I won a prize!

here I am getting my winner's prize from the Mayor.

I entered the 'miniworks' judged exhibition in Hereford - the entries had to be no bigger than a twenty pound note.
The winning piece is at the bottom.

This one is another I entered called  'An evening alone' - hand and machine cords with the cup in soluble lace and the books from silk cocoons and handmade paper.  It's slightly squiffy because of a bit of over indulgence from the cup.

It's called 'Let your compost breathe'  Soluble lace sides, knitted layers, bobbin lace leaves and tatted lace flowers with machine cords, vilene leaves - lots of rubbish really!

garden art

Forgot to take a photo in the garden at Urchfont - so found a good place  in my garden instead - I will finish it - I promise.  Finished my dandelion book and when I've learned how to do page turning on the blog I'll put it up.

Had a brilliant time at Urchfont - Ruth worked so hard for us and was so generous with her goodies. The mono printing was great - feel I learned a lot.  Was lovely meeting new people and catching up with everyone from last year.

Going kayaking and cycling and walking and playing with the grandchildren and my poor neglected husband for a little while before getting into module 1 seriously - though I can't promise not to think about it!

Hope you all had a good journey home and are now getting over the withdrawal symptoms.

Assessment piece

Finally finished the piece. I have a few more fish in hand in case they slump a bit more in the net.  When hung it is 5ft from the bar to the edge of the net.  In the middle it is 6 inches deep and the top of the net is 21 inches wide. The fish on the top layer are caught to the net so they stay in position. I used a shiny transparent thread to sew the net together and some of the fish to the net so I could leave the ends long to sparkle.

Close up of the bottom of the net.

Close up of the top of the net.

The digital picture quilted and machine stitched to show the ravaged sea bottom, areas still lively, the trawlers pushing forward and the wire currrency symbols showing what they are solely interested in.

Stretched out on the floor as I don't have a big enough bit of wall space to hang it up!

Design time 15 hours.

Construction time 63 hours approx

Cost £22 approx.

It fulfills the requirements for a wall hanging so I think it is fit for purpose. I am very pleased with it. The original design idea was to have the net hanging from the trawler picture on a concealed rod, but this did not prove to be practical. I think the idea of the net attached to the trawlers still works with the alternative hanging rod.  The hanging cords were handmade from a variegated wool sock yarn and were rather stretchy which is why they now have the 'arty' knots in them.  If I was making it again I would make these from a stiff cord instead.  The word ribbons made on solufleece and scrim were very stiff as I only partially dissolved the fabric; unfortunately they became much less stiff with handling so it was difficult to keep them in positions so they could be easily read.  If I was doing these again, I would experiment with various stiffeners.