Changing Pages

I have long admired altered books,

 the possibilities the book lends to be revised

 and the ingenious ideas the creators present to their new readers.

I recently was asked to add to one such beautiful book, 

 being transformed by A, 

a daughter of my book loving friend.

It has a definition of 'belief' on the front cover.

 Beginning as a GCSE project, its wonderful changes continue....

Four textured white pages were offered - ripe for re-fashioning.

 Ideas flowed freely before I had even read the beginning of the book, I made sketches and notes, one in CAPITALS - READ A's PAGES!

After being entranced by her personal, detailed and diverse work I realised how many of my original ideas would be right at home alongside, in terms of features and form.
Also, as our styles and talents are different, there would be some novel ideas.

As usual it took a while to cogitate and feel comfortable about starting,
and there was a small amount of gathering and preparation...

but a fabulous February afternoon was spent in a metamorphosing whirl of colourful creativity....once started it was difficult to stop!

 

 The first page:

A print of two photographs overlapped and merged prior to printing,

the lower from wet felt made in response to the sunsets outside our front window,

the upper - one such sunset...complete with urban street furniture!

The wording is a title of a book by one of my long time favourite authors, Patrick Gale. 

A's mum and  I are both huge fans and were mesmerised when we met him during a local book event.

Originally this page was intended to be much busier, with more words...

but on reflection less is more in this case!

Page Two:

 Four of my original thoughts were felt, holes, colour and crochet.

This page combines all four!

The larger holes were cut with a craft knife, variegated sock wool crocheted into pre-pricked smaller holes, and there is a re-used off-cut wet-felted corner.

This page, in contrast to Page One, needed something extra - whilst tidying up I came across the tiny pile of cut holes, carefully saved, sparkling in the sun.
Turned upside down / over / backwards,
they transformed the page and brought it to life, reminding me again of Brian Wildsmith's illustrations.

Page Three

A potato printed background with acrylic and sparkly paint, the other side of the holes and crochet, and a photograph of the listed fish.

As the holes would impact on each page my original idea was to have a fish on one...little did I know how significant this particular fish would be.
I visited it a few days before making the pages, and rejected a felt fish in its favour.

Having handed the book back I had an excited response from my friend who had actually played on 'her favourite park fish sculpture' as a child and shares my excited fascination for its form and function!
 

Page Four

Photo montage from 6.9.14 City of Colours  Festival
Images of works by Jimmy C and Jay Sharples.
Spray painted discarded masking tape from Jay Sharples street art.

It should come as no surprise that these images would be included...
vibrant colour and circles....

The textured background of the painted white page reminded me of the white brick walls colourfully sprayed that weekend...

The holes give glimpses to other gems!

The whole process was an honour and privilege, I was so thrilled to be asked to share A's book diversity-fying and I had such a great time celebrating colour and our beautiful city!
I may have a go at my own sometime...

Scrumble Swapping!

Have I told you how much I am enjoying freeform crochet?!

  - the freedom of taking wool for a wander, 

randomeandering with several threads, textures, and wiggles!

When Ali of crazy dazy, a fabulously creative knitter, expressed interest in freeform we hatched a collaborative idea of a scrumble swap!

Ali to knit a scrumble and the other Ali (me!) to hook one,

*pop it in the post, for it to cross the waves,  the other Ali to add to it* 

repeat from *to* 

until we feel it is time to stop!

This is the crochet one posted from Brum:

It will be soooo interesting to see what happens next!

I was really excited to receive Ali's parcel

a deliciously bright green and pink beaded scrumble, which reminded her of green cabbages! 

Its so much more random than I thought it could be, and so much better for it!
It looks like crochet..

I really enjoy exploring its shape and holeyness, 

Ali has deliberately made spaces for me to hook into...

 ...I am hesitant to add to it...

...so I propose to view it,
and savour it for a while...then have a go...
as that was its purpose -
to be one ingredient in a feeform collage!
I have been practising some new techniques...

Its so exciting to share creative ideas and I'm enjoying the thrill of the next stage.

Many thanks to Ali for another fun and inspiring project...an adventure in scrumbleland!

A Christmas Voice

 I have enjoyed making quite a few pieces of  felt during 2012, amongst them Project Dragonfly, The Dying of the Sun, and The Lost Sheep. 

In January another piece was made and given,
I have waited until now to tell the story of A Christmas Voice,
or C90 as it was named in my head whilst I worked on it.

A long time ago a friend and I began collaborating. I made a piece of felt for Karen to write about and Karen sent me some of her creative writing to inspire some felt making.

Her prose and poems were fabulous - prompting lots of memories and familiar situations or feelings. I had some ideas at first but nothing that leapt out as encapsulating a whole work or doing her words justice. 

Shortly after Christmas last year I re-read the items she had sent and a spark was ignited!

A Christmas Voice

The day before my birthday was quiet.

