This is a heartening story for menders everywhere. Regular readers will recollect ceramicist Hanne Rysgaard‘s total disregard for mending generally – and mending ceramics in particular – in the previous post ” Oops!”. where I showed the beautiful flowered jug she decided to rebirth as a completely whole and perfect object.
The mold was made and the porcelain poured and then I waited to hear how it appear after firing and what she wanted to decorate it with – but the next time I heard from Hanne was a frantic angry email – Subject “Arrghhh” saying simply “jug got stuck in the mold” Do you also hear the Mending Goddess laughing?
But I knew exactly what she would do now – smash it and start again – so I immediately phoned her and told her to just put pairs of holes either sides of the breaks and I would stitch it back together later; and then we talked a lot about how we have to hear and act on the universal messages we receive…. till she calmed down and agreed.
The next set of images some minutes later made me seriously worried ( see above left) these were truly horrible stab wounds, but later that evening I received another email saying “really liking making these holes now – with a drill” and the holes were getting everywhere
Eventually the jug was fired a second time and placed against the second cast, which only had a slight neck wound, when the third cast appeared perfect, Hanne confessed to being disappointed – nothing to play with and drill.
The jug had lost a a fair amount of size after the 2 firings, above shows the jugs after one and 2 firings, and the original is bigger again. It is interesting to see the whole collapse of the first jug, Hanne says it has “sat down” and that is a very descriptive phrase for the odd shape – but we are about to take this poor sad failure and make it look like some one cared about it.
At first we both thought red stitches would make it look right but some aspects of the gaping wounds looked both sexual and scary when stitched in blood red – so gold was agreed.
The stitching was problematical although in essence very simple, I used curved needles to navigate the undulations of the shape and also the stitching needed to look as good inside as well as out.i worked on this for several hours getting the stitches to look as if they were planned perfectly.
But the finished piece makes such a strong impression that all our stress has been worthwhile.
and when I eventually took it to the next meeting of the Stitch and Think group, who are working on the mending project, this is the reaction I was wanting to see – Hanne delighted with her mended ceramics.
The first day of classes for Heart Space Studios – making beads in the morning and jewellry from them in the afternoon. The first tutor Patricia Brownen gave us all a demonstration using pipe cleaners, strips of fabrics, threads, wires and tiny beads. Above are several of the first beads we made, still on the skewers, waiting to be threaded.
We were given a wooden skewer to wrap the materials around (pencils can also be used) and Patricia demonstrated how the beads were made using several fabrics, threads and wires and secured by stitching. Then she let us loose on a variety of sumptuous fabrics and threads she had brought along – the pipe cleaners determine the size of the bead
To get us started she supplied some postcards with beautiful coloured images that she had collected, several people developed their colours using these. I thought it was useful if you then made a whole series of beads just using different variations of the chosen colours, then all the beads would co-ordinate for a necklace – once a designer……
Some of the students were as interesting to look at as the beads we were making and several people stood up to make, as I do when in my own studio.
I had brought in my ravel of silk ends, which looks like a bower bird’s nest but is the leftovers of 30 years stitching in silk, people swooped on it for single threads of shining colour
By the end of the morning we had all made about 3 or 4 beads and here are a selection, some of the students stayed on to make jewellery from them at the afternoon class
Even I managed to make 3 beads between serving teas, checking phone calls, ordering food for lunch and everything else that goes into an enjoyable day’s making for the students at Heart Space.
The afternoon’s jewellry making will be posted on my next blog…….
Above is my latest “work in progress” – Heart Space Studios – where all things textile will be taught, designed, drawn, made, displayed and sold. It is in the Redland district of Bristol and last week it looked like this.
the week before the opening, new floor being laid
I decided to open this studio after I was asked several times by several people for drawing and stitching classes. So late last year I took the plunge and just 3 months later here we are at the opening day of our new venture – in what was a kitchen showroom and obviously, given the name, as close to Valentine’s day as possible. Last Saturday, 12th February, saw us with the first studio space up and running. Most of the last few months have been stripping out and selling kitchens and bathrooms ripping up floors and wallpaper and applying for planning permission and then putting down floors, repainting and decorating and making timetables and buying signs and chairs and tables and tea urns and cups and having websites built and changing telephones and email addresses and NOT STITCHING.
