Franka

Today I want to tell you a little story as a prelude to a project I want to start soon. When I was ten, I received a comic album by Henk Kuijpers, which tells the story of a young and adventurous Dutch investigator called Franka. Through her investigations she had made powerful enemies and, as a consequence, the airplane she’s travelling with is sabotaged and she is plunged into the ocean and swept ashore on a seemingly uninhabited tropical island. I won’t tell the story of her subsequent adventures, but instead concentrate on a particular scene in the story that I have been drawn to for nearly 30 years. Exploring the island, Franka discovers a little lagoon in the middle of the jungle, with a waterfall, flowers, fish and a beautiful bird. She lies down in the water and floats for a while, thinking that this is even nicer than she imagined. For some reason this image has always attracted and soothed me. Sometimes when I’m restless and find it hard to fall asleep, I try to imagine that I’m Franka floating in the lagoon.

The reason why this image has come back to me at this point is connected to my recent trip to Thailand. One day I participated in a boat trip to a place they call the Emerald Cave (Tham Morakot) on Ko Mook island. To get to the cave (which is more a crater than a cave) you have to swim approximately 80 meters (87 yards) through a pitch-dark tunnel with bats. Once you get out of the tunnel, you’re in a secret lagoon with shallow water, a small sandy beach and towering cliffs on all sides. The only way to get in is to swim through the tunnel or fly there. While admiring the view, I got a bit chilly as the air was cooler in the crater and my clothes were wet. I decided to get back in the water to warm myself, and suddenly I had a notion of lying down in the water to float for a while. That way I could admire the surrounding cliffs and sky without straining my neck. It wasn’t until much later that I realised what I’d done. I’d been Franka for a while. For some reason this thought really cheers me, and I’ve decided that I’m going to make a Franka wall quilt with this scene to remind me of my special moment.

© Henk Kuijpers 1979, Interpresse and Carlsen/if 1981

Sà-wàt-dee kâ

... is hello in Thai. I’ve just returned from a 3-week-holiday in Ko Lanta, Thailand. It’s been one of the best holidays ever, and I was so sad to have to return to reality. I’ve seen and experienced so much that I don’t even know where to start. I’ve recorded some of it in the journal I made and brought with me, but most pages are still unfinished. The journal will keep me busy for months, which is great, because that way I can keep the memory of our trip alive for longer. I’ll share some pages later when I feel they’re more finished.

Here are some of the things I fell in love with:

Corals. 

Swept ashore by the tides.

Lelawadee. 

There are so many beautiful flowers to enjoy, but the simple lelawadee is one of my
favourites. It has a lovley scent that is particularly noticeable in the warm and dark evenings.

Garden of Eden. 

We stayed at hotel Lanta Resort on Phra Ae beach, which has a lovely garden. 

The garden was home to a great number of different animals, including 

geckos and other lizards, birds, butterflies, frogs and even a snake.

 Phra Ae. 

This is the northern end of Phra Ae beach. I love the colour combination of white 

sand, emerald sea and blue sky. The same colour combination appears in many boats.

Fishing boat.

I love the colourful fishing and long-tail boats. After dark you can see the fishing boats like a 

string of light along the horizon. When the weather is hazy, they lit up part of the sky too.

Tropical thunderstorms. 

We experienced a few tropical thunderstorms during our stay. During one, we were 

having lunch huddled in a little bamboo hut with no walls. The first gust of wind half drenched 

us and blew away all the paper napkins, but the friendly staff did their best to shelter us.

Crabs, part I. 

We discovered some intriguing patterns in the sand and figured out that they were 

created by crabs. There were a lot of crabs around, which gave me a chance to study them 

both at a distance and up close. They’re like little aliens. Very funny and fascinating.

Crabs, part II. 

These patterns were also created by crabs. They reminded me of crop circles. 

Every crab had its own style.

Geckos. 

These little fellas have stolen my heart. I miss them already.

Snorkelling. 

To my surprise, I developed an addiction to snorkelling. I just loved the weightlessness 

of floating on the surface and looking down into a different world and its inhabitants. 

The fishes I saw were amazing. Striped, spotted and chequered in every colour 
imaginable. I loved it when I could swim into a whole school of fish and be one of them.