The turkey was gone, the chocolates sparse,

Only one cousin was still in our house, and

The tree lights blinked a Christmas reminder.

With nothing much to do now,

We talked of times gone by, a shared past.

I suddenly remembered, in the back of a draw,

As if it was nothing, an old tape.

Thought about after nearly twenty years,

Into the cassette player it went, fitting snugly,

Like Cinderella’s shoe, a little nugget

Of pure gold on a C90.

Pressing play, we all held our breath,

Time suspended, and then a voice, so familiar,

Spoke of a life we had never known.

My Gran spoke again, as she always used to.

Twelve children in a house with two bedrooms,

A murder in Aston,

A schoolteacher with a wicked temper,

And a Dad who never came home from the war.

We looked at each other amazed.

My Gran was in the room with us again,

As she always had been at Christmas,

Talking and talking, making another world come alive.

These days when we visit Gran, she is quieter.

Her voice sounds the same,

Cheery and hers,

But she asks when her mum is coming round,

And we always say, she’ll be round tomorrow…

It started with the green Christmas tree background and the blinking tree lights.  For those of you who are old enough to remember C90 cassettes - there is a homage to the case shape and winding, flimsy tape. The three distinct wool threads represent the colourful varied and exciting tales or yarns of Karen's Gran, which eventually become fused together into more repetitive and quieter phrases.

It was important that these threads began and continued beyond the edge of the felt.

I didn't realise that shortly before I had begun work on this piece Karen's Gran had sadly passed away, it made the making all the more poignant.
Karen's Gran's voice that had been preserved on the nugget of pure gold, has been transferred onto computer so that it  can still be heard -  also family and friends will have many happy memories of her,  hence the motif continuing beyond the edges.
Following suggestions by relatives Karen's poem was printed for people to read and keep after her Gran's funeral.

Hope this has prompted happy memories of exciting tales!
x

Collaborating - The Return...

At the beginning of the summer holidays a friend and I agreed to share some of our creativity and use it to inspire each other - I was really excited by this, as I love what she does. 

There were a couple of sneaky peeks at the piece of felt I gave her here.

Just before I went on holiday I received her wonderful work....and here it is, accompanied by a full view of the random wooliness:

The Return

Foamy surf, the blue-green ebb and flow of life on earth,

The never-ending motion of the pull against

The yellow sky, not a sunset, almost ominous,

Sulphurous, a backdrop for shadows.

 

A lumbering bulk, clumsy on land, hulking

Against the sandy vastness.

A silent, indistinct almost formless something,

Moving into the rhythm of sea.

At last, in the smooth depths, dugong-like,

Strange grace from great weight; waves lift and caress,

Silver threads weaving in and out of cerulean space,

Bubbles rising to the surface.

Finally, sunset comes, the shepherd’s sky,

A promise of good, and on the shore,

A perfect footprint, as big, as deep as a turtle’s laying nest,

Not formless, not indistinct.

 

I love Karen's poem, I have read it many times and find new depths.

The most amazing aspect of the collaboration has been how the image has been interpreted.

After I had read and commented on her poem Karen shared some of her thought processes. 

The piece of felt had been made with the sand at the bottom and I had intended the dark form as a footprint...but Karen had looked at it the other way up and revealed a shadowy figure....how fantastic!

After my initial reading of the poem I realised this, but found it hard to see 'him' and a tryptich came to mind..(Picture of a figure with yellow sky and sea below; watery scene with smoothly swimming whale form and bubbles; and the existing image as a footprint  on the sand) 

However as I re-read the words and gazed at the picture the figure lumbered into view ...

I could see 'him'! I felt quite emotional!

So I have used the same image both ways up to accompany the poem, I hope you can see him too!

I have thoroughly enjoyed working with Karen and she has sent me some more of her amazing writing. 

I hope to make something in response to some of her powerful work and I have an idea for another piece of wooliness to prompt some more creative writing....

Thank you Karen...may this be the first of many creative collaborations!

Collaborating - fusion of fabric and felt!

I'm hoping this will be a mainly pictorial post....

my wordy stream is feeling a bit stagnant...I think its all the earlier mornings...need to get used to new routines!

My fabulously talented friend and neighbour has designed and made matching items from this and this

they are big enough to carry keys and a mobile...

each one has both types of felt....

one on each side...

...and are lined with the most funky floral fabric..

They are pretty perfect pouches!!

I just hope the felt is robust enough to stand up to a fair bit of use!

Thank you creative  C...you are a sewing star!

Collaborating!

Collaborate: to work with someone else for a special purpose

Cambridge Dictionaries online                           

I have had great pleasure in passing on a piece of random wooliness to a friend

for her to ponder upon!

As I don't want to add extra pressure to her cogitating I won't reveal the entire picture but here's a couple of secretive snippets!

Things are a bit quiet on the production front - I've got lots of creative ideas swimming around but as its holiday time they will remain in the pool until there's chance to get woolly!

Hope you are all having some happy times in the summer sun!