Squiggle

'just a gift for a friend who loves the 'squiggle' print by Vivienne Westwood'.

Ziggy

   My friend and I were big fans of Bowie.We mourned him and decided that we have to take up where he left off, so..... I have been developing a technique which I refer to as 'chaos lace'. It sprang from the diabetes lace that I did and the need for speed and no rules !
  A spiral background that latches onto the design cordonnet and some random brussels stitch. Then the finished edges over the top of all of it.
This one is for my friend as a wedding gift.

Sheela-na -gig

  Who is she ? No-one is quite sure but she appears on stone carvings in churches which pre-date the actual buildings they are in. The name was given by the Victorians but the general consensus is that she is pagan. 

  I was looking to do a piece of anamorphic lace, an image distorted so as to be revealed only in a curved reflective surface. After much thought of what subject matter to choose I decided that as I could not think of anything profound I would do something not profound instead !!! Sheela-na-gig is usually depicted bald but I wanted to rectify that and so here she is.

  The anamorphic drawing was created by first doing my sketch and them slashing it to fine ribbons. These I then splayed out , taped down and traced out again carefully joining up the gaps. You can make her out on the right of the photo in the silver tube. 

  I had been inspired years ago by the 'Eyes,Lies and Illusions' exhibition here in London and so,like many ideas,this one waited patiently to come into being. She had then been an demonstration piece for another two years and so could never be finished !

Finally.

Artist in Residence

 What I didn't know about vascular surgery was that the techniques were all learnt from Belgian lacemakers in the early 20th C.; before then limbs could not be saved. I have written about my involvement with surgeons from Imperial College London over the past couple of years and the interaction of craftspeople with science and medicine. That has now moved on a tad with me being made artist in residence at Imperial's vascular surgery department! I will be working with student and practising surgeons looking at what I do and vice versa to see if there can be some 'reciprocal illumination'.
 There is a seperate blog for this work now, (over on the side bar) Thread Management

Landsacpe

 Being a bit quiet usually signifies that I'm in the middle of things........several things. One of these is another 'box' embroidery which is taking longer than I thought. 

  I have a collection of small boxes which I want to put small embroidered gardens into but this one is a whole landscape! I am trying to do a trompe l'oeil piece with rolling hills and a rocky dry river bed to fit into a drawer box. This is it so far.

  These are the threads,

and of course there is some work with the surgeons. ( see side blog 'Thread Management')

The Craft of Medicine

Another event ! I shall be demonstrating and talking with the public at an all day free event at the
Wellcome collection on Saturday May 14th

more thinking hands

...........a short film by J.P.Flintoff about the event on Saturday.( I appear towards the end)