Ice Ice Lady

We got down and messy recently doing some dyeing using Ice.  We had ordered some pre treated material which meant we didn't have to soak it in soda ash or add any salt after. Although there was a fair bit of debate about this and we learned that we should do some preparation by taking the instructions with us.

We had to wet it first then put a layer in a long deep container (such as a bucket or a vase) and then add some ice and then some dye, then layer it up, material, ice, dye etc until we ran out of material. It has a lovely delicate effect when dried.

 

Catherine was trying scrunching the material up before adding the dye.

Valerie was painting directly onto her material and using stencils of stars to get a night sky effect.

Busy at work

 The group being busy.

 Shirley's Lutrador piece.

Shirley's woven piece with wee sheep on.

I'm crocheting a twig.

Catherine was asked what she was doing and she replied 'I'm crocheting a Twig'. It seemed a natural thing to say in Textile Artists but it made us all laugh and Louise thought it would be a good title for this weeks blog entry.  This is her Autumnal piece. She made the leaves from material - before you ask if they are real.

Louise was getting messy again painting her pieces of lutrador. One is a stormy sea and the other is from the picture she took that morning of Harrow Harbour in the sunshine. She then soldered out pieces of shiny materials which she had in her stash and is building up a scene.






Dorothy had finished her 'Field of Silver' inspired by the Jan Beaney and Jean Littlejohn book and DVDs.  She said the hardest part was machine sewing together the sides as there were 3 layers on each side. Its beautiful.

Joan was getting out her paints after she had looked at her Homecoming Quilt panel. Caithness Quilters had been asked to participate in a Quilt that will be displayed in Inverness museum of art when its finished.

Ann has started a new panel and this is the first picture.
She has a finished piece of glasswork along to show the group which is beautiful.











Shirley has been busy again. She had her 3 sample couchwork piece.

And then the finished piece framed.

And in the background you can just see this. Her sampler of Neolithic symbols she is interested and knowledgeable.

And then she - I know, she mustn't sleep much - she had a piece of lutrador with embroidery and painting of a Caithness skyline.

And onto Celia who has finished this piece of embroidery which is exquisite.

 

She was busy French knotting a piece of tweed to depict the moss of the Flow Country.

The group has been busy.

Using it up

This years theme is Using it up. Catherine has been quite stringent to this and has been putting together a baby quilt with scraps she had.

Isn't it pretty?

Dorothy had the screen print out and put down some seed heads onto the lutrador piece she painted the previous week. This is to be a book cover.

Its very delicate and muted.

A New Year, a New Project.

The group decided to use up some of the materials we had in our cupboard. They were divided out and then the group decided to have the theme of 'Inspired by Caithness'.

Sorting out the materials.

Joan painting her bondaweb.

Celia's 'hoosey', Dorothy's field of silver and Ella's wee bag

Shirley's couching sampler.

Ella and Ann wind wee skeins of silk. They were doing this for most of the morning!

Louise's embroidery of Morven and the Flow Country.

Messy Fun

Anne has been encouraging us all to wet felt. As the group is easily swayed by pretty colours and messy fun we had a go and made some corsages for Christmas.

Catherine opted for the less messy 'needle felting' version.

Here are some finished objects the group has been working on.

 This is Shirley's take on Caithness Flagstones.

 This is an embroidered cover for a notebook by Louise.

 Dorothy has made some Harris Tweed cushions.

 Catherine has made a beautiful quilt from Tweed.

 Celia wished us all a Merry Christmas. The tree was from the lutrador sandwich she made cut up and stitched over.

Joan has a habit of finding her scissors around her house and puts them into her bag for safe keeping. At last count she had 6 pairs. The group is okay for scissors if Joan has her Mary Poppins bag.

We are in Print

The Great Scottish Tapestry books came. We ordered ours through the Book Depository.

 

It was very satisfying having our hard work in print and the book is very professionally written and published. It was a nice book to sit down with a cup of tea and ponder through. 

Whilst we expected some more information on the stitchers and some photos there was a small list of our names and where in Caithness we were based. The photos do not do the panels justice so we recommend all readers of the blog to go visit the tapestry if they can. It is so far confirmed that it is going to be exhibited in Aberdeen, New Lanark and the Scottish Parliament in 2014 with more dates to be announced. Also noted on the Scottish Parliament in their 'Highlights of 2013' was the opening of the tapestry exhibition. We were proud of this fact.