CAROLYN SAXBY MIXED MEDIA TEXTILE ART View RSS

January blobs of yellow 1 Jan 2021 7:45 AM (4 years ago)

Hello, well here we are 2021 and it's good to be back here posting again.  

I'm looking forward to sharing new work in the making, new ideas and new ways of recording.  I'm also looking forward to sharing work from the past couple of years when I was working privately, just making art as and when I needed to.  There is still a lot to sort out and process.  It's been a long journey of healing and processing. So I'm not too sure yet in what manner it will all come tumbling out ...

with best wishes to you all x

Cornwall colours and textures 29 Feb 2020 7:16 AM (5 years ago)

We are almost done with February and I'm so glad to see the back of it.  Apart from one or two days it's been nothing but rain, hailstones, storms and news of Coronavirus spreading quickly round our beautiful Earth home!  And as I sit writing this now the rain is streaming down the window panes ...

I'm cosy indoors by the window looking through raindrops and I've had a lovely time going through photos, coming across work I had forgotten about.  At the moment, most of my art materials, fabrics, paints, sketchbooks and samples have been packed away in storage containers for over a year.  This house moving lark has been a long haul and I am going to be very excited to get it all out again.  No dates yet but soon - I hope!

I will have so many art projects and little works in progress to revisit.  So today I thought I would share some of the inspiration I find from my part of Cornwall, where I get my colours from and what inspires my textures.  I hope you may enjoy a few photos …

February hearts 1 Feb 2020 1:07 AM (5 years ago)

January gently passed.

In a tiny corner of my rented apartment I opened up a box of hearts and spread out with some carefully considered work I have yet to share.  I enjoyed the feel of the fabrics again, stitched with love and deep emotion.

Although winter remains my favourite season, I have struggled with the Cornish storms and constant mizzly rain of recent months.  I find myself longing for spring and light and sunny bulbs.  I find myself longing for yellows, soft blue greens and a home of my own, a studio to work in, space to spread out with my thoughts and a cosy armchair.  Things will gently fall into place, I'm sure.

These hearts are spring and summer … memories and hopes … of walks on the beach, little Cornish cottages and time spent looking for pearl shells and dark mussel tangles.

One or two of these hearts were featured in Maggie Grey's WOWbook 4.  I was very kindly invited by guest editor, Lynda Monk, to make some work for the alphabet series featured in this issue which was published in 2019.  "B" is for beaches and beachcombing (something I have always loved since I was a little girl) and there evolved twelve hearts, three for each season.

I very much appreciated being asked by Lynda to participate in this wonderful textiles book.  The invitation came at a difficult and dark period in my life, when I was doing very little creatively, and when my focus was simply trying to get through the days.  I look back at this collection of work with grateful thanks to Lynda and Maggie.

I would also like to take this opportunity to give many thanks to Anne Kelly for inviting me to share work in her book "Textile Folk Art" which was published in 2018.  Anne very kindly selected two stitched collage pieces, a nostalgic one called "the sparkle of the water" and a slow stitched piece called "faraway cottages" … inspired as always by the sea and the sky and the wonderful feeling of just being in Cornwall.  I will write a little more about these pieces and how they were inspired another time.

1st February 2020 - and I have a very busy week ahead, but my online shop will open today.  These hearts and other work will find their way there over the course of this week.  You will find I am still working at a slower place at the moment, there is no rush.  I am currently limited with space to work and also trying to buy a house/studio.  If you are interested in a stitched piece, please keep checking back from time to time and I will also post updates on FB and Instagram when work is listed.  I very much appreciate all interest in my work and wish you all a very good weekend - Carolyn x

gentle January 29 Dec 2019 11:08 AM (5 years ago)

Just a quick post with a short announcement - that my online shop will open again on Saturday 1 February 2020.  I hope January will be a quiet peaceful one while I gather my thoughts and get organised.

It feels to me … a long while since I've been around on social media and things have changed here and there.  I shall spend time getting to grips with posting again and finding my way back to my projects.

Things have changed enormously for me personally too and life is still unsettled.  Although my grief remains as strong and intense as ever, other parts of my life are gently getting easier.  So, although it's not easy starting all over again, I am ready to see how things work out!

the rain it raineth every day ... 11 Jun 2019 7:15 AM (5 years ago)

It's a grey rainy day in Cornwall.  Very heavy rain and rather blustery as well.  I do love the weather here in this exposed part of the far south west.  It's always very dramatic and very beautiful.

