Time seems to fly be doesn't it? I can hardly believe that it is almost the end of July ....long summer days, glorious sunshine, juicy cherries and summer holidays - some of my favourite things.  Before we know it the leaves will be rustling and we will be getting our sweaters out again, so make hay while the sun shines!

In between all that I am working on a few big projects at the moment, but they are in the early stages. I have been making lots of notes, models and sketches,  trying out ideas and making small samples which are pinned all over my design walls.  My studio looks a real mess, but the ideas are slowly coming together. For me this is the stage that takes most time - growing the idea. Sometimes though, I  just want to have fun, so a few weeks ago I made a new small square quilt - no planning, no samples, just 'go for it'! 
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​It started like this........... smeared intensely vivid printing ink on glass. I just love it; instant colour that is perfect for creating a  monoprinted background. 

With stitch I 'drew' 2 quirky characters, inspired by the fabulous work of Fernando Andriacci (click here to visit his website) and then spent a few hours painting them - so much fun! They make me smile just looking at them. 

​Once they were painted they seemed to me to look like two wacky friends who like to dress up as superheroes - so that is what I called them! Los Dos Amigos - 'superheroes'.

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I took this happy little quilt to Midsomer Quilting a few weeks ago to use as part of a demonstration on how to mount work onto stretcher bars. It turned out to be quite popular, so much so that Chris and De have asked me to run a class where people can come and create their own quirky little characters from fabric, thread and paint.​ More information about this class can be found on my website by clicking here or by contacting De at Midsomer Quilting (Tel: 01761 239333, https://midsomerq.com/).

And now it is back to the mess! Thanks for reading.

"The most beautiful pier in England" is in Clevedon, according to Sir John Betjeman (who knew a thing or two about Victorian architecture) and is the only intact Grade I listed pier in the UK. Built from discarded railway track used by Isambard Kingdom Brunel on the Great Western Railway, it cost £12,000 when opened on Easter Monday, 1869. 
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The pier is simple and I think very beautiful; thankfully it has​ no slot machines, candyfloss,  or doughnuts. You can find out more about it by visiting the official website: https://clevedonpier.co.uk/

My reason for talking about this pier is that I belong to a small group of textile artists called 'SixDames' and my friend and fellow 'Dame' Stephanie Crawford has challenged us to create our next piece of work using a photo taken on this pier for our inspiration. What Stephanie didn't know when she chose the photo was that it has some very special memories for me.

​This is her photo.
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When I was around 5 years old my parents took me on a very memorable day trip; we went 'abroad', which I thought was the best! We travelled from Penarth in South Wales, across the Bristol Channel to England, on the Waverley Paddle Steamer. The Waverley is the world's last sea going paddle steamer and up until last year was still steaming around the British coast taking passengers on pleasure cruises. Unfortunately time has taken its toll on her and I have just discovered that she has been temporarily taken out of service as she needs a boiler refit. You can find out more about The Waverley from their official website:  ​https://www.waverleyexcursions.co.uk/welcome-aboard/

That trip made a lasting impression on me - despite the fact that no selfies or other photos were taken! However, the very best bit, as far as I was concerned, was that I brought home a souvenir - a kaleidoscope. It quickly became my favourite 'thing' and lasted a few weeks until I took it to pieces to find out how it worked. Sadly, after that, it never 'worked' again, but I still loved it - just in pieces.

I must confess I had forgotten all about the Waverley, Clevedon and the kaleidoscope, until I saw the photo, but as soon as I did the memories came flooding back -  thank-you Stephanie!
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So my decision as to what to do in response to this photo was easy. Make a new kaleidoscope!

As well as Stephanie's photo I particularly liked this night-time photo of the pier from the BBC News website (see below) and using the image manipulation software called 'Gimp' I selected part of  Stephanie's photo and cut a small triangular section to use. 

I cut, rotated, copied and pasted part of the image to create a regular hexagon shape.

Next I altered the colour to create a series of hexagons, starting with a 'daytime' look and ending with a 'night-time' version.

