Time for a change

This blog has been left unused for so long, now I feel it's time for a change of use.
Instead of it being used as a teaching aid as it was used where I share my knowledge of art and textiles. It's now going to be used for my own creative work.
If only I could figure out how to add photos from my iPad. I'd be so happy.
I'm going to have to look into this. Then I'll come back and share some of my unfinished work, which will hopefully motivate me to finish work I have begun!

Been too long!

I can't believe it's three years since I wrote on here.  I got a bit miffed when I found that someone had written an article that popped through my door showing how to make my brooches. They didn't even change the colour or style. So I left the blog for quite a while. It wasn't any of my friends, it was just someone who must have seen my brooch and thought it a great way to make some cash.

Never mind I hope I'm back, lol. I can't post anything at the mo because I now work from an iPad and I'm not sure how to download images from here yet. Hopefully I'll figure it out. Until then you can see my work on my Facebook page Tricias Textiles. Hope you'll pop over and take a look.

That's all for now folks, I hope this is au revior.

Something to be very proud of.

Well I know this isn't my creative work but all the same I just had to share it with you:

Here is my 15 year old Grand Daughter, some of you may remember her for her fame for winning a bronze medal for the UK in Acro Gymnastics. Well, she goes from strength to strength. She has only been attending a Private Ballet School on the West Coast of Scotland for a few months and she is already touring in Swan Lake with other dancers who are about 18-20 years of age. In September she will be starting her degree. She already has a diploma for her Gymnastics. She has an A* in performing arts. From what I have been told she is really going places. This Ballet Company often tour to places such as China. They are trying to put Scotland on the Map. I suppose a little like Riverdance did for Ireland. Well I'm not Scottish but I hope they realise what they have. She is super talented in her gift in every way; having said this she works so very very hard and is so dedicated and passionate about what she does. I lost count how many gold medals she won in Gymnastics. I am so proud of her; but then I'm her Nan so I am allowed to be.

Something to be very proud of.

Well I know it isn't my creative work but I have to share this with all of you:

Down Experiment Lane.

I am still on the road of experimentation. I am gathering bits and pieces together, recycling pieces of work and fabric as well as my much loved felt.
I liked the piece below so much that I have replaced it as my header on the blog; as you can see the close ups are quite rich, as usual just click on them for a large view.

I do think it came as a discovery of the stitch doodles and I am not sure where it will lead me. I see them as freehand samplers. The original ATC sized stitch doodles I have sewn together as book for my use as a reminder of what is possible so it's actually a stitch book; perhaps I will show
this next time. It is working very well for me.

I am enjoying the freedom that it is allowing me. The idea though is to use the work as a reference in my future work; Perhaps allowing me some ideas when I work upon less abstract piece in the future. I am searching for a language in stitch colour and fabric; a language of my own I hope.
Obviously, to use this language in the future will also take much exploration but I feel sure that it is a path I should be following.

More Brooches

Here are some more of the brooches I am making for my friend, these will be for the lady's day that they are holding in March so I just finished them in time. I hope that they like them.

Some are similar but they differ either in colour or design so everyone is infact unique. Just how I like it; I hate to repeat exactly what I do, I believe that is what machines are for, no I like to make every thing I do slightly different. Even when I make a series it should show variations.

These below are slightly closer photos of the ones above; they are not copies.

As always click on the pictures if you would like to look closer although sometimes the images are not as clear, my hand is not so steady these days. Never mind my sewing hand is. If you do drop by do leave a comment. Thanks to you who do. Tricia x

Back to doing some Brooches, a favour for my Northern friend.

Ok these are the first of 30 that I am making for a dear friend who I met when I lived up North, I have already shown her these and she approves so I am continuing to make some more, the shapes are very simple but with lots of embroidery. I must have them done before the end of the month so I better get my skates on! Also below a couple of other things I made as presents recently:

About a year or so ago I made my Grand daughter a bracelet and she was mortified when she lost it, I told her not to worry and I have made her another. Silk embroidered onto industrial felt fixed with velcro. She likes it that's all that matters.

The next was a present for a very dear friend who took me out to lunch last year. She likes these colours, you can't see much of the felt I got a bit carried away with needle weaving. I just love threads; as you can see. It was based loosely on a picture of some art deco jewelry. I think Mary liked it. I love making presents for people. It's my favourite way of showing that I care about someone.

