Fibre Connections – Metal and Weaving

Continuing with my textural link to StillWalks, these and other mini woven tapestries are available on my new Etsy Shop, ACMDesign – each one is unique. I have described them as “tapestry notes”, and in doing so, I was thinking back to when I started using wire in my work as an artist.

One of the first tapestries I wove that included barbed wire can be seen here. It and another are also on the Etsy shop. However, barbed wire is not the starting point for my work with wire and my interest in metal.

I originally started working with wire in a similar way to which I am now doing with these mini tapestries – as design notes. I think of them in the same way as I think of drawing in a sketch book, and as I work on them, I develop my feel for the wire and find out how it interacts with the soft fibre of the warp and weft. More on this tomorrow.

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You can use the Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “After the Tide” which is from the marshes on the Loughor Estuary, South wales. Click the image below to watch the video. DVD Collections are available to order in the StillWalks Shop.

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Fibre Connections

When I started out developing StillWalks, I had already realised that the photography I was doing was informed by my other life as an artist and tapestry weaver. So when I mention my new Etsy shop, ACMDesign, for my tapestry weaving, it is not without reason.

The main reason of course, is to try and sell the tapestries, but I am also going to take the opportunity this week, to explain a little about what goes into them.

Starting at the end – today’s photos show you how I am presenting the mini tapestries which I am calling “tapestry notes” – double mounted in a box frame. The weaving measures approximately 5 cms or 2 inches square(ish) and the frame is 25 cms square.

Mini tapestry box framed

Mini tapestry box framed

Mini Tapestry in situ

The tapestry hanging above the box framed piece is one I bought from the Wissa Wassef School of Tapestry in Cairo.

You can use the Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video – “After the Tide” which is from the marshes on the Loughor Estuary, South wales. Click the image below to watch the video.

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Memories in the Park

Recently we have been going through what most parents do at that time when their children take flight and leave the family home. Both our girls are now at university and the house feels so, so empty. There seem to be so many things that make us notice that they are not with us, such as singing along to their music in the front room – a regular activity that meant they were always there in the background, if not actually talking to us!

During a mid week visit to our local park to meet a photographer from the local paper (the South Wales Evening Post will be running an article about StillWalks on Tuesday), I was reminded of the girls when they were younger.

I had the StillWalks kit with me for the photo shoot and took the opportunity of getting some shots from the playground which was nearby. In doing so I was reminded of Ellen and Hannah and the times we pushed them on the swings and watched them climbing and playing on the various pieces of equipment.

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You can use the new Donate button below to help StillWalks. Pay how much you want and receive a high quality download of this week’s featured StillWalks video. Click the image below to watch the video.

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Appreciation and Gratitude

Recently I have had one or two nice things said about this blog which I very much appreciate.

The first was the presentation of three awards by blogger nightmare logic who said they just wanted to show their appreciation of the StillWalks blog and others. Whilst appreciative of blog awards, I have to admit to not being very good at following through with them. Sometimes I feel bad about this but I don’t feel bad about not reading other people’s blogs because I do read and enjoy them and try not to make my “Likes” automatic.

Another comment was made offline from a friend and colleague who said she liked knowing that when she opened her email each day, she would always find an enjoyable post and images from StillWalks.

Many other people have given very positive comments about StillWalks and the blog, as well as my posts on other social media, and they are all greatly valued, so thanks to everyone who has looked and enjoyed both the StillWalks blog and or the website, videos, sounds and photography.

Phlox from the garden

Phlox from the garden

Visit the StillWalks website for videos and more

Images available for sale on the StillWalks Photography website.

Madder Than Ever – Dyeing to See Red

One of the many other workshops apart from my tapestry weaving at the AGWSD Summer School in Trinity St David’s, Carmarthen last week was wool dyeing.

The two red photos here are wool dyed in madder and the remnants of the dye bucket. I love the colour!

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Identifying the Monster

I found this beast in the studio the other morning and immediately got my camera out. Not knowing what it was, I posted it on Facebook and was subsequently pointed to iSpot where it was identified as a horse fly!

You have to click on the images to zoom in and fully appreciate the sunglasses. It was about 2 – 2.5 cms in length and had a low, loud buzz like a large bumble bee. I had always thought of horse flies as vicious little expletives, not monsters like this appeared to be. It may just have been a matter of seeing it in detail and out of context, i.e. in my studio and not in the field (where it should have been).

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StillWalks Website Issues

My apologies to everyone who has been trying to get to the StillWalks website. The problems caused by the site being hacked are proving to be more difficult to resolve than expected. We hope to have the site back online soon.

Please browse and follow this blog and you will be notified as soon as everything is fixed.

In the meantime I will be adding some features to the blog that will replicate some of those on the website and you can still visit the StillWalks Facebook page and view a wide collection of images on Flickr as well as purchasing photos at PhotoBox.

Anyone interested in buying StillWalks DVD Collections 1 or 2 or any individual StillWalks videos or vouchers should contact me by email at ad[at]stillwalks[dot]com

Some StillWalks videos and StillWalks Project videos can be seen on Vimeo.

I’ve got loads of energy & I’m jumping for joy

The energy is coming from the sun, operating efficiency and insulation. We recently got a big refund and our energy bills slashed and that is why I was jumping for joy, to say nothing of relief.

It’s a year ago now that we had our solar pv panels installed on our roof. At the same time we also updated our gas central heating and the plumber, Jon Phillips, did a great job – I’d recommend him to anyone.

Loads of energy and bills slashed – We had been paying through the nose for our energy prior to this but were lucky enough to get the solar pv installed by HomeSun before the government subsidy was cut. With the central heating update, it all still cost a few thousand pounds but we will have covered this amount in just three years with the massive savings we are making on our energy bills.

The Solar PV is particularly useful to us because we work from home and are able to make use of the energy as it is produced. If this were not the case, then the panels would be sending all that energy straight to the National Grid at least through the working week.

our solar pv panels

our solar pv panels

It’s a bit of a dull morning today but that does not stop the panels from producing electricity!

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The Flowering Cherry continues to shed its leaves

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