 
The last decision to make is how to use the hexagons. For a while I thought about printing them onto paper and making a paper quilt, but in the end I decided to have the hexagons printed onto fabric and used the company 'Woven Monkey' once again. (This is the same company I used to print the fabric I used to make my quilt 'Forward, Onward, Upward' inspired by Shamsia Hassani's work. You can read more about that piece by clicking here.)

So now what? Here are two early ideas.

Thanks for reading.

Back last summer, whilst at Festival of Quilts in Birmingham, (UK) like many people I met up with a number of lovely ladies.  Meeting up with friends is always something to look forward to, but making new friends is always an added bonus. Whilst at the show Stephanie Crawford (fellow CQ West member) and I met and started chatting to two lovely French ladies - Denise Gregoire and Lydie Bihlet. They were both delightful and after a few minutes we all realised we shared lots of the same interests. As we chatted we realised that an opportunity to create an informal 'friendly'  group was staring us in the face and we made promises to 'keep in touch'. I am happy to say that we did not let the opportunity pass us by and to cut a long story short, we took the opportunity to start up a new group based on our mutual interests. To make the group a little bigger we decided to ask two of our fellow CQ West friends (who also speak French) to join us and as such, our group was born. We call ourselves 'Six Dames' and we are (left to right): Denise Gregoire, Claire Passmore, Ana Kirby, Lydie Bihlet, Fran Griffiths and Stephanie Crawford.

As yet we have not all met together, but thanks to modern day technology we have struck up new friendships. ​To help us to easily share our work we set up a blog which you can visit by clicking on the link below:

https://sixdames.blogspot.com/ 

We treat the blog a bit like our diary, so it is possible to follow along and see how some of our work is made too. Every 3 months one of us chooses a photograph to inspire the group. So far we have worked on 2 photos (see below) and are in the process of working on the third. Our aim is to create a small textile piece ( around 16 inches or so in size) in response to the photo. 

To get our group started I chose the first photo. You would be forgiven for thinking it would be an easy task  - just pick a photo!!!- but the responsibility of finding a photo that will hopefully inspire people to create something exiting is not as easy as you would think. In the end I chose a photo that was not the run-of-the-mill beautiful scene. It was of some shadows on a pavement (and a pair of curious boots).....this is it.

Rather than explain how it all works here, you can see the quilts we all made on our website by clicking here. It was fascinating to see the different quilts we all made using the same starting point.

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Three months later we were all very keen to keep going and Denise presented us with a new photo - again something very different. This time it was of a huge sculpture situated in the Port of Antibes. 

You can read more about the quilts we all made in response to this fabulous photo / sculpture by clicking here.​

And finally, our new photo, chosen by Stephanie. It is another fabulous view - this time closer to home. Do you recoginse the location? (It was he colour of the paint that gave it away to me). By the end of May the quilts for this challenge will be complete, so watch this space!

Although our small group is still only very new we have alredy had some exciting news......we have been invited to exhibit our work at: 

Biennale Internationale d'Art Textile
15th - 18th April 2020
(also known as BIAT and previously known as Quilt en Beaujolais) 

How fantastic is that!?!

By next March eah of us will have completed 5 quilts - so there will be 30 beautiful quilts to hang / display at this superb show in Villefranche-sur-Saône, France. I am excited already. I will also have a solo exhibition of some of my favourite quilts and Denise and Lydie will also be exhibiting their work. Some of the other 'Six-Dames' may also be coming to enjoy the fun. 



Here is a glimpse of some of our work so far. Please visit our bilingual website to see more.

https://six-dames.weebly.com/

​Thanks for reading.
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Whilst making the 'Flexible Hexagonal Pavement' a few months ago I discovered a new way of working - a much more open ended, 'trial and improve' style. For me this was very different. I am used to spending a long time reseraching a subject, thinking carefully about the story I want to tell and then dwelling on the many ways I could tell that story. It is a style of work that suits me. However, this new, much more spontaneous approach to creating work fascinates me. I have suddenly been bitten by a bug that has given me more ideas than I can keep up with. As fast as I can make something I have ten more ideas that I want to try out. As a result my design walls have become covered in dozens and dozens of small samples - and still the ideas keep coming. I am excited and overwhelmed at the same time. 

