used

A friend gave me this beautiful piece of linen cloth some years ago. She had had it for a while and didn't quite know what to do with it. I think she thought I might make something with it. It is a heavyish linen which has been patched and darned and the patches themselves darned - the effort which went into prolonging the useful life of this piece of cloth is quite something. It puts me in mind of Japanese Boro textiles.
I couldn't possibly cut this cloth. It has sat in a drawer for ages, being taken out and looked at every now and then. The other day I was fighting to try and keep slippy pieces of paper on my knee to provide contrast with the black warp I'm using when I thought of it and went and got it out of it's drawer. So now I get to admire it often, haven't cut it and have found a use that won't damage it.

1/9

The first finished tapestry from the collages in the last post. It's 20x20cm - quite big for me - and I'm somewhat daunted by the prospect of the next 8...

Incidentally, if anyone knows where I could buy Drima extra strong thread I'd be really grateful if they could let me know. Drima were bought by Coats and now the thread is really hard to find. I'm sure there must still be some out there though. It's cotton covered polyester I think and is strong as old boots. Thanks!

collaging

Am so pleased to discover Daler Rowney's Murano range of paper. For years I've scrabbled coloured paper together from magazines as I could never find 'in between' shades to buy.

Here's what I've been doing with it...