There's been quite a bit of creativity here at Shocking Hocking - we've got a couple of assignments due for school so there's been lots of dyeing, and comparing and experimenting and sewing.
The first assignment due is a piece for our local coffee shop - every Friday at about 10.30 we gather at the coffee shop for a chat or a moan - and sometimes both. There has been a recent change of ownership of said coffee shop and the new owner commissioned our class to make appropriate art for one of her walls. As is usual for school assignments, there was a lot of journalling and experimentation which had to be recorded and included for assessment. I played around with used and dried teabags (a fabulous medium - love the variation in colour - Twinings Assam Bold provide the best depth) and on one of my visual art journal pages, I included some shapes which reminded me of Alice in Wonderland - so I included a pair of ears representing the White Rabbit. This thought moved along, as it does, and I decided to also reference the Mad Hatter (this may, or may not, have anything to do with the fact that I have a thing for Johnnny Depp!).
So, this is the result...
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The '10/6' sign is from the Mad Hatters hat and the pocket watch and the words, "Don't be late" reference the White Rabbit scurrying to the Tea Party (which in turn references my classmates and I on a Friday morning in our bid to get our caffeine fix! - even though the time is wrong - as mentioned, we gather at about 10.30am and the Tea Party occurred at 6pm every day). There was a slight change before I submitted the piece - one of my classmates loves to play with words and mentioned the admonishment should have said, "Don't be latte" - much better - so I added another 'T' and the piece was handed over today. (thanks Truda)
The theme for the other piece for exhibition is 'The Sojourner' (one who takes a sojourn, or a short break) and for this one I got to thinking of 'going to the seaside', a great British tradition - and then I got to thinking about the 'naughty' postcards that are available in places like Blackpool and Morecambe (I went to school in Morecambe - West End Primary School, where I passed my 11+, then on to Morecambe Grammar..... Jumbled into my thoughts was the bathing boxes at Mornington here in Victoria and a fabulous statuette I have a woman in a stripey cossie with a very large bum - I love this figurine - the expression on her face is just fabulous - she really doesn't care that she has a very large bum - her face reflects the confidence in herself and it's what I love about it - she really couldn't give a fat rats bottom - I'm sure we could get all Freudian here but I won't!
Anyway, so I dyed some 'sand' and 'sky', dipped into my stash for previously dyed hand dyes for the bathing boxes, as well as some I'd bought (including commercially dyed and patterned fabric) and came up with this idea...
There's still a huge amount of work to do on the piece - and she's now got a change of cossie too - and her friend in the bottom right corner still needs to be dressed - but she's getting there.
During the month I also attended a class with a book binder - who showed us how to make a book using 2 different binding methods - Coptic and Case.....here's my efforts...
OMG - I LOVE book binding - I've saved papers and similar for years - so I'll be doing lot more of this. So tactile and so rewarding.....
Lastly, the wonderful ladies who attend my classes have been busy....singling out a couple here (not sure if that's really allowed!).....one, Joan, made the most wonderful Golly...
and another, Barb, completed her VERY FIRST project, so we had to record it for posterity......
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| Barb's from 'Oop North' and makes me laugh every week - thanks Barb! |
That's all I can think of - I'm off to the Quilt Show on Sunday, a hairy tomorrow and a client quilt to complete. Coupled with a family dinner on Saturday night the weekend is just about over!....looking forward to the 3rd Test starting next week (very late in Oz, but sooooo worth watching - go England!) and continuing effort on the Sojourner piece.......
