Capel Y Ffin

My sister and I went to Mynwy (Monmouth) to collect some work which I had in a joint textile exhibition there. We decided to take the scenic route home and visit Capel Y Ffin on the way. It meant a bit of a detore but was well worth it. We travelled along about 20 miles of remote single track road, which took us through tree lined lanes and over a mountain track called Gospel Pass. The tiny church, St Mary's, was built in 1762 and seems to be occupied by a rather lovely ginger cat.

 The interior is simple and utterly beautiful. One of the pews is carved with the date 1783.

                                        The view from one of the windows,

This angel, which dates from the 1700s, is part of a plaque on an outside wall.

A similar angel in the grave yard.

A beautiful chapel which we passed on the road a few miles from Y Fenni (Abergaveny).

I shall definately travel that road again, it was an extraordinary trip, but the mountains, though stunning, are bleak and I am glad that I live at the top of a hill looking across lush green views which even after 40 years still take my breath away.

Photos. Lynnette Miller

Dye Samples

These are samples of wool which I dyed with various natural dyes last summer.
They are Brazilwood, Madder, White Onion skins, Red Onion skins, Turmeric,Weld, Indigo and Ornamental Maize and some which are a mixture of two of these. They were all mordanted with Alum.
I have one small bag of Brazilwood left but unfortunately I shall not be replacing it as I have discovered that the Brazilwood trees are endangered. It's a shame as it produces the most beautiful reds and when lime is added it makes the rich pink seen in the sample above, so I am treating what I have left like gold dust.
The grey/ purple colour in the bottom left of the image above was achieved with home grown Ornamental Maize. I am hoping to grow some more of that this year. Ideally I would like to use dyes that I have either grown or found locally, but I am bound to be tempted by the lovely colours of some of the imported dyes like Madder.

WELD AND INDIGO

Photos. Henrietta Miller

Wool yarn, which I sourced from charity shops, dyed with Weld and Indigo. The colours really were this strong. Although Indigo is a substantive dye, I pre mordanted all of the wool with alum, as I did a large batch, suitable for any of the dyes. It seems that dyeing fabric and yarn is a summer activity and that crocheting and knitting is something which I mostly do in the autumn and winter months.

ELECTRICITY

For the first time in it's history of more than 200 years, our home has mains electricity. In the 40 years that we have lived here we have managed without it, but it seems that the time has come to be connected to the mains. This does not mean that we cannot also use alternative energy, fortunately there are ways that the two can be combined. In the 1960s everyone without electricity was connected to the national grid for nothing, but the people who lived here declined the offer as they were afraid of it.
We now have a freezer which is quite a novelty and I am hoping that a reliable continuous source of power will mean that we can have an electric kiln.

ORNAMENT

 

 

Small books which I made for the winter show 'Ornament' at Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre. They vary in size and content, but they mostly consist of acetate snowflake designs in books made from tea stained paper or painted fabric. The covers are made from the end papers of old, broken books. 

Lots of artists were invited to make something small and appropriate for the season and the work has been hung on Christmas trees in the gallery, which looks really gorgeous.

In the main gallery they have a lovely exhibition called Running Stitch, which features the work of three artists, Becky Adams, Claire Cawte and Ruth Harries.

Vintage Rally

Last week some of us went to a vintage rally at Newton House in Dinefwr Park, Llandeilo.

                                           It rained quite a lot.

One of the grandsons came with us who is 5 and has a passion for tractors.

We went inside the house, which is large, and looked around. The atmosphere is really nice, you are free to wander about unattended, to sit on the chairs and to play the piano.

This is a second hand bookshop in one of the smaller rooms. It was cosy and relaxing. The screen over the fireplace was showing a film of the local wildlife.

No one serves in the shop, there is just a box to leave the money in. I bought Thomas Hardy's The Trumpet Major for £1.

PORTAL 2011

Portal 2011 is an exhibition of the work of 13 graduates from the applied arts. It takes place in Llantarnam Grange Arts Centre in Cwmbran until the 12th November.

The show was opened by Rhys and Eggsie from the fantastic Goldie Looking Chain.

Unfortunately I did not get photographs of all of the work, which is beautiful and diverse, but Llantarnam Grange have some lovely images on their site and on facebook.
The artists taking part are Hollie Anderson, Anna Backman, Roisin Daly, Carly Dugdale, Sheila Madder, Elle Plummer, Lucy Slade, Gwennan Thomas, Anna Watson, Sara Jane Williams, Masazumi Yamazaki, Suet Yi and me.