One of the several fellow tutors in this venture decided to have a Tea and Textiles opening, which is a regular meeting event for Textile Forum South West. The teas were served with an array of the most lovely cakes and biscuits, either bought locally or brought by friends, who all rallied round to help on the day.
Rosemary's tiny heart cakes
Rebecca's delicious shortbread
bought from the Split Tin bakery opposite the studios
We put up an exhibition of the work by some of the tutors who will be teaching the classes, a mixed bag of stuff so I just went for colour.
wall of hangings, Liz Hewitt's dyed and embroidered cottons, Janet Clarke's felts
as did many other people in one form or another..
Liz Hewitt and Teresa Searle with patchwork quilt by Jan Hassard between
There were lots of samples of other workshops displayed so that people could see what they were signing up for..
knitted heart patches by Sharne Lott
my crazy patchwork samplers and book
Sharne Lott, knitter turned jeweller and Debbie Bird, applied artist, made things…..
Sharne knitting and Debbie talking
Later some hand-made beads arrived from Patricia Brownen who had come to my first drawing class wearing one of her necklaces – I signed her up on the spot for our first workshop on Friday 18th February…we have already got several people signed up for this – me included!
hand embroidered beads by Patricia Brownen.
Textile is such a wide discipline to me that absolutely anything involving stitching will be taught, so I was extremely pleased when bookbinder Lori Sauer expressed an interest in conducting classes at Heart Space later in the year.
samples of books made by Lori Sauer
stitched leather and wood book bindings by Lori Sauer
Felt making is very popular and many people are wanting to sign up to these classes, we are making them a regular weekly class along with stitching, drawing and patch-working. Janet Clarke, who I first met last year at an Xmas party, is taking the major wet – felting workshops; but she also turned out to help get the studio together, putting up the Heart Felt exhibition in the windows with jeweller Hazel Sutton.
felt hanging and vessels by Janet Clarke.
One of the main things I want to achieve with Heart Space workshops is to introduce people to the basics of designing textiles, not just making for making’s sake – nothing wrong with this – but I feel that designing for a purpose is a surer way to focus and develop ideas and skills, so one of the simplest of our one day taster workshops will be to design and make cushion covers – and here are some of mine in the window, plus the alphabet animals I designed for the parent and child’s Saturday classes.
cushions and alphabet animals in window
I have to show this rare photograph of me laughing with Martin Remmers, an old friend and book seller, who has offered to help set up a reference library of all things stitch-based for the students to use.
my hearts exhibition and me laughing with Martin Remmers
Also a typical picture of partner Liz Hewitt, who organises everything and who goaded me into taking all this on in the first place.
Liz with heart mugs of tea.
And last but not least, my temporary display of hearts from different people – this is being taken down today Valentine’s day, and shelving for the fabrics, yarns and ribbons will be put up – as inspiration and use for all the students of Heart Space Studios
heart wall with examples of stuffed and beaded hearts our first Saturday workshop
I had called a meeting of the Stitch and Think group who are working towards an exhibition around the idea of mending – a reminder that they had all promised to have working samples ready for early March – I was ahead of the game I had made several pieces of porcelain with mending mottoes on and was feeling pretty confident that I had done enough….then getting out of my car to go into the meeting I dropped the carrier bag containing all 4 porcelain plates. KERACK! My passenger Basil Kardasis said “Thank f… it wasn’t me who did that —– this has happened for a reason Janet”. quick thinking on his behalf but I felt strangely elated.
