Semi-sheer "gold" fabric fused onto black, each piece stitched round with variegated thread. Satin stitch edge.
and then looking for fabric - finding a way to realise the idea quickly and simply.
Printing is with two freshly-cut eraser stamps -
The "TravelWriting" is transferred with carbon paper -
The windows were placed where the pages had an extra fold. This structure is also known as "boustrophedon" - the cuts go from alternate edges of the folded grid.
Various types of lettering, including stencils, letraset, cut outs, handwriting -
The backs of the pages have images too - there's even a bit of printing with that plant label -
Finally, the covers - the monoprints, unfortunately on newsprint. How to protect them? Spraying with beeswax furniture polish, then buffing, was suggested -
Needless to say, this book lives in a slipcase.
and squeeeezing -
Another new method with nice possibilities uses a cutout (could be from a magazine), and a piece of card slightly larger. The picture is glued down, the card put on top, and it goes into the nipping press -- and comes out with the picture subtley outlined in shadow, made by the card.
Apart from the couple of offset monoprints of a feather (on the brown paper), I used the white ink to pattern areas of the paper. On the glass the rolled-out ink went into bubble patterns, and I simply laid areas of the off-white paper onto it. Both sides of the paper got the patterning. And I tried some drawing on the back of the newsprint - again, the white makes a very subtle (too subtle?) effect -
Apart from its strange behaviour on the glass, the ink took ages to dry.
The room may have looked like this at lunchtime -
but at the end of the day it's good to leave things in readiness for tomorrow -
By the way, one of my finds on a walk in the garden - apart from the feathers and bits of bark - was a twisted up old metal plant marker, which I tried using for printing (unsuccessfully). It had some lettering still visible on it - X CUPRES... - I thought this might lead to an idea for a book about plants or gardens, so did a bit of internet research. The plant was probably a leylandii, the much-hated monster hedging tree, which has an interesting history and is related to other kinds of cypress trees. But the idea didn't really gel -
Something much more jolly was waiting round the corner...
and stitched a simple pamphlet with a fold-around cover.
Later, I used fabric I'd brought along to make a couple more books like this, and accumulated quite a lot of boards to make into covers will some of the accumulation of fabric at home -
The fabric will soil easily, so these books will have slipcovers.
The walk up the hill, through the trees, and back takes about an hour and a half. If you stop and take too many photos, you're in danger of missing breakfast. On the way back (indeed, on the way there) you pass one of Andy Goldsworthy's chalk balls - there are eight in a two-mile walk - made in 2002 and now disintegrating to various degrees -
The photo above shows the tents set up ready for the Chili Fiesta at the weekend, and the studio area of the college. Below is the residential part, with the wild garden to the left -
I was lucky to have one of the upstairs rooms on the right -
A short distance from the house is the walled garden - this is a corner of the orchard bit, with apples and pears grown as espaliers and around frames. It leads to the greenhouse section (and what wonderful greenhouses) and then to the kitchen garden - fabulously well kept!
You start by making a circle of three willow rods -
Add two groups of stakes, and start the weaving -
Filling in the top and bottom is the fiddly part -
Trimmed, they look great -
The variation in colour of willow used in the weaving sequence, and in size and shape, makes for a range of individuality.
Lovely oval handle - very satisfying to use -
Inside the house -
on a greenhouse in the walled kitchen garden -
and, out of sight of all but the servants (and now, tutors and students on selected occasions) - the back door -
Known also as Hungarian point stitch or flame stitch, this panel dates to the early 18th century - "hand woven with coloured wools and silks," says the description in the window of an antique textile dealer on Jermyn Street.
"Known in Europea as early as 1600, flame stitch was highly prized as hangings and valences for four-poster beds and wall coverings, and was used in interiors from Denmark ... to Italy."
Indeed, where it used to be
is now just a patch of earth, with part of the trunk left behind among the market stalls
How old was it - "one of the oldest of its kind in the country", apparently.
Ah - it was planted in 1928 and these trees have a 60-year lifespan...
Read about other great trees in London here. They include an elm on Marylebone High Street.
The kinetic sculpture lives in one part of the Economist Plaza, SW1; it's by Angela Conner.
Sometimes one wheel is emptying the water that drives it; sometimes both wheels empty at once.
Mesmerising....
Woman to friend: "I liked it as well, not as modern art: art art."
A piece of "black" splodgy hand-dye cut into four, used as the background
with random bits from the scrap bag
added to make what might be seen as landscapes
cut to 7"x10", edged with satin stitch.
