In which something will stink

I think I'm going to have to do a bad thing.

I harvested my flax a couple of weeks ago.  It looked great!  But the weather's turned cold before I've retted it, and you need warmth to ret flax... Essentially, you need to give the flax moisture, warmth and time (about 5 days?) and it starts to rot.  That breaks down the outer, bark-y bit of the flax and allows you to get at the fibres inside.

I don't know how long you can keep harvested flax before retting it, so... I think I'm going to have to ret this indoors.  Rotting vegetation.  It will be steeeeeeeenky.

Sorry Mr P. 

In which I update you

 
Oh man, I’m really sorry, blog!  I done deserted you for two whole months. 

And what have I been up to in that time?  I’ve been cracking on with my print course, that’s what.  After my Clifford’s Tower linocut I made this linocut of a goose.

I was at the University while the Church of England’s General Synod was on, and snapped a quick pic of one of the campus’ savage graylag geese.  When you look at these little dudes you can totally see how they are descended from dinosaurs.  There’s the touch of the T-Rex about them.  I offered this one my hand to see what he’d do, and he nipped me with his beak!  It was very cute.  I wanted to cuddle him but he wouldn’t let me.  Anyway, I printed out my photo and copied it onto lino – I like the way the pattern of the feathers contrasts with the pattern of the bricks.  I think the balance of dark and light is pretty good too.

Then, I went up to the moors with Mr P.  It was a gorgeous sunny day and I stood in a field and sketched the White Horse of Kilburn.  It’s always been on my mind to try to make a print of it – first time I went to York’s Open Studios I visited the workshop of Catherine Sutcliffe-Fuller who had done some gorgeous intaglio prints of it.  So, I converted my sketches into a three colour lino cut. 

Then, I made another three colour lino cut, this time of Joan of Arc.  I’ve been listening to Kate Bush a bit recently, because she is amazing.  On her album Aerial she has a song called ‘Joanni’, with the lyrics

“Who is that girl? Do I know her face?
Who is that girl?

Joanni, Joanni wears a golden cross
And she looks so beautiful in her armour
Joanni, Joanni blows a kiss to God
And she never wears a ring on her finger”

I wanted to make a print about Joan, so I looked online for pics of here.  I found a great poster of Sarah Bernhardt as Joan, and used that as a basis for my print.  I took out the weapons and the banners at that seemed a bit complicated!  Glad I did – thei was hard enough as it was.  It’s A4-ish, and the black outline was pretty tricky.  But I’m really proud of it – I think it reflects something of Kate Bush’s lyrics.

In which I embroider some Davids

One of my favourite blogs is Mr X Stitch, and the Phat Quarter community regularly do embroidery swaps.  I've seen some amazing things come out of these swaps, so I decided to dip my toe into the waters and take part in the 1970s themed swap.

I was allocated Sewphie T as my swapee.  She's an amazing stitcher - I love her boxing hares, and her stumpwork is just stunning.  She said she liked David Bowie, so I decided to take him as my inspiration.

I love Aladdin Sane era Bowie, so I looked online to find pictures of the album cover where he's got that big lightning bolt zigzag over his eye.  I found a painting of the album cover that used blocks of colour to delinate his face, and thought that would be a good basis for an embroidery.

The hoop I used is about 6 inches in diameter, and I used mainly satin stitch to fill the colours in.  I couched metallic thread for the lightning bolt - looking back, I wish I'd used coloured thread to couch this down.  I used a translucent thread, but I think it looks too white on the red and blue.  I also wish I'd centred the image a little lower - the eyes should be closer to the centre.  Anyway, I'm pretty happy with the stitching, and its a strong image.

I like cats, and puns, so I also embroidered little David Meowie!  Look, he has Bowie's mismatched eyes!  He's about 3 inches in diameter.  Cute! 

In which I make a print of Clifford's Tower

For the next bit of my OCA Printmaking course, I had to make a black and white print of something near where I live.  I live in York, so I popped up the road to Clifford's Tower to sketch it for a print.  I sat in a cafe and drank tea and sketched.  This printmaking business is HARSH.

Then, I took some black paper and drew the sketch out on that with white chalk, so the chalk marks would be where I'd cut away the lino.

And this is the (nearly) finished product.  I like the print - I'm happy with the way the different tools have given appropriate cut marks.  I like the way the bush on the left balances against the cloud on the right.

But it's not finished - it's not a great print.  I'm still a bit impatient - I need to work to get a more even print - there are lighter patches on this that just. won't. do.

In which I buy a bee

Mr P and I went to the car boot sale on Saturday, and I paid £12 for something that could be worth £400.  I am a freaking antiques genius! 

We had a good wander round, and although there were lots of good stalls, nothing much caught my eye.  Until I saw this little bronze bee thing.  It's about 4 inches long, and the bee's body lifts up to reveal a hollow where things (small things) could be stored.  I like bees, I like shiny things, so I asked how much the stall holder wanted.  He asked for £15, we settled on £12. 

On the bottom of the bee, there's a stamp reading "W Avery and Sons, Redditch, The Bee Case".  So, with the miracle of interweb phones, I looked up said info.  First site I found was a page from Christie's, the auctioneers, where a similar case sold for £400 in 1993. 

Holy. Poop.

My bee case dates from 1869 - 1898 ish, was designed to hold needles and pins, and they are well collectable!  Now, mine isn't in great nick - the top of the leaf is bent, the catch is broken, and even after a fair bit of cleaning it's pretty tarnished.  So I doubt I'd get anywhere near £400, even if they cost the same as they did in 1993.  But I reckon I'll take it to an antique dealer and see how much they'd value it at.  I'd be dead excited if it would be worth putting it in an auction!   

In which my flax is flowering

Looky look look!  My flax in the allotment is flowering!  I went down at the weekend, and there are little blue flowers all over, like little stars.  It's just gorgeous. It's very wet, so I hope the flax is ok - there's still a lot of buds waiting to flower, and then I think it'll be a couple of weeks until the stalks turn golden and I can harvest the fibre.  The bindweed LOVES my flax - it's everywhere. 

In other allotment news - red ants.  Everywhere.  (Shudder.)

Also, my foxes featured on Mr X Stich again - this time in the 'Too Cute Tuesdays' slot curated by Olisa from Feeling Stitchy.  Yay!

In which I make marks on lino

I’ve finished the monoprints assignment on my OCA Printmaking course, and I've posted them off to my tutor.  Now, I'm on to linoprints!  Yum.  I love relief printing.

For the first assignment, I used a variety of cutting tools to make 24 test squares on an A4 piece of lino.  I'm referring to each square left to right 1 to 4, and top to bottom a to f.  So the top left square is 1a.  I used a variety of v-tools and gouges, and a craft knife as well.

A few of the marks remind me of different things - 1e looks like a school of fish swimming in a circle, and 2f looks like a school of fish darting through water.  The short, vertical strokes of 4a, 3e and 1f look like grasses or crops.  2c reminds me of a choppy pond and 3f of a still pond.  3a could be a flock of birds above a cornfield?  2d looks like hail or snow.  The more delicate qualities of 3c and 4c (made with the craft knife) are a bit like cobwebs.

Overall, it's an ok print?  I like the marks, but the ink isn't as clear and black as I'd like.  I used watercolour ink, and it was my first time using a baren.  I think I need to use more ink and more pressure!