Here is a brief view of what is filling my head and my studio.

Rather than continue with the hexagon shape I have reduced the number of sides I am working with and chosen to begin with triangles - half square triangles to be exact, a staple of the traditional patchworker. As I began my textile work making traditional patchwork quilts I am familiar with this shape and the many interesting patterns that can be created with them. For a time they were my nemasis - getting those points to match was something that drove me mad! Now, having probably cut and stitched many thousands of them, their corners do not torment me as they once did - they are now familiar and I am ready to do something more with them. 

The first thing I am exploring is joining triangles to create a module like the one above. It isn't complicated, but by joining just 3 or 4 triangles a pyramid shape is formed. If I had joined six I would be back with the familiar hexagon shape - but this pyramid offers something different - a whole new dimension to start playing with - and that opens up so many more possibilities. 

Using 6 of these pyramid modules I began my exploration. As I connected them together new and interesting shapes and forms started to develop.

​The more modules I connected, the more interesting things became. 

I find them very satistying - and also very beautiful. The jewel-like colours are particularly nice to work with. 

The other thing that I find fascinating is that all these possibilities have come from one arrangement of the triangles - depending on how they are posed or positioned, all these different forms can be made - so you need never get bored of looking at the same piece!

​If I was smarter I might understand the geometry behind all this and be able to plan - but I am rather enjoying not planning at the moment, and allowing the surprises to happen.

I will be demonstrating the print making process I use to make these modules at the West Country Quilt & Textile Show on the afternoon of 29th August. As you probably know, I belong to the superb group  'Contemporary Quilters West' and we are using our gallery space as an 'Open Studio' so visitors can see exactly how our members create their work. This piece - 'Connectivity II' , along with work by all our other members will be part of a small exhibiton also in the studio.
If you are planning on attending I look forward to meeting you!


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West Country Quilt & Textile Show: 29th - 31st August 2019. University of the West of England Exhibiton Centre (UWE), Filton, Bristol. BS34 8QZ. Website:http://westcountryquiltshow.co.uk/ 
(Free onsite parking. Use this code 'QTL' to save £2 if you buy your tickets online. )

Contemporary Quiters West (CQ West)  'Open Studio' demonstrations and meet the artists 10.am - 4pm daily. Do come and visit. 
Website: https://www.contemporaryquilterswest.org/
 

Thanks for reading.
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I can hardly believe that 3 months have passed since the last quilt I made for the group '12 By The Dozen' was finished. Time really is flying. The last day of February was the day that the group unveiled their latest pieces of work based on a nominated artist. This time it was me who chose the artist to inspire us all and I decided to change the tone a little - instead of opting for a traditional / widely recognised fine artsit I chose a street artist named Shamsia Hassani. I think she is an incredible young woman. You can find out a little more about her here from her website.

This is a small selection of her work which demonstrates her strong individual style and subject matter.

Shamsia Hassani is not only a street graffitti artist, but also a fine arts professor in Afghanistan's largest university in Kabul. The aims of her work are many; she wants to change the way people inside Afghanistan feel after so many years of war - for her it is important to look to the future with hope and to portray women in a strong and modern way. She also wants to try and change the perception of Afghanistan to people from outside of her country. She is a realist and knows she can't change much by herself, but her message is that through her work she can play a small part, and if more people do that, then bigger change can seem possible. 

