Hanging at Tatton Park

A busy morning on the 11th March 2008! Members were hanging paintings and Rita was arranging the two cabinets. Choosing Joy to clean the paintings was perhaps not the cleverest thing as she is the shortest member!


There is a wide range of items in the cabinets, this photo shows scarves, a mask, a tie, jewellery and silk box. The mask is a genuine Venetian blank bought at this years festival. All items are for sale and effectively show the skills of our members.

Works on show are both traditional and contemporary and utilise both silk paint and textiles.

Beryl's use of porcelain and glass on silk is such an unusual combination and is represntative of the talents of members.

Denise's interpretation of a Vegetable Patch is certainly the querky aspect of the exhibition.

At the end of the day we were very satisfied with the overall presentation and standard of work on display. If you are a memeber of the Natuional Trust do combine a visit to Tatton with an enjoyable viewing of our exhibiton in the Mansion House.

Exhibition is from the 15th March to the 1st June 2008, usual admission prices apply.

Visit Tatton Park's website for further details.

EXHIBITON UPDATE

MARPLE LIBRARY

9 members of Silk-n-Threads are also members of the International Guild of Silk Painters and between the 3-17th November are holding an exhibition at Marple Library, Stockport. The above picture is of the preview evening, in the background is the array of silk scarves for sale and in the cabinet 3D artefacts. One of our members, Chris Sims is on the left of picture.

Three members of Silk-n-Threads enjoying the evening and wine are left to right, Muriel Draper, Joy Wheatley and Jean Davies.

EXHIBITION DATES

Confirmation of dates for our three forthcoming exhibitions. We are all very excited about these venues and painting madly. Further details from the venues or email me.

"SILK TO DYE FOR"

Marple library, Marple, Stockport
3-17th November 2007
Mon 10-8, Tues & Fri 9-8, Thurs 9-5, closed Wed & Sun. Free
Silk paintings, embroideries, 3D artefacts and cards all for sale.
This exhibition will be manned by members of the Cheshire Guild of Silk Painters a branch of the International Guild of Silk painters who will be demonstrating and available to talk about the works of art on show.


"A SPLASH OF SILK"

Bollington Arts Centre, Macclesfield, Cheshire
Sundays only between 18th November - 30th December 2007, 2-4pm. Free
Silk paintings, embroideries, 3D artefacts and cards all for sale.

"YEAR OF THE GARDEN"

Tatton Park, Knutsford, Cheshire
15th March - 1st June 2008 inclusive.
Silk paintings, embroideries, 3D artefacts and cards all for sale.
Exhibition is in the main Mansion. Normal admission prices apply.

JUNE WORKSHOP - INDIGO DYEING WITH SHIBORI

Our June workshop was awaited by many with great excitement. Ruth Brown of Stone Creek Silk arrived despite the wet weather over in Yorkshire to demonstrate indigo dyeing with shibori techniques. Above is one of Ruth's striking indigo pieces. Click on Ruth's website above to see more of her work.

We made up a vat of indigo dye and then proceeded to prepare our fabrics, silk and cotton, by sewing, tieing and clamping. This photo shows a piece of cotton being prepared with strong synthetic thread.

Maggie and Muriel with their hands in the indigo vat. The fabric had to be held under the surface for 5 minutes. We had to be careful not to disturb the surface which would have added oxygen to the vat thereby reducing the dyeing qualities of the dye.
Note the green tinge of the fabric this is the colour the fabric is when first removed from the vat. Only when it is oxygenated in the air does it turn to blue.

Out to dry, in the afternoon we tried a range of larger samples, amongst them scarves that were clamped and wrapped around poles shibori style.

A hand stitched row of leaves although some of the group thought that they would make good fish. Belinda who completed them was very pleased with the result.

Annette clamped this scarf to get this striking effect.

This is a napkin that Denise sewed in a spiral resulting in this effective end result.

Maggie used a predyed scarf that she folded into a cone before knotting it several times.
Joy tied this chiffon scarf and this delicate pattern was achieved.

