Weeks 21-22

The first week was  largely taken up by a stomach bug, as well as my self-imposed break from college work. However I did search the internet for a suitable box for ‘Lost Words’, which proved remarkably hard to find. There were plenty which were wide enough but too short, or long enough but too wide: in the end I had to be satisfied with a necklace box which is slightly shorter than I would have liked, or pay silly money for a custom made one.

In the second week I went back to the long-neglected business plan, and added comments prompted by the speakers we have had in college. Since then Sue has given us some relevant handouts, so I need to add any points raised by those which I have not already included.

I have managed to keep up to date with POT and with my photographs, although photography day slipped from Thursdays to the weekend, for family reasons. We go back to child-minding next week, so I know that I need to get organised and get back to work, as I will have much less free time, and probably much less energy after running round after a 4 year old and a 9 month old two days a week!

Weeks 19-20: A Big Decision

I fund the group critique on 25th April really helpful. This was only partly because of the comments from Mel and my fellow students, positive as they were. Seeing what other people were preparing [and how big it was] made me realise that there is no point in  making new stuff just for the sake of making it, when I already have more than I can expect to exhibit - at least 6 pieces which I think might be worth showing, 7 if I make the planned but rather scary video of one of the pieces, and 8 if I make a Blurb book of all the pieces..

So I’m not going to make any more, not even finish ‘Saga’.

Lest anyone think this means I have nothing to do, I shall continue with POT, and with photographing everything weekly. I also have to think about, and prepare, the presentation of ‘Lost Words’ and any photos I show. I will keep up with the blogs. There’s all the paperwork [in its broadest sense] – business plan, contextualisation, sketchbooks and work book. And we are going away on holiday for a fortnight – so I think I have enough to keep me busy.

However, I have given myself some time off, apart from the photos, POT and blogs. I’m using the time to do some completely non-college related and unoriginal embroidery, [I've found it very enjoyable and relaxing] although while I’ve been doing it I’ve been thinking about where I’m going.

I like making installations, and I like environmental art – but I think I’ve gone as far as I can with paper tubes. I need to explore how to use fabric and stitch in environmental installations – outside or inside. I’m not planning anything yet – but it is where I see my future work developing, perhaps if the top-up course comes off.

We shall see!

Weeks 16-18: the Saga continues…

albeit very slowly. At the end of my last post I wrote ‘provided my motivation survives the disappearance of the lovely weather’ – it didn’t. I decided I didn’t like the crud on ‘Saga’, so re-sanded it,  and soaked the tubes in coffee, then started to string them together with some coffee-soaked red thread – and decided the whole thing was boring. What looks good on a small sample doesn’t always work en-masse.

After more procrastination I decided to try the Kaffe Fassett solution – if it’s not working, add another 20 colours, or in this case, a sprinkling of several different coloured inks. Spotty – but still boring. Finally I soaked them all in ‘black’ Brusho [which is really a nice dark blue - and they are definitely looking more interesting.

I also decided that they would be better strung in series rather than in parallel, which meant I needed  some sort of end stops. I had a collection of big wooden beads, so they have now met the Brusho as well, and when they have dried out they will be strung together. Probably.

I have started two more pieces - one I've been pondering on for some time, the other on the spur of the moment. 'Foil', the spontaneous one,  started as a vague idea about more dipyramids, until I realised that I didn't have enough wine box lining foil to make more than a few. I liked the look of the tubes, even though they were dreadfully sticky to make, so I decided instead to add chocolate wrappers and throw them around like food litter. There are still not enough, so my husband is drinking red wine and I'm eating chocolate to make a few more. We suffer for my art.

'Lost Words' has been in my mind since I started making samples. I have a tiny, decrepit copy of 'Nuttall's Bijou Dictionary', bought in a charity shop, and when I rolled and waxed the pages as samples they reminded me of bone beads. The dictionary is inscribed 'Miss Mollie Clarke Xmas 1910 from Louie Jerome', which inspired me to look in the 1911 census to see if I could find either name. There were relatively few Louis/Louise/Louisa Jeromes, and as I bought the dictionary locally, I thought the most likely candidate was Louisa Hilda Annie Jerome, who lived in Portsmouth and was 18 in 1910.  Based on this I guessed that Mollie may have been Margaret Woodward Clarke, a couple of years younger, also living in Portsmouth, also the daughter of a craftsman, and also  and also still at school [quite unusual in 1910] . These are all assumptions, but I like the idea of the piece having a back story like this, if I can somehow work it into the final piece. I have fastened the pieces together using some vintage ‘artificial silk’ thread which belonged to my mother. However I’m not sure where to go next. It seems far too tiny to hang just as it is, but I ma not sure about whether – or how – to frame it.

Apart from these unfinished pieces,  I have completed a first draft of the business plan. After spending far too much time on Google. I found  a site for small businesses, set up by the UK government, with a template for writing a business plan, so I have based my ideas on that. Now I want to check with Sue how much detail is needed, and whether I need to say how the suggestions in the plan might be applied to my notional business.

Weeks 14 and 15

We have had some unseasonably warm weather, and this, together with the clocks going forward, seems to have improved my motivation. ‘Untitled’ and ‘Great Art?’ are now finished. In the case of ‘Great Art?’ – now retitled ‘Earth to Earth’ – it is not only finished but gone, after a short but adventurous life. I took the dipyramids on a day trip to the seaside where they had a paddle – and in some cases a swim from which they did not return.

