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the designers market place yesterday was a great day out...for spending every penny i earned on other peoples stuff! saying that i now have a vintage antony & alison handbag and also came away with a little silk scarf, some nicola parkin cards (fabulous) and some great nude magazines! a few less jewellery pieces, french man badges and cards of my own...it was a very sociable day with lots of lovely comments...thanks!
today i intend to relax but that shall include preparing for tomorrow...my last day as an aa2a artist and so much left to do
x
...i shall be at the Designers Marketplace at Northumbria University Students Union with a few select items for your perusal...
see you there!
... i have spent on this dress... a grand total so far of approximately 24...and more than that to go, i have not even finished the machine embroidery then it's the hand embroidery, i am liking it more but not yet enough...wish me luck!
i am working on the 'dress'...seem to be getting nowhere fast...i am sure it shall not be ready, it requires many many hours of embroidery... i am tempted to leave it until last, get all my other pieces finished off and framed/mounted so i can spend whatever time is remaining on this 'large' project...the chanel haute couture team can do it, i should be able to!
the baby christening gown... well, it's large for me! i have very few days left on the AA2A scheme (2) and with the possibility of an exhibition looming i decided i'd better get going with something a little bigger than A4... i had prepared the dress weeks ago by dip dyeing and printing large soft turquoisey spots through a blank screen with manutex. it was ok but the actual amount of fabric in there put me off slightly and i wasn't sure where it was going. 3 weeks ago i digitally printed some images from my sketchbook and specifically for my dress, so yesterday i appliqued and i have started to embroider into it which you will see only upon close inspection...
reasons for dress: -
- focal point for exhibition
- had it for ages and wanted to use it
- fit with whole collection
- experimenting with stronger colour and 'busyness'
- had title of piece, ' each of these, my three babies' from a song by sinead o'connor (will be referenced!)
stages of design/production: -
- soaked dress in tea in stages to produce watermarks
- dip dyed in antique gold procien
- manutex screen printed spots using 2/3 colours
- steamed to fix
- washed to remove stiffness (and some of the tea stain!)
- embroidered words on bodice
- appliqued digital prints around hem
- machine embroidery, then to continue...
- hand embroidery
- iron
- add butterflies to symbolise letting go and setting free (in this case your children from poverty and certain starvation)
- hang
- voila
it was really difficult to photograph my white cards...
today...- parcel up and post my book for exhibition
- photograph card collection and jewellery for my website
- organise all printed fabrics and put pink post-its with instructions to develop
- complete at least one 'foundling' piece - 'white butterfly soul'
- stitch purses (3)
- relax
i am enjoying my journey to work lately...
...through the chemical works, past the bird sanctuary and the landfills, a sideways glance at the seals sloppily basking at the river mouth, past the ghost ships, nuclear power station and the amusement arcades...along the sea front...ships on the horizon...
am wondering if anyone actually reads any of my blogs, i can't imagine it so it seems a little pointless ...so i shall consider this my 'work' diary from now on... today i have finished another piece, after 3 weeks of working on it a little every day...it is part of my foundling collection, i was pleased with the design when it was a flat rectangle of fabric, now it is a bag and i am not so sure ...maybe it is only because i have looked at it so long in its previous form, i am sure i shall get used to it eventually and it needed to be a bag...conceptually...
i would like to put my new work on my website as it is completed piece by piece but shall do the proper thing and present it as a whole collection after exhibition (or maybe shortly before!)
today i have actually enjoyed screen printing, there must be something wrong with me...i even did 2 colours...on one sample!...however my acid red did bleed... have got quite a few great samples to embroider into... little birds...
