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Today it’s the turn of Sarah & Duck to animate some unusual yarn production techniques, which are somehow less triggering than the Barbapapa video (nothing can top the memory of them CUTTING OUT A COMPLETE READY-TO-WEAR GARMENT FROM A LENGTH OF WOVEN FABRIC). #wool #yarn #sarahandduck

I was too excited not to share even with bad lighting (and probably some missing stitches here and there 😬). Started early September 2021. Finished 24 Mai 2023! My #quintoacutothepointedfifth #longdogsamplers #rosielovesquintoacuto (also check my Quinto Acuto highlight for stories of the journey and progress shots). I loved this project so much and can’t wait to start the planning for my next @joolsline Long Dog Sampler. #crossstitch #xstitch #xstitchersofinstagram #quintoacuto #quintoacutosal #pointedfifth

Hard to get an idea of the final result until I will have woven in all my ends (of which there are an unholy quantity). But I’ve run out of the cord I’m using for warping so I have to pause for now. It’s so enjoyable developing a better feel for the materials and the technique. I doubt I’ll ever have the time and energy to unpick and redo the mistakes I’ve made along the way but let’s just say that will make this rug special as a record of my learning… #rosierepairsgelim

My first repair on this rug as seen in the previous post (carried out last year) was done with one strand of DMC Colbert wool. It is too soft and puffy, and that’s why I picked up such a huge stash of Aubusson wool in the summer (reminder: I paid 12€ for an entire bin bag!). I’m using 4 strands total of 2 x two different reds here, definitely converted to the Aubusson for its texture and the subtle colours 😍. I’m so glad to be giving this project a second go. Although the re-warping is less fun and much harder on my hands. #rosierepairsgelim

From my visit to the Cite International de la Tapisserie earlier this month. They have updated the display showing how lissiers/tapestry weavers submit a sample of their own style and interpretation of an artwork. These samples are for the beautiful tapestry “La famille dans la joyeuse verdure” [The family in the joyful greenery], woven in 2013 by the A2 workshop in Aubusson for the Argentinian artists Leo Chiachio and Daniel Giannone. The interpretation of the cartoon includes not only selecting colours, but also embellishments - if you look closely, some of the samples have beadwork or textural quirks in the earrings. #tapestry #tapisserie #citeinternationaldelatapisserie #aubusson #danielgiannone #leochiachioydanielgianone #leochiachio

Sometimes you have to just accept the highly imperfect work you have done because the owner of the rug in question wants it back so she can use it to sit on! I have sat on this for a very long time because I kept thinking I could undo and then redo it better. I can’t, because I don’t have time or energy or even the full set of skills. I did my best at the time I did it, and that will have to do 😮‍💨 #rosierepairsgelim

Barbapapa cartoons love to go into detail about various traditional skills (I guess in the 1970s they were still just “skills”). I usually don’t pay a huge amount of attention but this otherwise quite cute clip about shearing sheep and how wool is carded and spun and woven made me twitch at the end 🤪 #weaving #barbapapa

Fourth batch of hot cross buns of the weekend, @iamagloworm is the Easter baker keeping Gex supplied in HCB. Flowers by Intermarché 💐 #hcb #hotcrossbuns #ifyouhavenodaughtersgivethemtoyoursons

Today I spent an unnecessary amount of time contemplating a padded board I’m still only partially done making. It already has a nice layer of thick cotton on it and now I’m covering it with an exquisite emerald green silk which was previously dyed for a beetlewing dress costume treatment. I’m trying very hard to tension it properly, and to keep the grain aligned. I also am very conscious of the sensorial experience. I loved the effect of the shadows and the pins, almost as much as the feeling of the tensioned silk when I was done. I spent a while just stroking it, running my hand back and forth on the smooth silk, satisfied with the sensory feedback and enjoying the luxurious feeling. I try to take nothing for granted, and to remember the silkworms and the manufacturing processes, as well as the labour of the @zenzietinkerconservation textile conservators who colour-matched and dyed this fabric before me, carefully snipping the selvedge so it would lay flat when drying. The board will be secondary to the beautiful object that will be mounted on it, even though it was carefully made by hand (including the support panel itself) and each element contains its own story and connections, and the tips and anecdotes of the different people who helped me along with the construction process. The board as a whole feels very special to me, not least because I have made it during a particular time in my life, but it will disappear into the owner’s life without a look back at me. I could write an entire story just about this board. It is such strange thing to consider the secret past and hidden life of the conservation mounts and materials which the rest of the world never even thinks of — unless its @internationalmountmakersforum who think of nothing else. #textileconservation #conservationtextile #objectbasedlearning

