Themes for the next stitching year!

I am not sure if everyone managed to make a list of the different themes we would be covering next year so I thought I would put them onto here for people to have a think about.


The themes are


Texture with Heat - this is an investigation into how we can create fabrics through heating and burning or manipulating fabrics with heat. Obviously care needs to be taken with this as not all materials burn without fumes or hazards. Please if you are experimenting with heat this Summer break make sure you work in a well ventilated space and wear and appropriate safety mask (please make sure you use a good mask not a little paper one, invest in a proper safety mask it is worth it. I am certain that I damaged my throat through burning lutradur a few years back and now I have an alien looking mask- it's very funny but it is also very safe!).
It might be useful to start collecting materials that you can use- careful as some plastics do not manipulate - Mel says that quality street wrappers do not work but Tyvek is good, Angelina fibres, colourful plastic bags, fabrics that melt/burn organzas, kunin felt etc, plus lutradur and I think solufleece also works but I don't think you can stitch into it afterwards.  Don't forget that we will need fabrics that don’t burn or melt to stitch pieces to or to give stability. We could also try trapping items within fabrics before heating them to create some interesting sculptural designs (try putting buttons inside heat mouldable polyester and it creates a bubble effect when heated.
You can also add embossing powders/paint (Stewart Gill paints are good) or puff paint, expanding medium to add different effects.
Don't forget you can also use a soldering iron to heat and burn not just the heat gun.


I was thinking of setting up a Pinterest Board for heating and manipulating fabrics so if anyone wants to join it and add pins that they find of interest then please let me know and I'll invite you.
 I'll also try to find some links to blogs or interesting ideas on heating if I can.


Cracks - I have set up a Pinterest Board on this one! so again if you want to join and add pins of your own or just browse what I've added then visit pinterest and search for Cracks and it should come up or let me know your email or pinterest name and I'll add you.


This is an interesting topic and has so much scope. I was trying to think of cracks in terms of buildings etc but also cracks like lightning or cracks in the surface with emotions, things breaking down. Any good ideas or articles that would be of use to us all please let me know!


Paper and Stationary- I am so looking forward to this as I love stitching together paper at the moment! I also love the work of Becky Adams who makes paper books and pictures using fabric and paper together. I have seen some lovely work with strips of paper that have been painted with subtle water colours and then images stitched on top. I think that this just feeds my inner magpie and allows me to collect all sorts of papers - silk, banana, kozo, handmade paper, papyrus, parchment, rice paper, tissue.... ooo so many to collect!


Within these walls - I am not sure where to guide you with this one as I think it is very individual and open to interpretation. It could be literally inside the walls, or it could be whatever lives there like lichens and algae. It could also be creatures that live in there or holes. It could also be rooms or places within the walls looking at structures and architecture I think. Would love to hear your ideas on this one!


Beneath our feet- also a fun thin I think as this could be any walked on surface natural or man made. Could be earth, sand, water, wood, tiles, bricks, ice etc. Please if you are out and about this August don't forget to take photographs of what is beneath your feet as they could be used to create an individual piece or maybe even a group piece if we all found different surfaces like tiles or patterns within floors.


Barking mad- this is also a more natural theme looking at bark and trees. This is a wonderful opportunity to have a good look at creating texture through fabrics and threads. You could make a really deep texture through layering stitches and fabrics or combine some of the burning techniques to add layers of different materials and then stitch on top. Could also create texture through cutting back or burning through. Don't forget that layers can also be more delicate and sheer, so you could create a feeling of bark using thinner fabrics and adding paints or inks as well as fine stitches. Look at the knitted or woven wire of Anita Bruce as well.


Beaches - you can draw together some of the things you have already done such as the beneath our feet theme and use sand as a context, you could also go for water and the sea, waves, shells, pebbles, rocks. This is a lovely topic that again lends itself to textures but also scene building like the work of Sandra Meech and her art quilts but also look at the work of Cas Holmes


Holes- A popular theme in schools ! This could be stitching over (which I love!), drawn thread work, burning using the soldering iron. Manipulating fabrics around items making holes through felting. It could also be creating layers of holes or making fabrics through stitching and burning through to create a net of holes. I would be very interested to see your ideas on this one!


Obviously these themes are going to run over the year and you don't have to start work on all of them now. I wanted to make people aware of the themes so that if they are out and about this August they could start to collect ideas or take photographs of anything interesting that we could work on either as a group or individually. So if you visit an abbey don't forget to take photos of the walls and the floors and the pillars and the ceiling! Don't worry if people think you are very strange for photographing pieces of wall or interesting textures on doors it will all be wonderful!


