paperwork

There are going to be a lot of grovelling apologies going on here tonight, I hope you can stand it. There are also going to be a lot of thankyou's too. First, I am sorry I have been away so long I really didn't mean it, more of that later. Second, I am so sorry if I haven't got back to you yet after your comments and e-mails. I really want to say thanks for all those comments and e-mails, your constant, positive encouragement really does keep me going. Also, thanks so much for caring about my eye, it is fine now, totally back to normal. I am feeling the strain a bit at the moment, sewing until the early hours, going to work, more sewing. I feel like I am meeting myself coming back and getting a bit stressed if the truth be told. Hence no posting for a while and no returning e-mails etc. I have a massive favour to ask.....could you please bear with me for a while? I have so much to do that I may not get round to you individually for a while. Believe me it is on my mind, constantly actually but I can't seem to make the hours stretch at the moment. I really wanted to post today to keep you updated on where I'm at, unfortunately nothing is quite ready for the final reveal yet, things to finish, things to damp stretch etc etc. Because of that I need to apologise for this. I think I may have posted about these way, way back and I'm sorry if you've seen it before but I have played with the images, shown more detail and I am hoping that this will interest you, the process and concept of these pieces.
This work was created in 2006 for a module of my degree course called 'Freelance and Studio Design'. The brief was to create wall art for contemporary living with the inspiration coming from the phrase, 'quintessentially feminine''. The mood board shown here says it all really, my inspiration, my design sources, the choice of pleats, lace, colour, everything. In truth this board was put together at the end but all the individual pieces were collected throughout the module and played a large part in the creation of the finished pieces.

The piece here is pleated paper onto which I had first printed shadowed images of some of my embroidery. It was then machine embroidered to mimic lace like patterns before being torn and put back together with hooks and eyes, (yes, I have been using hooks and eyes for a long time). I placed a panel of pleated metalic silk tissue at the edge as to me it references luxury and true femininity.

I made several pieces similar to the one shown below, a series of panels, one of which you may remember I used in a recent post. For these I printed an image from a costume book, heavily pleated the prints, overstitched with french knots and added this to embossed and pricked paper before finishing again with hooks and eyes.

Looking at this work, thinking about this work, makes me yearn to go back to that time to explore freely, to not feel permanently time pressured, to have the time to create another mood board, to sample in depth, to stick things down with glue, to collage, to look through millions of magazines and postcards for inspiration, for a snatch of a colour, to cut small squares from paint charts, to place them next to fabric and thread swatches. Maybe you can do some of that. Even though this work isn't new to me I would love it if it inspired one of you to explore, to create a mood board or even to start a little book of swatches, that would be lovely.

Now for the nitty gritty. In truth I only have 8 days to finish my prep for the fair because I still have 6 days at work to go. I will have something ready for damp stretching tonight before I go to bed. In the morning I will try and finish the applique on this. Then I must do more of this. I am off work until monday and hope by then to have both those things finished so I can then spend the rest of the time making smaller, more sellable things. This morning (at 6.30 a.m.) I practically emptied the shop for a little back up which helps pschologically. So I just wanted to ask, hang in there with me please. I promise I will post again before monday with some embroidery. x

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