Taking risks

It asked me to do it.

It sat there looking at me.

Looking sorry for itself.

I spent so long on this piece,

I had a vision but it never really worked out right.

So today I took my scissors to it.

I cut... and I cut again

I am so pleased I took the risk. I really like the way the edges curl and the papery quality of the waxed material. I wonder though, could I have made such pleasing compositions without first making the large piece; I don't think so.

These pieces will be on the wall this weekend for my open studio, so you will be able to see them in a  more detail. Also currently at the Butterfly Rooms on the first floor you can find beautiful cyanotype prints by Hunt & Gather Design.

You are all invited... hope you can make it!

Hannah Lamb Open Studio this weekend 15th - 16th Sept.

Join Hannah in her new studio at the Butterfly Rooms, Saltaire for an open studio exhibition of textile artwork, work in progress and demonstrations throughout the day. The Open Studio coincides with the renowned Saltaire Festival. Homemade cake is on a first come, first served basis! This event i

s free and open to all.

Saturday 15th & Sunday 16th September 2012, 10am - 4pm

Studio 2, Butterfly Rooms, 73 Bingley Road, Saltaire BD18 4SB

Please note access to this event is via two steep flights of stairs.

For more information visit http://hannahlamb.co.uk/

Trial & error

Today I peaked at a bundle of cloth (top) I wrapped up a while ago. I was slightly disappointed, so I decided to tie it up again and be a bit more patient.

Box of tricks

Just sent off the first films taken on my 'new' Ensign Ful-Vue box camera (c.1939). Fingers very much crossed!

It takes space to get to simplicity

I had a really productive day yesterday, clearing space on the kitchen wall to finally pin up some ideas that have been whirring around my head. It is quite stunning the difference it makes just having the space to put things out and step back. I felt this unfolding of ideas as I tested out different forms and shapes on the wall; pinning, re-arranging, stepping back, scribbling, applying shapes and stencils.

Paper pieces

I want to start working in a much more abstract and symbolic manner, which I have always found difficult previously, but now it seems like something I need to get out of my system. I am also keen to work on a large scale on 2D work. While I was working I was thinking about work I have seen and found inspirational over the years: Jo Budd, Mark Rothko, Polly Binns and many others, scale and simplicity in abstraction feel important to me right now. I also enjoyed this blog posting from Judy Martin.

Having the physical space to work really helped me find some mental space to zone out and allow thoughts to drift in as I worked. Words of wisdom from all kinds of people seemed to bubble up and connect me with different times and places, a good feeling to have the presence of some brilliant, creative minds with me as I worked.

Words that drift away

I finally took the plunge and decided to fully dissolve the embroidered text piece I made for Art in the Woods. Carefully trying to wash away the residue in the bath and tease apart the tangled words met with varying degrees of success. But certainly worth doing to record the stages of disintegration.

The disintegration of the text into something illegible has a sense of fragility to it; making and unmaking, allowing something to be undone. It reminds me of the idea of wabi sabi.

Dancing in the Rain

At first glance there did not seem to be much to look at, but as we stepped around the tree we could see the dissolving embroidered lettering, clinging to the crackling bark. I was thrilled to find that some thing exciting had evolved.

John and I had plenty of time to contemplate the words of Vivian Greene as we trudged through the rain "life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass. It's about learning to dance in the rain...". Despite the deluge we enjoyed our trip around the trail and saw a few things we hadn't spotted before. I will upload some photos of the other artworks soon. If you would like to visit, Art in the Woods continues until the end of Sunday.

Playing with Space

Another busy week, including exciting events for my MA at MMU. During Testing Time everyone is invited to put their work up and take part in critiques with lecturers and invited guests. I felt rather rushed in putting up my work, and it was particularly difficult doing it on my own but somehow I got there. The idea is to try out the work in different ways or find different ways to 'test' the work. For now I have used the big found fabric as a canopy and the smaller fabrics are suspended or 'floating' in air.

I had a brilliant crit with Tabitha Kyoko Moses on Thursday morning and it was really helpful to have Sioned in the same group as we learnt a great deal from each other's work.

From the crit I have begun to realise that I do not need to recreate the whole atmosphere of the woodlands, my work can act as souvenirs of my own experiences. Furthermore I had been trying to find a way of putting my own image into my work; during the crit Tabitha, Sioned and Magdalena pointed out that my work already includes a trace of me from the making process and in my handwritten labels etc. It was a wonderful revelation that might have taken me years to come to on my own!

Everyone seemed to feel the space worked really well and achieved a certain calm, soothing feel. I think I now need to be more adventurous with the scale of my work. I think I can use a much bigger space if I am adventurous. It's now or never!

I am very much looking forward to further critiques next week, including one with Alice Kettle.

Self Portraits

Not sunbathing, but making a cyanotype a couple of weeks ago. I was thinking about ways of putting a trace of me within nature. Although the result is startlingly clear and very romantic, the idea still requires much further work to achieve what I am aiming for.

