Textiles Review |

Years End

2025-12-18T10:00:00+00:00

I am not sure what I have been doing this last month- there has been quite a lot going on in sellling my mothers house and though my brother did a lot of that, there was still quite some work in packing mum’s things for her new place and then settling her into her new apartment- moving is definitely not my favourite thing but in sorting out mum’s house ( which had so much stuff- a lot of it less than useful) I realised i need to rationalise some of my stuff. It’s not too bad as I have moved quite a lot since 2009 and shed life wasn’t conducive to collecting many things- but I need to reappraise things and just streamline things.

Needless to say I have not made many things recently- fell into a bit of a hole after my exhibition finished and whilst I have stitched a bit here and there- have not achieved a great deal. Did make a new linocut but need to dye more fabric in order to print and until recently I had run out of fabric to dye and could not go to Melbourne to get some more fabric due to lockdowns. So I thought I would do a review in photos of the year that was, starting with January 2021. January I was busy preparing for my on-line linocut course which started early February. These were examples of simple linocuts printed on newsprin and fabric. If anyone is interested I will run the linocut course again sometime in 2022- just depends a little if in the flesh workshops go ahead as planned or not.

The image below is some drawings I purchased at Ste Marie aux Mines- which were made for one of the printing companies in the Rhine valley- they were selling off their designs quite cheaply and I could not resist.

I started making pods- woke up one morning and thought it seemd like a good idea. It went through a few prototypes before I found a shape I liked and also tried different linings- some of the vliesoline was too stiff and did not lend itself to a nice rounded shape.

I decided that I needed to make pomegranate pod shapes as well and made a little linocut to make the seeds.

May2021

Went to the Rone exhibition at the Geelong Art Gallery- and kept stitching on my traveller’s blanket with blue circles and stitched more pods.

Went to the Mary Quant Exhibition in Bendigo and continued stitching hoping against the odds that my workshop for Fibres West in WA in July would go ahead- things were looking very dodgy with covid spreading again.

And I finally finished the One World Traveller’s Blanket- with blue circles all 87 of them!

Got the dreaded news - Fibres West was definitely cancelled for Victorians ( and a bit later that month WA closed its borders to all states and territories) The financial implications were not good for everyone involved including the organisers- for example Qantas does not reimburse its airfares- simply gives the option of using the ticket up in the next 12 months which is not very useful when the next planned event is actually 2 years hence- 2023.

Got carried away making pockets to wear.

Started off rather badly- landed in hospital after suffering a heart attack and spent a couple of days in the Alfred in Melbourne whilst they inserted some stints in a dodgy artery. Once I was home again life sort of returned to normal or as best as I could but my garden did get a bit out of control as no heavy work for at least 6 weeks which included pushing a lawn mower- and well weeds grow no matter what as does the rotten grass- I am still trying to deal with the aftermath of that! Walking is now an imperative and one of my daughters came to help despite the lockdown although she got here before the lockdown actually was imposed. Started using my cold press laminator which had been sitting and staring at my in its box in the loungeroom and found it very useful to do mono printing with found leaves and weeds from my walks.

I had a small exhibition booked at Arc Yinnar and was very tempted to cancel it after my heart attack but instead decided I would do it and see what I could get done. My middle daughter, Siena Galtry designed a booklet for me which contained photos and a poem of sorts devoted to the inspiration offered by morning walks- I don’t know why i had to write a poem but I did and my readers were very supportive of the effort. I have a few left but I did cover the cost of this vanity project.

Exhibition at the Sparc Gallery- this is not a big space but surprisingly roomy when you are not feeling on top of the world- I did manage to fill it but only just and to my great delight I sold quite a few works. Most of the works were smaller as that is what I could cope with at the time but they were all inspired by my morning walks in the little bushland reserve where I walk.

I had enrolled in a printing course run at Arc- which ran for a nine week period and it was great fun. We did all sorts of different kinds of printing including screen printing and linocut printing. This little cat was my linocut effort.

I had a contract earlier in the year to write a Tifaifai book for Editions de Saxe but because of my heart attack it has been pushed back a little. But this month I have been working on the last project for the book and also remade two little quilts ( as I had sold one of the ones I had made last year) as they needed to be photographed in high res for the book- it is my finishing job for January 2022.

I wanted to show how much fun a simple squiggly pattern can be. I made these into wall hangings but they could also make fun cushions.

So looking forward:

I will be running a Traveller’s Blanket on-line class starting mid February. I will also be running the Tifaifai Class starting mid february. I will put details in my next post.

Meanwhile:

It is possible to enroll for the Pods, Pods, Pods class. These days I send out the notes and Video when payment is made so you can get started straight away and I will be doing a zoom question and answer mid January to share out efforts and to asnwer your questions . if you would like to enroll simply follow the Paypal button. The pods below are urchin shape , the pattern and instructions for which are also part of the course ( as are the pomegranates)

I also want to wish all my readers, friends and family a happy and safe 2022 and thank you for your support throughout 2021.

