STUDIO SPACE

A sneaky peak at my studio space, obviously lots of drawers full of drawings etc you can't see! I am lucky to share a space (next to my desk) with Sue Geldeard who has travelled this degree journey with me.

On Friday we went down to London for the New Designers Prepare day. It was a lot to take in but interesting none the less. However it did make us realise what little time we have left until we are exhibiting there between 1st-4th July.

This week has been strange - lots planned and never enough time. I do have a schedule of things to achieve etc but you can never account for the time it takes to print out acetates, developing new screens (and redoing them when for whatever reason they have not turned out!). On the good side I now have my new lovely linen fabrics (www.fabrix.org.uk) and once I get all my 5 repeat designs finalised on to screens I will be printing in lots of colourways.

Have spent quite a lot of time in the printmaking department with the help of Barry and Brian Hindmarch (Graphics tutor) typesetting - It is very relaxing and I could quite easily spent a lot of time in this department. I have managed to complete some dry point samples but still have a lot of work to achieve the results I require. Next week I need to schedule time to start my embroidery samples.

My Mantra - keep positive, stay calm (!) and take one week at a time - I LIVE IN HOPE.

Good Intentions!

What a week I have had! My repeat pattern was incorrect but I didn't really discover it until the second day as I was busily printing different colours testing my dyes. When I went to test the repeat design realised a mistake had been made. Thankfully help was at hand and Ian Gilmour (Print Room expert!) helped me solve the problem. I had made 2 mistakes on different screens. It is sometimes true that you become slightly blind to faults when you work on something for a long time and therefore you should take a break/step back and come back to it.

I also placed an acetate the wrong way round when exposing a screen and my 'words' came out in reverse - New Screen. I then dropped the screen after printing (because it is rather large) and ripped it - New Screen! In total I have had 7 screens instead of 3! Big thanks to Ian for his patience. You can't see the design very clearly but it represents the lines/story across the pages of a book. It is printed on cotton for sample purposes but the finished results will be on linen.

All in all it was a good idea to come into college during the break and I have had the time to solve all these problems so I can start a fresh next week.

You live and learn!

Grids, words and cotton reels

Have been up very early this morning and written down all the words spinning around in my head. Design development has been taken into two new printing screens this week. One from hand drawn grids - inspiration from the composition matrices (boxes of fonts!) and the other from lines of words. These will be for domestic interiors.

The other side of my collection is my textile art pieces and textile books. One small book will be wrapped around a cotton reel entitled The Embroiderer Meets the Press and you will have to wait and see once finished! There will also be another small linen book both encased in a box representing the "composition matrices".

We have a break for 2 weeks from college and my "to do" list is vast, but it is a good time to catch up with templates for embossing, research for files, fabrics and paper. Plus ............... to finish my dissertation to be handed in when we get back to college.

So it is busy but really exciting as well. Happy Easter.

Mark Making - ideas from the press

Having taken lots of good research photos at the Gregynog press I have now started mark making and design development. I am looking at the marks/scratches created over the years on the floor from the machinery plus the textures, surface and movement of the the actual machinery. These have also been scanned and I am trying some designs within CAD - not my strongest area by any means!

The ideas I feel from these are very different to how I feel about the actual printed page and the words within it telling the story, singing the poem and how precise and exact the layout is.

I have also started machine stitching lines on to fabric to symbolise the text on a page, but hope to develop into hand stitching with the right fabric!

So this is the start of the development and its quite scary - but it will be interesting to see what the end results turn out like as this is so different from my previous work.

Gregynog Press

Last week I had the pleasure of visiting the Gregynog Press in Wales to see their working printing press. They were extremely helpful and showed me the 'Monotype' system of composition. Using all traditional skills with precise type, bindings, papers and wonderful illustrations - engravings, woodcuts and paintings creating beautiful books.

Their love of the machines and processes involved were evident in their enthusiasm and I felt quite privileged for the time they gave me. I now have some lovely research for my project and lots of photographs.

www.gwasg-gregynog.co.uk

Taking Time: Craft and the Slow Revolution

Have been up to Edinburgh for 2 days with my family - the trip was organised so that I could visit the above at the Dovecote Gallery. My husband's family came from Edinburgh so it was nice to go back up there, unfortunately no family left but we managed to visit his granny's house and took a picture of our youngest daughter outside it. She is named after her so we were re-creating a photo.

The exhibition was worth the trip, my favourite was Matthew Harris but each section was interesting in its own merit. My oldest daughter sat for over an hour knitting a square - she is still learning and left handed which is a challenge teaching her. My other daughter has less patience so made a bow from wool and added to "The Making of Garland", however she did enjoy Amy Houghton's typewriter and left a message.

The morning left me feeling very calm and I enjoyed the time with my daugthers "experiencing" the exhibition. It also gave me lots to think about for my dissertation so I really need to get on and do the work now!

Final Semester of Degree

Well as from Monday it is my final Semester of my degree and it will have taken four years. Its been a great journey and I have met some amazing friends for life out of it, plus extending knowledge. Although at this stage I feel that I would actually like to start it all again and I could do so much better! (mature student talk!!)

Will be pushing forward with my Shreds of Evidence and have been researching book binding, printing press (visiting a Book Binding company in Huddersfield on Tuesday) and quilting for my textile art book. I would also like to show that I can produce surface pattern within this and tell the story of traditions in the printing industry.

I've been to some wonderful exhibitions over the past two weeks. The Sashiko Exhibition has finished at York now but it was amazing. Dionne Swift at the Bankfield in Halifax wonderful and I urge people to go see it.

Taking the time to go see exhibitions is so important, personally I feel it makes you think more in depth what you can do with your own work. We all take inspiration from different things, surroundings and also from other peoples work - obviously in a positive way, even a simple stitch can lead to great thoughts of interpretation. It kick starts an idea that you had but was stored at the back of your brain, that is why I feel blogs/diaries are such a good way of exploring how you feel and taking work forward. A discussion in your head - typed out to clarify things!