The language of objects

While making some plans for Testing Time I have been doing a little playing in preparation.

Thinking about how things are put together/displayed and finding the right context.

These images are interesting but not right. The bottom image shows ideas with some potential.

     

Taking a risk

As far as blogging goes this is a bit delayed, but necessary for me to document regardless. Last week I was at a loose end (as I still am now) and decided to go walking. I hoped that by walking and taking a few things to do I may rediscover my muse. Despite not rekindling my creative fire I felt refreshed by seeing all the new leaves on the beeches and the flash of blue across the woodland floor.

I decided to take the plunge and add colour to my embroidered wool drawing. I feel a bit precious about it, but was feeling so stuck I thought I would just throw some collected plant material on it and process as a kind of eco bundle. I really hope this proves to be a wise move, but I won't know until I unwrap it, so I must be patient and wait...

Typesetting workshop

Today I had an induction to use the typesetting workshop at MMU. The workshop is full of beautiful things, the old trays of type, the equipment and the typefaces themselves. I chose to start with Baskerville  pt 30.

We all started with a short phrase to set in type. I chose the first line of a verse I found a long while ago. Later I decided to set the whole verse but this proved to be a bigger task than I expected. It took quite a long time but was well worth doing for the satisfaction of completing a block of text.

The technician taught me how to create a beautiful reverse embossed effect. I'll take a photo of it when the light is better.

I also experimented with printing onto silk and cotton fabrics. There are definitely possibilities for creating small elements of text in my work. Something to explore further...

Patience reveals rewards in it's own time

Just now I have two batches of fabric bundles, wrapped in plastic bags while they develop (or brew) in a moist environment. Brew seems an appropriate word considering the tea-like fragrance coming from the potions while I cooked them. I find it hard resisting the urge to examine and open them. Patience is not one of my strong points. But on the subject of waiting (and things developing in soggy plastic bags) here’s a little story you might like:

As a child I was always collecting things. It was not uncommon for me to come home with a pocketful of stones or a handful of assorted feathers. Autumn was always the most bountiful for treasure and one year my brother and I must have amassed quite a hoard of conkers (horse chestnuts). I expect he had plans for finding a champion for playing conkers, while I was probably intrigued by the rich swirling patterns on the surface, or wanting to create fairy furniture. Unfortunately we must have become distracted by other things and the big carrier bag of conkers was forgotton.

Spring time and spring cleaning, Mum discovers a strangely lumpy carrier bag behind my brothers bedroom door. When we look inside we find a few mouldy lumps as well as about eight vigourously sprouting conkers. The warmth and moisture of the micro-climate had created the perfect conditions for our horse chestnuts to sprout. I potted-up the seedlings and nurtured them for months until I was able to re-plant three young saplings in a nearby park.

(Above is one of my lavender bundles before being wrapped up)

So I suppose the moral of the story could be patience reveals rewards in it’s own time, or it could be a recommendation to be a little less tidy and leave space for some happy accidents. In case you are wondering the bundles I made at Mum’s house have been left in the cupboard under the stairs until I next visit - at least that way I can’t be tempted to poke!

Cyanotypes from Hirst Wood

I experimented with some very loose, larger cyanotypes last Saturday. Which resulted from me forgetting to take my pins. The prints are quite large, using habotai silk. Although the images of branches and ferns are quite indistinct in places, I rather like sense of movement and not being certain about quite what you are looking at.

I intend to stain them with plant materials, but haven't worked out quite what or how yet; that's another adventure!

On Monday I also have plans to go and build something in the woods. It will either be a disaster or a triumph. More another day.

Experimenting with natural dyeing

While in Derbyshire I found several different plant materials that I thought I could use as dyestuffs (and I added onion skins from my kitchen cupboard too). Although I have no experience of natural dyeing (and very little experience of other dyeing) I thought it would be an interesting experiment to test out the plant material I had found on some small fabric samples. I have also been really inspired by India Flint's approach to natural dye processes and the subtle qualities she achieves in her work. It made me think that dyeing with plant materials can be really beautiful, subtle and layered.

I spent yesterday trying out the plant material using two different methods:

Experiment 1 - making bundles or folds of dry fabrics with plant material enclosed inside, which were fastened with thread or metal clips.

Experiment 2 - boiling plant material in a little water for 1 hour to release the colour, then removing from the heat source and placing damp fabric in the dye/stain.

Below are a few images that demonstrate the initial plant material and some of the resulting fabrics.

Brown onion skins

Eucalyptus (fallen leaves collected from the ground)

Bilberries (harvested on Stanton Moor)

Green walnuts (collected from the ground, Chatsworth House)

I am particularly happy with the results of the walnut and bilberry stains. I was fascinated by the results of experiment 1, where the plant material was enclosed in the fabric; the slices of walnut have created wonderfully subtle embossed prints on velvet.