Down Under Textiles 10

Australia’s exciting magazine for fibres, yarns & textiles DOWN UNDER

How to use

deColourant

Issue 10, 2013

SCREEN PRINTING

made easy

Applying heat with soldering irons

AUS $9.95, NZ $11.95,

FloodArt – recovering through craft DUT10Cover.indd 1

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Welcome

Hello! It’s so exciting to hear of your adventures with textiles. So many of you are challenging yourselves with workshops, exhibitions and loads of experimentation. It is thrilling to be part of so many creative pursuits.

In this issue, you will find more skills to learn. Never tried screen printing?

Sally Westcott provides the information you need to start printing your own designs using paper stencils. For those wanting to try a more complex method, Dijanne Cevaal demystifies breakdown printing. The process involves painting a thickened dye paste onto a silk screen and then printing the resulting screen with more thickened dye paste to create a print.

Anne Mitchell explains how to use household items with grid patterns to create patterns on cloth, and Dale Rollerson shows how to use deColourant on fabric. For something completely different, Neroli Henderson shows us how to use a soldering iron on fabric.

We also have great stories to engage you. You will be amazed at the wearable art of young designer, Tess Tavener Hanks. And we meet six Queensland textile artists: Merody Buglar, Mel Forrest, Kathryn Iliff, Suzanne Marshall, Kate Oszko and Jane Rundle, who have formed their own critique group.

Also from Queensland, read about Chris Jones, who wanted to create something positive from the 2011 floods that damaged her Brisbane home.

FloodArt was the result – retrieved photographs, stitched and collaged.

Finally, Cynthia Harvey Baker takes us on a journey to Patan in India in search of double-ikat.

Wow, there’s so much to read, I’ll let you get started.

Editor EDITORIAL Editor: Erica Spinks

Associate Publisher: Gavin Burrell gavin.burrell@practicalpublishing.com.au

Editorial Coordinator: Deborah Segaert

Finance Manager: Linda Constable linda.constable@practicalpublishing.com.au

Subeditor: Lorraine Moran Designer: Jo Martin Advertising Sales: Jan Saxon jan.saxton@practicalpublishing.com.au Tel: 07 3300 4022 SUBSCRIPTIONS Subscription Manager: Linzi Wilkinson linzi.wilkinson@practicalpublishing.com.au Online: www.practicalpublishing.com.au Tel: 07 3160 9940 PUBLISHING Managing Editor: Debra Hudson debra.hudson@practicalpublishing.com.au

Group Publishing Director: Rob Wilkinson rob.wilkinson@practicalpublishing.com.au HEAD OFFICE AUSTRALIA Practical Publishing International Pty Ltd GPO Box 1457, Brisbane, Qld Australia 4001 Tel: 07 3300 4022 www.practicalpublishing.com.au EUROPEAN OFFICE Practical Publishing International Ltd St Christopher House, Stockport Cheshire, England SK2 6NG Tel: +44 (0) 844 561 1202 www.practicalpublishing.co.uk

DISTRIBUTION Australia: Gordon & Gotch Tel: 02 9972 8800 New Zealand: Gordon & Gotch Tel: +64 (0) 9979 3000 England: Comag Tel: +44 (0) 1895 433600 South Africa: Magscene Pty Ltd Tel: +27 11 805 502 Email: tarrynf@magscene.co.za Published by Practical Publishing International Pty Ltd. The style and mark of Down Under Textiles is used under license from Newlife Media Group Pty Ltd. See copyright and trademark notices below. ISSN 2201-3857.

For overseas distribution enquiries please contact Andrew Randall Eight Point Distribution – Australia Andrew@eightpointdistribution.com.au Telephone: + 61 (0)2 9960 5710

COPYRIGHT NOTICE

The Editor reserves the right to include or not, any submissions or part thereof. All articles and projects are copyright of the author and must not be reproduced for commercial or financial gain without permission. Practical Publishing has taken reasonable steps to ensure that the copyright of each article/project resides with the contributing author. Practical Publishing relies on these warranties when asserting that the copyright is owned by the authors. The instructions for the included projects have been checked for accuracy and are published in good faith.

However, we do not guarantee successful results and offer no warranty, either expressed or implied.

The claims and statements made in any advertisements are not those of the publisher. Practical Publishing takes no responsibility for the accuracy of the content of any advertisements, advertorials or paid promotions. All information supplied in advertisements is the responsibility of the company who books and pays for the space.