the inspirational break
When I unpacked the bag of broken bits, only one plate had survived – my W H Auden poem plate – more of which later. But on seeing my pile of broken crocks the group became animated, they fell on the pieces re-arranging back into plates and all said they preferred them broken, because now I have proper mending to consider not just simulated, contrived and controlled versions. For myself I felt sick – I was so proud of those plates; then, OK – move on; then, suddenly – FREE ! I no longer felt I had to remake them in a way that would not compromise Hanne Rysgaard’s standards, Hanne had helped me make the plates and she is a stickler for skilled work. So now just my handkerchiefs with the embroidered mending mottoes will be developed for the exhibition, as the group thought they were a better idea – leaving the plates as research development. Meanwhile, jeweller Syann van Niftrik, had started to look at the way the stitching had been exposed by the break…
Syann van Niftrik’s mended silver objects.
she photographed it saying I had given her a great idea – well it’s an ill wind. The work Syann had brought with her in response to the museum visit was a set of buttons, made in one afternoon, from various cast off metal objects from her studio. She had soldered loops onto their backs to make them useful.
soldered backs of the buttons
Syann van Niftrik watches as Basil Kardasis holds forth
But when she saw my broken plate it reminded her of the carapace of Chinese Cracker fireworks for the Chinese New Year celebrations, so she now is planning to make cages of wire in the form of the exposed linen stitches – to put together as necklaces.
The button idea has developed through a collaboration with Syann, Basil Kardasis and Dail Behennah – they have been not exactly working together on an idea for making buttons to fasten a collection of significant fabrics to fashion into a garment. Basil talked about a maxim of his father’s, who was a tailor – a decently made buttonhole was truly important – you could die if it is poorly made. Think about this.
buttonhole sampler (detail)
So he has found an old sampler of how to make tailored buttonholes and and has requested us all to bring him pieces of fabric which we feel are personally significant and he will buttonhole them all together to make a sort of group portrait – I think!
Meanwhile Dail Behennah had been looking at developing her mending jewellry or rather jewellry to hide moth holes, she has been using sewing dictionaries to develop different shapes to stitch in precious metal wires. Below are her pieces base, the lower one based on the arrow head used in tailored garments to strengthen edges of pleats and pockets. The Bristol Mending Samplers have been a real source of inspiration.
Dail Behennah – gold and copper wire mends to hide moth holes and stains
new shape for repairs jewellry Dail Behennah
Another decorative and functional mending system has been devised by Matt Benton, Matt works in several media but uses vitreous enamel for much of his work. He has made mend shaped small enamel plates with drilled holes all ready to be stitched onto a worn area of a garment.
enamel shape tailor made to stitch into position Matt Benton
drilled enamel shape placed into position for stitching
While everyone seems to have been inspired by the mending idea, one maker hates the idea of mending anything to use again. Hanne Rysgaard, who I have been working and talking with throughout our collaboration, admitted that she thought that anything broken should be discarded, in fact she thought that using broken things was a sign of disrespect for the user – she put it very succinctly “I am worth the best things” and “broken things have lost their energy” these statements caused much argument between us, and although she can see the worth of mending for sentimental reasons (in fact I recently spent some time darning her damaged but favourite red winter scarf ) she still feels that to surround yourself with broken things is disrespectful.
recasting the beautiful cracked jug – Hanne Rysgaard
So what will she make for the exhibition then? She has bought a large and beautiful wash jug and bowl which is only slightly cracked – and as I pointed out to her she would not have wanted to buy it if it at the unbroken price – but she wants to remake this, so is in the middle of casting a mold to give rebirth to a damaged but lovely object – but will she leave evidence of this break?
back of jug with the break clearly seen inside neck
Other makers are embracing the idea of sewn mending wholeheartedly, Jess Turrell,a jeweller and enameller has mended broken crockery by stitching linen covers and it looks like she may cover a whole tea set! This spoon is useless now and she calls it “inappropriate mending”
inappropriate mending – Jess Turrell.
stitched patch for broken cup Jess Turrell
the cups and saucers have become un-useable but several of the group thought they had attained another aesthetic value…oops the slippery slope of the values of art v craft emerge…….moving swiftly on, all the stitchers were impressed by her precise work in fabric, she has an instinctive feel for elegant making with disparate materials.
