Letters / packages from Sara.
The accompanying letter with contents.
A vintage collar that really appeals to my personal taste.
Sheets of wool.
Brass washers.
I really enjoyed the contents of the latest parcel I received from Sara as I felt they were really in par with the direction of the experiments I have been doing for Re-worked. Sara & myself both agreed that the sheets of natural cream wool instantly lend themselves perfectly to branding techniques, something I particularly want to use the brass washers for. Included in the parcel was a piece of wool shaped almost like a shoulder pad that I found really interesting - hopefully Sara has more or similar? I think they would be amazing layered up - very dramatic. Also part of the parcel was a bag of butterfly clips - another perfectly suited - easily found item that will be easy to work into experiments and the overall look / feel of Re-worked.
One item I instantly fell for was the vintage lace collar. This item is the sort of thing I first had in mind for the project and the sort of thing that falls into the "soft" category - in need of some destructive processes to bring it back to life. I think that it's a perfect base to create a piece from. It also reminds me a lot of the sort of vintage items I searched for use in my degree show project Vanity Series 2010. While in my personal project I played on the idea of "feminine" by creating intrinsically "pretty" items, I am looking forward to taking this element away from most items - making them beautiful in an alternative way.
I am also excited to say that Re-worked will be expanding to Aberdeen! In our initial proposal Sara & I specifically identified that this project would expand over two cities (Inverness & Dundee), highlighting that collaborations can take place by different means i.e our blog and posting items and ideas so to add a new city into this equation, as I will be moving there on Sunday, is just another exciting turn.
Myself & Sara also have a few more steps planned for the course of Re-worked. We hope that once I am moved in and have set up my work area that we can have mini workshops in each other's discipline: Sara learning a few metalwork techniques & myself learning some basic textile approaches. We also hope to have a day or two rummaging around some local vintage shops and recycling centre and I would love to take Sara, at a later date, to Baird's in Glasgow to hand pick some silver wires / chains etc to use.
Also before I forget Sara, I had a thought that as a way of further integrating metal techniques with textile approaches, you might be really interested in getting some of this silver wire (0.02 thickness) as it could be used almost like a thread - sewed through materials - even rusted - for interesting results!
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cooksongold.com/Wire/Sterling-Silver-Wire-0.20mm-30-Gram-Reel-Fully-Annealed-prcode-HSA-556
Glad that you're pleased with the parcels! And I'm very pleased that you're going to use the brass washers in your branding experiments - the contrast between the delicate pearl wire rings and the chunkier washers will look grand! Imagine this on the wool!!!
ReplyDeleteWhen I saw the collar I instantly thought of you! It's similar to the ones we found on our trip to Abernyte before Degree Show! I like the idea of de-prettying as it is, as you say, very soft and delicate. I'm hoping to cut collars similar in shape and size to this in the wool - will need to wait for laser cutting opportunity though, I'm afraid. Have a couple of mock ups, just hand cut which are interesting in form but would be far better with the singed edge the laser cutting would cause. Will send these to you once you're settled at your new address!
Which leads me to the next point you've discussed - Re-worked in Aberdeen. I'm eager to experience the arts/crafts scene via this AND to add 'Workshops with Nicola Reed' to my CV!
Also, had a look at the Cooksons link - I'm really glad you posted this as I've been dabbling with wire stitching but with PURPLE/BURGUNDY wire which screams against the natural colour palette we've gone for. Silver is definitely the way forward!