Warrington Art Festival

The studio's are open as part of Warrington Art Festival.  Although I say studios, in fact there is only me, I am the only resident artist who actually uses the studio to work and exhibit.  The main area of the large hall is taken up with other artists work which is on display free of charge. It was originally agreed that you would have to rent a studio to exhibit, that is obviously not the case now as every tom, dick or harry can display free.  I have never ever in all my years found anywhere that lets you exhibit free of charge. 
All my paintings that are on display -in my studio- are reduced as I am giving up painting, not completely but not on such large canvas's.  I am concentrating on my textile art which starts mainly on paper and my bags which are doing really well.  My bags will be on display at the open studio events.  I cannot do textile work at the studio as the darn mice keep eating my fibres, which is no joke.  They have ruined some of my best wools and cottons.
So, come along and listen to ABBA which is nice and uplifting and view my work and, if you feel inclined, make a purchase.  Lots of sale including key rings, postcards, gift tags, bags and paintings.

Ladies iPad Rag Bags

My label.

I made myself a bag to carry my iPad in, I wanted something I could use all the time that didn't draw attention to the fact I was carrying an iPad. Its been a huge sucess and I use it all the time.

I have been getting lots of requests so now Weavewoman iPad bags have arrived.

All the bags are designed and made my me, they are all photographed at various stages in their development and all are numbered and carry my label.

I have now received commissions to create the same bags but for men (they don't want the girly handles). So, watch this space.

Bag 001 Fiona - commission

Bag 002 Emily - commission

Bag 003 Kizzie - commission

These photos don't really present these bags at their best. All the bags are made of torn strips in coordinating fabrics, they are lined with a magnetic metal stud fastening. Each bag takes eight hours to make, excluding preparation of fabrics.

Craft Fair at the Lowry

I went to this craft fair this morning to check it out with a view to possibly joining the circuit. What a disappointment! When I contacted about getting a stall, the lady said I had to be vetted along with my products. They have to be hand made, original and she doesn't want too many of the same people present. So, I was expecting good quality crafts. Nearly every stall, which was just scattered about the shopping centre, had bought in stuff. There were a couple of people who were making their own cards, several 'stone' people, who buy stones and make jewellery, a stall with Russian dolls, a photographer (not sure they were his own photographs) and a lady with knitting wool, needles, patterns and terrible Christmas stockings!! It looked more like a school fete.

I was there and back, including coffee and cake in under an hour! I will definitely be crossing them off my list.

Busy Weekend

Had a very busy weekend at the studio while I get my self sorted! I have been distracted lately and started to lose my way a bit. Also the police found a cannabis factory underneath my studio which they raided and we got the pleasure of an invasion of mice!!

I have cleaned my studio, cleared the rubbish and organised some storage. No mice now. I managed to get a bunk bed off the notice board at work, its a single with desk underneath, ideal for current storage and a work place. I have also managed to get my small pc desk underneath as well. Its good as I can do some research when I need to or check emails.

Just have to remember not to stand up underneath - lol.
I have also got rid of the massive table I had, I have a smaller one now that is just for my machines, I have them set up so can just sew when I need to without having to keep getting them out and putting them away. This is the view into the room from the window end. You can also see I have put some scaffolding up on the beams, for storage of stuff I won't be needing for a while. (bubble wrap and some materials etc).
Finally this is the view from the door, you can just make out my easel in the distance by the window, and behind the radiator on the right my snakes.

Next job is to sort my workbooks out and keep my inspiration stuff together. I will update you on my latest project over the next few days.

Studio Update

As I seem to live more and more at my studio and my work is changing thought you might like an update.

I picked up this metal shelving for a song in a bric a brac store, its great for my weaving's and for hanging my gift tags on. Fits neatly behind my sofa.
View from my sofa, where I sit to do any hand stitching, reading etc, also now have video and dvd's to watch.
My working end, starts to get very scruffy. Boxes of wire, tools and papers. I tend to kneel on the floor when working here as its usually with a hot iron, poker or other electronic gizmo's! As you can see my bike doesn't go anywhere these days, now attached for indoor riding, but its so noisy it hardly gets used.
Hung a couple of my weaving's, this hides my scruffy area when anybody looks in the door.
View from the door, difficult to see anything as it into the light.
One side of my worktable, with the back of a hanging where I put postcards.
Part of my table where I sit and tend to do most of my work.

Happy New Year 2010

A very happy new year to all those who love me and all those who don't.
xxx

Open Studio & Art Exhibition Today

Come along to the Soaptank Studio's today and tomorrow, several artists are exhibiting their work and the Artists Studios are open, you can see them at work.
Lots to see and all exhibited work is for sale, so you can nab a Christmas present or two (or three or four). Refreshments are available.

Soaptank Studios
Unit 10a
Bank Quay Industrial Estate
Slutchers Lane
Warrington
WA1 1PJ

Ring the bell for our Meeter and Greeter.

Sell Off

Getting my stuff ready for the Exhibition and Open Studio, I have been making small things for selling, tags etc.
I have decided this will be a good opportunity to have a clear out of my books, I will be selling lots of embroidery books and might even bag up some of my threads and stuff.