Bringing my work home with me… a section of a soft inner padded mount for a garment, made from cotton bumf and covered with habutai silk. The yellow thread is for tacking the silk in place before stitching, instead of pinning, because the silk is so fine and slippery.

This is also textile conservation! Over the last couple of weeks I’ve gathered fascinating and terrifying insights into TT motorbike racing in the Isle of Man. These photos are so cool in about 5 different ways. Let me enumerate them for you!

Day stitches / Night stitches

I’m in Brighton for a month at @zenzietinkerconservation and currently enjoying riffling through a hundred shades of cream silk for a mounting project. It’s honestly dreamy to be surrounded by textile conservation everywhere I look, I have missed this so much. I cannot express how grateful I am to Zenzie and everyone else here at the studio for being so welcoming as I re-enter #textileconservation.

I'm not a Rihanna groupie so I was not prepared for how I bawled nearly the entire way through this performance (full on sobbing by the end). I have so many feelings! Rihanna, soundtrack to my twenties, sounding phenomenal, visually the set and costumes were incredible, and then her revealing her pregnancy in The. Most. Extra. Way anyone ever has or ever will. Her pregnant body neither hidden nor contorted into "sexy", her outfits are so punchy, she was the embodiment of power, of women's empowerment... I am not usually sentimental about pregnancy but seeing her suspended up there, touching her stomach as she sang "We're like diamonds in the sky", she was so strong and fearless and so above all the... rubbish superficial idiocy of everything she was literally floating above. I am sure we will see some really eloquent takes on this performance in the media, I'm just so moved by it I had to throw down some words to remember my feelings. If I could buy this performance as a virtual experience I would sit inside it over and over again. So. Good. #rihanna

I made this collage yesterday at a creative workshop we occasionally host at the gallery with @couleurs_de_femmes. The workshop theme was “La femme que je suis, La femme que je veux être” (The woman I am, the woman I want to be). This was my second collage workshop and I am finding my own way, it’s so meditative flicking through magazines and ripping things out, letting inspiration come to you and finding it sort of comes together in the end. I can’t see collage working outside of a workshop because I need the structure of a dedicated time and space where we just focus on un-focusing. I am really happy with the outcome. I am currently living down in the red zone, which is centred around a beautiful woven cluttered chaos of splintered projects although gradually evening out. But I’m definitely dreaming up towards clarity, space, silence and skies. #collage #collageart #couleursdefemmes

Yesterday we went to the Vernissage of the Art Genève art fair. One of my favourite works was by Iranian artist Zahrasadat Hakim — actually, two of her works. “En levant les yeux au ciel, j'ai vue six avions de guerre” 2023, Glazed ceramic, 77×75×30 cm, & “Le miroir ne me contient pas” 2023, Embroidered cloth, mirrors 200x130 cm. Thank you @zahra_hakimm for the beautiful insights into your work. #artgeneve2023

I’ve not posted nearly enough about the work I’ve been doing with @gallerybrulhart, considering what a huge part of my life it has become! Last week was the launch of our latest exhibition, and was a huge step up for me in terms of being able to collaborate with our beautiful artists, their work, and the audience – and especially working closely with the curator of the exhibition. In addition to the exhibition launch party, we also organised a “dialogue event” where two of our artists discussed the theme of feminism(s) threaded through their practice as African contemporary artists, with each other, the curatorial team, and the audience. I’m so grateful that the gallery director is open to suggestions of how we can put our artists front and centre of our gallery, from including videos and texts in our displays, to hosting these events where people can directly engage with the women behind the artworks. I have a lot to say and show about all this but since I am writing a thesis about this internship (due in a couple of weeks….) I should be focusing the outputs there for now! #gallerybrulhart

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