March seems to have come and gone in the blink of an eye. Time is hurtling past and carrying me towards Cornwall Open Studios at an alarming rate. There is much to do – most of it lovely.
Camelford Clickers
I began the month by attending my local Knit and Natter with the Camelford Clickers at the local library. We had a fabulous cake sale in aid of Alzheimers’ Research which is a cause very close to my heart.
The Camelford Clickers are a lovely group of local women who have welcomed my Mum and me to their first Saturday of the month meetings in recent months. There are both knitters and crocheters in the group with fabulous skill sets and such generous, sharing spirits. They are so creative and make all kinds of things from garments to toys, from blankets to letterbox toppers. As a fairly pedestrian knitter and thoroughly incompetent crocheter, I find myself inspired by the group to broaden my skills and to find fun in the process.
It was fellow micro-business owner, Tanya, from Boscastle Yarn, who encouraged me to join the group. She came out to the Spinnery during Cornwall Open Studios last year and we got chatting. Now, even though I am generally not a ‘joiner in-er’ I find myself looking forward to the first Saturday of the month and my dose of knitting and hilarity with the Camelford Clickers.
Tanya dyes the most fabulous colourways and is an all round lovely person. Do take a look at her Etsy shop and see what fabulousness she currently has available.
The St Teath Joy Birds
Mid month I went to St Teath to give a talk and demonstration to the Joy Birds group. What a lovely afternoon that was! The group were incredibly welcoming and their tiny village hall was very beautiful, stone built yet cosy. I gave a talk on felting, how it is done, why it works and what it is good for. Then I demonstrated by making a very quick wet felt seascape and a needle felt flower. The Joy Birds enjoyed the afternoon and I am very happy to say that some of them booked places on my up coming Wet Felt Seascape workshop.
I have done talks and demonstrations for quite a few local groups, mainly WIs, which have been well received. If you are part of a group who might enjoy a talk and demonstration of some aspect of fibre arts and crafts, please do get in touch. If I have already been out to your group to talk about felting, feel free to invite me back to talk about and demonstrate spinning. I am nothing if not enthusiastic!
Tri Loom Weaving
I decided I would like to have a couple of new shawls ready for Cornwall Open Studios in May. So I got my enormous Tri Loom out. It really is enormous, it has a 7 foot hypotenuse. It is too big to work on in the Spinnery and causes untold havoc in the confines of Misty Cottage. However, I think that the inconvenience is worth it.
I really enjoy continuous strand weaving as a process and I love the enormous shawls that I can produce. They are so incredibly cosy and versatile. Perfect for wearing out and about under or over your coat in the coldest weather. Also fabulous to have draped on the back of your chair or sofa, ready to wrap yourself up in on chilly evenings when you are reading or watching the telly. They very much facilitate the idea of heating yourself rather than your environment.
Several years ago I had dyed some aran weight yarn pink and yellow. It was horrible and I tucked it up in my stash to await some kind of inspiration.
Well, inspiration eventually struck and I over-dyed it with Royal Blue.
I really like the results and have used the yarn to weave an enormous shawl.
These shawls take ages to weave and are absolutely not worth the time and effort in financial terms. However, every now and then I just have to give in to the urge to make them. I have not quite finished this one yet as I am still adding the fringe – it is so time consuming!
On reflection, I would say that the time consuming nature of it is part of the attraction. I like getting lost in a process. Repetitive, rhythmical action is probably at the heart of most of what I love to do. Knitting, spinning, weaving, felting, hand stitching – all meditative processes. Add to it the joy of colour, texture and a natural material that warms to body temperature within moments and you will find me in my happy place.
To Find Out More
If you would like to find out more about Tri Loom weaving, I can recommend this book – Tri Loom Weaving by Barbara Herdman
You can have a go on a small tri loom here at the Spinnery during Cornwall Open Studios, 11am to 5pm each day from Saturday 24th May to Sunday 1st June. It won’t be the 7 foot one but being an equipment collector, I may have to admit to also having a tiny 1 foot loom and a 3 foot one. Yes, I know, I may have a problem but it could be worse! All of these looms were made by the lovely Paul Prior who is, I seem to remember, a retired engineer. He only lives a few miles away in Launceston and I do love using hand made tools. It is good to support fellow local crafts people. That’s my excuse and I’m sticking to it! I wrote about the joys of beautifully made equipment in my last blog post where I introduced my lovely Bosworth Book Charkha.
A New Picture
A sneak peek at a detail of my new Cookworthy Knapp, Nearly There or Coming Home Trees picture
I have also been working on a new picture. Some of you may be aware of, or may even have bought, my giclee print of Cookworthy Knapp. I would put a link in here to encourage you to buy one but they have sold out! All my prints are limited editions of 50 and once they are gone, that is it. I am both grateful and proud to feel that I made something that lots of people felt able to connect to. Massive thanks to those of you who spent your hard earned dosh on my Nearly There Trees, or Coming Home Trees print.
In the light of it selling out, I have been working on a new image of that iconic view. It is really, nearly finished and I hope to be able to take it to the framers by the end of the week. Before it goes behind glass, I will have it professionally photographed so I can have some new, high quality giclee prints. These will be available here on the website as well as from a couple of my outlets. I will let newsletter subscribers know when they are ready and where they are available from in due course.
Process
As with most of my larger pictures, I began this one with a wet felt background. Onto this I needle felt the details and texture. Then stitch the final features by hand. I think I will take you through my step by step process through the creation of a picture in another blog as I have not taken photos all the way through this one. Suffice it to say that it is a many step process. I often take fairly long breaks between the steps while I wait for fresh inspiration to come. This way of working really suits my butterfly mind.
For a long time I have been thinking about ways in which I can incorporate words into my work. Those of you who know me in real life will probably know that I am a bookworm with a literature degree, so it will come as no surprise to know that words are desperate to be included in my work. I have made pieces that have included song lyrics before. This is my favourite piece which includes lyrics from the incredible talent of John Martyn.
Felt hanging.
In my new Cookworthy Knapp piece I have needle felted words into the landscape. It feels exciting to be trying out new things and to be paving the way for more lyrical or poetic pieces to come.
If you have any favourite poetry or song lyrics, please do use the comments section to point me to them. I am always interested in new sources of inspiration.
Inspiration
Speaking of inspiration, I took a drive down to the Tate in St Ives, last week. It was my first visit there ( I know, I have only lived here for 35 years!) What an amazing building in such a stunning location. They are running an exhibition of Ithell Colquhoun’s work until the beginning of May. Oh my goodness, inspiration in spades! Her work is so far out there, it gave me so much to think about. I love to see how people have taken ideas from life, their landscape or beliefs and found ways to express them visually.
There were not many paintings there that I would want to live with but that really wasn’t the point for me. When I go to an exhibition like that I feel that I am almost given permission to experiment, to push the boundaries of what I can do. We all have so much inside ourselves which it would be so cathartic to express. Sometimes that self expression is intensely personal and not for a wider audience. Sometimes, if it is shared, it can help others to recognise what is within themselves. We can feel seen, validated and part of something bigger. I came home feeling really inspired to make some progress on a couple of projects that I have at the planning stages.
Well, I think that is quite enough for now. Don’t forget to sign up to my newsletter so you can be alerted to the landing of the next blog post, new listings in my shop and discounts for my in person events.
