Category Archives: Uncategorized

I’ve been travelling around NSW and Victoria for most of the last 3 weeks, doing workshops and sightseeing. On our way home my husband and I stayed at the Quality Hotel Gateway in Wangaratta. Having checked out and taken our … Continue reading →

Sumptuous cakes designed by Moscow based artist Tortik Annuchka. Resources, more information and other cakes to drool over: http://www.thisiscolossal.com/2020/07/tortik-annushka-cakes/?mc_cid=f3871369a7&mc_eid=75316273f4 http://www.tortik-annuchka.com/ http://www.instagram.com/tortikannuchka/

Nenad Zeljic, Scene, aquatint 20x25cm, 2019 I’ve recently come across Nenad Zeljic in an on-line print group. I see mystery in this piece.  Its sheer simplicity, reduced colour palette, lack of grounding in any recognisable space and no obvious emotion … Continue reading →

Today I’ve been informed by OCA that I have a confirmed assessment result for the above course.  I’ve passed.  I haven’t had the assessor feedback yet, and it won’t be here for a while, but I know my score isn’t … Continue reading →

Project 10 – Tutor suggestion. In the feedback I received for my Sugar Addiction theme and final project for A Creative Approach my tutor has added the following note: May I suggest that you briefly discuss initial thoughts for completing … Continue reading →

A group of us got together for a Christmas swap this week.  Not having completely put away some of the threads and bits I was using for the final project of my OCA course I chose a few to work … Continue reading →

Before starting the course, you wrote a brief note on what you hoped this course would do for you.  Now look again at this note and reflect on what has happened to you during the course.  Sum up your reflections. … Continue reading →

Q:  Can you see a continuous thread of development from your original drawings and samples to the final designs? A:  Yes I can.  The original concept became simplified, from five sections to three, very early on in the process.  This … Continue reading →

Making my textile piece. The brief for Project 10 is to create a textile piece based on the theme we chose back in Project 7.  We do not have to complete it but we are required to look at an … Continue reading →

A couple more vibrant confections I’ve stitched. The green area in the left hand picture is padded and domed.  The purple flowers on the right are raised over plastic tubing with a bead inserted in the top of the tube.

In a previous project 10 post I showed a photograph of a magnificent pavlova; white, crystal crunchy outer surface, foamy melt-in-the-mouth centre, topped with cream and ice-cream and surrounded by blood-red coulis and dribbled with strawberries.  Even if you don’t … Continue reading →

A few more machine parts: These cogs are made from sandwiched sheer blue fabric with grey organza.  Gold painted Vleisofix has been used to fuse the layers.  They have then been hand stitched and attached to the background with brads … Continue reading →

My machine layers have been cut from pelmet Vilene, painted and covered with dyed fabric.  The piece here has had some painted Vleisofix ironed on, with the paper being removed just before it had gone fully cold.  This has meant … Continue reading →

All along I’ve had the idea of adding texture in some form to the layers on my sugar processing machine. Last year Isobel Hall came to Australia and taught extensively. She uses a great deal of molding paste in her … Continue reading →

Section 1 (left hand panel) I’ve done a reasonable amount of wet felting in the past but nothing where I have had to produce a piece matched to a particular size and design.  Generally I’ve placed my fibres and silks … Continue reading →

Developing my design. Below is my real-size working template for the project. It is a clear uncluttered model and individual samples for each of the three sections have been worked on. I have in mind the packaging and freighting of … Continue reading →

My collection of source material for machine construction includes the following: The original drawing on the left by Michael Clayton has been further worked and finished by Jeff Wilkson on the right.  Here I am particularly interested in the dials. … Continue reading →

Reviewing my work so far. This stage is concerned with reviewing samples and techniques done throughout the course with a view to working towards creating a coherent textile piece  My final piece will be based on my theme of Sugar … Continue reading →

At the start of this section I particularly liked the research point where we looked at two internationally known textile artists.  Whilst I have a reasonable book collection and know a little about quite a lot of people this was … Continue reading →

Q:  Did you have enough variety in your collection of yarns and other materials?  Which kind of yarns, etc, did you use most?  How do their characteristics affect the look and feel of each sample? A:   I have quite a … Continue reading →

Source Word: Tribal My storyboard includes images, materials and other items from each of the three areas which played a prominent role in the lives of the Canis Tribe.  My weaving colours are sourced mainly from the Land section but … Continue reading →

Developing design ideas into weaving. We have been given two options for the way we work our final weaving and I have chosen Option 2 which involves selecting a word or theme and creating a woven piece around that idea.  … Continue reading →