After bringing those that had not escaped home, and drying them out, I attempted to burn them. My intention was to have a bonfire on the drive, but they were reluctant to cooperate, so I ended up using  and old barbecue and some lighter fluid, for a short but satisfying bonfire.

Now all I have left are the ashes.

‘Untitled’ also had a brief trip outside, but will not be staying there though these pieces all seem to look at their best outside.

I have also made progress with ‘Saga’ – innumerable brochure pages have been rolled. ‘Saga’ makes me think of age and story telling as well as travel, and I have been thinking about how to get that into the piece. When finished, it may go outside to mature, but it has had premature ageing with some sandpaper. I am also experimenting with discolouring the rather bright white pages – I have tried the ‘natural’ colours of coffee, tea and walnut ink of different forms, without much success, so may have to resort to Brusho.   I am also thinking of adding the accrued crud of ages through the entirely artificial means of filigree fluid and embossing powder. [I knew all that sampling at the beginning would come in useful.]

While sitting sanding ‘Saga’ I thought about the relationship between names and what I do to the tubes. For example ‘Chronicle’ has all sorts of resonances which my two versions, made very early on in this series, don’t reflect. My next step may be to make ‘Chronicle 3′ with a little more thought - although there is the problem that the name has similar resonances to ‘Saga’. Perhaps ‘Guardian’? – newspaper names seem to lend themselves to my work - although there are some papers I could never bring myself to buy, even for the sake of art.

On a completely different topic, after discussing the business plan with Sue on the last day of term, I have started thinking about writing it. Sue agreed that rather than a complete plan, we could write an outline of what we would need to include if we were to write a full one. So I have Googled and mind mapped - and ended up more confused than when I started. It is possible to have too much information. However, it is a start – and provided my motivation survives the disappearance of the lovely weather, I intend to sort it out over the holidays.

Week 13: progress on all fronts…

with the Mac – [particularly with iPhoto, which to someone used to Picasa is a real challenge] with ‘Great Art?’ and ‘Untitled’.

I finished the 25 dipyramids, and have started the series of photographs inspired by the elements – air, and some earth. ‘Air’ must have been entertaining for the neighbours – first I scrambled about in the hedge hanging up the dipyramids – and then I got down to ground level to take their photographs from as close to underneath them as I could get.

It was difficult to see the camera screen because of the bright sunlight. Then I deleted the video I’d shot because I thought iPhoto had downloaded it, as Picasa would have done – and it hadn’t, I should have used iMovie. And I took the dipyramids out of the trees before I realised.

I wasn’t going to take any ‘Earth’ photos today, but the evening light was so good I was tempted. My assistant agreed.

“Untitled’ is nearly finished – just a few more rows of raised chain band and a decision about how to display it.

So, not a bad week, even though I lost two days to some unexpected baby sitting – fun, but exhausting. And I’ve had an idea for another piece, to be called ‘Saga’ – at last  a use for the endless holiday brochures.

Week 12.

Some progress has been made this week – I rolled about 300 tubes from an old ‘Great Art’ catalogue, and did rather a lot of raised chain band over 50 brown paper tubes.

The catalogue was on its way into the bin when I realised that it would solve my problem about adding colour – the pages are mostly white, but the tubes have little flashes of colour where the illustrations show. I was also amused at the idea of adopting my usual naming policy and calling the piece ‘Great Art’ – or possibly ‘Great Art?’  I had intended to spend today making up the tubes into dipyramids – but I have been distracted into playing wrestling with my birthday present, a Mac. As a confirmed PC user, I have undergone something of a steep learning curve.

During the week I came across the work of Lauren Scanlon, who uses recycled romance novels, carrying out what she calls ‘ritual transformations’ on them, involving earth [burying them] air [making paper cuts from the covers] water [turning them into hand-made paper] and fire – which is obvious. I have been thinking about trying a similar idea with ‘Great Art’, but with different processes – starting from earth and returning to earth via the ashes of the burnt structures. So I’d better get on and make them.

The embroidered piece, so far untitled, is an exploration of making an indoor piece, and using stitch more intensively than I have so far. The problem is the intensity – one line of stitch uses 5 metres of thread and takes an hour, and I find it boring, so it only gets done when there is something on the TV which I can listen to more than watch – which rules out my favourite foreign language detective series.  But both pieces are making steady progress and will make more when the novelty of the Mac wears off.

Weeks 10 & 11: Good Intentions.

I had plans for these two weeks – using the college session on Wednesday to make tubes which I could use in experimental pieces on the subsequent free days I thought I had.

I hadn’t realised that Terrie had planned a workshop for Wednesday, which was quite useful – especially her ideas on colouring paper should I decide to do so – but of course it put back my plans.

I did manage to make a couple of experimental pieces on Thursday – but on Friday and Saturday we  were called in for emergency baby sitting after my daughter-in-law went down with norovirus.  Then, as I expected, I got it as well.  Although the worst of it was over within 12 hours, the after-effects left me with little energy.

Enough of the excuses. I managed to put together a few samples for the peer review with Mel, which was very helpful – the advice was to keep going, abandon Prayer Flags which I have been increasingly unhappy with [still like the idea, didn't like the execution], and forget about  making books as they wouldn’t add anything.

Mel also suggested I try to find some natural paints and dyes to colour the pieces, as I liked the look of a 3D piece I coloured with Brusho, but felt there was no artistic justification for what I’d done.  Thanks to the wonders of Google,  I have managed to track down some naturally coloured watercolours, and some oak gall and walnut ink-  made with real walnuts, not the fake stuff generally available. As I am now feeling a bit more energetic, I hope to start experimenting with those when they arrive.