"Crafty Artists" at Ventnor...

Real life has a way of overtaking the virtual reality of the blog that is supposed to be recording it… if that makes sense? It's nearly three weeks since my last post, when I gave details of the new workshop dates, and they are almost all fully booked. I've been part of the "Crafty Artists" event at Ventnor Botanic Gardens over the past two weeks, plus I'm now running a craft club and workshops at my local schools in West Wight - it's all been rather a rush to prepare for everything...

The days at VBG have been really great fun, but the highlight of each day for me has been the spectacular drive along the coast road - I never tire of this drive - it's one of the pleasures of living on the Island. The weather has been beautiful, hazy pink mornings with the layers of the distant landscape ahead merging from the mist, just like a Japanese print. I couldn't help but think of the terrible tragedy on the other side of the world, when a sea as calm and benign as this could suddenly be whipped into such a destructive force. We seem safe here, but living so close to the sea one cannot help but think sombre thoughts…

The coast road precariously follows the cliff edge. The sheer chalk cliffs at Freshwater and the vivid blue sky and sea fill the rear view mirror. Passing the Dunsbury sheep grazing so close to the road I can see the dew sparkling on their backs. The tide is going out at Compton. It's the spring equinox, plus the moon is unusually close to the earth at the moment, so the tides are exceptionally low. 

I pass the beautiful Jersey herds at Brook, the alpacas at Chale, their coats steaming in the warmth of the sun and the workers in the vegetable fields, picking cabbages and sprouts. The road veers inland at Niton and follows the Undercliff to St Lawrence. Here bare branches are tinted green with faint Spring growth. There are daffodils everywhere along the verges and cherry blossom in the gardens.

This roller coast road not only twists and turns, but undulates from the constant filling in of surface cracks and potholes over the years, making it quite an exciting drive! There's one-way traffic signals and road works all along the way. The fragility of our island's life is well illustrated by this short drive of barely 16 miles, as coastal erosion will close this road very soon. But driving into the VBG car park the magnificent white and pink magnolia blossom is enough to lighten the mood!  

The days at the Botanic Gardens were a delight. The weather's always good at Ventnor - the camellias bloom weeks ahead of Freshwater.The Echium Room is a wonderful bright exhibition space. Lots of lovely people, both visitors and friends, came through the door and said we were a really interesting mix of crafty artists!!! 

And in the evening back at Freshwater KC & I couldn't resist taking advantage of the really low tides to wade out through the rock pools and explore the caves in the Bay. There won't be tides as low as this for many years to come...

More Bags & Bowls...

Another really exciting workshop on Saturday - the second "Design & Make a Bag" - with everyone working very hard to achieve these bags. For some it was only their second felting session and I think the results are remarkable and speak for themselves. Some of the bags may need a bit more felting and finishing... And although the workshops should have really finished at 4pm our enthusiasm carried us through until 5pm, by which time I had to call it a day. KC was knocking on the door to help pack away!

Here are this week's bags, plus some of the bowls previously made in the "Soft Pots & Bowls" workshop.



With so much bag making going on around me I just had to try out a design I'd been planning for a while. Several years ago I knitted this samplar bag on the left, using up lots of small skeins of natural dyed wools I'd accumulated over many dyeing sessions. I just love the shape, the tassels & the plaits, and have always wondered if it would work in felt.

The shape is similar, but that's about it - the finished result is of course a completely different animal. The feel of the bag is totally different, the 4 layers make it thick, chunky & warm ( I want to keep my hands in it!) The bold pattern & colour is typically felty. It's interesting to see what does/does not successfully translate into different media and I was pleased enough with my felt version to make a second. Again, KC my master plaiter made all the plaits for me.

I don't actually 'wear' many of my bags - I tend to hang them up at home. These remind me of quivers (def: a case to hold arrows) and I'm keeping my knitting needles in them… for now!

I think I may have gained some allies from the workshops. Everyone comments that felt making is physically tough, results don't come quick! My quiver bags each represent 6-8 hours work, including finishing & plaiting time. What price can one put on such things? That's why I'm keeping these... for now, but I will be making more in the weeks to come for sale, trying out some different colour variations and will bring them along to the various events this Spring...

