RURAL COLLUSIONS OPENS!!!

Saturday was a beautiful day to have the Private View party for Rural Collusions at Thornham Walks. Proceedings kicked off at midday with drinks on the lawn at Thornham Hall and at about quarter past one we had a walk through the woods all together to view the work. We had beautiful weather, fantastic surroundings and it was wonderful to see so many friends ( sorry some of you couldn't make it due to other commitments but there's still the opening at Lackford Lakes next week). 

  Celebrations continued when we got home, with Champagne and homemade sloe gin, as we moved all my stuff into my new studio too ( I may yet have an official opening once everything is sorted out- a good excuse for a party).

Here are some images of the Leaf Litter which was the last piece I put in the exhibition and didn't make it into the previous post.

This is only a short post to keep you up to date as I am rushed off my feet meeting photographers- yesterday I met my good friend and fantastic photographer Douglas Atfield to get some really professional shots of my work and today I'm meeting the photographer from the newspaper, I've got everything to prepare ready for installing at Lackford on tuesday and I am finishing moving into my new studio!!!!! No rest for a few more days then.

The time has come....

Well the days are counting down now until the opening of Rural Collusions at Thornham Walks, Thornham Magna on Easter Saturday. I have been busy weaving between the trees, as you can see above. I am incorporating things that grow in the woods as well as different yarns. This is laborious work but I hope you'll agree the effect is worth the effort. Still more to do though not finished yet.

I have been working on my piece called "Tree veins, life blood," this is made by forcing red yarn into the cracks in the bark of an oak. It is coming along nicely.

The carpet of moss that I have been working on is looking really good around the bottom of a very large oak and here you can see a bramble growing amongst it.

My knitted mushrooms are looking lovely too on a tree with the deep green of the nettles growing near by. I still have my leaf litter to put in the woods and these pieces to complete where necessary but its looking good for the opening! If you manage to get across to Thornham Walks to see the work I'd love to hear what you think so leave me a comment or drop me an email-janevsouthgate@yahoo.co.uk
I look forward to hearing from you.

Enjoying the sunshine

I thought I'd blog today about how wonderful the last few days have been, the sun has been shining and I've been outside a lot. I've planted my first early potatoes- Arran Pilot, weeded some of the flower beds, sanded some more of the walls in my new studio and painted them and I've been knitting more mushrooms in the sun, what more could you ask for!

Don't the flowers look fabulous, such splashes of colour cheer any day. I am desperately trying to grow a patch of Hellebores and make them fill a corner in my garden here are a couple of the ones I've managed to grow so far.

The animals are all enjoying the weather too. Take a look-

This is Flopsy and Miffy, our rabbits enjoying the sun, and below are Gwen and Margaret perched and Syd strutting his stuff.

Humphrey, Bobble, Hetty, Pompom, Beryl Cheep, and Peggy can all be seen below scratching around in the sun. 

This is Talullah, she is one of our two original cats and she has two girls called Ophelia, on the left, and Floella, on the right, she is a great hunter and brilliant mum.

Then we have Fleur who is Talullah's sister and our other original cat and she has Cephar, ginger tom, and Dora, tabby girl, all of them are very affectionate and love sleeping in the sun.

......and finally the mushroom knitting!

Five down, three to go! The Count Down Begins....

How yummy do these bracket fungi look? Even if I say so myself they are really scrumptious. I can now tick off Knitted Mushrooms, Bracket Fungi, Leaf Litter, Purple Feathery Rush Heads and the Moss Carpet for our exhibition, Rural Collusions. Only Puffballs to finish in the studio and the weaving in the trees and veins in the bark to construct on site and the work will all be complete( she smiles smugly to herself)! These'll look even better on the trees at SWT Lackford Lakes. 

As I mentioned I have also completed my Moss Carpet - here are some pictures of it. They show close ups of the rag rugging in the knitting, (of course made in moss stitch), and one of the whole thing laid out on my living room floor. 

Not long now until Rural Collusions opens at Thornham Walks, Thornham Magna and SWT Lackford Lakes. My collaborator, Ruth Richmond (not mother nature), has created some amazing feathered pieces for the exhibition that are really stunning. Check out her website web.me.com/ruthrichmond and see more images of her work.

Purple loveliness!

Scrumptious isn't it, yes these delicious yarns are the beginnings of my purple feathery rush heads that I am making for "Rural Collusions." The point 5 yarn is a delight to work with and the lime/pistachio green knotted pieces are cotton dyed with purple feathery rush heads!!! They are actually called common reeds but my dear friends, Nicola (www.halfpennyhome.blogspot.com) and Sam who have taught me all I know about natural dyes, always call them purple feathery rush heads and it's a much more evocative, poetic name so I use it too. (You too can get help with natural dyes in Nic's fabulous new book, A Green Guide to Country Crafts, get one it's gorgeous). 

Here are the reeds, once i've made them, I hope you approve, and think I've done the materials justice. They will look even better in situ at Suffolk Wildlife Trusts Lackford Lakes as they will reflect the reed beds that are growing near by but they look quite lovely in my veg patch for the sake of photos. I hope you agree.

More fun with natural dyes

The pot on the left shows my cotton tape and interlining being mordanted ready to be dyed. The pot on the right is the purple feathery rush head dye bath, gorgeous isn't it! It made the most delicious lime green.

Sorry about the quality of this picture but my camera wouldn't do the colour justice so this pic comes off a phone.

On the left is the madder root that has been soaking in this cotton bag and to the right is the fleece we dyed with it, yes that fabulous tangerine in the colander above the saucepan is fleece!!!

The darker orange was from the first use of the dye bath and the lighter from the second use, aren't they delicious?! All I have to do now is make some work with them!

Oh what a wonder blue!

I have had the pleasure this week of using the magical natural dye, woad, again. With the help of my dear friends Sam (also known as Peg the Dyer at Kentwell Hall) and Nicola (halfpennyhome.blogspot.com) I managed to dye all the fabric I needed to make my bracket fungi gills and dye a few puff balls just to add colour and interest. What is so exciting is that as you pull the fabric from the dye bath it is yellow and only when you waft it in the air does the magical transformation from yellow to blue occur!! How fab is that!

Here are the gills in production, the dark blue for the backing of the gills is a woollen fabric, this absorbs the colour really well and the lighter fabric for the gills themselves is cotton interlining- cotton does not take the colour so intensely.

I've also been making some leaf litter for another piece for 'Rural Collusions'.  I am making leaf litter out of fabrics with natural prints i.e. leaves, flowers etc, on them. I will scatter them on the floor at Thornham in spring when there would normally be very little leaf litter around. I am very pleased with them so far but still lots more to make!

Moss production is still under way the carpet is growing as I continue to add more sections to it. Here you can see the latest pieces above ( the top piece is courtesy of Nicola and the bottom piece is mine). I have started to incorporate garden string/twine, its such a fabulous colour for moss and it has a great texture.

Here are some other pieces of work I've made using string both knitted and woven.

The piece above is called 'Lost' and the one below is called 'Quiet voices'.