Its half term here, no school for a week, the clocks have gone back so the evenings come quickly, giving time for reflection on what I am making and why I am doing it.

Two new sources are infiltrating my ideas this week, firstly Boro textiles. Wonderful recycled cloth from Japan. My initial research shows that these fabrics were made of necessity from worn out fabrics and garments by peasants in Northern Japan. More details on the wonderful Sri Threads website.

I love the texture and layers of these fabrics, they seem to encapsulate time passing, weathering, the effects of nature. 

   
   
A step further on from my appliqué and stitch perhaps. It’s certainly giving me ideas; new influences slosh around in my mind like ingredients stirred up in a cauldron. These fabrics are bumping up against those Joan Eardley landscapes I’ve become so attached to, sketchbook experiments are developing.

In the post today, I received a lovely book by Alice Fox. I’m taking part in a workshop weekend with her in a couple of weeks, so I thought I’d do some homework beforehand. 

I was reading the first few chapters with a good cup of tea, when I discovered that I shouldn’t be drinking the tea but using it as a mordant! So now I have a baking tray full of tea soaked rusty objects in the front room!
  
I KNEW there’d be a use for all those rusty items I’ve collected! The book also mentions lots more textile artists, some new, some familiar, all further cause for research. 

I’m collating boards on some of these themes on Pinterest, it’s a great way to store ideas and themes. So long as I don’t spend too long searching and too little time making….