#sewing

Natural Dye

 

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I recently went on a natural dye course at the blackcountry living museum. Dispite being born in the west midlands, so not all that far away from this location, I have never previously visited.
I had such a good eperience at this workshop the session was well taught and I learn so much during the time frame.

 

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The course was great value for money and the price included lunch tokens and 3 free drinks which could be used at various eateries situated within this beautiful and  fascinating museum.
I can highly recommend studying on a course here.
Natural dye is a subject I have really wanted to learn about. Working with textiles and having a background in printmaking had me feeling it would develop my practice.
I am currently researching and compiling a book of natural dye samples to use for reference.

 

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I am having fun mixing colours together to get certain shades, pinks and purples are so far my favourite.
I have printed a white dress using the natural dye print/steam process. I hope to have this on display at the Banks Mill open studios event later this month (22nd till 24th November).

 

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I will aim to upcycle the dress further adding naturally dyed trims and embroidery if time allows.
I will also have a small selection of naturally dyed scarfs and tote bags for sale. A few of my textile art pieces will have naturally dyed elements also.
In the future I hope to plan and deliver forage and natural dye workshops along with my partner, Brendan McDowell, who is a forager and forest school leader.

 

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These workshops would include a short forage for something to eat and also dye with.
The workshop would cover the basics of dye baths and printing/steaming.
I am also considering the concept of natural dye cloth doll workshops so watch this space.

Doll Making workshops

From the first time I created this cloth doll design I imagined running workshops on how to make them.

 


I have had a few chances through various freelance positions to run a few doll workshops. This proved the ideal opportunity to develop illustrated handouts to compliment my tuition.
My doll design is fairly simple and kept small so it is manageable for participants to complete in a one day workshop.
I find it exciting to see how students interpret my design. The characters that are dreamt up are always so different its an inspiration.
Pictured are a few dolls created from a course, so many of these students spent far longer than you would on a day workshop. One student even embroidered the whole outfit, which looked truly beautiful and really effective.

 


Cloth dolls take quite a while to make especially if they are sewn together by hand. In this case my design is and will be in the workshops I run. It is a surprisingly fun and relaxing craft which leaves you with a satisfied feeling to create your own little art doll.
I have ran a Frida Kahlo inspired doll workshop and had some wonderful finished results by the students.

 

I chose this artist as a focus because her style is so inspiring and helps with design creativity. I would definitely like to do another workshop around this theme in the near future.
I have created an art doll which is also intended to be a Christmas decoration. This is achieved by the stiff fabric used so the doll stands up.

 


I will be running two Saturday workshops over the next few months. One will be based in Birmingham during November and the 2nd will be based in my studio in Derby so spaces are limited so booking will be advised.
Promotional material to follow in the next few weeks.

art trail

I am taking part in my first event since having a child. I will be selling works old and new at six streets art trail in derby.

Old work will be sold at a huge mark down in price. I have had boxes full of prints ranging from etchings, collography and monoprints.

 

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These Original pieces of art have been gathering dust for too long and I would like them to go to good homes.
New work will be from my brand petite house of dolls and will consist of art dolls, badges, stickers, greeting cards, broaches and hair slides.

 

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I have been working hard to sculpt models to display these dolls. I plan to create a few more for future events but I would like to make them to a high standard so will take my time.

 

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This event takes place across 6 streets just off Kedleston road in derby. Houses along these streets will be opening their homes and hosting artists work.
I will be located in the primary school which is situated in this area.

Empowering Exhibitions

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Empowered women of women’s work exhibition is the first exhibit I organised and helped curate.

This exhibition collated a beautiful selection of my students work displaying their skills in textile art and painting.

The second exhibition of students work is still currently displayed at the community café in Derby city’s Arboretum until the end of April.

 

 

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This exhibition is an interactive presentation of individual students collaged art pieces. These are shaped into simple paper dresses of my design.

Held up by hangers the dresses can be taken down so the reverse can be seen.

Blow you can see close up images of my example paper dress.

 

 

Hello World

52723250_361708391331279_1527733585312743424_n Pictured is my reason for the lack of blog posts, I had a real life one of these!

I have been very busy being a mum and building my art practice which now includes doll making and puppetry!

More blog posts on this to follow but for now I will just show you a few pictures of me in my new studio at banks mill derby.

A small studio but it is the ideal space for me to develop my ideas and run one to one art tuition classes.

 

February, I’m in love

 

I may be loved up and happy but not with February, I am looking forward to racing through the next month towards spring.

 

The first few months of the year are never my favourite mostly due to the colder weather and short days. Although the days are slowly getting longer and there are signs of spring with colourful flowers popping up to say hello, No doubt a cold snap will try it’s best to kill them off though.

 

I have been keeping busy with the more craft related projects recently. I desperately want to continue drawing and churning out imagery for my story but have developed quite the literal neck ache. Giving the studio a spring clean and setting up a proper area with an easel of sorts will help and support a more effective posture ready for completion of the rag doll fairytale story.

 

For now though I have gone off on quite a tangent with an idea I have had in my head since the start of my rag doll project. I have painstakingly painted, designed, hand and machine sewn a ‘real life’ version of one of the characters from the story. I describe it in this way because I did not realise how much work the outfit would take to create. Sewing tiny clothes is far harder than I thought!

 

 

I am pleased with the outcome though and think I did a good job of sourcing bits of fabric scraps from my storage to remain complimentary to the original illustration.

 

Wings can be made at a later date along with more characters and creatures in this style. I will need to draw more of the story before this idea can be explored further.

 

My sister’s birthday has been, celebrated and gone but I brought this book from a charity shop before Christmas with the intention of making it into a clutch.

 

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I don’t usually enjoy doing crafts on my own, I think I will but it may be because a lot of the exemplars I need to create are craft related so I prefer to draw in any spare time I get. I find ‘Crafting’ is usually always more interesting when done with someone else or in a workshop setting.

 

I discovered many online tutorials on how to make one so I took inspiration from a few and developed my own, somewhat messy, version.

 

A few paper cuts later I had paper mached and super glued my way to something I was thankful to have finished. I hope my sister will like it even though there is pretty much only room for a lipstick and phone, but what else do you actually need in your bag!? #firstworldproblems

 

 

My partner in creative ‘crime’ has been colouring my art nouveau updated images beautifully, I am so excited to see them all completed and perhaps will draw more.

 

 

We are thinking of created enough to exhibit. When, will be decided once we discover the right location to host the exhibition.

 

March is just around the corner which means lots of exciting projects happening. I am really looking forward to Derby’s international women’s day festival which I am always happy to be involved in, so watch this space.