Being a woman creating street art in what has been categorised as the worlds most dangerous country takes courage. There is sometimes hostility from a few who still have leanings towards the old beliefs of the Taliban, There are still abandoned land mines in some derelict buildings and occasionally other violent acts are still  carried out within the city. It is not always safe to spray her art on the walls of old buildings - danger that is remote from our understanding here in the west. For this reason she developed an idea she calls 'Dreaming Graffitti', where she takes a photograph of a place or building and then creates her art onto that. An interesting interview between Shamisa Hassani and Dr. Jessica N. Pabón-Colón explains the concept better at the link below:
https://jessicapabon.com/2014/04/19/digital-interview-with-shamsia-hassani-dreaming-graffiti-in-kabul-afghanistan/

One of my favourite of Hassani's 'Dreaming Grafitti' pieces is of a place called Bamyan in Afghanistan where she has added her imagery to a photograph of some incredible cliff caves. To me, the concept and the imagery is inspirational.

For my piece inspired by Hassani's work I chose to use her idea of 'Dreaming Grafitti' and apply it to a photograph I took at the end of 2018. This is the original photo below. Whilst I find it an intreaguing place, it is very sad to think that this was once someone's home. 
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The location is not somewhere I think most people would expect to find a building in this sort of condition;  in fact, I think it is a well kept 'secret' (I would say over half of all the buildings on the island were in a similar state or worse). A good proportion of the population of Grand Bahama have left the island as when the tourists stopped coming after the hurricane, their jobs in the hospitality industry disappeared. Hotel owners took their insurance money and left, so rebuilding did not happen. The tourists found other places to go and the Government lost a large amount of its tax revenue.  As a result  the whole place has a very bizzare sanitised abandoned look about it that is difficult to explain. Despite this,  those who remain still have an optomistic outlook on life and have a stoic positive attitude. 'Forward, Upward, Onward Together is the Bahamian national motto, which I think is echoed in the message Hassani is also sending to the world.
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Taking the photo I edited it using GIMP software and turned it into an image that I had printed onto fabric. This is not my usual method of work and I must admit, I felt a little uncomfortable with it, but I wanted to embrace the 'Dreaming Grafitti' concept, so I decided it was a good way to try out one of the many online companies that custom print fabric. I chose a company called 'Woven Monkey'  http://www.wovenmonkey.com and the fabric I received was very good. Their website was easy to use, the fabric choices were numerous and the quality of the print was excellent. I chose a cotton sateen which has a nice feel. The whole process from order to delivery took less than a week. I also felt it was reasonably and competetively priced at a little over £21 for one metre (delivered).

​This is the photo I uploaded to their site; I chose to make the building blue in recognition of the blue all-covering burqa that many Afghan women were forced to wear during the days of the Taliban. 

 
​Once I had the background fabric I was able to start to develop my idea for adding my version of Shamsia Hassani's 'Dreaming Graffiti'. I did not want to completely copy her imagery, but I do want to ackowledge that it was her work that was inspiring me. I tried to make the faces I drew similar, but not carbon copies of her work. I also wanted to portray the air of optimism that pervades Grand Bahama, despite the way things seem on the surface. This is a sketch of the face I used. I repeated the  face several times, each time changing the angle a little to give the appearance of her gradually looking upward, raising her head and spirit. I also chose to give her a little expression, that of joy.
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And here it is 'on' the building.
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If Shamsia ever sees it, I hope she will like it. 

To see the fabulous work created by the other members in  '12 by the Dozen' inspired by Shamsia Hassani's work,  please do visit our blog:
 https://12bythedozen.blogspot.com/2019/02/

Thanks for reading. 

I have been a bit busy lately and have been putting off making a quilt for a call for entry that is coming up at the end of March. I knew what I wanted to make but have not found the time to settle down and actually get on with it. But yesterday was the day. I rolled up my sleeves, cleared my work bench and made a huge mess. It was great.

I started the day by making the biggest gelatine printing plate I have ever used. I melted down 6 of my standard sized gelatine plates and poured all 2 litres of the molten sticky mess into a huge roasting pan and let it set. My new 'super-sized' plate measures 40cm by 30cm, and in the beginning I wondered if it would be too big, but actually it was brilliant, and allowed much more variety in terms of what I could put onto the surface. 

