Summer Week At the Guild - Australian Bush

My apologies to anyone who received a notice about this post before it was finished. I have been using a new app to load photos and it defaults to ‘publish’ rather than ‘draft’. This took me a while to work out. I often collect photos well before I add text, and had no idea the photos I was gathering had been posted. I hope I now have the hang of the new app.

This January I did two classes at the Embroiderers’s Guild Summer Week. Both classes were with Alison Cole. I enjoy Alison’s classes and, as she comes from Victoria, chances to learn from her in Adelaide do not come easily. 

The first two-day Class was entitled Australian Bush and was a sculptured project that really stretched my boundaries.

We began by dyeing silk - learning both wet and dry methods. I’ve not done this before but was keen to try. It was a lot of fun. Some of the group were quite experience at this. There was a lot of chatter and sharing. The temperature outside our air conditioned haven reached 41C, so we did not have to wait more than a few minutes for them to dry!

We worked with mulberry bark, padding,  wires and added some goldwork. Alison’s double-sided brick stitch was pretty amazing and required patience. I was determined to master it and worked on it at home late into the night.

I was more familiar with stumpwork wires - and decided to use this technique for some of the gum leaves as well as the moth.













I have not finished assembling this yet - I had another class immediately after this one and I have found it hard to keep up.

I’m not at all sure what I am going to do with the finished piece. It isn’t something I can turn into a utilitarian item! 

Regardless of what I do with it, it was an engaging and fun class. I learned a heap and pushed my boundaries. My next class was also with Alison Cole - Opus Anglicanum. That's the topic of my next post!