I have been back from Art in Action for a week now and only just finding time to update my blog. It has been so busy, and now the school holidays have been very busy but a lot of fun.
This year the sun shone and the wellie boots were swapped for summer shoes, as commented on by an Art In Action regular. Once again the classes were full and some lovely comments recorded in my comments book. My son Josh who is 14 and my niece Jessica, 17 helped by teaching the marbling, doing a fab job as we struggled with the heat and hence the inks spreading very fats and proving somewhat harder to control - although that is part of the fun with marbling. Here are some photos:-
Josh was a true artist - whatever he could find was placed experimentally in the marbling tray between sessions: pebbles, folded up pieces of paper and many colour combinations were tried so that he knew just how to get the best effect. Jess was also fab - she had bad excema on her hands but continued to put her hands in the carrageen and inks to ensure everyone had fun.
Recipe for Carrageen
Measure 25gms
carrageen and put in saucepan with 1.7litres cold water.
Bring to the boil
and gently simmer for 5 mins.
Add 500mls of
cold water and leave in fridge overnight.
Strain the
carrageen mixture through a piece of muslin. Leave to come to room temperature
before using.
This may be kept in fridge for up to a week.
Silk Painting Materials
Silk paints used in the class were Pebeo Seta Silk purchased online from Rainbow Silks @ www.rainbowsilks.co.uk. The paints are water based and fixed by ironing for 5minuntes on a silk setting.The silk fabric I used was a medium weight habitai available form all haberdasheries or for larger amounts online from Whaleys @ www.whaleys.co.uk
Gutta used was Dupont Serti N. This is solvent based and again available from Rainbow Silks.
Teachers Tent
My scarves were hand painted on silk crepe with steam fix dyes by Dupont, again from rainbow Silks. I was very pleased with these scarves - although a lot of paint is required and much time to carefully hem, they are a lot of fun to make. I may need to find a new system to stretch the silk as it easily slips out of the Arty Frame. However they have a fantastic sheen, drape well and are a lovely accessory. One was sold at Art in Action along with a number of cards, broaches, silk jewellery and handmade books. Other scarves have been given to some family members.
I was not too happy with my piece for the Best of the Best. My previous work was made by drawing freely from direct observation, no marks made apart from the machines stitches as seen in 'After You, Drill'. The dodgem cars used in the Memories were drawn with pencil onto dissolvable fabric from photographs and whilst many hours were spent working on the images, they lost all movement and expression of feeling and were simply a representation of what happens at any fun fair. My attempts to demonstrate the fragile rebuilding of new memories for my boys and niece after the loss of Carl, became lost as I tried to just fill in the lines of my drawing with coloured stitch. However, all is not lost as a lot was learnt about free machine embroidery, framing layers of work and the use of colour.
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| After You, Drill |
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| Memories |
So with the summer holiday coming to an end, time to look back at the many experimental photos I have taken with my new Camera, a Canon EOS 60 D. Can I use any of the images for drawings or will they simply be a spark for a new idea. I must consider what I learnt from making my piece Memories, and then remember where I left off in the last academic year and decide how to make go forward and make my work to grow.
