teaching dates

 I am teaching in a few places this summer both for 'vintage' embroidery and stumpwork.

    In Ipswich I will be showing  how to embark on a stumpwork project, looking at basic techniques and how to plan the project. If stumpwork feels a bit daunting or beyond you I can show you how to make simple techniques very effective and give you a step plan to finish your work. This is a residential three day course...link here  in a hotel with use of pool, sauna and jacuzzi !!!!Perfect for aching fingers.
  At West Dean I will be getting students started on the best basic embroidery stitches, talking about colour and design and enjoying the garden !!!!It is a lovely time of year to take inspiration from the plants around you and West Dean has an idyllic garden. I will be there for four days, firstly for a three day course and then a one day taster course also in embroidery. Both course details are here.

There is also a further stumpwork course in Milton Keynes this September which I will write about soon.

Sheela-na-Gig is finished !!!!

   She has been a long time coming! After a false start and then a total aversion to finishing her my anamorphic  Sheela-na-Gig is finally complete.
  She poses here on a lovely old gilt edged bible which is tied with horse hair. I found that when I removed her from her backing cordonnet she curled up as if already in a reflection (some anamorphic objects have to be viewed in a curved reflective surface) and I liked how she felt like a curled up leaf in my hand so here she sits.

She will also be the first of a series of charms that I am making.... she represents protection from crazy people.

The rest of her story is on this post.

Closing the Shop

 

 UPDATE  16.5.17
The shop has a brief reprieve and will stay open until the 31st.
...................................................................................................................................................................
I am sad to say that my Etsy shop will close this week on the 17th. I will be looking about for new premises and will of course blog as soon as I find something appropriate. And most importantly a big Thankyou to all my customers on Etsy over the past nine years.

                                                      The Glass Pingle on Etsy

Teaching in lovely places

 This year I am teaching in some lovely places ! Above is Theobalds park in Cheshunt where I will be teaching stumpwork in May with Anglia Leisure Learning . There is a link in the side bar too where you can download the flyer for the course. I will also be teaching during the summer at another venue with them which I will post about later. We will be looking at basic stumpwork for you to use in your own projects including some needlelace and raised stitches.

   I will also be at West Dean in March and then July teaching embroidery . The first course in July is a good starter course for embroidery where we have a vintage  theme and take inspiration from 1930's embroidery. Then there is a one day taster course in needlelace . Both places are beautiful and relaxing environments for learning with gardens for evening walks and great food.

   I'm looking forward to seeing everyone and having a lovely time at these beautiful houses.

Navigation

 To start the year I think a little map is in order. I realised that I have three blogger blogs, a tumblr account, two Etsy shops and a website ! My corner of the internet may need some arrows.....

➳
The Glass Pingle: This one here where I show my work as it gets done with studio shots and work in progress.
Thread Management: My experiences of being artist in residence to Imperial colleges vascular surgery department. There is nothing for the squeamish to worry about but there are needle and procedural references.
The Museum for Objects of Vertu: this documents the objects in the museum in the corner of my studio.It is where I examine delicate ideas .Sometimes it opens to the public.
➳
The Glass Pingle Studio on tumblr : here is a lot of stuff that inspires me ( I've linked to the archive page as that is how I use it but you can navigate to the main page).

➳➳The Glass Pingle on Etsy: all my embroidered buttons and jewellery
➳➳Fleur Oakes On Etsy: the big stuff when there is some to sell.

➳➳➳
Fleur Oakes: The website , finished work and commission information.

All that was left behind

   A new piece, finished yesterday, and the most challenging yet. I have been pondering how to tackle a fragmenting leaf structure for a long time and was now able to get on with it. I'd finally found the right coloured threads and so with my 3d head on I devised  a reverse cordonnet system to recreate this leaf. 

  What fascinates me is how leaves slowly break down and become something completely different. The title references the idea in archaeology of 'taphonomy' (all that is left behind) where we find artefacts with very little context and have to build a world around them.If someone had never seen a tree and you showed them a dead leaf like this what would they imagine and could they ever understand all that a tree is and does from this one fragment?  I find myself exploring more and more the idea of empathy with things unknown and how to find a language to speak to them.

some 'in progress' pictures...

                                                

   As you can see from the image above I started with a very unconventional cordonnet, in fact it was a drawing rather than the usual outline.I put in a wire vein structure onto the drawing and then went from there.Technically it is almost impossible to say how I made this but here is a list of techniques for those who are interested;
detached buttonhole stitch ,picot stitch, fanned corded brussels stitch, needle chains and scissor knots.

and finally......showing how I 'lay in' threads as 'ghost' cordonnets

17 hours !!!

Little morsels

     
  I've just added several rings and brooches to my french knot embroidered range.These join the other hand embroidered brooches and buttons now on my Etsy shop.
  For some of the brooches I have used a hand treated devore velvet and only embroidered into the gaps.This was an excuse to use some of the rayon threads from Stef  Francis that I have been hoarding as the sheen of the rayon went perfectly with the velvet.
 The rings use some of the beautiful Gloriana silks that I have a particular passion for.

There are also some of my newer range of buttons with raised work on them inspired by rocks and moss.

..and lastly a new colour way for the 1930's inspired flower border range.... a dark blue delphinium!

more here.........the glass pingle on Etsy