learning a new skill

I have put my computer on only occasionally for the last couple of weeks-so my apologies for being absent and thank you for your enquiries-I am well-very well.  This evening we have just eaten our own salad leaves, beetroot, and fabulous, freshly dug potatoes, followed by a huge helping of strawberries, all from the allotment. And that is why I have been largely absent from blogland for a while.

But there have been other things too. I am currently taking a series of workshops with the Bath textile artist, Carole Waller , who has a studio about 10 miles from here. It is a very steep learning curve, as I am trying to understand how textile dyes work on different fabrics, how to use them with photo-screens and silk screens and how to manipulate and create images and effects with them. All new things for me, but the opportunity to work with an amazing artist was too good to miss.

My first attempt was using a ready prepared photo-screen to transfer an image to a crepe de chine scarf. I chose the screen because  I love images from the Alhambra Palace, and Carole had photographed this on a visit there.   I thought it would  keep things simple. On reflection, the image proved difficult to work with because it is so strong, as was the blue dye I chose. Learning how to use the screen and dyes took time and and I needed to print the image twice at each end of the scarf. I found it  very difficult to line up the print for the second placement, so at one end of the scarf there is a mismatch by a couple of inches. This is the better end.

Once the two ends were printed, I was stumped as to how to decorate the centre part of the scarf too. The transferred image  just screamed for  attention, and I couldn’t “see” beyond it. Time was running out too so I simply painted wiggly lines to fill some of the white space. Probably a mistake.

When the scarf was steamed and washed, it looked better than I initially thought, but I felt it was pretty unsuccessful. I could work into some more…

This morning I gathered these…so perhaps you can understand what has been keeping me quiet  recently. And now I am back into the kitchen to complete the making of some strawberry sorbet. Even I can’t eat a kilo of strawberries every day, which is the minimum yield from the plot at them moment. I’m thinking about strawberry ice cream too. Mmmm….