TRADEMARKS

Many of the brands and products mentioned in the news and projects pages in Down Under Textiles are trademarks of their respective companies. All companies and brands mentioned in the magazine are included for editorial purposes and all copyrights and trademarks are acknowledged.

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Contents 10

16

AUTUMN 2013

General 6 Bits n Pieces 76 The Library 78 What’s on, When & Where 82 Next Issue

D

Learn, Meet, See 10 FloodArt – recovering through craft 16 Grid Patterning by Anne Mitchell 24 Meet a Textile Artist

w

– Tess Tavener Hanks

30 Start Screen Printing – Part I with Sally Westcott

38 Turn up the Heat – Soldering Irons Part 1 with Neroli Henderson

44 Breakdown Printing – Part I with Dijanne Cevaal

54 Broadstrokes – meet this

Queensland textile group

62 Writing on the Wall

54

by Dale Rollerson

66 Warp and Weft – Patola in Patan with Cynthia Harvey Baker

70 Colourplay

– travelling textiles exhibition

Subscriptions

5 Down Under Textiles 29 Down Under Quilts 61 Creative Expressions 4 | www.downundertextiles.com

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DESIGNING A CAPITAL:

Crafting a Nation

Under My Umbrella, Sharon McGrath, Strathdownie, Vic

ATASDA’s current travelling suitcase exhibition will take you on an exotic journey along the trade routes of North Africa to the ancient city of Marrakesh, a place of richness and intense colour, where cultures meet.

Filled with up to 20 textile artworks, 30 tiles made from materials kits and a folder of artists’ statements, a suitcase really is full of inspiration and colour.

If your group is interested in borrowing the exhibition, visit www.atasda.org.au/exhibitionmarrakesh for more details.

Tile artwork, Robyn McGrath, Forster, NSW

To celebrate the designed capital and to recognise Canberra as a city with a unique culture, Craft ACT: Craft and Design presents Designing a Capital: Crafting a Nation, a program of exhibitions and events that celebrates the role of craft and design in establishing a Canberra culture and the crafting of our nation’s capital.

A symposium will be held on 24 May and will explore the craft design eco-system in urban and non-urban, industry and commercialisation, education, government and community landscapes. A designers’ market will be held on 25 May. For more information, visit the website www.craftact.org.au

Mad Quilters’

GATHERING

Tile artwork, Elizabeth Roberts, Lindisfarne, Tas

TELL US: What Are You Creating?

We love to hear about your textile adventures. Are you experimenting with new techniques or are you attempting to perfect an existing method? Have you made something that makes your heart sing and you want to share it with the world? Have you learnt a new skill from Down Under Textiles? We want to hear your stories.

Part of the fun of creating is sharing the excitement with other like-minded people. That’s where we come in. Send us your photos and tell us your story – we promise to be excited, too! Email us: mail@practicalpublishing.com.au or post on our Facebook page: www.facebook.com/downundertextiles

The first Mad Quilters Gathering of 2013 will be bigger and better than last year!

There will also be two new sections introduced to keep you up to date with the latest in sewing, machine embroidery, textiles and quilting. There are also 40plus vendors dedicated to the art and craft of patchwork and quilting – don’t miss it!

Entry is only $10, and committed husbands and kids 14 and under admitted FREE! From 24–26 May, 8 The Avenues, RNA Showgrounds, Fortitude Valley, Brisbane. Visit the website http://madquiltersgathering.com.au or call for further information 02 9674 4488.

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BITS

India Adventure

Peepal, 57cm x 99cm

International

‘YILBIRD’ Project

Rajasthan Camel, 49.5cm x 101cm

In issue 9, Sue Dennis recounted her experiences in her first trip to India in her article, A Goat in a Coat. She created eight quilts in response to her visit and these now form a solo exhibition, India Adventure, which premiered in France at Quilt Expo en Beaujolais in April.

The quilts feature block printed cotton, silks, embroidered and printed patches that were all purchased on holiday in India. A camel, leaf prints, tassels and braids and images of the iconic Buddha make their way onto the quilts. Visit Sue Dennis’s website www.suedennis.com

Art Quilt

AUSTRALIA

n PIECES

2013

Mathilde Jongbloed from the Netherlands contacted Down Under Textiles to tell us about her ‘Yilbird’ project that she hopes will extend around the world. On her blog, Mathilde has a pattern for a knitted bird that she hopes people will use as a basis for their own variations.