Spoons

I came across these spoons while I was browsing a bric-a-brac stand. They were just asking to be used, and not at the table either. I just need to get my hammer out, some paints and have some fun. The photo is from my phone so its not the best quality.

Knitting

I have been quiet this year, so what have I been doing... knitting, knitting and more knitting.
This is a long aran coat/jacket. I just have to tie in my loose ends and make some buttons. Also due to the pattern being quite loose I need to wash it to tighten it up. I haven't knitted for years but the bug has got me again - lol.

Jacket Front
Jacket BackButton Detail. It only has two buttons to fasten.

And for my Grandaughter Georgie a colourful top. She loves pink, typical girl. Again just have to make the buttons and wash it.

Front

Back

I have loads of yarns, mainly because when I see one I really like I can't resist it. Also when I was weaving I was dying my own which was also quite addictive. So now I am digging out my yarns and old knitting books, so watch this space.

1st January 2009

Happy New Year to everyone. Remember, don't make resolutions that you know you won't keep!

Did a couple more shots of my frozen water in my little pond. They really inspire me to do a bit of manipulation and textile work.

Went for a walk, even though it was freezing cold. I followed the Sankey Canal in the opposite direction and walked towards St Helens. This part of the canal is now just a almost dried up bed.This is a pond near the beginning of the dried up canal, the swans nest here every year, but today it was frozen solid, though you cannot tell by this photo.

This is all that is left of Hulme Locks, its been filled in so you can walk across it.


One of the remaining posts, nearly rotted away. Lovely textures though.

Cross Stitch

Still stitching away on my Lowry, its looking better but still lots to do, cross stitch is so time consuming.
On a personal note, I have finally ditched the pink and red hair, its too much trouble trying to keep the colour in, every day its washed and it just fades to a manky colour, so now its dark with a hint of purple.
The weather seems to be going from constant rain to very windy, no snow yet though. The wind is a killer on my bike. It always seems to be against me when I am trying to cycle up hill!!

Cross Stitch Lowry

What have I been doing lately? Well, apart from a lot of walking, cycling and working, I made up a cross stitch of a lowry painting called the Handcart. You can just about make out the factories and houses and a few people at the bottom. I do all the large areas first, then the smaller ones and fill in the bitty bits last. I think I have used too many colours though, if I do one again I will limit the amount of colours.

Slowly slowly

It is taking so long and I am still filling in the background with cross stitches.
I have added some beads to the leaves and some machine stitching.
and for a change, I have done french knots on the satin fabric and edged it with blanket/button hole stitch and herringbone. Also, I have just done a little stitching on the net fabric. Not sure about these at all.

Ruthin Craft Centre

A wet and miserable day, so in the afternoon we went to Ruthin Craft Centre again, this time it was open. The place seems very popular, but its such a shame only one craft studio is occupied. There is a main exhibition room where I was allowed to take photographs.
This first one is by Audry Walker.

The following are the main exhibition, and I have lost the persons name which I wrote down. Anyway they are all made mainly with mirrors and glass. Unfortunately I appear in the reflections of some and for Gandhi someone walked ito the picture and I didn't realise.

Catch up with Leaves

Just a catch up to show work in progress on my leaves for the botanical work. Still stitching the background, takes ages but I have done some experimental work for the leaves.
This first one is felt embellished with fibres and thread.
These are velvet, embellished with silk, shimmer fabric and some fibres. As I was lazy and didn't change the threads on my overlocker, I painted the edges with green paint to cover the white stitching.
For the next lot, I painted some bubble wrap with acrylic paints and glitter. Then ironed it between greaseproof paper to burst the bubbles and spread the paint. I intended to stitch into it, but the paint just wouldn't dry, so I put pieces of fabric over it, satin, net and the shiney fabric and ironed it again. The results on the fabric are super.
This is the satin piece, which I have started to stitch onto.

Botanical Water update

I posted a picture of my water from the botanical gardens in Glasgow. This is the latest update. I am still working on the background, it takes ages to stitch all the french knots, three strands of cotton, some different shades, at the same time. I am just putting in the rest of the background now, random cross stitches to pull the water together. I can then start to add the embellishments, the surrounding plants.

Finished Water

I have finished my water sample. This is net which I have thread for smocking. Added some silk and embellished the silk and small circles of the fabric. I have used a smocking stitch to create rows then added some beads to the embellished areas. I am pleased with the results. Its a very small piece which measures about 6 inches across.

Water Embellishing

Still looking at water. I have taken some fine net and threaded it as if I was going to use it for smocking. You can get machines to do it, but I don't have one so it was a long patient job. I have dyed it different shades of blue and then using the embellisher, just embellished some circles. I think it looks quite effective. This is the same piece but with some blue silk embellished on top.
On this piece, I added some scraps of material while threading up, so they are part of the base fabric.
I then added more silk scraps, some wool top fibres and some thread which looks like silk but is in fact made from wood fibres.
I will do some surface stitching on them now and see what they end up like.

Patched Postcard

Another Fabric Postcard. Scraps of painted silk embellished onto felt with some wool. Finished with some stitching and beads.