If anyone has any ideas they wish to share please let me know and I'll add it to the blog. Also let me know if you are interested in adding to or creating more Pinterest Boards for inspiration.
I'll add more ideas as I find them which will be mostly texture through burning and cracks to begin with!
Happy photographing and collecting !
Lesley

Felting

Update on the felting
Thank you everyone for bringing in your finished felted pieces. It was delightful to see them fully "shrunk" and so interesting to see how they turned out. I am always fascinated by how much the felt shrinks and the textures that it creates.
Here are some photos of the pieces that we finished. Makes for an interesting section of an exhibition I think !

Keep felting through the Summer break! I wish I had the space but it's a challenge for me and I get water everywhere ! I am still working on my nuno felted pieces and thinking about what to add to them or how to change them up a bit. Not sure if they need it so might end up posting the pieces as they are after a few investigations into what to put on them ! Never mind it's all fun!


oo here are some pictures of Mel's weaving over a stone. I really like this and think we could make up a rockery of different stones with different effects on. Would make a fabulous installation type display if we could think of different ways or decorating a stone and combine them all together....?

Meeting 1st July!

Greetings everyone, hope that you have had a good couple of weeks. It is our final (!) meeting of the year (academic that is!) next Friday. We will have our AGM which shouldn't take too long and then we can have a play with whatever we are up to at the moment. Please bring in your felted pieces (that you made with Mel in June) as we would all love to see how each other's turned out.


We will update all members on themes for the new year at NNS and dates for further meetings so if you can attend please do as we might not see each other until September otherwise. Plus don't forget if you want to add any posts to the blog feel free especially throughout August if you are visiting anywhere interesting to tell members or if you are working on something and would like to showcase it or ask for advice. I can always add things to the blog for you if you wish, just email me with all that you want me to add.


Looking forward to seeing everyone on Friday!

another idea!

I must say that I would really love to do some needle felted creatures! I've been looking on Pinterest and there are some very lovely (also very very cute!) kittens and puppies all made out of felt. I know that Wendy showed us some that she had started doing, I wonder if Wendy will see this post and if she's had a practise and would like to show us how!

  how cute is he???

 or him ??? I'm having a cute overload! I'd love to learn how to make these though!

Felting again!

Well after a few days my final pieces of felting did decide that they didn't want to be felted any more and started breaking up! I think it was because I used too much silk and not enough alpaca or wool as Mel said that silk does not felt. So decided to go over it on the embellishing machine and add some more wool to the background. This seems to have worked lovely and has blended the colours a little more. I did go over the black and white one as well and thankfully it didn't change the nature of the threads and patterns.
But now I have a dilemma, do I add to these pieces or let them stand as they are and how to I present them. I am thinking of adding some structural elements to them, using maybe some natural type wools or a bit of weaving in sections as I do have some holes (which I wanted!).


I did pop to IKEA today to see that there was a little display (after the tills) by Cardiff university students. They had pictures made using dissolvable and weaving around the theme of seating. They were very good and worth looking out for if you are thinking of wandering around IKEA!


But have been having a few thoughts about next year too. Is there any possibility we could link up with another textile group??? I'm asking as I'm busy making some paper based Artist Trading Cards. They are fun to do but you need to swap them with others or you can put them up for sale. Would a fun thing to have a go at perhaps for an evening meet up.


Well here's the felting after needle embellishing. Not sure if the picture will show much difference but it definitely merged the colours on the brown one. Am still thinking of adding something to that one as I don't think it has enough focus to stand alone. Would have happy to receive any comments or advice!

Felting day

Had a wonderful day Nuno Felting on Saturday. A huge thank you to Mel for a fabulous day. I certainly learnt loads as my pieces actually felted! I've never had much success with this process but I needed the right inspiration!


It does seem amazing but we're almost at the end of another Not Necessarily Sew year. Next meeting in July will be our last of the year. So with that in mind please could you all have a think about what types of things you would like to do over the next year- workshops, themes, mini makes etc. The theme of textured surfaces sounds like a good one as we can all do something different and how you create your designs and fabrics is up to you. We could look for some specific surfaces (Nuno felting could be one of them!) and perhaps look to do workshops on that technique- such as layering or dissolvable, heavy machine stitching etc.?
Any ideas for perhaps guest tutors that would be in keeping with this theme would be welcome too.


Here are some pictures of the felting.... Mine went into the washing machine and came out half the size! I didn't subject the alpaca ones to the washing machine as I listened to Mel who said that it might not be a good idea and I'm glad I did. They have dried well fluffy though as I obviously didn't felt them enough!

One side of Angela's amazing shawl

 Averil decided to use her embellisher to create her vibrant felted picture.

I'll photograph this piece as it is now- after the washing machine, it's a lot smaller!

Mel's beautiful seascape that she created by wet felting.

An amazing day, please bring your felted items to the next meeting so that we can see what they look like after they had dried and shrunk!

Saturday

Please note the meeting this month is on Saturday 4th June and not Friday as in our calendar.
Hope to see you all there with your felting things. Looking forward to seeing you all !