Skip to main content

Exhibition Countdown : 47

tea bag vest in progress... 
 It is now 47 days until the opening of my "textile and mixed media art " exhibition - so really I have only about 40 days left to finish pieces. Am I panicking ? YES!  So much still left to create.... Today I am putting the final hand stitching to a tea bag vest for one of the sculptures and sorting and stitching my collection of tea bags.
tea bags being sorted. 
 Last weekend, I scoured second hand shops for the last of the props and found some fairly ugly tea pots,some beautiful teapots and all with character. I am sure you're wondering what I'm going to do with them - watch this space!
A "cosy" of teapots?
This close to exhibition deadline, I have now taken over the spare bedroom for finished items for the exhibition , cataloguing as I go... It is still rather bare, but I have packed up a box of samples, as the exhibition will also feature a glass case of  experiments, samples, drawings, plans and prototypes.
samples of work 
While I can't show you what I've finished yet, I sneak into the room just to see what I've created and seeing them gives me  a little motivation to keep going with what is on my work table.
some finished art works 
As the days go by, I will post more as I prepare for the exhibition opening night.... 
Labels:

Comments

  1. epocktextilesAugust 6, 2014 at 7:20 AM

    wilma, keep up the hard work! its a slog and will be so worthwhile. The creating is not a slog of course - its the catalogueing and presenting good luck - Jane

    ReplyDelete
  2. Wilma Simmons (Empress Wu Designs)August 6, 2014 at 1:09 PM

    Thanks for your encouragement, Jane - yes the fun bit is the creative stuff, but the other , unfortunately, is essential

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

#the100dayproject : Inspiring Women Days 1 - 4

#The100DayProject is a *free* global art project that takes place online 🎨 E very year, thousands of people all around the world commit to 100 days of creating. Anyone can participate . ​The idea is simple: choose a creative project, do it every single day for 100 days, and document and share the process online. 2026 is my 8th year of participating. I have stitched daily observations, painted my egg cup collection, collaged postcards and envelopes, written poems, explored colour palettes .... this year I am researching, sketching and stitching 100 inspiring women. Fortunately I purchased a piece of beautiful linen, with preprinted outlines of 100 women ... just one issue - the figures are tiny (height 6cm /2.5 ins) My first week started tentatively ... I thought I would start with Empress Wu, after whom I named my creative activity. This is when I discovered how difficult it is to applique and stitch on these very small figures - I used tweezers to put pieces of fabric down, tried t...
Post a Comment
Read more

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...
3 comments
Read more

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

 Background Information:  Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start  with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound  silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap.  2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...
8 comments
Read more