New Work - Geography of Memory, Beginnings

This new work began when the Vancouver Island Surface Design Association put out a call for entry. They were looking for an interpretation of 'Pathways' in a 60" x 12" format.

Sarah McLaren and I had been focused on colour for many months and were both inspired by the colour work of Jean-Philippe and Dominique Lenclos. This couple research the colours typical to a specific place in the world.

New Zealand Forest
Sarah and I have both lived in a number of different places over our lifetimes. We decided to show our memories of those places through colour with each inch of the work representing one year in our lives.

I began by making a life-size sketch then started sampling. My visualisation of this work was so clear my first sample was enough at this stage of my design process to be able to move on to the next step.

I made the base for the ground from a mix of upholstery fabrics heavy enough to support all of the stitching I had in mind.

Next step - deciding on the colour scheme, which was easy because of my strong colour memory of each place I have lived.

Picking the right ground fabrics took a little bit longer even knowing most of them would be covered they still had to be right. 

The base fabrics are bonded to the upholstery fabrics in the right proportions.

Painted bondable webbing ...

...to match each place's colours.

Ironing the painted bondable webbing in place.

Adding snippets of threads, yarns and fabrics to build up the complexity and texture of each section.

Selecting the right coloured nylon scarf from my stash.

Bonding the snippets and nylon scarves in place using parchment paper to stop the iron's sole plate from getting gunked up.

I sprinkled a few granules of 007 Bonding Agent to make sure thicker areas of snippets stuck well. It takes a higher heat setting on the iron to make these granules melt but once they have they stick very well and become invisible.

This is an old and well-used method for building a ground before stitching begins. I learnt this during my City and Guilds days and still go back to it because it is so effective and versatile.

Next step - the stitching. 

Yukon Cryosphere II, Hydrosphere - Work Continues

Working with slippery synthetic sheers I can't keep the large pieces of fabric under control. Solution - hang them on the wall and take down as needed.

My current problem is to find a method for making a soft material appear hard. 

I have made tapered tubes. They need weights in the bottom to keep all lines vertical, the way water falls and freezes.  I considered lead fishing weights but couldn't find any small enough and they would all have to be painted white.

Solution - Beads. I cleaned out my white bead stash then scoured all thrift stores in a 20-mile radius. I sorted them by size and made 3 different soup mixes.

The beads are successfully doing the job of weighing down the points but now the tubes don't look substantial enough. I have decided to stuff each tube with fine interfacing. It took a long time and was hard on my hands.

To give my hands a break I started making the flowing water panels - cheesecloth dry-felted onto flat sheer tubes.

I am laying out the flowing water panels to see if I had enough of them and enough variety in length and width.

In the meantime, in the back of my mind, I am working on how to hang these individual tubes and panels. Percolation time, again.

'Canadiana', May 1-8, 2015 Textile Art Show

‘Canadiana’   May 1 - 8, 2015  Textile Art Show
Community Arts Centre, 9565 Fifth Street
at Tulista Park in Sidney  Open daily 10 am - 4 pm

A travelling exhibition of 30 works exploring a sense of place in Canada by members of the Fibre Art Network.  FAN is a co-operative of Fibre Artists in Western Canada.  This exhibit made it’s debut in Palmerston North, New Zealand in January 2015.  It is scheduled to travel for two years in Canada with the first showing in Canada at Tulista Gallery in Sidney.

Yukon Gold - Katie Stein Sather, Maple Ridge, BC

Pine Beetle Blues - Marcy Horswill, Cumberland, BC

Post Cards From Fundy, Port-Royal

The 2nd post card in the series is about the French who settled in the Bay of Fundy at various times from the early 17th century until the mid 18th century.
I visited a reconstructed French fort, Port-Royal, a national historic site, to find out what sort of houses were built and what  textiles were used.

Wool felt and fur

Baste fibres and linen.

I stitched a simple house on evenweave canvas.
This will be the stamp on the post card.

I went through the materials I had been collecting for the past 6 months...

...and sorted them by colour to find the ones that would work together.
All of the colours are low intensity because it was a period of natural and bleached colours of the materials and natural dyes.

Then I laid them out by value, light to dark.
 I  decided to go with the mid values plus black and white to put the work in the major scale.

Highest Tides in the World

We have spent many hours this week driving around the Bay of Fundy in Nova Scotia and New Brunswick to find front row seats from which to view the rising and falling of the largest tides in the world.

The flowing water sculpts grasses growing in the mud flats.

This shot was taken from the same place as the first one just 6 hours later.