Experimenting with different materials. Sample Piece. The final piece for this exercise has been done with the above picture loosely in mind.  I wanted to portray the dark calm water out to sea with the lighter colour high waves in … Continue reading →

Experimenting with different materials. The theme I’ve chosen for this section is the sea.  I’ve picked a series of materials to depict the ocean as follows: smooth surface dark blues for the calmer more distant sea, a lighter blue/purple indicating … Continue reading →

A few days ago a new word floated past my ears, Orphism.  The internet has some wonderful images of this style of art and there is a lot of information on Wikipedia detailing this Movement which was an important stepping … Continue reading →

Here the idea is to try weaving with items that are a little different to standard wools and yarns. I continued using the same warp as my previous sample, cotton 12/12.  The sample card above shows the weft items. From … Continue reading →

Basic tapestry weaving techniques. Here I start my tapestry weaving trials.  It has been very interesting, a huge learning curve and has brought up a number of problems that I am addressing, further details below. This picture shows the finished … Continue reading →

A few short weeks ago I joined a drawing class.  I am very aware that my skills are limited and this is an area where I need to concentrate on improvement. In anticipation (and trepidation) of the first class I … Continue reading →

Q.  Did you enjoy inventing constructed surfaces?  Were you surprised at the results? A:  Yes I did enjoy this section of the course.  I wasn’t overly surprised with the results other than where I previously commented on the reverse side … Continue reading →

This exercise involves making a rigid grid and filling some of the spaces to create solid and open areas. I started with 6mm dowel cut to size, against my initial drawn plan.  I then unearthed the Router, which had never … Continue reading →

Here we have been introduced to twisted rope making.  This is something that I have been doing for a number of years.  The manual suggests that we cut our thread length, tie the cut ends together, put one end over … Continue reading →

We have been asked to select a shape, form a rigid outline and wrap, bind, interlace or criss-cross threads between the frame. Having read the next exercise I know that I’m soon to be making a rigid grid which, obviously, … Continue reading →

In this exercise we are required to make a collection of hand-twisted ropes or three/four strand plaits or braids using different materials. I started by using this French knitting gadget to make some cords using Perle 8 cottons. It’s quite … Continue reading →

Whilst getting my samples into some order for presentation for future assessment I was struck by this piece and how different it looks on the back. The curvy lines are much less obvious on the right side as the busy … Continue reading →

Experimenting with structures This exercise is about structure and creating a warp and a weft using a variety of different items woven together. I started as per the course manual and cut two thick papers into strips leaving all attached … Continue reading →

Exploring the qualities of yarn In preparation for this project I have reviewed some of my yarn stash.  Here are a few photos: Left: These wools are varying thicknesses and one is a bouclé.  I love the very loosely spun … Continue reading →

How do you view textile art?  Do you think about it in the same way that you would look at a painting or a piece of sculpture?  How far do you feel it has been accepted as a medium for … Continue reading →

I have chosen three images to work with for this exercise.  The first, to the right, is a postcard of Glide Girl by Sydney surfer and artist David Bell.  I like the colours, the sense of movement and the silhouette … Continue reading →

Choose two internationally known textile artists whose work you find particularly inspiring.  Describe their work, in term of materials, scale, colour, technique and imagery.  Consider how the artist has used any of the elements listed to express the concepts behind … Continue reading →

How do you think the work of the textile artist differs from that of the designer, the designer-maker or the craftsperson?  Is there any crossover in terms of approach or the way in which each uses ideas or textile processes? … Continue reading →

It was very enjoyable going through all the exercises with fabrics.  Manipulating fabric is such a wide subject and I feel that, even though I did a lot of work, there is so much more to explore.  I have hardly … Continue reading →

Australian sugar production figures have been faithfully recorded each season since 1930 and they make interesting reading.  I have abbreviated my spreadsheet to show the figures for the year at the beginning of each decade but from 2000 I have … Continue reading →

I walked down the ‘cooking and baking’ aisle in my local supermarket to see how much shelf space was given to sugar, not products including sugar in their ingredients, just sugar itself. There are several brands available but the main … Continue reading →

Sugar Addiction For my theme I have chosen to look at sugar and the love we have of it, in fact the craving we have for it and the increasing amount we consume.  I will be exploring several angles and … Continue reading →

Yesterday I was determined to drag my husband away from his work.  Having our own business is wonderful but the lines between work and home can blur a little and handling some of the admin side of his job spills … Continue reading →