coffee time

taking a break with a cup of coffee and thought I would tell about another process I have been introduced to by Annis McHugh of Dundee Print Studio a few weeks ago. It is the ancient Chinese/Japanese art of Takuhon. I had never heard of it but as traditionally it was used to produce prints of stone it seemed absolutely perfect for my purposes. I haven't taken any photographs of the actual prints yet as lighting is a bit of an issue, but I am including a photograph taken in the church of the prints lying in the sun as the drying process finished.

Takuhon is a process that anyone can try as it only involves long fibre silk paper, a water spray, I had a domestic or plant spray bottle filled with water, and a brush to stipple the paper on to the stone. I was a little anxious in case anyone at the church objected to me doing this but as it only involves a light spray of water there is no chance of damaging the stonework at all. However now that St Athernase is closed to passing visitors for the winter I will need to phone and make an appointment to visit if I want, and I would like to do more, and explain what I am doing.

Before I went I tore my sheet of Tosa Shoji paper into 5" squares with other pieces slightly bigger. I went in to the church and discovered a visiting couple so I settled myself in a corner and started to place my squares on the wall, spraying and stippling until the little squares were dotted about the wall looking for all the world like sticking plasters. It didn't take long until the man came over and asked what I was doing, intrigued by this strange woman patting paper on the wall! They seemed interested in my explanation. I think.

As well as the small squares I also tried it on a monumental wall plaque with some odd pieces of paper where the depth of moulding was far greater than the more subtle masons' marks of my stones. I allowed the paper to almost dry on the wall before carefully peeling them off and laying them on the carpet to dry - the sun was streaming in to the church that day. I am really pleased with what I ended up with and after the trip to York when I discovered that Norman churches were covered in white plaster with red marks (see last post) I am going to try stitching a red mark on the paper and see how I get on. Then there is the question of how I am going to display them as lighting is crucial to get the effect of the marks. Something to think about. I'll try to take some photographs to show you the effect.

Back to work.........

where does the time go?

I have been busy despite no recent posts but tonight I am including a couple of images from a piece I have been working on recently. I started by dyeing the calico turquoise and then began to add some printed texture with Thermofax screens, blocks and anything really that gave me the marks I was looking for. I have a box of various plastic bits that I use for classes, as well as myself, to add specific but non representational marks to a background. I added some, a very little, painted Bondaweb and a couple of pieces of inkjet printed fabric, in this case organdie, with an image of old calligraphy and tissue paper which I created on card and when the colour was dry scanned into the computer before printing it onto organdie. So far the stitch has been quite simple running stitch, stem stitch and James' special stitch but it is giving me the texture and marks I am looking for. I hope you can see what I have done so far. This week I have started to add some hand quilting stitches - in horizontal rows - and I know Judy and Christine will be laughing!

I recently had a trip to York and the National Quilt Museum to give a talk on edge - textile artists scotland. What a lovely resource it is. All the staff were extremely helpful and there was just a lovely atmosphere there. At present the main exhibition is Turkey Red which was very interesting but I was there to speak about the work of edge that is in the lesser hall and looks very well in the space. The museum is well worth a visit. Another exhibition I went to see while I was in York was the Japanese Sashiko Textiles which is on at York Art Gallery until the early New Year when it transfers to the Collins Gallery in Glasgow so I will be going to see it again as that exhibition is wonderful. I think it must have been seeing those straight lines in the Sado Sashiko textiles that inspired me to use some quilting on this current piece.

I managed to have a look in York Minster when I was down in York. I was interested to see the masons' marks there and was directed to the Undercroft where the Norman remains of the church that predates the Gothic Minster we see today are located. And I discovered an interesting fact! Norman churches of the period were often covered in white plaster and red lines painted on to delineate masonry blocks. Amazing! This could give me another element to incorporate into my work.

As well as the red-lined plaster I heard the massive organ play - WOW. What a volume of sound. Incredible.

Just when I am trying to complete some pieces I seem to be getting more work at college. Shouldn't complain of course and I do enjoy working with the students but I want to sit and work on these current pieces. I hope the photographs are good enough to see what I am talking about although I took them before I had done much stitching..

rainy day

Well I know that Scotland is regarded as being wet but I do not remember rain such as we have had over the last 30 hours. As I write I am listening to BBC radio describing flooding further north from me where people have had to move out of their houses which must be awful. However despite being forced to stay indoors yesterday I did not make best use of my day at home. I find it really hard to motivate myself when the rain is falling and the skies are dark. I need sun, sun, sun.

