JOLLIETEXTILES

If I am going to start blogging then it needs to be about the ordinary, try-as-you-go methods I use at home when I am working in my studio.  The words ‘working’ and ‘studio’ would make my family laugh but in truth there is nothing I like more than an empty house and the opportunity to spend some time in my workroom, particularly early in the morning when I feel I have caught some extra hours and got ahead of the day.  Anything seems possible early in the morning – but then I don’t want this blog to be full of perfect pictures of finished pieces.  I need it to be more of a record of how things have actually turned out, unfinished samples and ideas that need more thought.  Sometimes I will add explanatory text; other times I will simply photograph what happens to be on my work table.  I may blog for several days in a row, maybe on a regular weekly basis or realistically sometimes after a big gap – above all I want it to be enjoyable!

Those of you that attended the recent Raw Edge exhibition ‘Natural Progression’ in Thaxted will know that our original design inspirations were taken from the folded rag books we made, based on our individual source material.

I loved making those little books!  Ever since I have been thinking about all the other design sources I would like to use and have settled on butterflies – simply because the summer has been so long and hot and butterflies have been all around our garden.  In our cottage too, particularly the peacock butterfly.

So, using a picture from a book as a guide and trying to select colours I don’t usually work with,  I painted a butterfly wing on a piece of A3 khadi paper.  I used wax crayon, brusho, FW Pearlescent acrylic inks and bleach.

I then backed the piece with scrunched tissue paper, brushed with treasure gold – a good way to hide any stitching you may want to add and it happens to have a nice ‘butterfly wing’ texture.  Folding and cutting into the sixteen segments followed – the photographs show sections which in themselves look rather like butterfly wings in the way that they are folded, but also in the way khadi paper lends a texture to the surface.

These folded booklets evolved from a workshop by our mentor Alex Waylett.  I know that Alex is running some more classes on miniature books at Elm Farm Studio and if you would like further information please contact her at alex.waylett@btinternet.com