Costumes and photos

I'm still doing more costume work than quilting at the moment. I spent yesterday helping put finishing touches on costumes for a photoshoot and today helping with costumes for the Gilbert and Sullivan society here in Wellington. In the end I ran out of time to take a photo for a photo challenge during daytime and spent the last half an hour trying to take a photo inside the house. The theme is 'One Bright thing' . The picture of the glowstick wasn't very successful so I ended up taking a picture of the log fire - which says it all really - it is cold here and has been raining all weekend. Next weekend is the shortest day for us here at the bottom of the world.

glowstick 

Keep warm everyone

With my costumier hat on!

Over the last few weeks I have not been making quilts but instead have been making costumes for several productions. The most recent has been The Phantom of the Opera which starts in Wellington on Wednesday night. I have been working with two other people from 11am-11pm to finish work which was started by a team who ran out of time. there are over 180 costumes and it really is a massive task.

if you know the production then you might understand this - we finished off the bride and mirror bride, Mr and Mrs Firman's outfits, the confidante, some of the characters from the play within a play -Il Muto.

A few weeks ago I was doing screenprinting for another production and I am just finishing up some white floaty things for a photoshoot.

The don't think I can put any pictures here till after the productions start as I don't want to give e game away.

I am teaching a bookmaking class through chalkle on Wednesday this week, 2 spaces left. Google chalkle Wellington and look for the class on Wednesday - it is only $16 per person.

Clare

Photo of the Day

The photography weekend showed up the inadequacy of my tripod and camera lens (the original kit lenses) , so I splurged on a new tripod and a new18-270mm zoom lens and today I filled in 15 minutes while waiting for friends to arrive on the ferry from Picton, by trying out my new camera gear. Wellington seems to have been invaded by fluorescent (alien) codes, why?

This week I have been screen printing fabric for vests for the chorus of an opera, making white dresses for a photoshoot, designing a new workshop called 'Design Your own Modern Quilt', and sewing prayer flags onto tape for a schools project run by Pataka, Whitireia and artist Tiffany Singh.

I love the variety, costume/textile/quilt...

Photography , Ngawi and Chalkle

A long time ago, when I lived in Australia, pre-children, I used to do a lot of photography. I turned my bathroom into a darkroom and took arty shots of lightning over Sydney and long exposures of the city lights. Then I had kids and swapped my big camera with all the fancy lenses for something I could grab quickly when the kids were doing something cute. For the last 20 years I have been taking 'snapshots' and I have never really come to terms with the digital camera, or with Photoshop.

Recently I have discovered 'Meetup groups' and 'Chalkle'. If you click on the links you can go and see what they are. When a weekend photography course was advertised on Chalkle I decided to sign up. It was a weekend away in a wild spot called Ngawi which is on the East Coast of the North Island to the right of Featherston (Wairarapa) on the map. I had never been there or even heard of it before.

It was a great weekend with fabulous weather and I can highly recommend the  course. Glen Howey ,the tutor, also works at Whitireia Polytech and was in my class  last year where we were both upgrading from the Advanced diploma to the Degree in Applied Arts.

Here are some photos I took over the weekend. I have chosen my favourite shots but I took lots more!

Dawn - can you see the reflection of the lighthouse in the puddle?

Cape Palliser Lighthouse

30 second exposure at dusk

The next group of photos aren't my best shots but they give an idea of the number of baby seals. All the mummy seals lie around the rocks whilst the babies are in the pool playing  with sticks and seaweed, play fighting and leaping out of the water like dolphins. I have never seen so many seals in one place, it was incredible.

There at least 30 baby seals playing in the pool

Having a scratch

You can't see me!

Sometimes a mother seal would call her baby over for a feed

baby seal hangout spot

Seal playing with a stick

Look at me , Mum!

Smileyface bach

View from Kupe's sail 

Watermark textiles and Te Papa

kelea's photostream on Flickr.

These are textile wallhangings which I have dyed vertically in previous exhibitions over the last 6 months. They are all inspired by images on Google Earth of rivers dyed multi-coloured by textile dye. I find the images of dyed rivers beautiful but disturbing at the same time...

Here is the latest Watermark wall hanging which was dyed in Te Papa Museum on Saturday as part of Makertorium.

Photo by Marie-Claire Andrews

It was a hot day and I should have worn something cooler. The sun was coming straight through the window at me . It dried out the dye so that it took much longer for the dye to travel around the picture. By the end of the day most of the exhibitors were coughing because of the dry air and drinking lots and lots of water .