Notebook covers and journals

A couple of years ago, a workmate and friend of mine did me a nice favour. He was getting rid of a lot of old law books, and as he’d heard me mention that the sturdy book covers would be great for projects, he got me a whole bagful of covers as a surprise. When I saw the bag that he’d snuck into my room, I decided that I was going to make him something from those covers as a little thank you. I soon started on a notepad cover, but faced with some construction problems, the project remained a UFO. Recently, however, I learned that he will soon undergo complicated surgery, and I decided that the time had come for me to finish what I started. Fate helped me along with this, because I had just treated myself to the latest issue of International Quilt Fest: Quilt Scene, and there I discovered an article about [drum roll] fabric-covered notepads. This article gave me a fresh perspective on my own project, and I finally finished the cover. I snuck it into his room this morning. I hope he liked it. :)

I’ve also been busy with a couple of other projects. One of them is also for a friend, but still not ‘open to the public’, and the other one is a new journal. A while ago I asked you to stay tuned for more of my bookbinding adventures, and here’s the next instalment: Gwen Diehn’s Thirty-Minute Multiple-Pamphlet Journal (from The Decorated Journal). This was a lot of fun, even though I got myself into trouble by deciding that I was going to take a slightly alternative approach to making the cover. I did pull it through, though, and I’m very pleased with the result. I made this journal for a specific purpose. My partner Jarkko and I are going on a vacation to Thailand (!) soon, and my hope is that it won’t be too hot to journal there. I’m finding it difficult to get into the habit of journaling, so I’m hoping this trip might kick-start me. There has to be loads of things worth drawing or painting there, and I should hope my usual excuse (lack of time) won’t be a problem. I‘m very excited about our new adventure, and can hardly wait for it to begin. But, oh, there’s so much to be done before that!

Fodral och skissböcker

Under helgen som gick sysselsatte jag mig med tre små projekt. Det första projektet var ett fodral till ett anteckningsblock som jag började med redan för länge sedan, men som hade blivit liggande. Det var tänkt som ett litet tack till en arbetskamrat och vän som hade gjort mig en tjänst, och när jag nyligen fick höra att han ska bli opererad och sjukskriven en längre tid, bestämde jag mig för att tiden var mogen för att avsluta projektet. Jag smög in fodralet i hans rum idag. Jag hoppas att han gillade det.  :)

Mitt andra projekt är också till en vän, men det är inte ”offentligt” ännu. Det tredje projektet blev en fortsättning på mina äventyr med bokbindning. Det blev en skissbok som jag ska ta med mig när min Jarkko och jag åker på semester till Thailand (!) inom kort. Jag hoppas det inte är för hett för att teckna och måla där. Det ska bli spännande och jag ser verkligen fram emot det!

Notepad cover with the Finnish Coat of Arms

Fodral för anteckningsblock med Finlands vapen

My journal, with 300 g/m2 watercolour paper and vellum

Min skissbok, med 300 g/m2 akvarellpapper och vellum

Oats

A grain, which in England is generally given to horses, but in Scotland supports the people.

(Samuel Johnson: A Dictionary of the English Language, 1755)

To which may be added:

A useful material for dyeing fabric.

I’m really pleased with the results of my oatmeal-resist experiment. The cloth was a bit flat and boring after the first layer, but now it’s much more interesting. I’ll have to buy another type of oatmeal, though, with thicker flakes. I discovered that the pumpkin seeds that I used to create more texture stained the fabric in places, so I’m going to use them with caution in the future. However, perhaps this effect can be used to some advantage, e.g. for eco dyeing. I’ll just have to experiment. Another thing that I need to try is simply to give my current oatmeal brand a chance to shine on its own. Just because it looked too smooth doesn’t mean that it won’t create texture as it dries. I noticed that the porridge cracked and split in interesting ways as it was drying, so it’s possible that it was unnecessary to add the seeds in the first place.

From one thing to the next: do you remember that I sent off a little quilt to Scotland before Christmas and gave you a sneak peek of it? I recently got a letter that told me the quilt had arrived safely, so now I can post a couple of proper images of it. I chose cherry blossoms, because my friend lives near The Meadows in Edinburgh, where the ground is pink with cherry petals in spring. The image of the blossoms is ink-jet printed onto cotton and silk organza, and machine quilted and hand stippled. The background canvas is green because that’s my friend’s favourite colour and the predominant colour of The Meadows. It’s one of the greenest places that I know of.

Resultatet av experimentet med havregryn

Jag är jättenöjd med resultatet av mitt experiment med havregrynsreservage. Tyget var lite platt och tråkigt efter första färglagret, men nu är det mycket intressantare. Det här kommer jag att göra flera gånger. Jag måste bara experimentera vidare med olika typer av havregryn. Fröna kommer jag dock att vara försiktig med, eftersom de fläckade ner tyget på vissa ställen.

