Workshops

 This year I will be facilitating Natural Dye and Cyanotype workshops with Make it in Wales.
On Saturday 28th. March I took samples of dyed wool and some of my cyanotypes to the launch of the company in Aberporth. I met the other facilitators who will be sharing a variety of skills from jewelry making, sewing and tapestry to macine knitting, weaving, paper folding, photography and more.

The launch was open to the public and there were taster sessions for people who wanted to have a go at some of the activities.
It was a lovely day and so inspiring. Many of the courses, which will be daytime or residential, will take place in the beautiful Bryn Berwyn Country House.

I crocheted squares from some of the yarn which I recently dyed. I felt that this gave the wool a context and meant that I had more than just samples to display and talk about.

Here are a few images taken on the day by Suzi Park.

 

Metamorphosis and Otherworlds

We have a show at Ysgol Celf Caerfyrddin (Carmarthen School of Art). It is a group ehibition by some of the staff and students called Metamorphosis and Otherworlds. It is running in tandem with another show, Thin Place, at Oriel Myrddin .

Tracy Young

Peter Spriggs and Jonathan Cox

For this show I have created twenty cyanotypes of plants that are believed to be protective against evil. Traditionally they were hung as garlands or draped on window sills to keep the inhabitants safe.

All the plants which I photographed grow in or near to my home and I could have included more but it was getting quite late in the year so I missed some of them. Luckily I already had a few images, like the Foxgloves and Herb Robert, that were suitable for the purpose.

Most of the work which I now make involves investigating my home, its wildlife and its history.

When restoring and repairing parts of our house we found iron under every threshold, red wool thread in a wall and a very old shoe on the chimney. This is what prompted me to look at ideas and objects associated with safeguarding the home from unseen malevolent forces. The iron, the red wool and the shoe survived reasonably intact as evidence of these beliefs, their pressence thought to have a long term effect. The fragile nature of plants, however, would have required fairly frequent renewal, perhaps at set times of the year and on occasions like the birth of a child.

The exhibition is interesting and diverse and I hope to take some more photos next week.

More Cyanotypes

When we first moved into our home 42 years ago we found a large pile of discarded bottles in the top corner of the half acre of garden. This place used to be a small farm and was first built at least 200 years ago so some of the bottles, most of which are broken, are very old.

For a long time I have wanted to make a record of each bottle and prompted by an idea which I had for an exhibition I finally got around to making cyanotypes of some of the bottles. As you can see from the tomato ketchup bottle, I have included some which were in recent use as we are also part of the history of this place.

I have made some of the cyanotypes into books for an exhibition at Le Porte Peinte Centre Pour Les Arts in France.

The images are stitched onto tea stained paper. Guessing at the possible contents of each bottle I created cyanotype words in Cymraeg (Welsh). 

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.