I was supposed to be meeting friends for beachcombing and swimming on our favourite, secluded beach followed by a visit to Kurt Jackson's studio.  I was looking forward to taking my sketchbook, paints and oil pastels, making some little drawings using soil samples and having a go at a Cornish sound walk, similar to the one I did in Norfolk with Debbie Lyddon.  I'm hoping that this still happens … but maybe this time next week.

Instead, I am making the most of being cosy indoors, watching the sky and the light change over the bay, as I work on a few small things and sort out my photos. One of my very good friends recently suggested I could make a book from the photographs I take daily of the changing light and colours across the sky and how it affects the seascape and the landscape on the far coast.  It's a lovely idea.  But just to notice it, appreciate it and try to capture it in some way is enough for me.  The many shades of grey, white and blue with touches of Cornish gold inspire something deep within me.

I started these small collage pieces inspired by Mousehole fish and starry gazey pies.  They are just small little things for my sketchbook, inspired by the rich heritage of this and surrounding fishing villages.




They are still drying off on my desk and the next stage will be to cut them into small pieces and work further into them with oil pastels and stitch. I will share the little silver darlings next time.

Also, taking my time going through my Workshop notes and the many photos from my recent trip to Norfolk.  It would be nice to get my pieces from the Workshop finished, photos sent to print, and some small painting and collage pieces done to remind me of my lovely visit to Norfolk and time with Debbie Lyddon.  I think Norfolk will follow little silver darlings (and whatever magical things happen down on the secret beach).  Thank you for reading.

a fresh desire to work again 4 Jun 2019 8:30 AM (5 years ago)

It's been such a long time since I've published anything anywhere, I was truly starting to wonder if I would ever write or post again.  The hardest thing, when you've been away so long, is how to start again and for quite some time I've been considering whether I wanted to start at all.  I've agonised over whether or not I should just slope off into a very private non-existence or start again sharing my artistic journey so publicly.

The past several years have been so difficult and, throughout, I pressed on regardless trying to balance the difficulties with creativity until it all just became too much to cope with and I so badly needed to hide away for a while.

The truth is that I was caring for the love of my life, until he passed away less than a year ago.  Just writing this, I am in floods of tears.  He was truly my very best friend, my love, my husband and I am beside myself with grief still.  We went through his cancer diagnosis together hand in hand for four and a half years.  Throughout his treatment, he was so very brave, pragmatic and strong.  He was such an inspiration to me in every aspect of our life and I am so very grateful to have had him in my life for as long as we were together.  We truly loved each other.  I love him with all my heart still and I always will.

We never discussed the inevitable course his illness would take, instead we both slowly adjusted to a different life, a life with many limitations, a day at a time.  Eventually, my own health began to suffer and I was diagnosed with a very strange, rare and serious auto immune illness.  My health never quite recovered and in 2018 I was diagnosed with breast cancer while my husband was in the final stage of his illness.  It was a very tough, emotional time.  I had my surgery, but my radiotherapy had to be delayed as shortly afterwards my darling husband passed away.

I'm doing ok with the breast cancer. I recently had my one year check and so far so good with that side of things.  In January I developed lymphedema, a complication that arose as a result of my surgery and radiotherapy.  I now attend a specialist lymphedema clinic and I'm learning to manage it with special exercises twice daily.  It's a small intrusion into the day and, sadly, a constant reminder of what I've been through, but other than that I'm doing ok with that as well.

I've taken all the time I've needed to get to this stage.   As each week has passed I've felt a little closer to getting back to my art work.  During the past year I've dabbled.  I've been in my studio every day, I've re-arranged my art supplies, I've been collecting sewing patterns, buying fabrics, started dress-making again after 40 years.  I've looked through old sketchbooks, been on a few workshops and been out and about in Cornwall with my camera.  Recently, I had my first holiday away from Cornwall in 9 years.  I went to Norfolk, to Wells-next-the-Sea, as I was very fortunate to get a place on Debbie Lyddon's first ever 2-day studio workshop.  I went with my sister and we had a fantastic time.  It was just what I needed, and getting away helped me gain so much perspective and a fresh desire to work again.

