Inspiration for embroidery

I am about to embark onto the embroidery side of my project and I have been looking at some contemporary embroiderers. As I was researching I was reminded of the work of Louise Gardiner, top image. Her work is full of quirky characters and interesting combinations of techniques. I love her bird embroideries, they all seem to have been portrayed in such a way, that they each have a little personality of their own. I love her mix of techniques too. Take a peek at her work and I'm sure you'll find something to inspire you too!

Also if you like felt and bold bright colours take a look at applique originals, Jane's work is fun and has a lovely simplicity to it. She is a local artist and has some of her brooches for sale in the Biscuit Factory gallery. The bottom picture is an example of her work.

It's interesting to see the way two different people have interpreted an image of an owl too.

CCAD Textile and Surface Design Degree Show 2011: Everyone's printing away so we've got a few snap...

CCAD Textile and Surface Design Degree Show 2011:

Everyone's printing away so we've got a few snap...: "Everyone's printing away so we've got a few snap shots of them at work...Impressive stuff guys! Silk screen printing is definately hard wo..."

Final lengths!

FINAL LENGTHS!!! These are the two scariest words in this project so far, HAND-IN are two more, but I'm not worrying about that just yet. The last few days at college have been a bit nerve racking, but I decided it was time to tackle my lengths. I started with a simpler design the "Sycamore" which has just one silk screen. The trick was to get the pattern lined up correctly and the devore paste on evenly. As you can see it seems to have worked out well, phew!

The "Clematis" design was a little more complicated with 3 silk screens needed to build up the design. After a day of do I don't I print this as a length, I bit the bullet and here we are, another one done. There are a few bits that aren't as perfect as I would like, but it adds character to the print and shows it's been hand done. The fresh spring green compliments the green of the "Sycamore" design so that they work as a complimenting pair.

Indian Textiles

I really enjoyed watching this tonight, really inspiring! Griff Rhys Jones travelling around India and discovering traditional textile printing and embroidery.

Image Guardian.co.uk

Print-room fun

My little pile of A1 prints is steadily growing and so far I'm quite pleased with them. There are a couple that I'm not sure of, but hey you have to experiment. I am hoping to print my length in the next few days, fingers crossed it works! Will let you know how it goes.

I have also started my embroidery samples and will be busily working on those during the evenings and more avidly once I've finished printing. I am translating the same designs as in my printing, but they will be adapted slightly with features either added or taken out. If the feeling grabs me I may do some designs that I've not printed, but that's still an idea that will need some time to develop.

Paint-outs and prints

I've been pretty busy over the last week or so, splitting my time between printing at college and painting out designs at home. I'm really enjoying printing and the print-room is getting busy, so trying to be organised is a good thing to practice. Having fabric ready to print on goes without saying, but sometimes I haven't dyed it and that is something I perhaps need to work on!

At home I'm painting out my designs, which is quite an undertaking and time consuming, but to vary the job slightly I have a koda trace on the go too.

I'm really pleased with my Sycamore print, it printed really well and I like the effect of falling seeds.