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(If you want to make your own gelatine plate the recipe I use can be found on a blog post I wrote back in December of 2015 along with a recipe for a vegetatrian version. Click on the button below to go to that old blog post)

​As you can see from the photo above, I used acrylic paint on the plate. I like this 'Sennelier'  brand very much. They have a nice consistency and have a good amount of pigment. They are a little thick for this job, but a mist of water over the plate gives just the right considtency and stops the paint drying out too quickly. I also like the pouches they come in, rather than more traditional tubes. I would prefer that they weren't plastic, but at least it is easy to get every last bit of paint out of the pack, and when they are used it is easy to clean them out and reuse them to store other things. 
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While the plate was setting up I cut up ​​2 metres of white cotton sateen and  spent the first part of the day dyeing the white fabric some very very pale grey/blues. While the fabrics batched I cut a few lino blocks, then washed and dried the fabrics and spent the afternoon paintng, printing, marbling, stencilling and spraying ointo the dyed fabric. It was a busy day and I wish I had taken a photo of my studio - it looked like a tornado had been through!

Then this morning I heat set all the fabrics and pinned them up to see what I had got. Here is a glimpse.

Have you figured out the theme of the quilt yet? If not, here are two of my sketchbook pages which give the game away.
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Once the fabrics were pressed and easy to see I was able to select pieces of the fabric, cut them up and piece them together to form the quilt top. This is how far I got by the end of today. I am pretty happy with that for 2 days work!

Day 3 is going to need to wait - but I am pleased with the progress so far. I will post an update once I get going on it again. 

Thanks for reading.
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Well, I have finished with them - and I really enjoyed it (which completely surprised me!)
This is how the quilt 'Hexagonal Pavement' looks. It is a bit complicated, so there are several views.....

Several people have told me how nice it is, then gently asked "what is it?"
Well, it is a small quilt, although some may doubt it's 'quilt' credentials as it doesn't exactly look like look like a 'typical' quilt. As it is a textile, made from layers (created by many folds) which have been stitched, it is a quilt - allbeit an unusual one. 


When I set out with this piece I had 3 main objectives:

• to create a printed design similar that used by Gaudi on his hexagonal pavement cobbles
• to piece hexagons in the traditional manner
• to make a 3D piece that was definitely not flat

In an earlier blog post I describe the beginning of this project which you can read by clicking on the link below:

clairepassmore.weebly.com/blog/hexagons-what-was-i-thinking

In that post you can see I was also playing about with the idea of including clay tiles of the same size and design - I even added some beads. In the end I decided I didn't like it as much as I thought I would, so I took them apart (the first of many!) However, it was a lot of fun and I used some as Christmas ornaments and gave some to friends, 
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As part of the process I tried many different stitch combinations with the hexagons and I had not realised there were so many options. Because the print design has rotational symmetry that gave me even more opportunities to create patterns within patterns. By stitching different edges together that gave me further chances to create new  patterns and dimension by introducing new folds, as you can see below. 

Once I had got to this stage I was able to understand better the possibilities and then create a new pattern with the next 'ring' of hexagons. I decided to completely abandon the use of beads, but that is another avenue that may be worth exploring in the future.

As the piece grew it became obvious that the 'hinges' that the seams were creating were also very intresting. It was extremely fiddly to stitch - especially as all the folds on the reverse side needed to be kept neat, and not inadvertently stitched into the seams. All in all it took about a month of contemplation, stitching, unstitching and playing about. 

It is such a diffenent thing for me to make - and I have thoroughly enjoyed the process. Whilst I don't want to stop making my other kind of quilts I do want to follow on with this work too. I'm not sure where it is going yet, but, as 'they' say, a change is as good as a rest!

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Thanks for reading.
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First things first.........

Happy Christmas everyone!

Thank you you to all who follow my blog, your interest and uspport is greatly appreciated. I send you my very warmest wishes over this Christmas time. 
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Back in a blog post July I mentioned a new 'for fun' project I had in mind for the New Year - a block of the month.

