New in at The Ropewalk, Barton-upon-Humber

These are some of the goodies I've delivered to The Ropewalk in Barton-upon-Humber in Lincolnshire this week. The Ropewalk, which is just south of the Humber Bridge, has four gallery spaces, a contemporary art & craft shop, sculpture garden, a fab cafe and more besides.

Fabric necklaces - lots of Liberty prints!

Button Brooches

Colourful Button Bracelets

Knitted Wire Bird Brooches

Button Necklaces

People & Places brooches come with a vintage map pouch

Coin Brooches

Hope you can get down to The Ropewalk - it's well worth a visit!

Alice Fox - Tide Marks @ SDC Gallery, London - 22-27 September 2014

Tide Line - Tapestry weave incorporating sea soaked beachcombed metal objects

Yesterday I had the good fortune to see Alice Fox's exhibition at the Society of Designer Craftsmen Gallery in London.  I have blogged about Alice's work before here. 

This exhibition shows a continuation of Alice's work with coastal landscape and found items, charting walks or moments along the shore.  The media Alice uses include fabric, paper, stitch, embossing, printing together with tea & rust dyeing.  Here is a flavour of the exhibition ...

Beach Ghosts - combining paper, tea, embossing & printing

Cloths - using fabric, stitch, tea & rust dyed using beachcombed metal & wire

Alice also has a number of fantastic artist's books on display using paper, tea & rust print, embossing and hand stitch ...

Tide Marks Book #7

Tide Marks Book

Tide Marks Book #25

The books vary in size and I think the books are my personal favourites.

The exhibition also includes poetry by Nigel Morgan which perfectly complements the pieces.

There is also a book - Tide Marks - to accompany the exhibition which includes Nigel Morgan's poetry.  You can buy it here.

On until 27 September 2014 - there's still time to take a look! 

Also - just over the road there's another good place to visit Material Books Art. Check it out!

Peckham Library - Stirling Prize Winner 2000

Peckham Library - Front

Recently on a day in London I visited Peckham Library - somewhere I had always wanted to take a look.  Designed by Will Alsop of Alsop & Stormer, it won the Stirling Prize for Architectural Innovation in 2000.  It also won a Civic Trust award in 2002 for excellence in public architecture (and in 2001 - the Copper Cladding Award!).  This L shaped box of pre-patinated copper, steel mesh and coloured glass cost £5 million to build and has giant letters in the roof spelling out what it does.  It was commissioned by Southwark Council as part of the regeneration of Peckham.

Peckham Library - Rear

Steel mesh, glass & copper,

Peckham Library pods are meeting or activity rooms

Pod construction

Pod window shutters

View from Peckham Library

Interesting column base

Dome sculpture

Spherical sculpture

It was definitely worth a visit and I particularly liked the pod meeting/activity rooms.  Go visit on a sunny blue sky day to see the colours at their best!

The Fulford Tapestry

Earlier this year, Mary Ann Dearlove came to talk to the City of York Embroiderers' Guild about the Fulford Tapestry.  The Fulford Tapestry is all about the Battle of Fulford. 

Quick history lesson - the Battle of Fulford preceded both the Battle of Stamford Bridge & the Battle of Hastings in 1066 which resulted in the end of Anglo-Saxon rule in England.  Harald Hardrada, King of Norway was the victor in the Battle of Fulford. He was later defeated and killed at the Battle of Stamford Bridge.  The battle site runs adjacent to Germany Beck in Fulford, York.

The tapestry is designed and made in the Bayeux style and uses natural dyes and stitches that would have been used in the Bayeux tapestry.  It took 7 years to complete - what commitment! It was finished in 2012 and is now looking for a permanent home where it can be displayed for the public to see. 

National Bird of Norway (White-throated Dipper)

The natural dye colour sources used were:

Madder - red

Weld -yellow

Woad - blue

Walnut - brown

Weld & Woad - green

Oak Galls - grey/brown

Cow parsley - green/yellow

and a recipe book of the dyes used has been made.  The book itself looks great - I love the yarn page edges.

Dye recipe book

Naturally dyed yarns using woad, weld and other ingredients

You can read more about the stitching, dyeing and the project in general on the Fulford Tapestry website.

Sales from York's Knit a Bike Yarnstormed Installation Support Marie Curie Cancer Care

Knit a Bike Yarnstormed Installation for Le Tour Yorkshire

You may remember all those cute little mini jerseys that made up the bunting on the Knit a Bike Yarnstormed Installation in Rowntree Park, York for Le Tour Yorkshire.  And you may remember reading about it all being taken down and the plan to sell the mini jersey bunting to support Marie Curie Cancer Care (the Tour de France's official charity). Well - it has now all been sold and £145 has been raised.  

Mini jersey bunting, washed and ready for sale!

So - thanks to everyone who helped knit it and to everyone who bought it. Yay!