Häromdagen fick jag ett meddelande om att tavlan jag skickade till Skottland före jul hade kommit fram, så nu kan jag sätta in ett par bilder av den. Den är baserad på ett fotografi som jag har skrivit ut på tyg (bomullstyg och silkesorganza) med en bläckstråleskrivare och sedan maskinkviltat och handbroderat.

Oatmeal-resist dyed fabric 

Tyg färgat med havregrynsreservage

I mixed too much dye, so I dribbled some of the excess dye 

over a piece of white fabric and just left it to spread on its own

Jag blandade för mycket pigment, så jag droppade den överflödiga 

färgblandningen över en bit vitt tyg och lät det breda ut sig självmant

 

 Spring in the Meadows, December 2010

Ink-jet printing, machine quilting, hand stippling

Utskrift med bläckstråleskrivare, maskinkviltning, handbroderi

I have a little project going on

Do you remember my experiments with snow-resist dyeing? Well, here’s the next instalment in the series ‘Weird and Wonderful Ways to Dye your Fabric’.

It started innocently enough with low-water immersion dyeing. I used turquoise and lemon yellow Procion MX dyes that I poured over soda-soaked fabric crammed into an old ice-cream tub.

After rinsing out the fabric, I started thinking about texture. I went through different options and settled on this weird and wonderful technique that was described in the October/November 2010 issue of QAM (#47): oatmeal-resist dyeing. Who could resist that? It’s too weird to be left untried. So I set everything up and cooked myself some porridge. Now, the kind of oatmeal I have in my cupboard resulted in porridge that was a bit too mushy for my taste – I wanted more texture. So I looked through my cupboard again, didn’t find any muesli, but did find some pumpkin and sunflower seeds that were well past their best before-date. What better way to use them than to throw them into the pot? Then I spread a healthy helping of the goo onto the fabric, and now it needs to dry for a day or two before I add the dye. I’m very excited. Stay tuned and I’ll show you how it turned out. At the moment it smells a bit like dog food.

Jag har ett litet projekt på gång

Kanske du minns att jag prövade på att färga tyg med hjälp av snö för ett tag sedan? Här kommer del två i serien konstiga och roliga sätt att färga tyg på: reservage med havregrynsgröt. Jag fick tipset i nr 47 av QAM (oktober/november 2010). Jag började med att färga tyget i två fäger: citrongult och turkosblått. Jag var inte helt nöjd med resultatet så jag började fundera på hur jag skulle kunna få mera djup och intresse i det hela. Efter att ha funderat en stund valde jag att pröva havregrynsgröt som reservage. Det är helt enkelt för konstigt för att jag ska kunna låta bli. Så jag kokade en rejäl sats gröt och kletade ut det på tyget. Nu ska det torka en till två dagar och sedan är det dags för färgning. Jag återkommer till hur det blev i ett senare inlägg.

Procion MX dye bath - Färgbad med Procion MX reaktivfärger

 Cloth after washing - Tyget efter att ha tvättats

(the colours are not quite as pale as this - färgerna är inte fullt så här bleka)

 Oatmeal and seed-resist - Reservage med havregryn och frön

 I needed some colour therapy, so I also started this little wrist warmer project.

Jag behövde lite färgterapi, så jag började också med det här lilla pulsvärmarprojektet.

Bitten by the Bookbinding Bug

I signed up for a class in Japanese bookbinding last October, as some of you may remember. I really liked the idea of making my own sketchbooks, and have since become increasingly aware of the fact that a lot of artists enjoy making their own sketchbooks, or journals, for a number of reasons – aesthetic as well as practical. As a result, there have been a few additions related to simple bookbinding to my library. (I’m beginning to worry that one night I’ll wake up to a tremendous crash, as my flimsy bookcase finally surrenders to the weight of my collected wisdom. That doesn’t stop me from buying more books, though.)

As a warm-up exercise before the Real Thing, I decided to try making the little pamphlets that Gwen Diehn describes in her book The Decorated Journal. I started with the Three-Minute Pamphlet, and then moved on to the Six-Minute Double Pamphlet, in two different styles: the Pleat Book and the Dos à Dos. I used 120 g/m2 drawing paper, and my plan is to slip a pamphlet into a pocket in my personal organiser, to have it near at any time I’m stuck somewhere and feel the urge to doodle. I probably crammed too much paper into the pamphlets, as they all sprawl open, but never mind. A rubber band will fix that.

Next time I’ll go for the Thirty-Minute Multiple-Pamphlet Journal. That sounds very impressive. Stay tuned.