“I would like people to send me a digital photo and the story that goes with their bird,” she explains. “For whom did you make this bird, why did you use these colours and yarn, what did you want to express with this bird, where did you change the pattern and what did you want to achieve with it. With this project I hope to collect special examples and stories from all over the world.”

Mathilde’s blog is yilcreation. blogspot.com. Use the translate option on her blog to change the language.

Mathilde’s smallest bird is 5cm and the largest is 140cm

Ozquilt Network Inc is calling for entries for ‘Art Quilt Australia’, a curated exhibition of innovative, new contemporary art quilts to celebrate the centenary of the naming of the nation’s capital city as Canberra. Works will be selected that are inspired by, or reflect on ideas of people, place and nation.

With the definition of a quilt as “a stitched layered textile”, the exhibition is open to all artists across Australia. The closing date for entries is 19 July 2013. For more information, visit the website www.ozquiltnetwork.org.au

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T’Arts turns 10 South Australia’s Textile and Arts Collective (T’Arts) is a group of 35 artists and craftspeople, mostly from Adelaide and country South Australia, who run a shop and gallery in the beautiful heritage Adelaide Arcade building right in the

After The Fire, Gillian Napier

SAQA holds an auction of textile works each year as their main fundraiser.

Members are invited to enter a 30cm x 30cm textile work that is then shown online and auctioned. In 2012, 394 artworks were donated and $US67,450 was raised. This successful event gives many people the opportunity to own an original work of art by some very talented art quilters.

This year the SAQA Oceania group is sending its quilts in one group called

heart of the city. From small beginnings, the collective now attracts a solid clientele and members have recently celebrated their tenth birthday.

The collective was set up to promote art and design with a focus on textile and fibre, while fostering the creation and sale of quality, original works by its members.

The collective operates as a non-profit organisation, so that all proceeds go directly to the artists.

T’Arts members include both established and emerging artists, and the collective also aims to have more experienced artists foster the development of those who are just starting out.

Partnerships and collaborations occur regularly between members. There are also informal and occasional social and artistic activities where members gather in each other’s studios to see how others work, to have fun and workshop new techniques.

For more information about activities at T’Arts, visit the website www. tartscollective.com.au

Arimatsu Felt, Maude Bath and Liz Wauchope

Susan Cujes

Giselle Burningham

the Oceania Collection. Members documented their creative processes and a blog hop will be held later this year. The Oceania Collection will be on display at SAQA’s ‘Expanding Horizons’ conference in April.

For information about SAQA and its events, visit the website www.saqa.com or email the Oceania representatives Lisa Walton lisa@ dyedheaven.com or Ali George quiltingtravels@gmail.com

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FloodArt House contents damaged by the floods.

Chris’s backyard as the floodwater recedes.

Text and photographs by Chris Jones

While holidaying in south-eastern Australia, Chris Jones and her husband first heard that their home in Auchenflower, Brisbane, had suffered damage as part of the 2011 floods that devastated southern Queensland. Looking to create something positive from the experience, Chris created FloodArt and she shares this story with us.

My husband and I were holidaying in NSW and Victoria when we heard about the flooding of Toowoomba. Then we received phone calls and texts from our sons who were trying to rescue things from our home in Brisbane. We live in a Queenslander in Auchenflower and underneath the house had been turned into our business office and my sewing area. We have worked from home for over 10 years now, but have been in business for nearly 40 years.

Fortunately, the floodwaters did not enter the upstairs living area of the house. The boys managed to save the hard drive, customers’ card records, bank records, my good Janome sewing machine, some books and some fabric, but the water rose too quickly for them to grab everything.

Friends and family came to help with the clean-up and, of course, a lot of items were too water-logged to be saved. Fifteen years of books and magazines were thrown out, while a box of photos (that I was going to go through one day) was saved by a friend. She and husband washed the photos and dried them in the sun. Had I got to them first, they would have been tossed out. This same friend also took ribbons and threads and washed them and another dear friend took all my fabric and washed it. It took three cycles of each load to get all the silt out. Then she ironed it all as well; I don’t think she wants to see my stash ever again!

When the photos came back to me, I saw what the waters had done to them. In February I came across a website called

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