is now being fused, bit by bit, onto hand dyed ingido fabric - again from a session with Ankie. I'm still fusing - and am wondering why I cut it up and repieced it when it doesn't look substantially different from the original. The end plan is to hand stitch  and embroider, in a similar fashion to Dreams Debris. I love smaller, and therefore really portable projects and am happy for them to be UFOs for as many train trips to meetings, waiting room visits and anything else that gives me 5 or 50 minute blocks of time to do "something".

It's called Housework

I'm in the house. I'm working. The receipe is below ...

Journal drawing

Silk with gutta resist, Karen Pharr fabric paints

And I painted ...



and coloured and painted some more



and painted and coloured




colouring in with watercolour pencil + Jo Sonjas



add rock salt plus some extra from the grinder

and some rice

If you got this far then all you need now is to let it dry for 24 hours or so ... this may now entail me actually putting hand to vacuum cleaner or similar. When completely dry it will need to be heat set, washed and hopefully it will be another finished the piece by tomorrow. Ankie  - you have absolutely no idea what you have let loose in my head .... thank you.

Silk tops and nests

This week I've been "playing" with silk tops, mohair and other fibres - making "nests" - and doing lots of hand sewing / quilting. Very good for the soul. I am able to recline in a lounge chair, conveniently located in the sewing room / studio and elevate the troublesome foot on a dining chair - perfect for hand sewing and entirely medicinal.