Anyway I'm back today and trying to be a little bit more productive. Since I posted the last image I have completed another piece to a point, as before, where I want to leave it and live with it for a while before I make final decisions about it. I will post images for you, a detail plus the full piece. The main fabric is linen and the piece at the end is calico and has been printed with the same marks, and indeed colour, as my large screen print. I think I need to add some stitch on that area to add texture, but we will see. I have used the same range of colour as the last images I posted. The stitch is mostly single strand couching which is then wrapped with linen thread. The circular 'spots' were worked using an Indian rayon stranded which comes in wonderful colours, both bright and more subtle, but it is the sheen that I love. I like the contrast between linen background and these shiny threads which I use mostly in a single strand.

Back at college two weeks now but the students started this week so the routine is set now for the next few months. I had hoped to get back into the print studio this week but have had a few issues trying to sort out part of the image for the next print. I have some elements but I would like to include a drawing of part of my subject matter to act as a foil to the stone marks.I'll maybe manage to resolve that before the next visit to the studio.

Last week I also started working on another piece which has been developed from a drawing I did earlier in the summer. I would like to embellish some fabric into it and make it quite rich texturally but I also don't want to lose the colour and print I have put on the fabric. I'll add an image next time but thank you to Love Stitching Red for kind comments.

end of the month

Well August has gone - more or less - and it is some time since I looked at this blog. I am back at work and had a visit to the Festival of Quilts in Birmingham last week which was very exciting. Although I have not posted recently I have been working on my masons' marks work and will add an image here of something that is nearly finished. There is a little I want to do to it before I say it is absolutely finished but I will let you see what I've done so far. I am including two details of the whole piece. Anne and I have continued to go to the print studio at DCA and two weeks ago I printed onto fabric which was interesting. I just used the same printing inks that I have used on paper because the results will not be laundered but the print studio has the textile medium to add to the paint which I may use another time. I have been preparing and thinking about my next print while I've been doing other things and think I have sorted out what I'm going to do. Time will tell.

Last night I worked on one of the large designs I did earlier in the summer and so far it looks ok - I think. I've used fabric I dyed and added colour by printing stamping and stencilling to recreate the paper design I did. Still some decisions to be made about it and I am going to add some hand stitch this afternoon.

I suppose seeing some of the lovely quilts down at the Festival is making me think about maybe treating this piece as a quilt - I can hear my students laugh - but again that is a decision for another time.

Anyway I'm off for now.

Well here is the finished print. I like the composition, I like the colours but I'm mad with myself about the font I used because I feel that it looks as if it is smudged. It is a font called 'Diesel' which I like but I must remember that at the size I have used it in this print it comes out looking smudged. So I suppose it is a question of constantly gaining knowledge through experience. I think I will use the font again but it will need to be in a bigger size so that it is quite obvius that the little tails on some of the letters are meant to be there.

Before my next visit to the print studio I have one or two jobs to do to prepare for the next print and that is what I will be doing this afternoon. With images and tissue paper I want to make a 'surface' to scan into the computer and then adjust the contrast before I print it out onto acetate. The image has to be dark so that it is picked up in the exposing phase of the process and then adjustments made at the printing stage with colour.

I have decided to concentrate on an A4 size print for this next one. Again it will use marks that I found at St Athernase Church, Leuchars so the content will be similar to this print.

more printing

Well I learned something today when I was printing at DCA print studio. If you choose to use a font make sure it is big enough to read afterward! The other thing to watch is that the squeegee has a sharp edge and work fast. I did the last of these but am slightly disappointed with how the script has turned out - especially as things had been going well enough - as it is quite a small font and because of its style I think it will look as if I have smudged. Ah well - it's a learning process I suppose each time. Anyway I have managed to print another 3 separations today and have only 1 left, the little angel, and we are booked in to do that on Friday. Then it will be cleaning off the screens and starting with the next design. I think next one will be A4 size and I have an idea what I am going to do.

a quiet weekend

Yesterday's weather was variable to say the least so in between doing other things around the house I worked on a piece of photo transfer printing I did a couple of weeks ago which at the time I didn't feel worked very well. I've been reading the book "Paper & Metal Leaf Lamination" by Claire Benn, Jane Dunnewold & Leslie Morgan and have really enjoyed it. I like the process and since that first effort have tried another couple of times. But it always seems a pity to discard any less than perfect effort because they offer the chance to 'play' with different ideas. That is what I did yesterday and here is a full length shot and a detail of the result. The piece of white watercolour paper with the hand stitches near the top was too long I felt and so it is now slightly shorter although I do like it hanging over the edge a bit. I think I have always liked areas being slightly outside the main square or rectangle, to break down the obvious frame of the piece.

Anyway here are yesterday's efforts. I intend adding stitch and see where it goes. I may never use it but who can tell. Not quite sure why the photographs are not level but
I hope you can still see well enough.