a few days away from home

recently i spent a wonderful few days with Priscilla Edwards (formerly Priscilla Jones) at West Dean College - she was leading a course on Sculptural Textile Art - Mixed media, wax and fabric - i had seen her work before and was so taken by it that i tried my hand immediately while away in the caravan 

before the course i got her book and did some more practice pieces, but this time i also got some covered wire, as Priscilla recommends, and found hat the fabric and paper really adhered better with that - so i found the process more enjoyable 

i have already mentioned my aim is to make a cage, but i did manage to restrain myself  and make a couple of practise pieces to develop my skills 

after that i focused on making a model for the cage, rather than trying to make it straight away - i think i have finally learned that time spent sampling is always well spent - i am really glad that i chose to make a model, it gave me the opprotunity to try out different ways of embellishing the basic structure as well as having support, ideas and feedback on the actual shape and structure of the cage

the result is more of a sampling piece than a smaller version of the end product and i really found it helpful in exploring how to approach the process - an important lesson was to break it down into separate parts for ease of access, then assemble the finished parts

during the course i learned to loosen up and be more relaxed with the work - some of my practice work had been surprisingly regular and neat - i really wanted a more spontaneous, loose result, which i feel i achieved  

 

the actual cage will be bigger and will need more rigidity - that might make the foundation structure more regular, but i feel that will be softened by the other elements 

roughly where i am heading