Wool From the Scrap Store

We are currently Making balls of lovely quality wool which came in large bags from our local charity run scrap store Trysordy (Treasure house). The wool looks like a tangled mass, but winds quite well into balls.

If anyone has a spare moment or is sitting watching the television they are winding the wool into balls. It has become a bit of an obsession.  

We have separated the wool into two piles as some of it has grease from the machines at the ends, although this does wash off quite well. The whole house now smells of wool and engine oil. 

Some of the wool is what is left on the cones, which is much easier to use. The paler colours will be ideal for dyeing.

It seems that it was donated to Trysordy by a nearby woollen mill which makes beautiful Welsh blankets.

Degree Show at Coleg Sir Gar

 

Ceramics and Jewellery

Claire Jones, Carol Ann Griffiths, Neill Curran and two others whose contact details I shall add next week.

Katie Owen

The degree show at Coleg Sir Gar, where I work and where I studied, is as aways diverse and very interesting. The standard is high and the students have worked very hard to create proffessional gallery spaces. The images here only represent a small part of the show this year,

Thomas Fisher

Laura Jezamin Rose Stephens

These are just some of the many courses which take place here.

 Linah C Larsson

Textiles

Danielle Davies and Linah C Larsson

 Nikkita Morgan

Natalie Badham

Debi Lamborn and Aloysia Barnes

Cyanotypes At Last

photo by LynnetteMiller on Flickr.

After several years of thinking about it I have finally made some Cyanotypes. One of my students kindly gave me some of the chemicals required and now there is no stopping me (except that I have now run out of said chemicals). I need to get some more, as each time we have a sunny day I am itching to get outside and make more sun prints.

I printed a negative version of the photos onto acetate, in black and white, and placed them onto the pre coated paper. In this case it was tea stained squared paper.

It is possible that the blotchy effect on this one is due to the chemicals not being coated or dried evenly, or it could be that they were not dry when the acetate was placed on the paper. I like the result very much though.

 Cyanotype gift tags with indigo dyed thread.

This image was printed onto thick brown paper.

Ferns placed between the paper and the glass.

Amgueddfa Wlan Cymru

I have visited the National Wool Museum a few times lately, with various family members.
It is one of only a few working woolen mills as well as being a very interesting museum.

 They create woven fabric for throws, bedspreads and clothes etc. Some of it is made for designers like Eleanor Pritchard, some of it is in traditional Welsh patterns and it is all very beautiful.                      

Sister, Me and Daughter.

Brother in law, another sister, me and four of the grandchildren on our most recent trip to Amgueddfa Wlan Cymru. We can never resist a photo opportunity when we come to this slightly distorting mirror.

Autumn Garlands

Garlands, or necklaces, which I made from berries and dried flowers.

 Rowan berries, Birdsfoot Trefoil and Columbine.

Late Summer Picnic and Picking Blackberries

 Some of the grandchildren sitting on the black bags where we had our picnic while picking blackberries.
It was a few days before the boys returned to school and they certainly made the most of it. We are lucky enough to have a neighbour who allows us to freely wander his fields and here we were a short distance from home.

Playing with the picnic snacks.

I got the boys to run while I took panoramic shots so that they would appear in the same photo three times. Interestingly they were actually going from left to right, but it looks as though they ran from right to left.

Another panorama, but this time aproaching the house, after a really lovely afternoon. The boys had already reached home at this point with me and the three year old granddaughter slowly wending our way back.

Work in France

I have sent work to France for an exhibition at La Porte Peinte art centre in the beautiful medieval village of Noyers sur Serein in Burgandy. The joint exhibition is entitled Bee. The piece which I have sent consists of 100 sheets of tea stained paper from old duplicate reciept books. They are arranged into groups of five pages, with pressed flowers and a stitched circle on the cover pages. The four following pages in each 'book' have a circle stitched in gold thread.

Each group of five pages is pinned to the wall with entomology pins, reflecting concerns about the fast declining bee populations. Will they be concined to the boards of rare entomological collections?
All of the twenty pressed wild flowers are ones which attract bees and other insects.

Staining the paper with a mixture of teas, including chai, gives a lovely colour but also adds texture and fragrance.