In spite of the heat, it was a GREAT DAY!!
All the other exhibitors were so enthusiastic, it was a great celebration of 'makers'. I had a wonderful time and would love to do it again armed with more knowledge of how the dyes work in the drier air, how not to get dye on the floor of Te Papa, and what to wear to keep cool.

I also know more about what the public might do in a tight area. There were lots of people trying to get past or trying to stand back to see what was going on. The booth opposite me was also very popular so we caused a bit of a bottleneck. And some of the public got a bit grumpy and tried to do things like walk very close to the dripping wallhanging or even around the back. Some tripped over the leg of the stand and one woman even put her finger in the dye pot to see what was in there. If the stand hadn't been very sturdy there would have been an accident which I would have had a hard job explaining to Te papa (we all signed a form saying we would not make a mess).

Thankyou to everyone who came in to see the show, thanks also to friends who made a special effort to come and see my work because they missed it last year.

Here is the wallhanging hanging up in my sewing room while the dyes set. I have put soda ash in the cups at the top and that is running down right now so the picture looks even blurrier than before. It is still impossible to tell what the final image will look like as the soda ash changes the picture and sets only in some places.

In some ways I like the details best

regards
Clare

Makertorium Saturday 27th April

On Saturday one of my dripping wallhangings will be dyed at Te Papa as part of Makertorium.

I'm really excited about this as I get to show my work with a whole load of people who tinker away in workshops and studios and hopefully it gets seen by a  lot more people than tucked away in a gallery.

I'm also really excited about seeing all the other exhibits which include demonstrations of 3d printers, lazer cutters, robot toothbrushes and all sorts of weird and fun things.

My work is listed a 'Spectacle' and I will get a particular timeslot to start the dye off. There will also be a dvd running with a sped up version of the vertical dyeing performance (I never know what I should call it).

The new wallhanging will look a bit like this when it is dyed, but I have simplified it a bit because it will only be up for one day.

I have quite a quiet year this year as I didn't take many teaching bookings because I thought I was going to be a full-time student. If you are part of a club which would like a dye or print class, machine quilting or one of my other classes please contact me at smith_c*actrix.co.nz
I have spaces for most of June and November as well as dates in July and October available.

I'm going to list my classes on the right side of this blog.

Modern Quilts, exhibitions and 'stuff'

Hi everyone
Things got a bit busy there for a while, I thought I would have two spare rooms and get lots done but then one son came back home for a while then the other came home for the University holidays and I haven't got very far at all.

The last few days I have been trying to analyse what exactly is meant by 'a Modern Quilt'. Is it the fabric? Is it the use of minimalism? Is it the use of white, or grey, greyed down colors, lack of small prints?

Wellingtonians - There is a meeting on Thursday (Nancy' Embroidery 7pm) for anyone interested in talking about Modern Quilts.

I have also promised to teach a class for people interested in designing their own Modern Quilts so I've been playing with ideas and making samples of:

Improvisational piecing
Using a feature fabric with a traditional pattern
Using plains
Large print fabrics
Minimalism

The thing that stikes me is the the minimalism and  I've always been a bit of a minimalist anyway. BUT - I don't usually do piecing, I'm more of an appliqué/collager and not many Modern quilts seem to be appliqué.

Here is something I started today whilst watching a really old version of Heidi on my iPad. I just used a sample piece of a Maurice Kain furnishing fabric. I only had one fat quarter so if I want to make it bigger I will have to go shopping for some other kind of circle fabric. Trouble is - I get confused in quilt fabric shops and usually come out without buying anything.

Here are a few minimalist quilts which I made ages ago. Only the jeans quilt hasn't sold - I promised it to my son but I'm sure he'd love the money as he has gone off to Japan on a working holiday. NZ$800 and its yours!

Every now and again, I end up in a discussion about quilt rules, and whether there are any? Does it really matter about the number of stitches you can squeeze to the inch? I do think that it is nice to see well made things though... so here back from the past is my quilt 'The White Glove Mafia' which sold to someone who lives in Alaska.

Here she is - counting the quilting stitches and wearing her brown bargello vest which was out of date even then (the 1990s), on the right hand side was a painted panel I made but I cut it off as it didn't add to the composition.

Let me know your ideas on Modern Quilts, quilt mafiaism etc.
Clare