So, I'm starting part time in my studio, working in a small way. It's very important to me that I maintain the peace and balance that I have worked so hard to find, and to build up slowly.  Yesterday, I went in, sat down and photographed the lovely things that had piled up on my desk and then I moved them to one side to begin.

There is so much I want to revisit.  I want to continue on with the Surface Treatment Workshop and the Collage Workshop that I was doing last year.  I have a piece to make for a community project in St. Ives (more on that another time).  I would love to get back to my textiles, stitched and embroidered things, paintings, collages, hand made cards and photography.  So many sketchbooks to share from the workshops I attended (Debbie Lyddon's workshop as well as indigo dyeing, cyanotypes, rust dyeing, natural and botanical dyeing, erosion projects, making paints with earth pigments and experiments with wax, plaster modelling and photography).




I was also very grateful for the invitation to make work for Anne Kelly's book "Textile Folk Art" last year.  I will share more about that in a separate post quite soon.  Also, a fabulous opportunity to be invited by Lynda Monk to make work for Maggie Grey's textile book WOW Book 4 which I think is due out soon, in June.  So that will be a very exciting share too.

I have to rest a lot more now, so two or three days in the studio at the moment is just fine.  I'll see how I go, build up slowly, enjoy the process of creating things I love and offer pieces for sale from time to time.  Many thanks for reading and very best wishes to you all.

Snowed in 7 Mar 2018 10:54 AM (7 years ago)

Well, that was an interesting week with the weather!


The "Beast from the East" meets "Storm Emma".  Siberian snow and 60mph winds meant we had a good 8 to 12 inches of snow in places with deeper drifts.  The "fuss" is that we don't get snow like this in Cornwall, not that often and not this thick!

We were snowed in for two days but it felt much longer especially when we had three power cuts, the longest for four hours.  We were very grateful for our wood burner and a well stocked fridge.

It all looks so pretty through the window but feeling cut off and isolated makes you realise how much you take everything for granted ... especially electric, keeping warm and making tea!


The snow has inspired my collages this week.  We are now on week 10, following the theme called "decollage".  Adding lots of layers and then tearing back to reveal images underneath.


I used an advert from a 1950s magazine, a beautiful tarnished spoon, a snowy landscape, a few snowflakes from a card insert and some gelli printed tissue paper.  I like the feel of this one but I deliberated over whether to fill the white space, and then decided not to.  It Is enough.


Only last week ... I said I would be making only one collage a week from now on!  However, I find I get on a roll and this week I wanted to try working a collage on fabric.  This one has a cotton linen backing.  I worked some white gesso over it to prime first.  Then I collaged the same as I would on paper, using the layering/tearing back technique for this week.



Other elements are waxed sewing pattern paper and a skeleton holly leaf from my garden.  The bird is a "blackcap".  The collaged background remains soft enough to handle and stitch into.  I have put it to one side to work on over the next few days.

My collages are 5 x 5 inches in an 8 x 8 inch sketchbook for week 10 of the collage project that I am doing with my sister Evelyn following the weekly prompts in The Collage Workbook by Randel Plowman
Also on my desk ... a snowy heart I have been stitching with lots of layers of thick chiffon snow and glittering snowflakes.  I used some of my painted textured cotton fabric too which, as I used it, made me think of compacted snow ... you know when snow has uneven bumps and ridges.
I will share the snowy one and the winter shoreline walk quite soon.  Meanwhile, here is one I found when I was sorting through a box in my studio.  I made it a while ago and it's one of only a few that I have left in my personal collection.  The two baby mussel shells are still attached in a tangle to the mother shell.

reassemble and squares/rectangles 28 Feb 2018 1:00 AM (7 years ago)

image pairings and strips 27 Feb 2018 1:00 AM (7 years ago)

These are my collages for the prompts of "image pairings" (cutting an image in half and working the two sides into two distinctively different themed collages) and “strips”

the weekly collage project 25 Feb 2018 8:39 AM (7 years ago)

It's been a few weeks since I last posted something here. I've got a little bit behind with sharing work online just recently although I have been keeping up quite well with making weekly collages for the project I'm doing this year with my sister.  I now hope to rectify that with some catch up blog posts over the next few days.

In this post I am sharing my collages for week 5 - following the prompt of "colour plunge" from The Collage Workbook by Randel Plowman.  Colour plunge essentially refers to choosing a colour and creating monochromatic collages using only (or mostly) tones of that colour.