AS ALWAYS CLICK ON THE PICTURES FOR A CLOSE UP.
Well I had better get on, be back soon Love Tricia x

A reminder of a little stillness on a stormy night.

Taken just a few days ago around about 6am dawn over Kent, UK



I love the star in these pictures sitting right on top of the new
crescent moon. A quiet interlude to remember on such a stormy
night

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity | Video on TED.com

Ken Robinson says schools kill creativity Video on TED.com

My Stitch Doodles

I have been continuing the theme that I began earlier and here are the results: I say results but this in a sense does not in any way indicate these are finished pieces of work. This is experimental work, like a sampler that is in miniature with no structure to get in the way of discovery. It is not about what these have become but what I have learned from making them. I hope you will enjoy looking at these as much as I have enjoyed making them. They are all ATC size.

RECYCLE RECYCLE RECYCLE!!!

I am a reader of the Natural dyes website, the newsletters get delivered straight to my inbox. I don't always find anything of interest but today I was shocked by what I read, I tried to add a link but you have to be subscribed before you can access it - it is a Yahoo site if any of you are interested.

Anyway, I felt compelled to at least add the information below which tells of the devastating distruction to the environment to grow cotton. I certainly never realised this. I always thought of cotton being such a healthy fabric.

I only have one thing to say here: good for all of you who recycle this precious but very poor environmental product. Keep it up and spread the word. I will certainly think twice before any cotton in my house goes to waste in the future. I am so glad that I am primarily a felt maker.

For further reading:
http://www.icac.org/seep/documents/reports/2010_interpretative_summary.pdf

http://www.organiccotton.org/oc/Cotton-general/Impact-of-cotton/Risk-of-cotton-farming.php

http://www.ota.com/organic/environment/cotton_environment.html

http://www.sustainablecampus.cornell.edu/getinvolved/Docs/Environmental_Impact_of_a_Cotton_T-shirt.pdfmpus.cornell.edu/getinvolved/Docs/Environmental_Impact_of_a_Cotton_T-shirt.pdf

http://wwf.panda.org/what_we_do/footprint/agriculture/cotton/

http://ehp03.niehs.nih.gov/article/info%3Adoi%2F10.1289%2Fehp.115-a449

A Present of Family Significance and a new approach.

Here I am again and as promised here is the present that has been received by my very dear cousin in the North of England; this is where most of my family live. It was my mother who moved to the south when she married my Dad, he was very much a Londoner born and bred.

However the significance of this present as I mentioned above is that this represents the home my mother grew up in. Yes a proper Romany bow topped Wagon. My Grand dad was a true Romany you see. I don't mean new age travellers. We are talking about the early part of the last century. My Grandparents were born in the late 1800's Some people would feel ashamed of admitting these kind of roots. I am very proud of my heritage. My mother came through some very tough times, and survived two world wars and even worse the great depression. She taught me how to be a survivor and how to make do and mend. She taught me a lot of things that many today would be grateful to know. So yes, I am proud of being half Romany. Even though I grew up in a house that my mother fought hard to buy for herself. I will never forget my roots.

My cousin said she is so pleased with this, she has it on her wall amongst all the family photos, isn't that wonderful. The front of it sort of represents the idea of looking out from a wagon on to the view of a wagon itself. It took me many hours to make this, it is made from my own hand dyed and hand made felt and all of it is hand embroidered with a lot of hand painted variegated silk.

As usual click on the pictures for a closer view.

This next piece is a new approach for me. This is what I recognise as mixed media; for me anyway. First I made a clay circle, quite small. I made a series of small holes equally spaced around the edge; these can't be seen as the embroidery covers these well. The idea was to create a frame for this pendent so that it would hang nicely. The embroidery is a free hand design/stitch doodle; this is what I might call them in future. I feel that working with very fine silk in this manner is very pleasing. I am planning to make a series of these pendents in different colours; and maybe shapes too. who knows. Well that's it for now folks. Be back soon. Cheers and thanks for dropping by. Tricia x

Mandalas and Zendalas with stitch

Hi all, Well I said i would be back and a little sooner than usual too. Even though I have not been well, work on a small scale has been happening when I have felt well enough.

Mandalas

Remember this, well it is well and truly finished. I have decided not to add eyes to the fish, as I want to keep the abstract nature of the design. This is my own design based around the idea of the lotus flower/water lily. Being a Pisces it does have meaning for me; at least.

click on this and all the images below to get a close up

Zendalas

Now for the Zendalas, the first one I wasn't completely satisfied, I enjoyed the exploration but felt that either the back ground was too busy or the thread was a bit heavy; this meant that I tried to cram too much into the small space. by the way these are about the size of a coaster.

