Going to Bracknell by train on Saturday gave me some more time to develop ideas for "sky birds". I'd crumpled up sections of each strip of tracing paper, and then traced flying bird silhouettes on non-crumpled parts. Rushing to catch the train meant my needles and thread were left behind, so I couldn't sew these "pages" together - but having them loose means that I'm still thinking of other ways to present this -
At the meeting our morning speaker was Gabrielle Forshaw, who has done beautiful and interesting work related to museum collections, working with textiles, paper, or beeswax. "I frequently employ textile and clothing which has had a previous life," she says, "seeing it as a palimpsest where nothing is lost and memories of life remain as imprints within the fibres' integrity, continuing to shape and define the piece as I re-work its surface."
Here's more of her work - and a book of photos of her work. Making a book like this is something she suggested we all do, to get some "distance". Gabrielle's themes of memories and "small journeys" really resonated with me.
After a chatty lunch, we were introduced to silk paper making. My results, not-quite-a-box, are here, and a more detailed account of the workshop is on Sandy's blog. I liked the fact that you could simply tease out the fibres of the cocoon strippings and wet them, pat them down, and the sericin left on them will glue them together -- how simple and easy is that! I've ordered some fibres for making more (and better?) boxes.
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