I chose to work with autumn tones with a wintry feel, using pretty blueish greens, greenish browns and ochre yellows to create little stories of walks in the countryside.  I like that my collages have evolved from simply using random papers and bits and pieces already in my collection.

I tend to file my collage papers in a monochromatic fashion so I found this "challenge" quite easy and got a bit carried away.  I ended up with eight collages for this prompt and hope you enjoy seeing my "mostly" monochromatic little stories.

I call this one "mediocre".  I was trying to create an organic feel with this one.  The skeleton leaf (found in my garden) in symmetry with the statue, the roots mirroring the bare tree branches, lifted off text on vintage paper and some lovely green silk fabric with a frayed edge that looks like soft dark green grass.  It has a wintry feel with the blue green tones and bare bones of the trees, roots and leaf.



The colours in this one were inspired by the indigo clouds in the landscape.  It was a paper I was using to paint on.  I enjoyed creating the layers with a piece of my collage work with oil pastels, a piece of my hand dyed silk and a vintage photo of mother and daughter from the sixties out for a walk in the lanes.  Do you think they will they make it home before it pours with indigo raindrops ...





A gentlemen poses in a garden with a sunlit backdrop through the trees.  I used an image with bokeh and old wallpapers to match and give a nostalgic feel.  I used old fashioned photo corners to attach the photo so it can be lifted off again.  There is some very nice old writing on the back and someone has written "taken in the garden October 1943" in black ink.  I wonder a lot about who this gentleman is, who took the photo and how their life may have been during wartime.  The photo came to me in a random bundle.



Seventies girl is out for a walk amongst the falling brownish leaves and greenish gnarly roots.  I added texture with dark brown bark paper and real leaves.



I called this one "bloom" which is a play on words and represents the floweriness of the vintage patterns, the real pressed flower from my garden and the pretty bloom in the cheeks of seventies girl.  There are lots of layers on this one and seventies girl came from a sewing pattern.



I used my favourite ochre yellows and papers and textures from my own artwork such as rusted tissue paper from an erosion bundle, small collages with oil pastel, gelli plate prints and textured/painted fabrics.  The image came from a magazine.



Inspired by the spine of a paperback book.  All background papers are my own work from either paintings, textures created on The Surface Treatment Workshop or erosion bundles.

Thank you always for visiting me today and for all comments here and elsewhere on Flickr, Facebook, Pinterest and Instagram.  If you would like to follow along with the collage project please feel free to follow the weekly prompts, make and share on your pages.  Also, please do have a look at my sister Evelyn’s page where she shares her beautiful collages and creative journey with watercolour painting.  Her blog is inspirational.

Next post - week 6 - pairings

black and white with a charge of colour 24 Jan 2018 9:31 AM (7 years ago)

I call this one "in the winter season".  It's a mixed media collage using a vintage image of two little boys pulling sleds, torn papers and tissue paper.  All my collages measure 5 x 5 inches.


This is "blanc et noir" which is apt because I used an image from a French magazine, which I then covered over with other imagery, an advert for Parazone, artwork with black pastel, a sweet wrapper with skeleton and some words "the twinkle in his eyes made him look younger".

Texture was created by gluing on some netting, letting it dry and then ripping it off again.  I stitched into the collage with black thread.


Below are my collages for COLOUR CHARGE (the prompt for week 4) and, again, both collages are 5 x 5 inches.  Colour charge refers to adding one ore more colours to a black and white background.

I'm back with my St. Ives theme for these, inspired by the work of Barbara Hepworth and Alfred Wallis.


In my "Barbara Hepworth" collage I used an image from a magazine advertising an exhibition of her work that was held at Abbot Hall Art Gallery and also one of Barbara Hepworth's loose charcoal drawings that I dipped in wax.  For the colour charge I used two pieces from an erosion bundle I did in 2017.  Some cotton linen hand dyed orange and rust and a rusted piece of artwork which I ripped up and dipped in wax.  Some subtle colour charge here.

Below in my "Alfred Wallis" collage I used an image he painted of St. Ives cottages and some printed numbers given to me by paper swap friend Heather Harker.  It also features one of my fabric Alfred Wallis cottages with stitch in black.  For colour, I have added some of my hand dyed ochre yellow cotton fabric and a small piece of monoprinted paper in blue and ochre.  I associate these colours with St. Ives, especially the ochre yellow reminding me of lichen coloured rooftops.  For randomness, I added the little figure just because I like it.

white on white 10 Jan 2018 7:35 AM (7 years ago)

Week 2 of the collage project and I have just the one collage to share this week for the theme of WHITE.  Lots of layers though, exploring tones of white on white ...