Biten av bokbindningsflugan

Kommer ni ihåg att jag var på japansk bokbindning i höstas? Jag gillade det där med att binda mina egna böcker och planerar nu att binda en egen skissbok så småningom. Men innan jag tar mig an ett så avancerat projekt har jag övat mig lite med enklare modeller. De här små häftena är beskrivna i Gwen Diehns bok The Decorated Journal. Jag tänker stoppa in ett litet häfte i min almanacka, så har jag det nära till hands när jag fastnar någonstans och vill fördriva tiden med lite skissande. Håll utkik efter nästa övningsprojekt, som kommer att börja likna en riktig bok!

 The Three-Minute Pamphlet

 The Six-Minute Double Pamphlet (Pleat Book)

 The Six-Minute Double Pamphlet (Dos à Dos)

Minnenas trädgård

Det har inte hänt så mycket på det textila området sedan jag blev klar med Aurora-tavlan. I stället har jag ägnat min tid åt att försöka komma tillbaka i mina rutiner och reda upp stöket här hemma, och åt teckning och målning. Jag deltar i två olika kurser i konsten att föra skissbok, eller visuell dagbok, vilka båda är gratis och online. Jag nämde tidigare den ena, The Sketchbook Challenge, och den andra ordnas av Strathmore Artist Papers. Vem som helst får delta och man får själv välja hur aktiv man vill vara. Det är alltså under mycket fria former, vilket passar mig som redan har alltför många järn i elden.

I Workshop 1 av Strathmore online workshops får vi lära oss att använda oss göra collage av arbeten som vi gjort tidigare och att på så sätt skapa helt nya konstverk. Denna uppgift fick mig att återvända till min mapp med gamla teckningar som fått vila ostörd under många långa år och vandra i minnenas trädgård en stund. Det var med både igenkännandets glädje och sorg i hjärtat jag bläddrade genom mina gamla teckningar. Glädje för att jag kom ihåg teckningarna, när de var gjorda, varför de var gjorda och för att jag en gång i tiden produerade alla dessa teckningar. Sorg därför att de påminde mig om en svunnen tid, då jag kunde sitta i timtal och teckna otroligt detaljerade teckningar av allt från seriefigurer till illustrationer av litterära verk till noggranna anatomiska studier. Den tiden är onekligen förbi, för nu finns det för mycket andra saker som pockar på uppmärksamhet.

MEN. Efter att ha konstaterat att den där tiden är förbi, står en sak dock klar. För att komma vidare i min textilkonst behöver jag återvända till tecknandet (och lära mig måla). Och tecknandet har också ett värde i sig som jag vill återinföra i mitt liv, eftersom det har funnits ett stort hål inom mig sedan jag mer eller mindre slutade teckna för ungefär 10 år sedan. Men jag behöver något som puffar igång mig. Därför hoppade jag på skissbokståget för att se vart det för mig. Ni kan följa mina framsteg på Flickr, dit deltagarna i kurserna kan ladda upp sina skissbokssidor här och här.

 

Memory Lane

Not much has happened in the field of textiles since I finished my Aurora quilt. Instead, I have spent my time trying to get back into my routines and clearing up the mess in my home, and drawing and painting. I’m participating in two different courses on the art of keeping a sketchbook, or visual journal, both of which are free and online. I already mentioned one of them, The Sketchbook Challenge, and the other one is organised by Strathmore Artist Papers. Anyone can participate, and you can yourself decide how active you want to be. The format is very free, which suits me, as I already have too many irons in the fire.

In Workshop 1 of the Strathmore online workshops we are encouraged to reuse older artwork in collage and to create new artwork in this way. This task had me returning to my two-ring binder with old drawings, which has been resting peacefully for many long years, and I wandered down Memory Lane for a while. It was with both the joy of recognition and sadness in my heart that I flicked through my old drawings. Joy, because I recognised the drawings, when they were made and why, and because I once upon a time made all these drawings. Sadness, because they reminded me of past times, when I could sit for hours and draw unbelievably detailed drawings of everything from cartoons to illustrations of works of literature to careful studies of anatomy. Those days are truly gone, because now there are so many other things that demand my attention.

BUT. Having said that those are bygone days, one thing is clear. In order to develop in my textile art, I need to return to drawing (and learn how to paint). Drawing also has great value in itself and I want to reintroduce that into my life, since there has been a big hole in my heart since I more or less stopped drawing about 10 years ago. But I need something to nudge me into action. That’s why I jumped onto the sketchbook train, to see where it will take me. You can follow my progress on Flickr, where participants can upload images of their journal pages here and here. 

Ett axplock ur minnenas trädgård / A few stops along Memory Lane

 Min första akvarellmålning (i går!) / My first watercolour painting (yesterday!)