Birds - Archaeopterix, and bird photos too

If you go to
http://www.birdway.com.au/index.htm
you will find a great site with bird photos, and you can join a Google group where Ian Montgomery (from Queensland) will send a free Bird of the Week photo to your email.  This site was recommended to me by the Collections Manager, Ben McHenry, at the Science Centre of the South Australian Museum.  I went there this week to see the Archaeopteryx fossil cast - actually they have three, of two specimens - because of the research I have been doing for my college project.  Ben was very helpful, pointing out that as a member of the public, the Museum and the specimens are mine (and everyone else's!) because our money pays for them; so they are happy to show specimens not currently on display, such as "Archie" as I have taken to calling him.  He explained that all the specimens ever found (I think it is eight) have been found in one quarry in Bavaria.

This is my own photo of a New Holland Honeyeater on the Grevillea in my back garden.  The shrub was a Mothers Day present from my daughter a couple of years ago and has grown amazingly well.  The Honeyeaters love to take the nectar from the flowers.  Tibs the Cat gets scolded by them if she goes out when they are wanting to feed.  Lying about under the Grevillea is her favourite spot.

Birds - Archaeopterix

My sample for Archie,as I call Archaeopterix  

 

I am working on a textile art journal with a theme of Birds for my MAJOR FINAL PROJECT for college. This is my sample for Archie's page. Archie is one of about eight fossils aged around 140 to 150 million years old, and is thought to be a link between dinosaurs and birds. However, as he came before any of the bird-like dinosaurs there is quite a bit of controversy - that's all science, I'll just get on with the art! I'm using printed organza, with some orange and blue fabrics (complementary colours) and some albatrosses flying. This may not be the final layout but I do like it.

Embroidering texture with yarn and other threads

This is a sample of hand-couching that I have completed for my college class.  I have used various yarns including crochet cotton, eyelash yarn, plain double knitting, slub yarn and DMC embroidery cottons.  What is it?  It is the bark on a tree trunk; the Bristlecone Pine Tree has this appearance, so I made a sketch of the trunk and this is my interpretation in stitch.  It is very tactile (just has to be touched) which is one of the things that attracts me to textile arts.

Dyeing the Coral Reefd

This is my finished dye project.  The sea was pole-wrapped and dyed shibori-style; the reef components were drop-dyed with a few lines from fabric markers to define a few corals; the fish were made of vilene.  The dyes were cold water Procion dyes.  I very much enjoyed this project and left the border open (just a zigzag finish) because I wanted to show the vast openness of the sea.

Textures in Embroidery

If you look at this side-on view of these ducklings, you will see the fluffy texture, especially compared to the smooth poppies above.  The ducklings have been worked in Ghiordes knots, a stitch also known as Turkey Work, in which a loop is made followed by an anchoring back stitch.  These are worked closely across the area, and the loops cut open when finished.  They can be trimmed or left as they are

This close up of the poppies shows their smooth texture alongside the butterfly, which has both smooth satin stitch for the wings and Ghiordes knots for the body.

This embroidery was worked from an English book called Countryside Embroidery Book by Lalla Ward, now unfortunately out of print but sometimes available in public libraries.

Experiment with different stitches yourself - have fun!

Fabric Painting and Beyond

Since my last entry I have been having the time of my life, learning new techniques, working on a project for my Dyeing Unit - pix will appear when it's finished.  The photo I uploaded last time has a successor - after we talked in class about stitching into our fabric painting, I made another with my daisies more daisy-like by stitching on it.

Next week we start "Embellishment" - lots more fun - now I understand why people study textile arts.

Dyeing

I've just started studying Textile Arts at my local college (hence no recent entries, too busy) and one of the subjects is Dyeing.  This is one of my early efforts, I was rather pleased with it.  I plan to use dyeing lots more in the future in my work, I love the brightness of the colours.