botanical print with added colour

... details ...

latest batch of botanical print scarves

will be for sale at the 

NSCG sale 9th - 11th Oct 2015

St. Ives Wildflower Gardens

Sydney

amazing colour today

botanical printing on scarves

E.cinerea
E. nicholi

the green is the underside of rose leaves
the upper side gave virtually no colour at all

Convict Cloth

I'm enrolled in a post-graduate certificate in Arts at ANU in Canberra 

(only need to go there twice a term).

My research topic is the convict women transported to Australia 

in the late 1700's/early 1800's

why were they called 'Damned Whores'? 

was it deserved? 

My first mini project is the creation of some convict cloth.

I needed some more 'Noro' yarn to finish the stitching. 

I had a play day with the camera.

Beautiful earthy colours.

Thank-you to everyone who came ..

It was a wonderful (almost) 2 weeks of the Flight exhibition

It was great to see so many people there

Thank you all

Our collaborative piece
Flight of the Bumble Bee

Flight Exhibition

Textile artworks look just wonderful on the sandstone walls of the old Watch House

Barbara McLennan's glowing 'Ocean Sunset'

(L to R) works by Jane Bodnaruk (me - the two rolling pin pieces)
Barbara McLennan, Cindy Cooper and Kerry Shelberg.
On the table are all of the amazing textile books

(L to R) work by Jane Bodnaruk, Margaret Millar and Kay Murray

... and there is more

see you tomorrow 11-3

Sat 10-4 or

Sun 10-2

now on exhibition

Mending domestic cloths my way

AT

Article in Down Under Textiles

Getting the love of textiles out there

latest Down Under Textiles has an article on our last exhibition

just in time for our newest exhibition starting this Sat 15th August!

top to bottom,
works by
Kay Murray
Jane Bodnaruk
Margaret Millar

Flight of Fantasy

These beauties are part of my installation for Flight of Fancy (If women called the shots).

Come to our Flight exhibition in Balmain, Sydney (15th - 23rd August 2015) to see it in its entirety.

Liberate, Renovate, Celebrate

I began looking at ‘domestic cloths’ - embroidered tray covers, table runners and special hand towels - when I was clearing out my mothers’ house. They were made to celebrate a ‘best’ event. They are a tribute to ‘femininity’ – both in the process of their creation, and in the appreciation of the observer. I am liberating these domestic cloths from the back of the bottom drawer, renovating them with creative techniques and elevating them to the wall, to be enjoyed on a daily basis. By working with these items I am ultimately celebrating the femininity in the lives of the original makers.

      

Botanical printing - just add colour

new silk scarves will be for sale at our FLIGHT exhibition

at Balmain in August

Flight

I can hardly believe we are putting on our THIRD biennial exhibition

We have done Fusion, then Focus and now

FLIGHT

time has flown

I began looking at ‘domestic cloths’ - embroidered tray covers, table runners and special hand towels - when I was clearing out my mothers’ house. They were made to celebrate a ‘best’ event. They are a tribute to ‘femininity’ – both in the process of their creation, and in the appreciation of the observer. I am liberating these domestic cloths from the back of the bottom drawer, renovating them with creative techniques and elevating them to the wall, to be enjoyed on a daily basis. By working with these items I am ultimately celebrating the femininity in the lives of the original makers.

This one started as a stained white cotton hand towel. It was dyed in a eucalyptus bath and had various Liberty prints collaged on to it. It was sliced into strips from top to bottom, and other strips of dyed wool and silks were woven in to create a new cloth surface. A ‘suture’ stitch is used extensively to hold it all together. The couching and embroidery on the top was inspired by a scrap of lace. It shows both masculine and feminine elements in equal parts. The contrast between the precise ‘best’ of the ‘parlour’ (as inherited from my British ancestors) and the insidious nature of the Australian bush – the stain readily made by the gum leaves, the dust, the flies and the general dry ‘spikeyness’ of the flora fascinates me.

the leaf printing journey

Printing with leaves takes a lot of time and experimentation

Printed this paper in my first workshop
with Elizabeth Bunsen
I did lots of embellishing to add interest

The next 3 photos are of current print bundles
Now I get colour & definition of leaf shape
and print on fabric

eucalyptus with casuarina needles creating a fine tracery
on fine merino wool scarf

eucalyptus with grevillia (silky oak)
on silk satin

eucalyptus with a different grevillia
again on silk satin

of course, you don't NEED to look

These are all silk satin scarves

beautiful t-shirt scarves for summer

(just when we are heading into winter!)

this one has a beautiful smoky, hazy effect

Grevillia - very graphic

is it getting monotonous? more printing

these are produced by using wet leaves on dry fabric

lots of scrunchy folds

very distinct but patchy prints

quite a lovely quality

printing on wool

the leaves

the print

a very beautiful print on silk scrim

more leaf prints

a wonderful collection of leaves to begin

wool
(the delicate E. nicholii)

silk satin

silk organza

silk scrim