October Meeting

We had an interesting day with Colette who demonstrated to us how to mixed hundreds of  colours using emulsion paint and red, blue and yellow. 

We later spoke about our project and displayed our feather stitching and illustrations of disappearing and loss   A very productive day. 

SEPTEMBER MEETING

We reviewed the FEVA exhibition, takings were distributed to members. Discussion took place about next year's exhibition as Shirley Vine intends to exhibit in 2019.  More advertising is need throughout the week to make visitors aware of the exhibition,  we need to be more proactive.  Further discussions to take place during our meetings next year.

In October our mentor Colette will be visiting and we need to prepare work using words and missing/ disappearing letters or phrases for our joint project.

August Meeting

We are busy today working with the layout of our exhibition which begins on Friday 10 August. It will be held at Gracious Street Methodist Church Hall Knaresborough, daily from 10 until 4, we are sharing the hall with local Watercolour artist Shirley Vine.  See below a selection of our work which will be on display.

FEVA Exhibition 2018

Our next exhibition will take place in August at our regular venue at Gracious Street Methodist Church. Starting on Friday 10 until Saturday 18 August.

We look forward to seeing you there.  Members of Decora will be in attendance on a daily basis to talk about the techniques used in their own work.

Decora will be sharing the hall with Shirley Vine, water colour artist.

JUNE MEETING

Working together this month we produced feather designs working on them in the morning for two hours, later after our business meeting we selected by raffle another piece of feather work and continued to add stitches to the original item.  See our efforts below.

Our AGM was held after lunch when Yvonne took over the role of secretary, Liz will continue as treasurer, Sue M will continue as chair after a three month break betweenJuly August and September when different members will act as chair on a monthly basis.  

FEVA plans were discussed and will be similar to last year setting up on Thursday 9 August with a preview in the evening, from 10 to 18 the exhibition will open 10 until 4 daily.  A rota was begun for thiese dates, with those present adding their names.  There are gaps to fill for those not present at the meeting.

July meeting will be chaired by Jill.

A selection of feathers showing the changes from the first person to the second.  We all enjoyed the experience.

APRIL MEETING WITH COLETTE

Colette visited this month and gave us lots of ideas to consider for our future joint project.  She brought along many of her own pieces of work for us to consider. 

We need to work together on single items and her suggestion was for us to work on one idea for about 2 hours then passing it to another member of the group to add their stitches, this would help us with the future project.

March - The Beast from the East

Our March meeting was cancelled due to the uncertainty of the roads with the snow and ice from the previous week. 

A business meeting was scheduled for 15 March, at the meeting we were updated by Sue M of the sub committee meeting which took place to discuss a theme for a future exhibition. The details of the meeting with Shirley V and Sue H for the FEVA exhibition were discussed and agreed, an email confirming our decision was sent to Shirley.  The meeting concluded with lunch at Stanley's cafe at Barker and Stonehouse.

FEBRUARY MEETING - ZIG ZAG BOOKS

We had a busy meeting yesterday making books during the morning whilst after lunch and our business meeting we discussed our joint installation progress for a future exhibition.

Our selection of books made by members, an excellent example from everyone.  Lots of tips on completion from Sue H; everyone enjoyed the experience.

Our rolls of paper with our ideas as they develop. From both ends of the table.

We now have a mini committee working on the Theme, they have taken away a list of ideas with a view to make a clear decision to put forward at our next meeting.

Members of the group also brought along their own examples of books they have made.  Some interesting ideas for us all to experiment with.

New Year Meeting 2018

Our first meeting of the year welcomed Graham Roberts, President of Harrogate Photography Society. He came along to speak to us about photographing our work.  He explained the best way to get a good picture was to use an easel and have a camera on a tripod at right angles to the subject.  To take care with our mounts as white can take colour away when photographing, grey was a better colour, he suggested we make a reflective sheet using kitchen foil on a sheet of hardboard. The foil sheet can be used to reflect light onto subjects.  To take photos on a dull day or use a net curtain to deflect the light when the sun is bright, not to use any electric lights.

Graham also talked generally about iPhone & camera settings, which was very useful.

A big thank you to Graham for taking the time to assist us.  I think we all benefitted from Graham's talk and look forward to see lots of professional photos later in the year.