As does Jilly Morris who is an applied artist working across a variety of materials, but here is researching the idea of skin which, for humans, is the area most often in need of mending. She also looked at sticking plasters – below she has pinned them into position onto a sheet of tracing paper liking the translucency akin to areas of our skin.
pinned plasters – Jilly morris
stitched plasters – Jilly Morris
Playing with the idea of the transparent papers she is was advised by most of the textile makers to move towards making her mending ideas in fine animal skins, parchments, seudes and kid leathers which we have given her to play with.
Two makers are using this project to develop areas for their advanced degree studies and both have stayed close to their own materials. Steph Wooster is a knitter and designer, undergoing an MA by Research at UWE Bristol, she showed us some large pieces of patchworks that have been based on the use of straight- jackets
Steph Wooster hugging her straight-jacket inspired samples while Hanne Rysgaard looks on
hand stitched sampling for patchworks Steph Wooster
I won’t go into the details but she has developed the fabrics while researching at a local hospital’s archives; she found the jackets were copiously mended through constant use. Controversially for the group, she thinks that one overlooked benefit in the use of the straight jackets is that the patient has to hug him/herself…………..and that before the use of these garments the patients were chained in cellars. However this has lead to the sampling of some sumptuous fabrics
darned and patched mending diagrams – Dawn Mason
Dawn Mason is studying part time for her Ph.D by Practice, she is course leadr in Drawing and Applied Ats at UWE. and she has used the old making manuals to develop pieced papers which are darned, patched and stitched together. She talked of feeling a sense of loss for the present society’s skill base when looking at the original mending samplers. she is currently researching gauntlet making out of the papers she is stitching together, so maybe a move into 3 dimensions is developing.
hand sized mending papers – work in progress Dawn Mason
Whatever else is thought of in the old practices of mending it certainly is proving a rich research area for all these different makers, The group has truly become more than the sum of its parts, we were all fascinated by the different aspects each maker had discovered for them selves and the truths we had to uncover to start to explain our thinking behind the making.
This is the story of my friend Irene Bohan, she of the teeny tiny feet, and a shoe lover of the highest order – I mentioned her in my shoes dream on the Ongoing Work pages ( scroll down through to the 5th post) here is her own sad story – but with a hopeful ending! So we know we are dealing with a serious collector when we look at her shoe cupboard below – she actually draws each shoe and pastes this onto the boxes – which I must admit is a better system than mine – I use the boxes for storage in my studio and the shoes get chucked into the bottom of the wardrobe.
Her comment on this practice of labeling is “yes I am that sad that I draw pictures of the shoes and stick them on the boxes, but each shoe has its own story” . So the beautiful shoes at the head of the page were “bought for the opening night of the first show I ever did on Broadway – I was meant to buy a present for the set designer but bought these instead and he was more thrilled by these than a gift – I arrived at the after show party and said ‘your first night gift is on my feet’ “.
Oh yes did I mention that she works in the theatre – we are talking the type of work where you are expected to wear shoes like this!
Now it is a terrible truth but I have what a good friend used to call “Grunewald feet” do you know the artist? – think of the ripped, torn and nailed feet in 16th century German paintings of crucifixions – I wear shoes as camouflage. So these beautiful Manolo’s above are my idea of shoe heaven – not only could I never have afforded them I never ever could have worn them…….however Irene didn’t buy them ” These were a first night present from the same designer – several years later – also in new York – I didn’t take them off my feet for 36 hours ! Yes I did sleep in them”
So now IMAGINE how she feels when she is diagnosed with Morton’s Neuroma, which is basically a damaged nerve and probably caused by constant high heel wearing – it is flats from now on
the full horror revealed – the shoes that made her cry.
” Can you imagine – when the podiatrist said – well you have to wear trainers – I cried – but I did what I was told went and got measured for proper trainers came home – cried again – threw them in the bin and went and spent a fortune on Stella McCartney trainer-ish shoes – so there are ways round it but I do miss my heels !