 

 

Felt Hearts & Valentines... seeing red!

Wherever you look at the moment you can't help but see RED! Hearts, roses, ribbons, balloons everywhere, frantically signalling the approach of Valentines Day, encouraging us all to buy red...

However, on a much more subtle note, there's a great opportunity to see some wonderful Valentine Day cards that look back to past times. Tucked away at Dimbola Museum, Valentine cards from the Shell Art Collection are on display.

 A sweeter song, my Valentine, 1954, Ronald Ferris.  Copyright Shell Brands International AG, courtesy Shell Art Collection.

       The lark’s a-wing, my Valentine, 1955, Asgeir Scott.  Copyright Shell Brands International AG, courtesy Shell Art Collection.

 This is the hour, my Valentine, 1951, Claudia Freedman.  Copyright Shell Brands International AG, courtesy Shell Art Collection.

 At last you know, my Valentine, 1953, Leo Huskinson.  Copyright Shell Brands International AG, courtesy Shell Art Collection

...And hardly a red heart in sight, just charming designs reflecting a much more gentile era. Lady motorists in the 1930's were a rare commodity and those with accounts at Shell garages were nurtured! The tradition of sending the Shell Valentine card began in 1938 and continued right up until 1975, with 65,000 female customers receiving cards in 1950. All the cards were sent anonymously, but the shell imagery, the motoring themes and the familiar Shell slogan rounding off the verse were all a bit of a give-away!

Putting my "illustrator's" hat on for a moment - I just love the designs, the visual humour, together with the clever play on words in the verses. These were fantastic commissions, beautifully executed by some of the best commercial artists of the day. The printed cards have been treasured and have rightly become collectable. Some of my particular favourites are shown above - click on them to enlarge and you can read the verses. 

The earliest Valentine cards in the exhibition date back to the beginning of the 19th century. All the cards wonderfully reflect the tastes & attitudes of their time. The Victorians loved incorporating natural elements into their cards, dried flowers, leaves, feathers, hair and there's even a tiny bird pressed into one of the cards... Quite a feat (how did it fit in the envelope?) - certainly not acceptable in today's world!

This is a fascinating exhibition and well worth a visit, and it's on until the 17th March.   

I started making my Felt Heart brooches a couple of years ago, photographing them with old love letters to make images for Valentine cards. Some of these love letters date back to the 1850's, beautifully handwritten, folded into tiny envelopes with Victorian Penny Red stamps. Again, legacies of past times... 

My Felt Heart brooches and Valentine cards are all available to buy through my Folksy shop.

Hope yours is a Happy Valentine's Day!

New Year Plaiting...

The week between Christmas Day and New Year's Day is a great time for taking stock and planning for the year ahead, spending time at home and avoiding the shops if at all possible. KC has been keeping busy and warm by the woodburner, making plaits for the new stock...

The plaits originated as a simple method of providing a strap or fastening that perfectly matched a felted bag or pencil roll. Our supply of Shetland wool on cones seemed endless and their subtle shades, when plaited together, blend with the felted fabrics. Now the plaits have become an important design feature in their own right and KC is constantly devising new colour combinations.

Deceptively simple, yet incredibly time-consuming to make, the plyed strands of wool reduce in overall length by about 30% when plaited. Bobbins wound with between 8 - 24 strands of fine wool, sometimes over 100" long, have to be measured out prior to plaiting and three bobbins are needed to make each plait. Hopefully, now the humble plait will be valued more, both as a decorative and functional device, and as an extra hand-crafted element that's true to the 100% felted wool designs.

The new range of small felted phone bags, felted book jackets, pencil rolls and sketchbook covers will all be available to buy on-line in the Folksy shop. Many of these feature unique one-off vintage buttons and toggles, as well as having the distinctive plaited straps and fastenings. It seems like everyone favours useful, practical designs that are also attractive and the response we've had towards all these functional products is very encouraging.   

It's great to receive such positive feedback and we're planning for a busy year ahead. We hope you also have a great New Year, and whatever you're doing... Keep warm !