A bold pattern achieved by Pauline by tieing large marbles with string.

Beryl's butterfly was achieved by sewing the shape on to cotton, she intends highlighting the features with embroidery.

After rinsing and ironing the special effects achieved by indigo dyeing is obvious. The lack of flat colour, that is present with other dyeing methods, is the attraction of this method.This was a piece of silk satin and again the lack of flat colour creates a unique effect.

MEMBERS GALLERY 1 - DENISE HOPPER

Denise is the Treasurer of Silk-n-Threads and an active member sharing her expertise by regularly leading members' workshops.
This photograph was taken at the 2005 Harrogate exhibition when she was manning the stall of the Guild of Silk Painters.

Denise qualified as a teacher of Art and Design in 1967 at Bingley College, Leeds University. After teaching in London she became Head of Art and Design in a large comprehensive school in the Midlands. In 1989 she moved to Stockport and developed textile design in the Art Department at Marple Hall School.
She now concentrates on silk painting using dyes and threads to produce evening bags, scarves, ties, cushions and mirror frames, as well as pictures. Her work has been influenced by travels in Asia, especially Indonesia, China, Japan, Malaysia, Thailand and India. Previous exhibitions of her work have been held at Quarry Bank Mill, Styal; Stockport Hat Museum; Staircase House in Stockport; Bramall Hall; Buxton Visitors Centre, Bollington Art Centre and Stockport Art Gallery. Denise is an active member of the International Guild of Silk Painters and Silk-n-Threads.
Her most recent work has been a collection of individually designed textile necklaces.

EXAMPLES OF DENISE'S SILK PAINTINGS

Denise uses steam fix dyes for her paintings as she believes they give the most vibrant effects. She does not use gutta (resist) in her paintings, instead using the movement and properties of the dye to create the effects.

Remember to click on each picture to enlarge and appreciate fully the vibrancy and effect.

EXAMPLES OF DENISE'S SILK SCARVES.

All of the scarves below are 100% silk, and have been dyed using steam fix dyes as they give the most vibrant colour.

Denise sells her scarves through various local outlets such as the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester

Remember to click on each picture to appreciate the vibrant colours and effects that silk painting can achieve.

The four modelled scarves have been folded and then clamped before being dipped in dye, resulting in their patterned effect.

These two scarves have been folded and wrapped around a pole shibori style resulting in these stunning patterns.

The remaining scarves have been stretched on a frame and then the design painted on. Salt has been added before the dye dries creating the effect of movement.

CHESHIRE BANNER by GUILD MEMBERS

7 of our members are also members of the Guild of Silk Painters and this is the banner they completed in 2005 for the Guild's biannual festival in St Albans. All the local groups of the Guild completed a banner that represented their county. So our starting point was to brainstorm everything that Cheshire brought to mind. The name on our banner is in the style of the American HOLLYWOOD sign as the name did orginate from emigrants from an area of Stockport called Hollywood. The green base is to represent the flat Cheshire plains and finally the hats represent the main industry of Stockport in the 19th century - hat making. This gave each member the opportunity to design and make a hat for the banner.


The banner was made from silk satin and this photograph shows Pauline Townsend , Maggie Britten and Rita Stansfield (left to right) coping with the large frame.

The text on the banner was a range of saying about hats. The saying were firstly written with a fading pen and then Pauline used a dark grey gutta with a fine nib.

Denise Hopper at work with the hair dryer on a more detailed part of the banner. This photograph shows the preliminary layout of the hats before they were attached with bondaweb.

The Cheshire Cat sitting pretty on the CHESHIRE name.

This top hat was designed and painted by Pauline Townsend. The others were by Annette Anderson - the range of small black bowlers, Denise Hopper - purple wide brimmed hat, Rita Stansfield - pale blue bonnet, Belinda Rodway - the CHESHIRE name and the hemming of the banner.

Margaret Steeden - brown hat with veil,

Maggie Britten - the red hat with feather

After the festival the banner was long term display in the Hat Works Museum, Stockport.