Taking things slowly ... 6 Jan 2018 8:44 AM (7 years ago)

away for a while ... 24 Oct 2017 7:30 AM (7 years ago)

A collection of memories from summer days, time spent in St. Ives, Mousehole and earlier workings.

How quickly life can change and not always for the better.  In my last post I briefly mentioned my excitement at new hopes and dreams and time to expand my work.  Now, sadly, these plans are shelved again for the time being.  Due to family illness, I have decided to take an online break and review again in the new year.  I will continue to work in my studio when time permits but I'm sorry I won't be anywhere on the internet for a while and will have limited time for replying to messages.  Thank you for your understanding and hope you may enjoy following along in the future.  With love x

autumn on the beach 1 Oct 2017 8:56 AM (7 years ago)

Today is the first day of October and the first day in a new phase of my life.  This sounds profound I know but there have been a lot of things happen in my life over the last few weeks and, indeed, the last few years actually.  I have been quiet the last few weeks, considering and reflecting, making life changing decisions and adjustments.  I hope these changes will mean I have more time to follow my heart, pursue new interests and progress my work.  It's really rather exciting to find myself on a new path ...

These photos were taken on the beach a few days ago when I was rock pooling with my very dear friends Julie and Stewart.  I love how the camera picks up colours and textures that are otherwise unnoticed.  I adore the peacefulness of beachcombing and always appreciate the inspiration that comes from such a ramble amongst the seaweeds.



Recently the coast of Cornwall has seen hundreds of Portuguese Man O War wash ashore, most probably due to the storms over the Atlantic in recent weeks.  I confess to not knowing very much about these beautiful creatures, other than they cause very painful and potentially very dangerous stings when touched.  It is tempting to want to get close to them and I very carefully turned one over with a stone to reveal their luminous, fluorescent blue ribbons (tentacles).  However, they should never, ever be touched by human skin.  I intend to read up and find out more about them.

In the days ahead, I will share updates, news and begin again with my projects.  Till then, I send love to you all x

St. Ives Textiles show 2 Sep 2017 5:35 AM (7 years ago)

a week to go and much to do ...

9 - 16 September 2017
St. Ives Textiles - Kernow Inspirations
Porthmeor Studios, Back Road West, St. Ives

I will be there on the 11th and 16th September - hope to see you there

Surface Treatment Workshop - weeks 20, 21 and 22 - mini landscapes 28 Aug 2017 6:34 AM (7 years ago)

Quite a few weeks ago now I began creating some painted backgrounds and collages for experiments with glazing mediums for week 20 of the Surface Treatment Workshop.  I shared these backgrounds in my post called "the joy of colour".  Since then, I have worked into my small paintings and also painted around the collage.

I rather like glazing medium ... it has become a new staple product in my studio.  I love how it mixes easily with acrylics to extend the paint and create a beautiful transparency.  It is a lovely way of layering colour and texture without losing beautiful and interesting layers beneath.

This is my painting after adding the glazing medium mixed with a little copper "interference".


The glazing medium is very versatile.  I embossed some mesh textures in the glaze before creating a series of paintings in my sketchbook inspired by the Cornish coast and from my imagination.

"a day at the beach" - detail of texture

"dark blue hill"

"purple landscape"

"the quiet place"

inspired by the Cornish coast

small landscape

I used glazing medium mixed with rusty iron particles to create texture.



And discovered that a dab of glazing medium on the end of a paintbrush is perfect for applying silver leaf.

a touch of silver

I love the glazing medium so much I used it for "embedding" book bindings and other textures into my small collages and paintings for week 21.

"two piers"

a hello from Cornwall 17 Aug 2017 11:04 AM (7 years ago)

Just popping by to say hello.  I'll be catching up here in a couple of days.  A family visit followed by a mild recurrence of my illness (not connected lol) have had a slight impact on what I've been able to achieve in the last couple of weeks.  I've finished my samples for week 20 (glazes) and week 21 (embedding) for the Surface Treatment Workshop and have also started on week 22 (pours).  I just need to have a little photo session but here is an "in progress" shot from my phone ...


