otro mundo es posible

I finally got around to opening my eco bundle jars that were wrapped on 16th September. The most colourful results were with the natural yarns I had added. These variegated odds and ends will be great for my next weaving project. From left to right these were dyed with cochineal, eucalyptus, lichen and madder. The protein based materials certainly came out best, and although I am loathe to use silk for ethical reasons, it does take on the colours better than cotton. For this batch, I used eucalyptus leaves with scrap metal on silk noile. This is cotton voile with eucalyptus leaves and scrap metal. Disappointing result for the cochineal on cotton voile. It definitely fared better on the natural wool yarns. I have had better results on cotton when leaving it in the dye bath for only a day or two. After two months the colour has got lost here.

John found this shovel on the beach and knew I would want it for something! It has inspired me to make a giant size 'Lilith Baby'. I wrapped the shovel in organic voile plain with cochineal, other beach small metal finds, bone and lobster creel netting. I then soaked it in a mordant of tumble drier water and echinichea and raspberry tea in the wheelbarrow. Will leave it for a few days and then reveal the result. I also discovered this rather beautiful stream on our local beach that is stained by naturally occurring iron deposits in the bedrock according to our local countryside rangers. I have buried a couple of Lilith's babies in the burn for a few days to see what results that may yield.

... to open Lilith's jar. A bit of a messy process it was. I unwrapped 6 'babies', rinsed them and hung them out to dry in the solstice sunshine. Some of the marks are quite interesting close up. I am planning to make a cloth book with these pieces. I kept 5 wrapped for later. I rinsed them and left them to dry.  They changed quite dramatically after 24 hours I quite like them as objects, but would also like to unwrap them to see what marks they have produced!

So Lilith's babies have turned jet black inside their 'incubation cell.' Not surprising given Lilith's long association the darker side of life. The birthing process is planned for the Summer Solstice.

More than slightly subdued by the dreadful news of the fire at Glasgow School of Art, we nevertheless had a successful launch to our degree show with the Business View on Thursday, followed by the Family and Friends View on Friday.  I was honoured to have my second cousin Elspeth and her daughter  Susan Moir Mackay  attend, along with my mother and sister, Kathryn. Elspeth's mother, Dorothy Moir, attended ECA, graduating in around 1925, we think, and we had a great discussion conjecturing about her experiences as a female art school student in those early days of ECA. Susan also graduated from ECA in 1992 with a BA (Hons) in Art and Design, and I am proud to be the third ECA graduate in our family in 2014. Do come and visit us on the first floor in Studio E4 and see if you can work out what is in the jar! We are open 11 - 5 until 1st June, with 2 late nights on 28th and 29th May until 8pm

Excitement mounts this week as we prepare our studio space for the degree show. Having to pare down the vast mound of work accumulated over my final year to select a few pieces that best represent me in the small patch of space allocated has been an illuminating exercise. Displacement The theme of Displacement is represented in my work of the same name. My interest lies in new theories of the movement of civilisation from West to East in ancient times, traced through evidence in weaving patterns and cloth samples among other things. I was fascinated by similarities I noticed in ancient Japanese stitched symbols such as 'Hirayamamichi', a protective pattern sewn on the edges of a garment to ward off evil spirits, to Guanche cave markings and ritualistic stone carvings. The idea that traces of different cultures may be picked up along the way when people are displaced led me to make a composite piece where these could be brought together. Displacement in current times, such as...

Click to view my n ew photobook It's a mixture of shots from Lanzarote that have informed my work over the past few years, along with some more recent images from Berlin and Crete. Best to view the slide show in full screen mode and please ignore the sales pitch incorporated by Photobox