Tag Archives: Rex

RIP Rex and an update of recent activities

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Apologies for the lack of posting these last few weeks, my beloved Rex started suffering from bad heart problems unexpectedly and unfortunately I had to put him to sleep last Monday. He was a real character, inherited from my neighbour Tom Doran (who died aged 90 when Rex was 6) he'd lived at Clasheen all 14 years of his life, those of you who'd met him will know how quirky he was!


Meeting Tom and Rex at Clasheen
Jumping to catch a ball, one of Rex's favourite pastimes!
Although I didn't usually let Rex up at the table Dawn DID manage to capture this picture during her visit last April, wonder how that happened???
Merridee and I relaxing mid August, although Rex was not well by then he did want to participate in everything we were doing! Alan dug a grave in a nice spot between the oak plantation up above my house and the ever expanding grove of eucalyptus trees, RIP Rex Doran 2000 – 2014.
In addition to the trauma with Rex I've had a really busy time since Merridee and Keith's departure home to California. In brief I've been working on an order of naturally printed silk scarves for the Old House Gallery in the UK, had an individual piece and a collaborative piece accepted for an upcoming Feltmakers Ireland exhibition, attended a full day Creative Island training session, been juried in to the Glucksman Gallery's Christmas design and craft fair plus been working on some new ideas for felt and silk naturally printed accessories. The collaborative piece is interesting if a little time consuming in the conception and construction, it's a felt neck piece incorporating moisture reactive smart technology. Thanks Niki Collier and Cheryl for the opportunity to work together! I'm also working on dates and venues for my trip to the US and Canada next spring, do please shout out loud at the end of this week if you haven't heard back from me, it's been manic here and I'm really trying to get everything under control as soon as I can. Kentucky friends Dianne and Mike are also arriving tomorrow to visit for a few days, fun ahead but not too much time at the computer yet again!
I'll leave you today with two images of a Tshirt I printed over the weekend, it may be worn with either side to the front.
I'm currently experimenting with using cotton, linen and other fibres as a background for my natural printing, it's a different preparation process (that's where I'm doing a lot of experiments) and I'd like to offer it as a more advanced technique next year to students who've already taken an introductory natural printing workshop with me. More anon………….
 
 
 
 
 

 

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Stitching, finishing and framing felt plus a question I am hoping to find an answer to!

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I started this morning by free machine embroidering a couple of abstract felt landscapes.  It’s difficult for me to decide when enough is enough with this sort of work, my personal preference has always been for NO stitching or embellishing but I do realise that not everyone feels the same way!

Stitching into an abstract felt landscape - the background colour is a richer purple but I find it hard to capture accurately

After Lisa Klakulak’s wonderful workshop at Felt in Focus I have really been trying to stretch myself in this direction, luckily Carmen arrived half way through the morning and was just in time to stop me stitching on some glass beads too, even she said that they were one step too far!!!  Once the stitching was finished I needed to iron one piece to flatten it a little and then frame them before packing them all away for taking to Carlow tomorrow afternoon.  I like my textiles displayed within a simple white frame without any glass covering the felt and feel that being so tactile they are definitely best displayed in a manner to invite the viewer forwards and tempt them to touch!  Sticking some pieces of velcro to the mount I offer the felt up to the hook side (of the velcro), press it in place and voila, the work is framed.   If this is not making total sense there are some pictures of the process I use in the section about displaying felt in ‘From Felt to Friendship’.

Why are these pieces heading in to Carlow tomorrow afternoon?  The Blueprint group that I am a member of is having a Christmas exhibition with a theme of urban and rural landscapes, the work is juried and curated and I would love to have one of these new pieces accepted.  I almost forgot, I actually ordered a batch of name tags this afternoon to stitch into bags and on the back of framed pieces, I don’t think that they will be ‘pretty’ enough to stitch inside vessels or on to scarves so this begs the question do any of you know where it is possible to order personalised tags online that look gorgeous and don’t cost an arm and a leg???  Thanks!

Rex trots through the flood outside my door this morning!

I’ll leave you with a picture of Rex plodding through the water outside my house this morning!  Following on from this it rained ALL morning but thankfully has now cleared up and is actually warm and humid, amazing.