Meanwhile, talking of "pours" ... I found my neighbours' decorators' paint can rather interesting ...


and this lovely view started my day off beautifully this morning ... love that sky!


See you soon ... x

busy ... mizzly 28 Jul 2017 4:52 AM (7 years ago)

We have a misty mizzly day in Cornwall today.  Heavy rain was forecast but it's brighter than suggested.  It wouldn't take that much for the sun to break through the thick white cloud cover.

I find myself with a luxurious three days of free time to work on my textiles and sketchbooks for the September exhibition.  I am also preparing new business cards for St. Ives Textiles and working on the invitation to our Private View.  There will be a new blog post on the St. Ives Textiles website to look forward to as well.

Also, playful work in my "circles" sketchbook and catching up with samples and experiments with the Surface Treatment Workshop project that I am doing with my sister Evelyn.

Over the weekend I will be working on some small stitched samples and weavings for my sketchbook and art cards.  A busy time always.

Please leave a comment and let me know you visited today.  I would love to hear what you are working on at the moment.

St. Ives Textiles annual exhibition 2017 23 Jul 2017 10:30 PM (7 years ago)

the joy of colour 18 Jul 2017 11:30 PM (7 years ago)

Surface Treatment Workshop - week 19 12 Jul 2017 9:00 AM (7 years ago)

This week's workshop was about embossing.  I tried out Liquitex gloss gel, Golden molding paste and my favourite Daler texture paste.  It's always interesting to see how the products perform and compare.

I will share the Liquitex gloss gel first.  This is the product I used to make the "skins" a couple of weeks ago (it's a white gel medium that dries clear).  I spread it over two background pieces and left for about ten minutes each until the gel had just started to thicken and skin over.

On the first piece I pressed a piece of scrim into the gel to leave a pattern and then left it to dry again properly.  Once dry, acrylic paints and mica powders painted on top enhance the pattern.

Below, the same again but with a finer mesh pressed into the gel and then painted with paynes grey, black, shimmery silver and mink mica powders.



This was a really good product for embossing texture.  It worked so well that it was almost like I had applied a real scrim to the texture and embossing is most definitely the very next best thing.

The other really good property of Liquitex gloss gel is that, as it dries clear, layers beneath clearly show through.  I put this to the test on top of one of my prints from week 18.  I had originally monoprinted and then over printed with roller and bands.  So, on top of that I applied the gel and left for ten minutes to set, then pressed a piece of Carn pottery into the gel.  Lifted off the pottery piece, let the collage dry.  I didn't paint over the top because I liked the textured pattern with the collage showing through.



This is Golden molding paste.  Same as the gel above, it has to be applied and then left to almost set before textures can be pressed into the paste.


I pressed some pottery patterns into the paste and also etched some lines then heated with a heat gun before painting with pale blue and gold mica powders.  It made some lovely texture.


One more piece with the molding paste ... embossed, etched and then heated with a heat gun.


This one below is Daler texture paste embossed with lace and is probably my favourite.  On the left I used some soft cotton with a small patterned broderie anglaise edge and on the right some gold metallic lace with a larger lace patterned area.



Lots of potential with this technique for working on canvas, paper or fabric.  The next prompt is "glazes and final finishes" and I'm eagerly awaiting Evelyn’s update for weeks 18 and 19.  Her ideas are always interesting.

Meanwhile, I will be continuing with my new passion of eco dyeing, particularly on paper.  I had a go yesterday with moderate success, so will press on with experiments.  So far, I am getting strong blues and purples, some greens and browns.  I would really like to see some natural yellow, orange or pink coming through.

my first eco print on paper

Also, working hard on my Cornwall themed textiles which I'm not quite ready to share yet but I will be updating the website and facebook page generally for St. Ives Textiles very shortly.

Thank you for dropping by today x

Eco printing and dyeing with leaves on silk 11 Jul 2017 5:30 AM (7 years ago)

I spent a wonderful afternoon among friends yesterday eco dyeing with Caro Beech at Hayle.  I have "dabbled" with this myself a teensy bit but I found yesterday's workshop invaluable and ... I am hooked!

It is the natural next step on from my experiments with natural dyes and erosion bundles.  Now, I want to combine this latest technique with the way I wrap erosion bundles, play with all the leaves and flowers in my garden and get back to natural dyeing again.