Inspired by the annual Midsomer Quilting 12 x 12 exhibition, whose theme this year was 'Think of a number', I made 12 small quilts on the theme of 'The 12 Days of Christmas'. This is how it turned out. (The quilt has been hanging at Midsomer Quilting for the last month in their fabulous 12x12 exhibition. If you were lucky enough to have visited you will have already seen it. )

After mulling over a few options I decided to put all 12 blocks together - not using traditional sashing, but instead with lots of 'gold' rings (well, brass rings, actually as the gold ones were a bit pricey!) It hangs surprisingly well considering it is not one 'solid' piece. 

​I have teamed up with De at Midsomer Quilting to offer this as a 'Block of the Month' project by post - so no need to live anywhere near the MQ shop. We already have over 50 people taking part, mostly from the UK, but a few from further afield!!! We are already starting to get quite excited. 

I have designed the blocks so they can be made using a variety of different techniques, which makes its suitable for all levels - from beginner to experienced. I already know of one person who is going to make it a 'family' project for the year, which I think is lovely. 


HOW IT WILL WORK

Starting in January 2019, the pattern, fabrics, embroidery threads and full instructions for the first 12 inch square (30cm square)  quilt block will be sent by post to all participants. 27 days later you will receive the next instalment, so by the end of November 2019 you should have a completed wall-hanging / quilt/ set of 12 inch squares ready to decorate your home for Christmas. (There is no need to visit the shop to be part of the Block of the Month, making it great for those, like me,  who live far away!)

To try and make things a little more interesting I have set up a closed 'secret' Facebook group for participants where we can share our progress, ask questions and generally have a natter about the project as it develops. Of course, if you are not a Facebook person then there is no need to worry about this - it is just an 'extra'. I hope to make some short videos showing some of the different techniques used and am busy learning how to do it! 

DYE WORKSHOP

Finally, I am also offering a half day workshop for anyone who would like to learn how to hand dye fabric which can optionally be used for the project.  De and I have already selected a range of beautiful fabrics to use for the project, but if you want to use hand dyed fabrics instead then why not join us and learn how to do it yourself?

The Day to 'DYE' is on JANUARY 12th 2019. The cost is £20 and needs to be booked with De at Midsomer Quilting. The morning sessions are already fully booked, but there are still a few spaces left for the afternoon session if you wish to join us.  All materials are included - you just need to bring an apron and a bucket or washing up bowl to take home your wet fabrics. (Don't wear your Sunday best, as spashes may occur!) The DYE workshop is available to be booked on the MQ website, or by clicking here: midsomerq.com/collections/workshops/products/fabric-dying-session-with-claire-passmore-january-12th-saturday-no-sewing-machine-needed?variant=13045163163671



COSTS:
12 packs, posted monthly to an address of your choice, Packs include all fabrics, embroidery threads, embellishemnts, full instructions and patterns. (Please note: wadding is not included) 

£10.50 per month for 12 months for UK addresses
£11.75 per month for 12 months for EU addresses
£15.00 per month for 12 months for the Rest of the World 

(Postage and packing is already included in the price)

Payment can be made by cash, cheque or PAYPAL.

If you wish to join the fun or are interested in finding out more, then please get in touch with De at Midsommer Quilting (details below).

There is also information on the WORKSHOP section of my website which you can see by clicking here.

Wishing you all a peaceful and relaxed Christmas.
Claire
x

Thanks for reading.

I have made several quilts on the theme of Freedom and Liberty over the past few years and have just completed another for the group 12 by the Dozen. I didn't set out with that intention, but this recurring theme emerged from my research into the work of the textile artist Jean Lurçat. (Find out more about Lurçat and his work here.) Initially I was not drawn to his work at all - at first glance it appeared to me to be chaotic and confusing - too much to take in. But after some (slow) research I began understand what I saw now I like it very much.

Here is a very small selection of some of his tapestries to give you a flavour of his work ...

