The Block Printer

        Continuing my theme of 'People, Places and Patterns' this piece shows my block printing guru from Rajasthan. I spent a day with him learning some of the basic block printing techniques and found lining up a series of blocks to produce an accurate multi-coloured pattern to be very, very challenging.

           I have block printed the background fabric keeping the ink quite strong over on the right and fading it off to the left of the piece. The block printer is first stitched and then layered with a thin net to produce a slightly translucent image.  The table cloth that he is printing is a partial photograph that I have printed off onto fabric and then integrated into the design. The piece was then quilted and embellished with sequins. 

Pat Archibald

Second self portrait

This is my second quilt in the series concentrating on my early childhood.

 

The portrait was screen printed using a flour paste screen. I tried to enhance the image with running stitch. The trees were also screen printed with a flour paste screen and I did some free machine stitching. I'll be moving on to a different image for the next 2 quilts.



 

 

 

'Indigo and Orange'

 

 

 

  The spiral and wavy lined Indigo in this piece is achieved by sewing the design in small running stitches, then gathering the threads tightly before dying. The beautiful strip cloth on the left is from Daboya in Ghana. I discovered this in 'Safety Line Lodge', down town Nairobi, a place where people from all over West Africa live and sell the most amazing artifacts, fabrics, beads and embellishments!

There is a small strip of Shwe Shwe that Magie gave me. The 'eyes' are cut from a wonderful wax print called 'The First Wife'- they keep an eye on the other wives of a polygamous marriage!

 

 

 

My embellishments are brass spirals I found in Safety Line. There are some ostrich shell beads made in Turkana, Northern Kenya. I discovered the little bone elephants in Mombasa. The others are made by Kenedy from bone. He lives & works in Kibera, the largest slum in Sub Saharan Africa. His workshop is a fog of choking bone dust and a tangle of very dodgy electrical wiring!!

 

 





Under the surface 2

Used a photograph of pebbles in a riverbed in sunlight for this piece - the stones looked very much like quartz pebbles and I have tried to capture their texture in this piece. Similar techniques to first piece -the background of white Pima cotton was dyed and overdyed then discharged and dye painted ( with unthickened dye) over the top. Used some wax aquarelle sticks as well to try to get the texture correct then stitched the quilting lines on after. Whilst I am happy that I have created more a feeling of depth in the piece - I have lost some of the luminous feel of the first piece. I will keep trying! but I am off to Veldhoven this evening so this piece must get posted before the end of the month.

Leaves # 2

 

My second quilt focus on printed leaves. It's a piece of African fabric I bought from Magie.

I quilted the background leaves and applique the tree with leaves.

 

Shoshi



Ophelia Submerged

To me, water remains full of mystery. Water is not just a liquid; it is mist, cloud, tea and tears. There is the flow of water, the colours, the way it creates reflections, its symbolism. Water remains inspiring and a symbol to me of intuition and creativity

The image Ophelia Submerged, shot by my friend Jason Tice of Geoectomy Photography, grabbed my imagination immediately, but it took time before I could find a medium that I could work with. I hope her sorrow and mystery come through.

I printed her using bubblejet set, then quilted her. 

 

Bamboo No. 2

For the second in my "Bamboo" Series, I chose to work with the bamboo stalks.  The straight lines of the stalks intersected by the bands to which the leaves were attached makes for an interesting graphic effect.  I enjoyed working with the different colored fabrics to achieve a sense of depth.  The yellow "sun" in the background is in anticipation of our approaching Arizona summer.