This next one I started to get the feel of what was possible I didn't like the design much but I have to believe that this is because it is not really a conscious design but a subconscious one. After all I am in effect taking my thread for a walk.

Then, I know I did look briefly at one of the pen doodles that I had made here, if you remember;

but I simplified it to some extent so it was still a subconscious doodle that I

turned into a design.

I do believe I had already learned the essentials of working in this way. Ok for some the work might still be too tight but perhaps that is just me. I am learning to free up my ideas around stitch. I am trying to acheive a series of samples with out worrying where the stitches go.

I am experimenting with the two things I love the most well three probably line, shape and colour which really translates into pattern. I think that is enough to be working with all at the same time.

Below is the one I really liked because I just filled in areas as I went along and literally didn't know where the original line was going to take me. I still found myself trying to have some control. I worked in the chain stitch first which you can see is more predominant and as I went along I decided almost instinctively to use the variegated thread to decide when i was going to change direction. A funny thing to do but it worked a little for me.

You see I have recently bought a job lot of very fine variegated threads and it will allow me to practice my passion to my hearts content until I have refined my techniques and then for special pieces i shall use my favourite variegated silk. I do still have some planning in all of this and then of course what will they become? Ah we'll have to wait and see.

So what do you all think. Do you love them or do you hate them. I know, I am a 60/70's girl and it shows. I can see the paisley creeping in at some point, lol.

I've got some more work that I've posted as a present but until it is received, I will not show it yet. Be back soon I hope. Thanks for dropping by. Cheers Tricia x

Creativity comes in many forms

Hi all,

I do have quite a lot of work that I am finishing but haven't photographed it yet.

However, I thought as I finally have mastered the art of downloading videos on here allbeit on the video bar ( I would have preferred to have had it in this post) I would like to share with you the video that my daughter took at my Grand daughter's big, big competition 2 years ago. Rebekah was only 11 years old at the time when she won her bronze medal for her country performing in an international competition in Glasgow competiting with global gymnasts including Russia.

She was the youngest ever to acheive a medal at this age. The only thing I would say is that it was a pity that the judges heads were in the way and that they had the best seats! lol. Still my daughter did get most of the best bits.

Now Acro gymnastics is short for Acrobatic Gymnastics. this is without a safety net, I might add. You can view the video in the video bar, just ignore the snooker, it's the first one on the bar and my Grand daughter is the smallest of the pair.

This photo here shows more of what she is capable of, Rebekah is the one in mid air and her partner is waiting to catch her; Thank goodness she always does! Touch wood!!!! It takes enormous trust to leap off of someones shoulders like this and do a backwards somersault. Still they do say that some children have no fear and as a toddler I can confirm that the back of my sofa was good practice for her future career. She now has a diploma in Gymnastics as well as the medal, not bad at that age don't you think? Well, I won't bore you anymore but do watch the video I know I am biased but I do think she is just so clever. Well as I say creativity comes in many forms and no one can tell me she hasn't mastered her art. Back soon Keep warm (if you are in the UK) Cheers Tricia

Zendalas a way to loosen up.

Hi all,

Thought I would share with you something I have discovered whilst surfing. I saw Zentangles (These are the same as below except rectangular) noted on Gail Burton's blog Thanks Gail, these have really inspired me, I often find myself doodling whilst on the phone. Afterwards I look at what I have produced whilst my logical brain has been too busy to notice and I am usually amazed. There is a theory behind this, it goes like this. If you say "I am going to draw a door" Your logical brain says: " I know what a door looks like" so you end up drawing a symbol of a door, not a particular door. Your creative side of the brain should say shut up I need to study a door before I can draw it properly. Well, it's the same theory when you doodle. You release your creative side to do what it wants to do.

For a long time now, I have been trying to find ways to inspire pattern in my stitching. I have various up to date books on free stitching but have never really got to grips with it. I absolutely love stitch and pattern together. Now as you can see my first attempt was nothing special, I was just getting into it.

However, I do believe the next one is showing more promise.