'Artisans at Dimbola' : Connections with the Past…

It was touch and go whether we would get to Dimbola for the Artisans Sale, but when Saturday morning arrived the snow had completely disappeared. We set up our tables in the Dining Room, a spacious bright room with tall windows, looking out to Freshwater Bay, Compton and beyond. I knew I had to have the place next to the mantelpiece - in this now bare room, empty of almost all it's original features - the mantelpiece offered a real connection with the past.

Julia Margaret Cameron may not have actually dusted the mantelpiece (she had plenty of servants to take care of such things) but surely she would have placed small treasures here? Ornaments, gifts bought back from foreign travels by her family, possibly a miniature likeness of them or even one of her own photographic prints. She may have arranged these curios in much the same way as I arranged my felt work on this same mantle piece.

I'm mindful of connecting with a past line of women, all going about their work, both domestic and creative, within the walls of a particular building. Their efforts and energy leave a strong presence behind, permeating the fixtures and fittings of rooms, worn down by their dusting and arranging.

Julia's presence is very much in evidence at Dimbola. You can imagine her skirts rustling as she rushed down the wooden staircase to greet her guests in the hall. In this Dining Room, in the 1860s, she would have entertained the celebrities of her time. Tennyson, Thackeray, Darwin, Ruskin and Edward Lear would have all sat around her table.

She was a strong, purposeful woman and her strength of character exerted great force over everyone she encountered, especially if she wanted to photograph them. The famous faces didn't escape, nor did her long-suffering servants. However I have a copy of Gernsheim's book, published in 1948, which tells a different story. It has this inscription written inside : 

If Miss Westlake hadn't been quite so shy she would have been immortalised amongst all those great faces of the day.

As we all packed away, after a wonderful weekend at Dimbola, and left the room bare again, I could imagine and almost hear Julia's chattering guests around her dining table, and the sound of music and dancing in the hall. Dimbola really is an amazing house, full of atmosphere, which brings the past alive.  Many thanks to Shirley and all the volunteers and staff whose enthusiasm and hard work help keep the spirit of the house very much as it must have been. And a very special thanks to everyone who braved the cold to come and see us there.

Christmas Crafts at Quarr

With just a week to go before our Christmas event I visited the Abbey today to check over final details. I always find visiting Quarr an uplifting experience. It looked particularly beautiful today. The red brick structure of the Abbey really glowed in the November sunshine, surrounded by the colours of autumn. The pigs are always pleased to see any visitor, they charge towards you as soon as they hear you crunching along the pathway from the car park.

I hope many of you will be able to come to our crafts event. It's an opportunity to leave the bustle of town behind for a couple of hours and come Christmas shopping for those special gifts, in this peaceful setting.

The Abbey, the Pilgrims Chapel and the Bookshop will be open and you can enjoy home-made teas & lunches in the Monastery Garden Café. Admission and parking are free. You can check out the times of daily services on the Quarr Abbey website.

Don't forget to bring a couple of windfalls for the pigs. Not sure whether I should be saying this, but they are beginning to expect them! 

First steps...

I had been thinking about putting a blog together for a while and I'm really pleased to have finally done so, especially as this first post is all about my first felt making workshops that took place this October in Freshwater. The idea materialised during Open Studios in the summer, when over 30 people asked did I do workshops? I'd never considered it, but I took their details anyway. Then West Wight Landscape Partnership asked if I'd like to make use of premises available through Cuckoo, their empty shop project, where these temporary spaces are utilised as studios by local artists - so I jumped at the chance and let everyone know.   I organised a series of one-day workshops for beginners, in which the basic techniques of felt making were explained, with everyone aiming to make one or more pieces of flat felt, experimenting with blending colours & textures.The results were truly amazing! The sheer inventiveness of the participants, in their designs and end-projects, are here to see on my flickr pages. Some had a really clear purpose in mind, most just enjoyed using the vibrant coloured fibres to create stunning pieces of fabric. But everyone seems keen to continue making felt… ...So, hopefully there will be more workshops to follow in the New Year. More for beginners, as well as for those who wish to progress on to more advanced projects - making 3-D shapes, soft pots & bowls, as well as felt jewellery & bags. Watch this space!

1 – 2 of 2