Shifu

A while back I saw that Beautiful silks in Fitzroy were having a Natural Dye Symposium and that one of the workshops was called Shifu and making miniature books. As I very inerested in things miniature, I enrolled without having investigated what Shifu is. Shifu involves cutting very fine paper, lokta, into strips like a paper lantern, then cutting it to have a continuous strip then spinning this to make a paper thread with which you weave to make Shifu.

A ball of spun paper

My first attempt.

As you can see , my first  attempt is not very even due to the fact that paper under strain breaks and I broke several warps.  However for a first attempt I thought it not too bad.  There were 9 in the class and I am very glad I did it as 2 of the other participants were also tutors at the Symposium. The tutor was Velma Bolyard and this was her first trip to Australia from  the USA and the students came from the eastern states of Australia and NZ.  We also made miniature book structures including one called a flag book which when you use different cououred papers is eally interesting.

Diligent  workers.

It was a very intense class and most people would baulk at the thought of spinning paper (it takes hours).
Velma had some gorgeous shifu books and one day (?) I hope to have 1 too. I have put  a link to her blog in my links.

Petites: Some of the Pieces

As I said in my last post, there were 12 or so pieces from ex RMIT tutors and students.

I am posting work from some of those I was able to photograph. The  photograph of one of my friend's pieces was terrible, both of them, but you can see her tapestry at her blog  marymac. in June, under the heading Recording my progress - to music.

Cresside

Esmae

Julie, sorry about the flash; her weaving including seaweed.

Marina

Mine has been  shown.  I have a few more but as I haven't asked permisssion, I had better not show them.

Enjoy

Petites 2012

Last weekend it was the opening of the Petites Exhibition in Wangaratta which they hold on the alternate year to the Wangaratta Contemporary  Textile Award. There were about 120 pieces exhibited  and RMIT ex students were well represented with about 12 of them in the exhibition - including me. The standard of the work was very high and I was chuffed to be in such good company. The tapestry was one I did last year for one of my assignments.  The design for the tapestry came from a photograph I took at the Australian Garden at Cranbourne that I played with in Photoshop and Illustrator; it was called "Water From the Desert". But the best thing was that someone bought my piece of tapestry.  I did a workshop over the weekend about making miniature books and on the Sunday when it was quiet we went into the gallery where I saw the red spot under my  tapestry.  I couldn't believe my eyes; whoever bought my work made me very happy.

The workshop was really  interesting and practical and I made 2 miniatures and started a third which isn't finished; maybe one day when I don't have any homework.

I got into an awful mess making the second one; luckily all the media were water soluable.
I had fun.

Tim's Tapestry FINISHED - nearly

I have finally finished weaving Tim's Tapestry after many months and all I have to do is take it off the loom and make the finishing touches, work for this weekend.   I have kept a record of the  time it has taken and so far have racked up 93 hours.  I used the ATW rule of thumb for costing tapestries and worked out that it would have cost $3, 650 (rounded down) as Tim is family, however it is payment for the loom. That,s motherly love for you; or stupidity. I have been very impressed with the solidity of the loom; it is nice to weave on and the warp maintains it's tension.  I didn't touch the tapestry for about 2 months  and hardly had to change the tension which is very different from my other looms. It is also useful that I can raise or lower the frame with the removable pieces that fit into the base. I wondered about outlining the leaves with embroidery but have so much work to do for my course that I decided against it as it would never be finished.

Thanks for the loom Tim., it works well.

Large Tapestry

After weeks of working on one design for my large tapestry then changing completely to another , I finally have a design that I am happy with.  It will be called Visiting Tim and it includes experiences and memories of our journey that are important to me.  I started using ochre powder which I had been given last Christmas. It took a while for me to find out how best to use the powder.  In Kununurra I asked an Aboriginal woman called Agnes at one of the galleries and she told me to mix it with PVA. However I think I should have used more PVA to get the right consistency.  Tim's partner Karen had organised for me to go to Warmun to work with the artists there but  sadly one of their community died so the visit was cancelled. So after weeks of playing with the ochre design and symbols, I started again. The second lot of designs, done in soft pastel, are very different, more colourful and they too, have taken time to jell.  The whole process  has taken me 5 weeks as I am not a natural drawer. Lucky for me my drawing teacher from RMIT had started to take classes and his help and advice have been invaluable.  He keeps pushing you to refine your design.

I will explain some of the symbols used. While in Darwin, we went to the Military Museum and experienced (I can't think of any other word to use) the Bombing of Darwin in WW2 light and sound show which was very moving; I was surprised at my reaction which was one of genuine patriotism. Hence the aeroplanes. The tree in the red shape comes from the grave of Albert Namajira which we saw by accident and didn't appear on any of the tours we had access to; it s almost as if he is forgotten.  Family featured largely in the trip so I included boab trees  which grow in families. and  finally, I did catch a barra; but sad to say it was about 20 cm long so it went back.

Second Assignment Finished

Why did I decide to try and do 1 post a week!!! at the moment it is proving impossible.  My new tapestries are small, approximately 15 cm sq, so I was able to do them fairly quickly.  The sides on the green one are not very straight although they were fine in the loom. I like the pinkish one best.  I decided to try using the flying shuttle technique and tried 2 versions of it; the attempt on the wall is the most successful. On to the next assignment, a large tapestry 3,600 sq. cm.  I told someone that it had to be 3,6000 cm. sq. and wondered why I got surprised looks. While in  Kununurra I saw a painting of the Bungles in the Lovell Gallery which was 32 sq. ms; it was in 4 panels each 4ms X 2ms. It was amazing. I am going to use the experience of going from Adelaide to Darwin to Kununurra to see Tim as my inspiration.  I am also inspired by a painting by Sue Anderson called Oodnadatta, so we will see what happens.  I have started my research and come up with some themes - journey, family, spirit, freedom; I have been playing with symbols to illustrate the themes that relate at the same time to the trip. Soon I need to translate these to a work on paper not one of my strong points.

Maybe this would be better if I rotated it.

Photoshop is a wonderful thing.

The Kimberleys

There is a reason for my silence of late and that is I have been to the Kimberleys to see Tim of Tim's tapestry.
The trip involved 3 days in Adelaide, the Ghan to Darwin, 6 days in Darwin then flew to Kununurra for 8 more days then home.  What an amazing trip. The Ghan was great with side trips around Alice Springs and to Katherine Gorge; the food was especially good. Darwin is hot and very hip.  While there we went to Kakadu which is very special. But nothing prepared me for the Kimberleys, the highlight of which was a trip to Lake Argyle then a boat ride down the Ord River to Lake Kununurra. We were lucky to be shown around by locals, my son and his partner, and probably saw things not on the tourist agenda. Ivanhoe crossing was lovely and at Wyndahm it was awesome, in the true sense of the word, to stand next to a 2,000 year old Boab tree. Saw lots of art work and I was supposed to go to Warmun the day before we left but it had to be cancelled because of a death in the community.  Next time.
However with all this travelling I am weeks behind in my work, so will have to make a big effort  trying to catch up.  But it was worth it.

Katherine Gorge

Loved this in the Rundle Mall

Rock Art inKakadu

Mini Bungles Kununurra

Ivanhoe Crossing

Escarpment along the Ord River