Bicycle wheels for Sheila

Drawings of the front wheel done from different angles and positions in the studio; all done on the same sheet on top of a large drawing of the spokes. I like this close-up section – above.

Above - a close-up of the spokes which show an interesting spiral effect and not just radiating lines when you look closely. The white lines are drawn with a candle which resisted the brown colouring of the floor boards seen through the spokes.

 

Above - close-up drawing on small rectangle of black paper and placed on crumpled brown paper. The lines were extended into this brown paper and some shapes cut away and some spaces lightened between the lines. This brown layer was then placed onto a larger sheet of white paper and the lines extended again. A bit over-done on the over-decorated brown layer but perhaps you get the idea.

Packaging–an art in itself!

I always need to allow at least a whole day to pack up a piece of textile to send off to an exhibition. I’m rarely there to unpack and install myself so have to ensure that I give very clear and unambiguous instructions of how I would like my piece to be arranged/installed. I also have to give instructions on how to pack up to return the piece at the end of an exhibition as the ‘dismantling team’ are rarely the same people as the ‘setting up’ team. So here is what I did for my recent piece of work in the hope it might help if you ever find yourself in this position.

I have bought three ‘extra’ strength plastic boxes in different sizes so I have a choice for each piece needing to be transported. I record each stage of the packaging so that I can use the photos to help explain how I wish them to be packed up for the return trip. Each piece of (acid free) tissue paper, bubble wrap is labelled with my name, although in theory all packaging should be kept in my box after unpacking ready for re-packing.

Starting with the individual cylindrical shapes, I made temporary inside cylindrical supports and labelled each one with a number to indicate in which order they should be placed. The three mirror boards were numbered and little labels placed on them to show where each shapes should be placed.

 

Each mirror board was wrapped in Clingfilm to prevent scratching and each cylinder shape wrapped in tissue paper and numbered- -again.

To stop the mirror boards from crushing the cylindrical shapes as the box is moved around from place to place, I placed the cylinder shapes inside separate boxes and then placed these inside my plastic box.

 

 

Plenty of ‘cushion’ pockets and bubble wrap was used to stop these moving around inside the plastic box.

Forms completed, stamped address envelop enclosed for selection result, cheque written for submission fee, ‘artist’ statement written, lid taped down with strong brown packaging tape, labels stuck on all outside surfaces, strapped onto luggage trolley and off to the post office – a  15 minute walk away. More forms and decisions to make on which postal service to choose. I usually opt for the ‘express24’ Parcelforce with compensation cover and guarantee arrival time.  Home to open the bottle of wine!

The finale?

 

How many times do you need to photograph a three dimensional textile? I think you can never have too many images. [I’m getting good with the ‘smudge’ brush to get rid of unwanted marks such as some odd shapes that seem to appear in the reflective surfaces.]

 

		Murmurations VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Now for the fun time in labelling and packaging – an art in itself if you do not anticipate unpacking at the other end! I’ll keep you in touch with how I do this with lots of photos, so watch this space.

My new-look blog!

Hope you like the new look of my blog – new pics, new fonts and a lovely new footer  - all to reflect my current work. I am in debt to my lovely friend Jana for her help and patience. I’ve learnt a lot!  [Jana is also a wonderful belly dancer and teacher.]

Thank you Jana.

Things could still change!

A few extra thoughts via the notebook toying with spiralling thoughts and ways of placing and composition.

Also remembered the corrugated spiral structures I made for Module Three.

 

So, the finished piece – a stack of five Shibori spirals placed on a square mirror. Maybe a long tin mirror with them placed in a row? Maybe place them upright to look downwards? Still moving things around although running out of time as it has to be packed up by the end of this week!

Now to think of a title. It is so abstracted since my first drawings of the birds swooping across the sky, that I hope I can use a few words to make a connection.

A few scribbled notes -

‘the ballet in the skies at sunset’

‘a sunset moment in the sky ballet’

‘a moment in the sky ballet at sunset’

‘sky ballet at sunset’

 

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		a few details VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

A happy accident

Thank you for comments you leave on my blog. I always find they give me food for thought. Taking time to stop and think about each stage of this Shibori process, I concur with Anne how fascinating these forms are when taken straight off the plastic tubing. I noticed in some of the previous ‘rolls’ that the colour of the ‘string’ was visible through the folds of the silk organza  and also looked good as the string fell off the roll at the ends.

So looked for some thread that was more attractive than the soft cotton that I was using and found this paper thread and wondered whether I could colour it in ‘sunset’ colours. Using inks (that I knew weren’t permanent) I coloured some paper thread and hung little red bundles around the garden to dry and confused a lot of insects and birds!

 

 

 

Onwards with the Shibori process, using my newly coloured paper string and – success – this makes a firm roll with some lovely colour ‘leakage’.

I am now busy making several of these and stacking them on a mirrored surface.