The last one below I gave it a theme that I am often thinking about because of the symbolism in a trinity being so strong in Early Christian/Celtic Art. I think I can run with the ideas with this Zentangling or Zendalas ( I would call it Zen doodling if I had my way) in as much as I can use the lines to inspire my stitch. It will be a challenge to find ways of stitching to copy some of the patterns. So this will be were I will be going next. I feel sure it will help to loosen up my art work just what I have needed for so long. Wish me luck and Watch this space. (Thanks again Gail) Oh and you can see it demonstrated on You Tube, great fun to watch Bye for now Tricia .

A new start for me

Sometimes you need to clear the way to make a new start. I have done this today by closing the two online forums I used to run. This will leave me more time to concentrate on what I want to do. I have lots I wish to achieve and although this is not the new year as we normally like to think of it. It is in Pagan terms. We look towards the dark gloomy days and wait for Spring but Winter can be a very productive time especially for those with nimble fingers. I am a bit of a Pagan myself. I believe in Mother earth and her constant renewal that we have all in some way taken for granted. Much of my work in the past has had Green themes. Especially when I was studying for my degree, I wrote my thesis on Green Art in our times.
Anyway, as I was saying a new start. To celebrate this I have revamped the blog a little and added a link to my flickr site to celebrate much of the work I have already made. The image at the top shows many pieces of work that you can see at Flickr and to get there all you have to do is click on my picture to the right. Then you will be able to see all these pieces of work full sized.
A few of these are no longer in my possession as the smaller postcards I swapped with other artists from around the globe. I hope the artwork gave them lots of pleasure. As does the work they sent to me in return.
Well, I am not going to say too much more now as there are no images in this post but do pop over to flickr if you would like to celebrate with me the achievements which have made me just a little proud. See you all soon Bye for now Tricia x

It's been far too long......

Where has the last year gone? I have been trying too hard to juggle too many things and overstretched myself in more ways than is humanly possible.
On top of this I have been diagnosed with arthritis in my knee and back so that's why I felt so terrible and kept falling over!
This has all took it's toll and left me feeling very tired and more than a little despondent. Never mind life goes on....
Back to my work, I have started to look again at my recurring theme of geometry. I've been looking at Mandalas and found them fascinating. So I decided to start designing one of my own and I may do a series.

T
I have always enjoyed playing with a compass so that's where I began. As I have always loved ponds and fish etc.. I decided that my first shapes began to go in that direction.

Then the lotus flower seemed a natural centre piece especially for something that is meant to be used to help you to meditate.

Here is this small piece in progress, I am experimenting with stitching using a variegated cotton on the fish for scales. Although this is a small experimental piece, it could just as easily be enlarged to fit any wall as a hanging.

Well, I hope to be back a bit sooner next time. Bye for now Tricia

Ok, my blog back to normal with a mixed bag.

Ok, so I've reclaimed my blog for me, lol. If you are looking for the challenge you need the forum now.
To begin with I have a couple of pictures to show you that I just had to share. Look carefully at this branch from my apple tree, is this friend or foe? I have never liked spiders much but for some reason this little fella really fascinated me. He had crab like legs and was completely white except for these red stripes on his side.

Here he is again below, making an exit, I think he realised he was being watched. Well, does anyone know anything about this arachnid? Is he native to the UK or did he come over on a trade wind or something?

Now for something that did travel to the UK. Last week I received some lovely pieces of textile from Teresa in Australia. First a very pretty coloured wet felt, the most beautiful blue you can imagine.

Then these fascinating prints from Teresa's native flora. Isn't it amazing and the colours are just so very rich. Teresa has sent these to me as she heard I was making a blanket quilt. I have decided to design something special around these at some point, when I have done so I will show you the finished pieces. Thanks again Teresa.

Right, I will add these to the forum later but just wanted to show what I had produced for this months challenge. The theme is Impressionism. I decided to make enough so that I could cut and make two postcards. One to swap and one to keep. The first one shows the felted picture.

The second below is shown with stitching.

Last but not least the last image shows what I have been working on for a few weeks now. Continuing on from the Art Deco Challenge I am still working on this theme to make a series of brooches. These are not actually taken directly from images but are inspired by those I am studying, I am trying to understand the essence of the era. I am trying to understand why I have always been drawn to this style. I do believe it is because I have a love of geometry; I also feel that the simple stylisation of the period is almost timeless. I feel that it can be brought into everyday use and not feel out of place. The brooches below are very much in progress. I tend to work from one to the other until I feel happy with the image. I hope you like them. Well, I think that's enough for one blog. I'll be back soon. Tricia x