Betty Pepper - Textile/Jewellery Designer:
‘The ways in which time changes and decays objects interests me greatly and I like the notion that all things are ephemeral and constantly in a state of deterioration. My work often deals with stories from the dim and distant past. This is why I choose to work with faded colours. I like the way they look as if they have lived a little.’
Progress is steadily being made on the book dedicated to my Great Granny Doris. This now features the addition of pins, which I inherited from her, along the pocket pages.
I have been sorting through buttons that she once had, now in my possession, and deciding which ones I may then sew into the book.
Pocket book:
This book is a dedication to my Great Grandma, Doris Agnes Bartley nee Startin.
When she died I inherited her sewing/dress making/knitting items- which sparked my love and admiraiton for feminine crafts.
Crochet samples I have been creating for the book dedicated to my Great Aunt Edie.
I’ve had to play with the st ranges in this. Starting with 12DC and then 12 DTC, the changing the corner rounds from 12DC to 9 DC so it fit into a square shape better.
I also need to quickly make crochet ribbon/lace to wrap around the cover of the book in two thin strands…
frames:
After doing some illustrative ink/nib pen frames around my family photos on paper, I wanted to transfer this onto fabric.
As you can see the results didn’t go too grandly. The adhesive that transfers the image onto fabric is hated by sewing machine, so I then had to experiment with different frame shapes without the photographs. I think it would probably be best to put the photo in after stitching the frame though.
As you can see though, my agitation at my machines inability to stitch through the photos lead me to sew all over my Granny’s face (you can’t see all of the empty hole marks.)
However, the sample frames underneath went far better, and I will continue to play around with these tomorrow and test stitches further to create effects.
In blogging terms, this really isn’t that much of an achievement. However, I feel that my 100th post should be somewhat celebratory. Thankfully, today has been so much more productive! After reading the second half of Austin Kleon’s book “How to steal like an artist,” which the lovely Kirsten lent to me (and I had for way longer than I intended…) last night, I felt so much better about today.
I started by going to college to buy card/paper and then into town and buying ribbon and fabric, which I shall blog about tomorrow. I’ve done another frame sample in stitch, and started on my first book! That’s the biggest achievement really: having started. I hate the commitment of making something final, and often put it off in favour of continuing the sampling process. But now, with only 3 weeks left of this project I’ve realised I cannot adopt this mindset for any longer.
Photo’s to come!