Caro was a most generous tutor and gave us each a box of goodies including very helpful instructions, gloves, water bath, a pot of rusty iron water, metal tube, pins, foil, a piece of habotai silk to practice on and a lovely finished edged silk scarf tied up with a beautiful pink silk ribbon (naturally dyed)


[I'm just writing this next bit to remind myself more than anything ... we soaked the silk in cold water (two thirds) mixed with some of the rusty water (one third).  The longer the fabric is left to soak the darker the colours achieved.  I left my silk pieces for about 15 mins and 30 mins.  Next step - squeeze the excess water from the silk and lay it out flat.  Arrange leaves and fold over the silk.  Use the foil to separate the layers and wrap tightly around the metal pipe.  Tie tightly to secure.  Steam for 45-60 mins.]


The hardest bit is being patient, keeping busy, while the eco roll is steaming away.  You just want to open it up and see what's magically happened to your leaves, what happy accidents have occurred, the alchemy, the serendipity ...

Eventually, you get to open it up ...






I was very happy with the results of my first proper attempt at this.  (I won't tell you about the disaster I had with my very first go a couple of years ago when I burnt through the silk!).  I'm so pleased with the beautiful natural colours of the leaves.

Needless to say, I've started yet another sketchbook about this process and have recorded my initial thoughts and plans.  Now there is a whole new world of eco dyeing and printing to learn about in my own way.  I already belong to several groups on facebook and read about other artists' discoveries, but there is nothing better than getting hands on and discovering for yourself the potential of this, or any, technique ... at one's own pace.

Caro has another workshop later in the year eco dyeing on paper.  If anything, this interests me more and I'm not sure I can wait till then.  I may have a little go myself with plants from my garden.  I've already purloined my kitchen steamer to the studio and literally cannot wait to get wrapping.  I have been admiring (for years!) the beautiful eco dyeing of my friend Monika Lamacka especially her work on paper.  This is what I would like to do too ... to create beautiful papers for use in my collages.  Take a look here at Monika's work and here are a couple of Caro's beautiful samples on paper



I'm off to my studio now ... but I will pop by tomorrow with the next instalment of the Surface Treatment Workshop - embossing.  Bye for now and have a happy week x

Surface Treatment Workshop - week 18 9 Jul 2017 8:18 AM (7 years ago)

I'm really enjoying this weekly project, exploring techniques and products that are both familiar and unfamiliar.  When it's a technique that I am used to I try to take it in a different direction, other times the products are familiar but the technique is new.  This happened for me with ventilation tape.  I am used to this stuff being around at home as my better half was a heating and ventilation design engineer ... but using the stuff in art ... there's a thought!!!

Ventilation tape is also known as duct tape or insulation tape and is a heavy duty silver foil that comes on a roll.  It is adhesive and is very, very sticky when the paper backing is removed.  Before removing the paper backing, the prompts suggested etching a design onto the tape with a pencil, but I found a needle achieved a sharper design.

I etched small designs onto the tape, cut the tape into strips, peeled off the backing paper and applied the tape to a background.  It is still possible to work more etched design at this stage, so I added a little more pattern.


Then, using acrylics, I painted over the etched texture, first with Cornish colours and then a pearl white over the top.  The acrylics, I found, had to be applied almost neat for them to stay on the foil.


I have to say ... I really enjoyed creating this with no agenda.


Next, I decided to explore etching a little more using a sharp needle for a finer line and inspired by some old bottles and Carn pottery on my studio windowsill.  I peeled the backing off and applied the tape to some tags first before etching and then coloured the bottles with turquoise acrylic ink to compare to acrylic paint.  The tape took the ink better but took a real age to dry completely (overnight).

Surface Treatment Workshop - week 17 6 Jul 2017 11:30 PM (7 years ago)

For week 17 we explored printing with sponges, rollers and foam.  Quite simple patterns in my favourite Cornish colours, particularly inspired, perhaps, by the way the weather changes the colours of the sea in the bay, the rocks, lichen and seaweed as well as misty mornings, yellow early morning light and harbour forms.

I began with a gelli printing session to create the backgrounds then used a roller with bands wrapped around it and a sponge which I cut into.  Quite simple.  Quite quick.  Interesting results.  Just playing ...

In week 18 (which I will share over the weekend) we etched into ventilation tape.  It has some possibilities that I want to explore, so more on that soon.  Thank you for all your comments on the last post and for following along.