DECEMBER MEETING

M

Jackie returned to the group today after completing her studies.

Stocking for Diane's granddaughter.

Liz working on canvas.

Seasonal items.

Christmas cards made by the group for each other on a secret Santa.

Miniature clothes for a felt rabbit.

NOVEMBER MEETING

Each of us are working on different projects today,

Kath is starting her winter project using the image as a starting point.

Yvonne stitching hexagons for her travelling book project.

Sue M with bead work for a necklace similar to the one below 

New member Sue A is working with old charity show ties for her patchwork design which will be on a box.

Surface design to be added with lots of bling.

Stevie is making miniature felt teddy bears, for the church coffee morning to raise funds.

Sue D is doing a linocut, migration, using the white background as inspiration.

Sue H creating backgrounds for Bookmaking. Further texture to be added when dry.

Ribbon embroidery by Lorna.

Gwen is designing a snow scene, by wrapping branches.

OCTOBER MEETING

We all welcomed Collette as our new mentor.  We also welcomed Sue A to the group as a new member.

Collette led discussions related to a future collaborative project, we brainstormed our ideas onto long sheets of paper which we will add to in future months. We need to research some of the ideas suggested, bringing to each meeting our findings.  This will be a long term project probably over more than one year.

In the afternoon we all had an individual session with Collette to discuss our ongoing projects,  research suggestions on progressing our ideas were given by Collette.

UPDATE TO BLOG OCTOBER 2017

AUGUST 2014 was our first year exhibiting at the FEVA festival in Knaresborough, at our meeting before the exhibition we had a lovely day sitting in the garden at Tockwith Village Hall putting final stitches to our work.

EXHIBITION 14 to 23 August. A very successful first exhibition in Knaresborough.

During 2014 Jackie provided a workshop to create fractured fabrics.

2015

August 2015 FEVA exhibition another successful exhibition. Theme Decora Blue.

September Sue Merrick ran a workshop -Textured Felt.

6 December Our mentor Fiona Wilson's first visit.

2016

April Mentoring day with Fiona Wilson

June Jackie Wilkins stands downs as chair and Sue Merrick becomes chair.

August Fiona Wilson visits to give advice on exhibition preparation.

Second FEVA exhibition 12 to 20 August. Theme Yorkshire.

November Fiona Wilson visited to help with inspiration towards Line & Edge Exhibition

2017

January Clare Horner from Colourcraft visited to run an activities day using their products.

March Fiona Wilson resigned as our mentor, suggesting Collette Dobsonas her successor.

June Visit from Colette Dobson

August Our third FEVA exhibition. Theme - Line & Edge.

September - feedback from exhibition and discussion for October of Collette's visit.

Mandy Patullo Workshop

In July Mandy presented a workshop entitled Oriental Blue.

We each chose a piece of fabric which had been prepared with emulsion paint and applied designs. Strips of our own material were applied in chosen shapes either fishes, flowers, birds with foliage and then stitch was added both machine and hand.  We plan to display the finished pieces in the exhibition at Masham.

APRIL MEETING

We were all working on different projects some finishing City &Guild pieces,others on personal items or for future exhibitions.

Diane working

Stevie's lace  work

Natural dying produced by Liz.

 

Paula's Japanese papers

BLUE LIGHT GALLERY EXHIBITION

We are to mount an exhibition in the Autumn at the Blue Light Gallery in Masham, North Yorkshire.

 Blue  will be used for inspiration, so expect some indigo dyed items.

The Gallery is open Monday to Friday 10 - 3 ans Saturday 10 - 2. 

RUSTING WITH ALICE FOX

KOctober 6th Alice Fox was invited for the day to guide us through rusting fabric.

Alice demonstrated quick ways to rust using wire wool on fabric and paper using vinegar, tea and salt water.  Within hours we had results with some of our experiments.   Many items we took home to discover the unusual results.

Stitching during the day with pre dyed items

The results of using a rusty cow bell, great threads produced from wrapping the fabric too.

We all thoroughly enjoyed the day and now have lots of experiments with various teas and vinegar mixtures.  Finding unusual shaped rusty items suitable for wrapping is the intriguing part. Surprising where you find these things!!