Day Five - Frantic Activity

On the final stretch now that the magnetic poetry stamps have arrived - although the words I wanted aren't all there, but  I did find two sets of alphabet stamps hidden away in 'safe places'. I wanted to use stamps because of their unpredictability and to make up for the fact that only I can really read my handwriting, especially when it is small.

 Halved envelopes become pockets to hold textile samples, 

 laminated pattern pieces and shift tags

 The tags have had more added to them

On the reverse there is a little postcard stamp in which I've written a thought, memory or observation :-

"The texture of the world is worth exploring"
"I am the ghost of winter and the promise of spring"
"I want to wear the landscape"

"I am trying to follow another direction"

"There are many doorways, paths, options"

"A day walking the canal side. Huge foxgloves"

The surface of the table and most of the dining room is now covered with the signs of my frantic activity and I keep having to remember to wash the ink off my fingers before touching anything else. The Postman has been especially welcome as I also received a wonderful surprise parcel from the amazingly talented Tara Badcock who I am hoping to meet in person some day! Best of all there is a real, hand written letter, so I'm taking a break now to read it!

Day Four - Consolidation

 First pages with more detail added

I only had a few hours to work on the sketch book as I had meetings and paperwork to do today. The meeting this morning gave me the chance to explore possible ways forward with the wonderful  Morag Ballantyne mentor and coach in the cultural and creative industries, who made me feel inspired and energised! I was so worried about being late that I left the component parts of my sketch book at Corby Community Arts, thankfully I was able to collect them on my way home. I also stopped off to look at box frames and envelopes at The Range - no frames but some useful envelopes to customise for the sketch book.

 The tear in the petticoat - iron hoop exposed

Laminated Shift pattern pieces - front with photographs from Snibston Mining Museum and Fashion Collection, back with map of the world. Plain machine stitching and loose threads.

The pollen is very heavy going at the moment, so when I got home I decamped to my bed with all parts of the sketch book, trying to resolve a few final problems and thinking more about how to use the envelopes. It's a terrible year for Hay Fever sufferers and at times it's hard to breathe, think or move so it's good to have something to take my mind off this for awhile.

 The Signal Man

Ancient miners tunic - blood lines and rail links

Still dreaming of the straight shape

Walking adventure in the rain - Edward Thomas Birthday Walk 2012

Close to the Skin - Patterns & Petticoats - Snibston CPD

Apart from looking at the collections under my own steam and meeting with my Mentors Barber-Swindells, I was also able to select items from the Collections Resource Centre. I was keen to look at old shift patterns and the some of the petticoats that were supported by hoops or worn under / over the bottle cages. Sarah Nicol, Inspiring Collections Officer, Leicestershire County Council, Communities and Wellbeing was a wonderful guide through my chosen items and we had a wonderful time talking about the items she had brought to show me.

 

I was very taken with the layout instructions and have a feeling I'll be coming back to these in the near future, especially as I have a whole box of vintage Vogue patterns stashed away! As I don't have the figure for couture or faith in my pattern following abilities these elements these may just become part an image but there is something very tempting about these maps of the body.

I found the shapes, crumples and wrinkles fascinating and was very drawn to the colours an textures of the old cloth. There was something playful, joyful about the swing and swish these petticoats create when in motion. I was amazed at the many variations on a theme, I thought about the restriction, freedom and support these garments brought to the wearer and even though they had lost their crisp newness they still whispered of display and attraction, dance and drudgery.

It is hard to imagine just what this metal clasp 

must have felt like next to the skin

the metalwork and the rusting hoops were 

a strange reminder of the male and female.

There was also something very moving about the signs of wear and tear. The patches, darns and repairs encased beneath skirts, the bottle cages, bustles and padding all hidden extensions of the body. Shape shifters.

Then there was the surprising, joyous red flannel, offering protection from the cold but it was also believed that the colour itself offered protection from disease and could be used to draw out inflammation.

 

It is quite bewildering to think about the amount of time it must have taken to dress and curious that many items of clothing were either there to enhance shape or protect the fabric from the body.

I was only able to make the visit to view my chosen items two days before my proposal was due to be completed and I had to write something to send to Claire and Steve the day before this visit was to take place. I didn't feel ready, nothing was flowing and to compound my anxiety, my partner took a tumble down the stairs and had to be rushed to A&E. Thankfully he hadn't broken his shoulder, just partially dislocated it, but seeing him lying in a grey, forlorn heap at the foot of the stairs did fracture my powers of thought! Whilst trying to get my thoughts in order, I felt compelled to experiment with the notions of soft (wadding, fabric) and hard (machine stitches) as a way of sorting out the jumble of seams, shifts and pattern pieces living in my head! 

I enjoyed the raw edges and the flyaway threads, but I think Claire and Steve were a bit bemused by my strange samples and having seen their meticulous work, I'm not surprised!

However there are just some times when it's important  to follow your own processes and ways of working, these samples are fragments of thought, beginnings not finished ideas.

Snibston CPD - On Site Inspirations- Connectivity?

On my second visit to Snibston Discovery Centre as part of my CPD investigations I found myself wondering whether there may be any visual, historical or emotional connections to be made within this "House of Collections". I am still very interested in the idea of the Shift with all the resonances that word creates but I've been wondering about the energy that drove innovation and industry and the way that the railways might link coal, corsetry and location. I've also been thinking about pipes, tunnelling, layers, strata, money, power, corsetry and constraint. 

Snibston CPD Inspirations - Pipes & Ducting

This set of images were taken on my second visit to Snibston, on my day of collecting connections. In my mind there is a visual link between the ducting, what travels trough the pipes, the idea of internal and external spaces, expansiveness and confinement which is leading me back to corsets, bustles and bottle cages as sculptural forms.