Phat Quarter Swap: Books

April had a fifth Friday, so you know what that means... a Phat Quarter swap! This time the theme was books. I had several ideas, some of which I might still do, but I decided to let my partner choose what I created. Mafiosagrrl chose Fairy Tales and so Into The Woods was born!

I decided to look at Little Red Riding hood. I had some fabric that reminded me of bark so after investigating illustrations from the book I decided to do a scene in the woods. I wanted the piece to be from the wolf's perspective but also wanted him to be in the frame.

I appliqued the fabric onto a white background, making Red and the wolf surrounded by ominous dark shapes. I used simple shapes for the trees and Red to give the piece a contemporary feel.

Red was filled in with satin stitch to make her a solid entity. I added in the wolf's snout with back stitch and coloured pencil at the bottom of the frame.

You can see more pieces from this swap on Flickr in the Phat Quarter here

Exhibition Report: Harry Potter - The Exhibition

This week it was my birthday - yay!! I treated myself to the Harry Potter Exhibition that is currently at the Discovery Center in New York, just off of Times Square.

If you haven't managed to catch this exhibition as it tours the US, you are missing out! As a complete costume geek this exhibition was a real treat. The displays are set out in groups based on areas of the movies, for example, Griffindor Tower, Hagrid's Hut, The Forbidden Forest, Herbology etc. In each section there is a very well presented display of props, costumes and artifacts from the Harry Potter movies. Now, I am not a big fan of the movies, preferring the books instead, but it is the attention to detail that has made these movies successful despite my own opinions of them. Mostly, the costumes are well designed (I have a personal problem with the 'school uniform' aspect though) and there are quirky little touches that destinquish the wizards and witches from the muggles. For me, these were the most interesting things on display at the exhibition. Things like Sirius Black having a double collar on his button down shirt, Bellatrix Lastrange having a leather wand sheath sewn into the design of her corset, the intricate engravings on the Deatheater masks and the overlaid dyeing on the invisibility cloak are just a few I picked up.

This exhibition is fun and a visual feast. The props and sets are just as detailed as the costumes to create a world that you wish was real. The one thing that really surprised me was how big Hagrid actually was. I expected his size to be camera tricks and therefore the actually costume to be regular human sized. This is not the case! Hagrid is actually bigger than the other humans so Robbie Coltraine has a huge costume that must have been padded and stilted to the nines! Very interesting indeed!

Book Review: Fabric Art Workshop

I was browsing through the craft book section of my local Borders the other day, actually looking for stuff on natural dyes. I found some good books on that subject, but another book about fibre arts jumped out at me and said ‘buy me!!’ Of course when a book says that to you, just have to buy it don’t you?!

The book is called Fabric Art Workshop by Susan Stein. I was very interested to see that it contained instructions on using Angelina fibre. I have some of this at home and have been shown at a craft fair how to use it. Of course, then I went away on a ship and forgot it all! This will come in handy when I get back on land and can have a go with this great looking sparkly stuff.

There is also a lot about printmaking in this book. I LOVE printmaking. When I was back in art college printing was my favourite thing to do but I have gotten out of the habit because it can be very messy and take up a lot of space. The techniques in the book use whatever you can find lying around and bring great results! I did a few of them and they have come out better than I thought. I find that this book encourages you to go further as well and try out whatever comes to hand.

I urge anyone who wants to create their own unique fabrics or play with fibres to get this book. It have very clear instructions with photos and advice. I found that I wanted to do all of the techniques right now! I found to be very inspiring as well and can’t wait until I get home to really try out all of these techniques!

Expecto Patronum!

Hogwarts

This week I went on a tour to Universal Studios Islands of Adventure. I had been there a few months ago, just before they opened the new Harry Potter section. Therefore, the plan this trip was to do a cursory walk around of the other areas, then spend the day submerging ourselves in The Wizarding World of Harry Potter! We were not disappointed!

Hogwarts from the village

A friend of a friend works for Universal and told us that they spent $300 million on the new section of the part. It shows! The attention to detail is spectacular and makes the experience an unforgettable one. As you walk into the section from Jurrasic Park you are greeted by the formidable form of Hogwarts castle. Cross the bridge and you are in Hogsmeade village!

Entering Hogsmeade

Our first stop was to try some Butterbeer. We had heard very good things about its taste, once again we were not disappointed. In our opinion the butterscotch flavoured beverage is best served frozen (you can choose frozen or regular servings) but the best part is the cream on top! I also tried pumpkin juice while I was there, equally delicious!

Delicious pumpkin juice and Butterbeer

As we walked around Hogsmead we were greeted by well known Harry Potter landmarks - The Three Broomsticks, where we ate lunch, The Hogs Head, where we drank more Butterbeer, Gladrags, Zonko's where you can buy extendable ears, sneakoscopes and puking pastilles and of course Honeydukes! Here you will find all the sweets you might want to try including Chocolate Frogs with Wizard cards and Bertie Botts' Every Flavour Beans.

Gladrags


The Three Broomsticks


Honeydukes


The window of Zonko's

At one point we were actually in line to go into one of the stores (we thought it was amusing too!) - Dervish and Banges is the main gift shop and is attached to Ollivander's Wand Shop and the Owl Post, complete with roosting owls inside. You are given the opportunity to purchase Harry Potter postcards which can then be postmarked with the Hogsmead stamp!

The Owl Post

Throughout the day small performances take place near Hogwarts. Students come out and sing a selection of school songs with frogs. You are also greeted by students from Durmstrang and Beauxbaton who put on a little show, then pose for photos. I think I might make myself a Beauxbaton uniform for next Halloween :-)

The ladies of Beauxbaton

Our two favourite moments of the day were the main Harry Potter ride and Ollivander's Wand shop. I don't want to spoil Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey for you, but lets just say you get to play Quidditch, meet the Whomping Willow and see some familiar faces. We went on it twice! Ollivander's is a small show within the shop where a member of the the audience is chosen to find their wand. My friend was lucky enough to be the chosen one - and we haven't heard the end of it since! The wands are very beautiful and you can even buy replicas of the wands used in the movies.

My friend with Ollivander finding his perfect wand

If you are in the Orlando area you really need to experience The Wizarding World of Harry Potter. I would go back for the Butterbeer alone, let alone the atmosphere, rides and cool merchandise!

I may be MIA for the next couple of weeks as I have cast changeover on the ship, so I will post as soon as I can, promise :-)

The Subversive Stitch

The Subversive Stitch: Embroidery and the Making of the Feminine by Rozsika Parker is a must read for anyone interested in the world of Embroidery. Primarily it looks at how embroidery and its usage has shaped what we believe is 'feminine' and how women, society and artists and embraced or rebuked this.

As a woman I found this text to be very interesting. Seeing over the course of history how what I am perceived to be (or should be) was built and who influenced this opened my eyes to a lot of things. As an artist and one who is not a painter (and therefore not a 'fine artist) is was also very interesting to see how what is considered 'craft' was pushed away from the 'fine arts'. Back in the middle ages Embroidery was considered as fine an art as sculpture or painting, but gradually the disciplines broke apart and the 'arts and crafts' movement appeared.

This book is not only for the women, however. A Manbroiderer will find also find it interesting as it looks at the styles of embroidery over the years and their uses. I found this a useful jumping off point to explore the styles that I found most interesting and wanted to try.

As an art student I always found art history and textbooks to be hard going. This isn't too bad. At times it can be wordy, but the information it contains is well worth it. I recommend this book to anyone who is interested in embroidery, be it for it's history or for it's art. Now that it is republished it should be easy to find as well! Find it on amazon here