Monday, 19 July 2010

Textile Art Workshops

Workshop - Weaving Without A Loom


My next textile art workshop in St Ives is Weaving Without A Loom - this Saturday - 24th July from 10.00 am to 4.00 pm.

I still have a couple of places left - so get in touch if you'd like to book a place and enjoy a day learning to weave and make a beautiful bag. Cost is £40.00 including materials.

After that I'm running a Silk Painting workshop on Wednesday 28th July.

I'll be running more workshops throughout the Summer including Silk Paper, Feltmaking, Tie-Dyeing and papermaking.

To book a place or for more information call or email me:
01736 797 122
jo.mcintosh@knitweave.co.uk

More details are on my website:
Knit One Weave One

Wednesday, 14 July 2010

Erosion Bundle


Erosion Bundle - St Ives Cornwall


Well I finally unwrapped my erosion bundle! It has been sat on my garden through all sorts of weather including snow, rain and sun and risked being taken apart by my hens!

Everything I put in the bundle had a colour theme of purple and included handmade felt, calico, synthetic fabrics, beads and safety pins (which were also purple).

When I unwrapped it I discovered that fabrics such as the calico and cotton had become distressed and there were holes in parts of it, some of the purple dye from fabric in the bundle was transferred onto the calico wrapping and the safety pins had rusted.

By comparison the synthetic fabrics were pretty much untouched although one piece had lost its colour and my handmade felt was hardly changed at all. The beads I placed in the bundle had not changed but as they were plastic this was no great surprise.

One thing that pleased me was the way the silk fibres had adhered to the paper as if they had been carefully arranged and placed.

Hopefully my photos will give you a flavour of what I found when I opened my bundle and I now have to decide what to do with the contents – so watch this space!

Wednesday, 7 July 2010

Skirt Made From Recycled Curtains

Skirt Made From Recycled Curtains
Skirt Made From Recycled Curtains


Recently I bought a pair of curtains from a charity shop (how exciting I hear you cry!) but as some people might expect from me I did not buy them to use as curtains, instead I bought them to make into a skirt.

The first thing I did was remove the rufflette tape from top, I did have one person suggest I leave this on and use it as a belt! Then, using a pattern I have for a panelled skirt I cut the required pieces out of the curtains. I also cut the pieces out of another fabric to create the skirt to go underneath.

All that remains for me to do now is to hem it and put the elastic in and hey presto I have a new skirt to wear! Photo of me modelling the skirt to follow!

Friday, 2 July 2010

Wingham WoolWork

Landscape Dyes From Australia
Landscapes Originals - Dyes From Australia


Just thought I would share some of the "treasures" I bought from Wingham Woolwork during their annual visit from Rotherham, South Yorkshire to Praa Sands in Cornwall, recently.

One thing I bought was a selection of wonderfully coloured merino fibres for feltmaking, this can also be used for spinning into wool. They also sell cashmere, soy, bamboo, camel and silk (to name but a few) fibres, as well as fleece made from recycled plastic bottles!

I also bought a starter pack of Landscape dyes from Australia which are used to dye wool and silk and it will come as no surprise to those of you who know me that I bought the Bright Primaries set! Having bought the dyes I also bought some undyed fleece and fibres to try them out on, I will let you see some of the results later.

One of the workshops I run is Feltmaking when I teach people how to make a flat piece of felt and then how to make a seamless felt bag but I have always wanted to have a go at making a pair of felt slippers and so I bought the polystyrene shoe moulds to have a go.

Wingham Wool Work may be in Rotherham but they do a very good mail order service and their website is well worth a look:
Wingham Wool Work Website