So – she is now developing a rather good selection of gorgeous brogues and riding boots but sometimes just takes a pain-killer and puts on the Manolos !!! These brogues are lovely but I can’t imagine her dollying down Broadway to a premier in them……
P.S. when we were emailing one another to put this post together Irene sent me this heart- felt message “I’m sure people think I’m shallow being so upset by it – but my shoes are so much part of what I am – and now I’m a suede brogue, albeit a stylish one, not a killer Manolo ! my answer to her is this quote from the Rev. Sydney Smith
“Do not assume that because I am frivolous I am shallow: I won’t assume that because you are grave that you are profound” – Thanks Irene I have been waiting years to use this quotation – which I think just about sums me (and you) up………….
drawing and embroidery for my pink shoes- Ann Rippin
Welcome to my new world – I am starting something completely different this year – opening a space in Bristol for textile based workshops called – not surprisingly – Heart Space Studios. I have been asked so many times to conduct drawing and/or stitching workshops that I decided to take the plunge and with 2 other stitchers, Liz Hewitt and Jan Connett have committed to developing series of workshops and courses from complete beginners to master classes for all things textile.
complete concentration at the first workshop - drawing shoes. Jan and Liz are seen here at the bottom left hand side of the table
I conducted this first drawing class for a disparate group, most are established textile makers, some teach classes them selves, some had never been to a drawing class before and Liz Bishop, informed me that she was unteachable, she had tried and failed to draw at countless classes…I had a plan for her – but as you can see below it was totally un-necessary. I meet with this “I can’t draw” problem all the time by people who are perfectly capable of drawing but who have at some time in their lives been told they can’t – by what standards they have been judged is hard to fathom – my response to them all is – if you can write your name the same way twice – you can be taught to draw. But this is such a sensitive drawing that I really was perplexed when I saw it.
first drawing by the woman who "couldn't draw"
I have taught design and drawing, usually observational drawing, for many years as a senior lecturer in textile design at UWE Bristol – from life drawing through fashion illustration to drawing for design outcomes. I have worked with private clients, costume students at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School as well as drawing practically every day in one form or another. I feel that drawing is my first language, English my second and stitching my third.
And what was my first drawing class about – shoes – well why not? Practically everyone I know has an attitude to shoes either their own or other peoples’ – I have been drawing and stitching them for the past few months and I had a lot of ideas about them to relay to anyone who would listen
shoe selection, from Chinese bound feet covers to Jan Connet's "staggers"
I called the first class How to Look, and I set about it in the usual way of quickly getting everyone relaxed for working by doing 2 minute studies of various shoes and being extremely strict about how they drew them – like not taking the pencil off the page for a continuous line drawing, how to use various angles of the pencils and crayons to create textured lines, pushing not pulling the pencils, drawing with an eraser….most people were amazed that I was teaching drawing skills, not just setting up poses – I was amazed they were amazed.
first simple drawings being used for stitched shoes - Janet Clarke
I have very few images of these early drawings – I was far too busy watching and teaching to remember to take photos…but happily several people returned to their simple line drawings for the stitched drawing later in the day. One of the most elegant drawing and embroidery transitions, below, was done by Sally Payne who “doesn’t stitch at all” and is a musician, she just came along with a friend.
an early drawing with transition into stitch - Sally Payne
Several people brought shoes, Jan Connett brought the most fascinating pair of all – a fabric and glitzy suede confection which almost everyone wanted to draw, but they would have taken the whole day to have done justice to them – the person who captured their spirit if not their fabrication was our only male student, Mike -who is just re-learning to draw after a very early retirement,
everyone's favourite fabric and leather shoes
coloured character drawing of the glitzy shoes, Mike Kersopp
But Jan’s own simple line drawing and embroidery caught something more refined which she could see in them – but then she has worn them and is very alive to their curious allure.
