My Journey - A presentation by Clarissa Bousfield July Meeting 2022

 Clarissa had been invited to speak to us by popular demand after her work had been seen at the Silverdale Art Trail and we were very pleased when she said yes.

Clarissa  arrived with all sorts of wrapped,  tantalising, packages in boxes and there was a lot of excitement in the room as to when members would see what was inside!

She set up her exhibition of  sketchbooks, early 3D models,  fashion story boards and framed pieces of the most exquisite embroidery mainly of frogs and butterflies.

She spoke about her early years and how as a child she had always enjoyed making things, learning many of her skills from her mother.

She had then gone on to study A level Art and continued her studies at Herriot Watt University studying Fashion and Textiles.

She said that most of her work was 3D as she loved the form of butterflies and frogs.

Many of the butterflies and frogs were on the red list and therefore there was something special about seeing a 3D embroidery of an animal which we will probably never see in the wild and might not exist in a few years time!

The presentation was illustrated with pictures of her work via her computer and as each piece was show there were gasps of Wow! and Ooh! at the complexities and the sheer artistic skill involved in making animals so life-like. The number of processes involved in each piece was awe inspiring and Clarissa is now learning to make lace to add to her numerous skills.

After the talk Clarissa answered questions and the members were able to wander around looking more closely at her work asking more questions as they went.

The presentation was enjoyed greatly and set a level of embroidery we could only hope to aspire to. Fingers were itching to return home and do some more embroidery.

Thank you Clarissa for a very interesting and informative presentation and inspiring us all to aim higher in our own work. We wish you every success in the future with your artistic skills as they develop even further.

Free Machine Embroidery - Mary Seaman and Sandra Kendall July Meeting 2022

 We had a talk booked for the afternoon session so members were able to do their own work in the morning  or there was a chance to join one of two machine embroidery groups. Mary led the group  of Beginners and Sandra led the Improvers.

Mary showed the beginners group how to lower the feed dogs and set the stitch length and width. When they were ready for thread she showed them how to catch the bobbin thread and bring it to the top and hold the threads taut while stitching began.

They practised control by making patterns, leaves and other shapes.

The intermediate stitchers practised stitching up and down and side to side. Then circles and filling in a shape followed by vermicelli stitch.

They then practised edging two small pieces of applique, an oval shape to be made into a bird by adding legs, tail, beak, crest and wings and a flower that needed leaves and a stem, followed by a stamped gingko leaf which needed outlining and veins.

The free machinists were going home to practise some more because it is one of those skills that needs constant practice. It often needs a practise piece before starting  a new embroidery as the stitching is affected by thread, fabric and surface fibres.

We hope to continue with a chance for more practise sessions in the Autumn.

A thank you to Mary and Sandra for leading the sessions.

Stott Park Bobbin Mill

 The bobbin mill opened in 1835 making a range of bobbins for the Lancashire cotton mills,  mills across the country and across the Empire. It was one of about 70 bobbin mills in Cumbria supporting the Industrial Revolution in cotton, wool, silk and jute.

It was originally powered by water, then steam and finally electricity. The landscape around Stott Mill is dominated by coppiced woodland and the easy availability of coppice poles was crucial to the development of the bobbin industry.

The bobbins were cut from the poles and then bored. The larger bobbins had a much more complicated process. Before the Factory Act of 1878 the mill was worked by men and boys as young as 8 all coming from the local area.

There were over 200 types of bobbin made at Stott Park and other bobbin mills all helping to support the Industrial Revolution.

It is a very interesting place to visit and only takes about an hour to an hour and a half to go around. Today it is a very pretty and tranquil place and belies the fact that life for men and boys working here would have been very hard.

It is well worth a visit and is a very pretty area to take in a walk and to pick up a bobbin to make a snippet roll!

Raffle Summer Walk July 2022

 

Snippet Roll

  Shelagh has just finished making her snippet roll using  mostly her hand dyed snippets. The bobbin is only 1/2 ins wide so she found making it a bit fiddly but the colours and stitching are eye-catchingly pretty.  There is an affinity between the bobbin and the stitching which makes it look just right.

It looks lovely and she said it was fun to make.

Thank you Shelagh.

Finished pieces from past workshops

  Shelagh has finished her attractive dyed snippet piece with hand crocheted flowers and a butterfly. It is very bright and cheery.

It is super! Thanks Shelagh.

Sandra has now finished making three dyed snipped pieces. She says her favourite is the lime green and red one.

Well done and thank you Sandra.

Wendy B. has completed the wonderful pink flowers on her felt piece and the stitching makes the petals and stamens stand out beautifully.

Fantastic! and thanks Wendy B.

Flower Pounding - Wendy Thwaites June 2022

  Wendy arrived with armfuls of flowers and leaves that she had picked from her garden and were suitable to flower pound. She explained that if the flowers and leaves were too fleshy the juices would spoil the print when pounded.

Wendy explained that when the flower was pounded the beautiful veining and patterning would often show up as  in the photos of the flowers below.

Samples of flowers and leaves were passed around so that we could see the kind of prints we could aim for.

Wendy had kindly brought us some fabric already prepared for dyeing so that the colours would last longer. We were shown how to lay the flower face down on the treated material removing the stalk and fleshy bits. The flower was held in place with masking tape and then the piece was turned over and hammered from the other side. It was very noisy but seeing flowers and leaf shapes emerge was quite addictive.

As members got into the swing of the method there was no stopping them and they started building up pictures and patterns.

The results were very pretty and delicate which is the exact opposite of the method which was very noisy and far from delicate!

Once you have some flower pounding prints you can do a variety of things with them.

You can embroider them particularly around the edges and the centres, add beads and make into a picture.  They can also be completed with a fine drawing pen.

Sandra had brought her bobbin rolls and suggested that the flowers were ideal for adding to bobbin rolls.

Sandra explained you could make a bobbin roll out of anything and was a neat way of saving some embroidery pieces. Any snippets could be added to a strip the width of the bobbin shaft and then embroidered and embellished with beads Suffolk puffs and English paper piecing etc.. When completed it could be glued to the shaft.

To make a flower pounded bobbin roll the flower/leaves could be pounded directly on to a strip and then embroidered or the flowers could be cut out in squares, embroidered, fringed and then applied as patches to the roll. On the roll at the top the patches have been linked by a twisted cord.

One member got as far as starting a bobbin roll as you can see below.

It was a fun and enjoyable day and some beautiful prints were produced. Members took home lots to embellish at home and some to turn into bobbin rolls.

A big thank you to Wendy for introducing us to this technique and being so generous with her material and time.

Thank you to Sandra for suggesting Bobbin rolls as a way of using snippets and flower pounded pieces.