I have also created a Pinterest board with lots more of Lurçat's work, including his paintings and ceramics. Click here to see the board.

If, like me, you are new to Lurçat's work, one of the first things to know is that much of his work is in tapestry, a somewhat unconventional medium in modern times.
From Medieval times, and up until around the end of the 15th Century, the artistry of tapestry was highly prized. Enormous tapestries graced the walls of great buildings, forming part of the architecture they decorated. They served to keep the place warm as well as conveying messages and having their own decorative features. However, from the 16th Century and the beginnings of the Renaissence, painting and sculpture pushed out other forms of art and tapestry came to be regarded as somewhat 'oldschool'. If tapestry was to survive it needed to look more like a painting than a traditional tapestry, The result was that in 1773 the French state run Gobelins weaving works raised the dye palette of wool for tapestry from 20 (twenty) to an incredible 14,400 possible tones. Hence, the cost of producing wool in this many variations went through the roof and Gobelins reached the point where they were having to dye 1,456 pounds of wool swatch to get 44 pounds of tapestry. It was untennable; the upshot of this was that the price of creating a tapestry (that wasn't exactly on trend anyway) became impossibly huge and largescale tapestry production all but stopped.

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In around 1915 ​Jean Lurçat began exploring his art. One of the pieces of art that captivated him was the incredible piece of Medieval art known as The Apocalypse Tapestry (click here to find out more). It was this set of tapestries which set him on the path to becoming one of the modern day artists (along with William Morris) aclaimed for their role in the revival of contemporary tapestry. 
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​The issue of producing so many different colours to create tapestries led Lurçat to conclude "you do not get the subtleties of Bonnard even with 14,400 tones (of wool)" After much thought he set about devising a tapestry colour palette using a "scale of pre-arranged colour" that would hopefully bring tapestry creation back into the realms of feasability.

His success in this quest means that all tapestry now, more or less, follows Lurçat's system of limitation of colours. He used just 5 shades each of red, blue, grey and ochre, four shades of green and six of yellow plus one black and one white, making thirty-two in all; quite a difference from 14,400!

To satisfy my own curiosity, I decided to make a colour study of my own using Lurçat's work. By looking closely at his work I was able to see how cleverly he used colour to make his work almost 'glow'. I then used it to create my own collction of fabrics using what I discovered.

Lurçat's Design Process

Whilst researching Lurçat's work online I also came across a few images of him designing his enormous tapestries at his atelier. Like many people I find it very interesting to see an artist's process. It also helped me to understand the scale of his work.

A few other interesting facts:

The weaver of Lurçat's designs (he was not a maker himself) had to follow strict design guidelines and was to have absolutely no artistic freedom in the creation of the piece. Once Lurçat presented his design, the 'carton' (translated into English as 'cartoon' which is the drawn 'pattern' ) was to be faithfully recreated to achieve exactly what Lurçat had envisioned as the end a result. In essence, it was a non-interpretive code in which the weaver would have no question as to what the designer required.
Additionally, Lurçat​ mades it very clear that the idea of fashioning a tapestry after a painting, especially one that had originally been painted with no intention of becoming a tapestry, was misrepresentative and disrespectful to the art form. (He would probably, therefore, not be happy about what I did next!)
Lastly, he was adamant that each tapestry should be embedded with content; it should thrive as a partner to architecture and therefore be invariably large scale and designed and thought of as being forever connected to the architecture it was designed for. "I want to remind you that Tapestry knew its proudest moments in a time when a style of extremely grandiose architecture reigned supreme".

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​For my small quilt (sorry M. Lurçat) I chose several recurring motifs from his work: the sun medallion, butterflies and cockerel. Many of his artworks, tapestries as well as his pottery, have variations of these motifs deeply embedded into their narative. More specifically I was attracted to two of his works that focus on the theme of Liberty: one he created in 1943 and the second in 1948 (see below). They were his response to a poem of the same name, written by another famous French artist, Paul Eluard, (You can read the poem in English and French here.)
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I am sure it is a coincidence, but this unusually vibrant yellow colour is very similar to that which I used in my two previous quilts focussing on Liberty - perhaps that is what made me notice them?