drawing and stitched transition drawing or her own shoe Jan Connett
Another shoe or rather boot, that proved to be the inspiration for several wonderful drawings, were Mike’s suede boots – their rugged rough exterior made everyone who saw them reach for oil pastels to draw really big – they turned quite a few people into confidant illustrators and their subsequent embroidered versions carried through the initial conviction.
work boot drawing, Ira Wood
work boots, Kirsten Hill-Nixon
However Mike really won the “bravery in face of the experts” award for his first attempt at stitching from his study of his own boot, I had to explain the rudiments of running, back and split stitches. It is not surprising that such a rugged boot should elicit good drawings, there is a lot to record in them and the shape isn’t too refined!
But some of the most charming drawings of all were from a simple pink ballet -flat shoe, their simplicity seemed to bring out careful and fairly accurate results which captured the spirit if never the quite the colour of the original shoes…
simple drawing of a simple shoe - Viv Young
and the header illustration by Anne Rippin is of these same shoes but she placed them perfectly in a shoe box to surround them with a pattern.
lively but simple drawing of my ballet flats - Ann Rippin
Anne has beaten me to blog this first, she sent me a link to her own post before I had even downloaded my images and she is extremely complimentary about the workshop.
The suede boots and shoes seem to bring out the most sensitive drawings from most people – maybe this is the ease with which you can apply pastels and soft crayons which suggests the texture of suede.
sensitive drawing and stitched painting of suede boot- Debby Bird
even my own difficult to draw, black suede shoes have been transposed into luscious deeply textural studies by Sharne Lott – a knitter.
transitions from drawing to stitched images of a suede shoe - Sharne Lott
Even people who absolutely dreaded the day – like Liz Hewitt who organised the students for me, realised that if she didn’t worry so much about how the drawing looked but just concentrated on quickly recording just what she saw, not what she thought she saw (now I wonder why that helped?) her drawings were more accurate and looked convincing – but like many textile practitioners, she stitches a lot better than she draws.
sensitive stitching - Liz Hewitt.
killer heels quick drawing and transition stitching- Sally Sparks.
Being forced to draw quickly often brings about great changes in people’s work, when you are made to hurry up and just told to concentrate on the essentials, which are assessed before-hand, the drawings are usually stronger by being more focused. On the right can be seen 2 really strong drawings of killer heels by a dedicated machine – stitcher who was struggling to get any proper proportion in her slower and more considered drawings. I often find that people who have taken a long time over a drawing and then realise it is out of proportion are loathe to change it – thinking that they will adjust it later ….better to erase the problem when you first recognise it .
Another thing that happens when you draw quickly is that it helps stop what I call feathery or dithery drawing, where people make about 6 attempts at the line so it appears to be ghosted – one of these lines must be right but which one? That is when I suggest drawing with an eraser…..choose the correct line and get rid of the rest – this advice worked wonders on one person at the class, who eventually made a sensitive if alternative coloured drawing and embroidery of the ballet- flats. – just look at that drawing of the bow!
fluid drawing after the de- feathering exercises-~Patricia Brownen
Just a very short post to say Da! Da! I have eventually finished my second pillow of dreams, the Shoes dream….and I have written another piece to accompany the recent post Slow Progress where I discussed the doubts and frustrations of making slow hand crafted work. At last it can be now be viewed in my pages for ‘Make It Through the Night’ as a the last section of Ongoing Work which is found directly underneath the header image – which is an embroidered dream flower detail of another pillow from the same series
If you have not viewed this section it is set out in reverse order so that you read/view my ideas as they unfold; this way you can follow the development of a personal set of work – with all its trials and frustrations over the months, and from this month the past year (I started this work in December 2009) so this section appears at the very end of the whole page and you will have to scroll down to it …. but anyone interested in the way someone’s mind works while working slowly through a whole series of interconnected and complex ideas which somehow are supposed to form a cohesive narrative or in this instance make for a comprehensive gallery exhibition, should find it of interest.
As you may have guessed by my absence of festival news – I don’t do much in the way of celebrating at Christmas although I do enjoy decorating the house; I decorate on xmas eve and then on 12th night, tonight, it all comes down. I do, however, like to bring in the new year properly and so this year we had a large party on New Year’s day. Lots of people around for lunch, mostly old friends but several new as well and one of the guests who had never been to the house before commented to Rosemary Murphy (her blog has pictures of the actual party ) how he thought that all the decorations were lovely and it must have taken me ages to put it all together. “What decorations- it always looks like this” she replied.
Well, actually there was a front door wreath, I know this usually lives on the landing outside my studio but I added the red berries from the garden and put it on the front door.
And yes I must confess that the red roses wreath has lived permanently on the kitchen door ever since it was brought in from the front door on 12th night 2007 – but it looks so lovely against the Blue Green painted (Farrow and Ball) door and I did select the scarves especially to colour co-ordinate with it. In fact this kitchen door always has a selection of scarves draped over it depending on the season and my agenda so I am thinking that it may provide a fabric series of posts in the future…..and the future is soon going to get very busy – but not just yet!
Moving into the small panneled room where I have shown my seasonal pelmet decoration as the header of this post – you can see how it usually looks above, in fact I quite miss that extra xmas swag right now, but no doubt will get used to the minimal look again.
The fireplace also gets swagged for the 12 days,
This mantle-piece holds several art works by friends and colleagues, and by chance there is a red theme to them, so they lend themselves easily to the xmas look – the painting above is by Alfred Stockham, an old friend whose birthday falls on New Year’s day and he was the guest of honour at our party.
meanwhile this little silver heart wreath always lives on the shell wall lights.
And lights are the main area where, I grant you, that the extra xmas decorations are especially hard to spot, but those amongst you who are sharp eyed should enjoy the search.
I just had to include the photograph below because of the wonderful reflection cast onto the ceiling from the finial of the venetian style mirror – it isn’t at all apparent in the room itself…and I have just realised it is because of the flash on the camera!
Now I have to own up that this chandelier is festooned with all the past 8 years xmas decorations in the form of plastic, glass or crystal drops which I first started to add to it the year I bought it…and then couldn’t bring myself to remove them they looked so pretty – so this now is a cascade of pure glitz.
And last but not least in the return to textiles and my own work – I must show off my old and getting better by the year patchwork curtains made specially for this room
Although the whole of the British Isles is suffering from snow this winter, here in Portishead on the Bristol Channel, it is a rare and entirely delightful presence. I have lived here for over 20 years and this is only the 3rd fall of snow which has stayed for more than 1 day. When I looked out of the bedroom window this morning this is the view I saw.
So at just past 8 o’clock we went out to see the woods – I walk in the ancient local East Wood almost every day, this time Steve came with me – no hope of getting the car up the hill and off to work in Bristol just yet. The dogs behaved like mad things, running, eating, dancing around in the snow.
Looking above me I could see the different patterns that branches made against the sky, laden with snow they look like lace – heavy crude needle made lace (my favourite lace). I had noticed this last winter, on the second time it had snowed here. Walking in these woods the rhythm of the branches are starkly shown; swooping ash trees against nubbly oaks, spiky thorns and elegant maples with still some leaves left on the branches. I couldn’t help thinking of the different qualities of lace patterns, the flowing loopy patterns of Ash trees remind me of early Brussels lace
whilst the stubby oak trees with their short branches
remind me of 17th century needle lace with picots and wonky patterns – maybe I will find an animal shape in the trees if I look hard enough.
the snow laden trees overlapping as we looked down on them are rich and varied in their patterns
I am being very fanciful but I did think of the wonderful old Venetian needle-lace with their heavily encrusted stitched worms and wiggles.
Turning the corner of the woods we headed back home, down hill all the way and getting slippy underfoot – by now the sun was out and the sky bright blue, the snow was thawing. One last look across the Severn estuary to Denny Island, a tiny outcrop in the middle of the channel, home for a big boys’ breakfast.