I find these two tapestries striking - so much so I wanted to recreate my own 'Liberty' piece along similar lines. Using fused applique pices from the fabric selection I made earlier I created a medallion motif and sectioned it in a similar way to Lurçat.

This is my interpretation of Lurçat​'s 'Liberte'; my newest version of 'Freedom' using motifs familiar to dwellers of the 21st century: White poppies symbolising pacifism, an olive brach of peace and butterflies, free to go where they choose. The sun's rays represent optimism for a brighter future, but the barbed wire, still lingering, is ready to spread its pain. And at the top, instead of Lurçat​'s French Cockerel I have placed a dove, flying high over a rising sun.

It is a bit of a different quilt for me - but I have really enjoyed finding out more about this quite different artist and trying something new. I feel it may be the beginning of something. I'm not quite sure what yet, but time will tell.

As a final thought, earlier this summer I was very kindly taken by my friend Liz to the Grayson Perry exhibition in Bristol. He too is working in tapestry on a grand scale, telling contemporary stories. Whilst I thought they were impressive, they did not have a great effect on me at the time. It is only now I am seeing them from a new perspective.

Thanks for reading.

Whilst at Festival of Quilts this summer myself and a few other quilting friends met two lovely French ladies who were looking to make new friendships as well as new quilts. After a long chat we made a loose agreement to join together to form a group making art quilts just for pleasure - no competitions, no serious agendas - just fun. 

We are: Ana, Denise, Fran, Lydie, Stephanie and Claire and our group is called Six Dames. We thought it would make a nice change to be able to set up a bilingual blog to share our work which you can find by clicking here or at the following address: sixdames.blogspot.com/        

We have yet to capture a photograph of all six of us together, but until we do, here are 4 of us - looking (unintentionally) very well co-ordinated.

Our aim is simple; to each make one small quilt every 3 months and share our progress and thoughts along the way via our blog. To inspire us we decided that we would each take a turn to find an interesting photograph to use as a prompt for our work. 

And this is the first.........................

The first photo was chosen by me, and finding just the right photo wasn't as easy as I thought it would be. Like most people these days I have hundreds, if not thousands of photos in my camera, on my phone or on my social media accounts. But choosing one that I thought would appeal to the other members was a difficult task. In the end I chose this one which I took earlier this year. I'm not going to tell you where - see if you can work it out!

Initially I discounted it because of those boots at the top of the image - but the more I looked at it, the more they became part of the reason I finally selected it. They are pretty swanky boots by the way - zoom in and you will see what I mean. I wish I had paid more attention to what the rest of the owner looked like.

For my starting point I decided to focus on the pavement. HEXAGONS! I must be nuts. Under normal circumstances I would run a mile from anything with a regular side and corner, let alone 6 of them. But I have decided to face my nemesis and see what I can do with the damn things. 

To ease my way in I went for something familiar and made a lino cut tile that is similar to those little pavement cobbles. In fact, I made a few and chose my favourite. 
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But what to do with them that is different from the usual?

I played about with paper structures and particularly liked making these little folded pouches - known as TATOS to Japanese origami folders. After I made a couple and got the hang of it I tried making them from different fabrics. The best by far were made with some scraps of organdie fabric. It has just the right amount of crispness to hold a fold. 

Then I printed on them using the lino cut block. The design is similar to that on the original paving cobbles.
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I also used the print block to make some clay tiles. That was really fun!

And I love them! I added some mica powder to the surface of the tiles to highlight the relief. I think  I'm going to hang some of them on my Christmas tree, but I am also interested in whether I can incorporate a few into my quilt. Not sure how just yet, but I'm working on it!

So this is the stage I am at, I'm not sure how I am going proceed as I am still trying to come up with something different. 

Thanks for reading!
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