VDMA Companies Outline Major Benefits In Finishing – And Now Dyeing Too

2025-12-18T10:00:00+00:00

Michael Schuhmann, Global Marketing Finishing at Archroma Textile Effects, explained that typical key functions provided in textile finishing include sweat and odor control, water repellence and UV resistance. Softeners are primarily applied to make fabrics more comfortable while other finishes provide reduced crease formation for easy-care properties. The traditional padding or exhaust techniques for applying these finishes require huge volumes of water and energy intensive drying.

Spray application, by contrast, requires much less water due to drastically reduced ‘pick up’ – the amount of liquid that a fabric absorbs and retains, determining how much finishing agent remains in the fabric. This also enables significantly faster drying, making process speeds of up to 100 metres per minute possible, depending on the fabric.

“As the global fashion brands commit to reducing their emissions, the textile processing industry must respond by adopting safer chemistries with resource-saving processes such as spray application,” Schuhmann said.

Precision

Rick Stanford, Vice President Global Business Development for Textiles at BW Converting, explained that at the core of the Baldwin TexCoat G4 technology are precision valves that were originally developed for the offset printing industry and have been refined over the past 40 years through more than 40,000 installations globally.

“These enable extremely precise spray flows which are controlled by proprietary software algorithms,” he said.

Over 100 TexCoat G4 units have been installed worldwide and all three companies are enjoying notable success with bed sheeting manufacturers in Pakistan.

“Our first TexCoat G4 in Pakistan was installed in Spring of 2024 for a manufacturer using Archroma chemistry and a ten-chamber Monforts MONTEX stenter,” Stanford explained. “When using the padder at this mill, the pickup rate was 65% and with TexCoat G4 we were able to reduce that to 27%. As a result, the customer was able to increase the MONTEX speed from 60 metres a minute to 100 metres a minute, while also reducing the operating temperature in the stenter. We have subsequently sold 30 TexCoat G4 units in Pakistan, driven primarily by the system’s proven productivity and efficiency gains.”

Energy savings

“A BW Converting Baldwin TexCoat G4 unit is now installed at the Monforts Advanced Technology Center (ATC) for trials and fully complementing spray finishing operations are our multiple energy saving innovations,” added Saskia Kuhlen, Monforts Engineer for Textile Technologies. “MONTEX stenters are equipped with the TwinAir air volume regulation system as well as the TwinTherm system for temperature control and feature CADstreamE variable nozzles. These features enable full adjustment to a specific fabric width for either higher operational speeds or lower electrical energy. A further benefit is the150-mm wide advanced insulation system inside the stenter frame”.

Further Monforts modules for optimizing processes include the the coaTTex unit for the knife coating of paste and foam application and the EcoApplicator, a kiss-coating technology for the indirect application of finishes on one or both sides of a fabric, with a stenter production speed up to 100m/min. Both can be integrated into existing lines.

The Monforts Energy Tower and EcoBooster are meanwhile modules for air/air heat exchanging, for heat recovery from the exhaust flow of thermal systems. They can also be retrofitted to existing stenter frames, relaxation dryers, infrared pre-dryers and hotflues.

“We continue to explore the best heating options for every customer, with optimised combinations in order to make our lines as energy efficient as possible,” Kuhlen said. “We have also been deeply investigating the potential of green hydrogen as a further option for the future.”

BW Converting’s Baldwin TexChroma™

In response to a big market demand, the three technology partners are now turning their attention to the dyeing process.

At ITMA Asia + CITME in Singapore, from October 28-31, they will introduce the resource-saving combination of THERMEX continuous dyeing ranges with the new BW Converting Baldwin TexChroma™ spray dyeing system.

“We are excited to introduce the Baldwin TexChroma because spray dyeing is the future,” said Stanford. “We’ve been cautious about providing details on TexChroma too early, but now we’re ready and look forward to outlining its benefits in Singapore with interested customers. We will also be installing a TexChroma unit on a THERMEX line at the Monforts ATC in 2026.”

Monforts is at stand A301 in Hall 3 at ITMA Asia + CITME and BW Converting at stand B201 in Hall 8.

Tifaifai- A New Book

2025-12-18T10:00:00+00:00

The working title at present, but I am just in the process of signing a contract with Editions de Saxe to create a book about all the new Tifaifa’s I created for the new on-line course which I first ran earlier this year. Of course this means it will be published in french like most of my books. This will be my sixth book and one of these days I intend to write fiction which was my dream as a young woman. I decided to add one more project to the book which of course now has to be made yesterday rather than tomorrow and I am totally bereft of any ideas and it is too cold and wet to dye fabric today which is usually something that triggers creativity.

My morning walks have dwindled a bit as well, thoough I have recommenced as it is both good for body and soul. The little bushland reserve where I walk has a dazzling variety of fungi springing up out of the undergrowth and I am besotted by fungi and have been since childhood, I could spend hours there but it is a bit chilly at the moment , and a cold climate is not one of my favourite things.

I wish I knew more about fungi, and I am sure I have spotted some edible mushrooms- but I am not 100% sure so better to leave it. But they are really otherworldly with their delicate pleats on their undersides.

I have also become the Gallery Co-ordinator at ARC Yinnar- a pretty township about 10 minutes from Morwell where they have converted an old butter factory into an artists co-op with studios and a dedicated large gallery space, a small gallery and retail space for members to sell their creations. The co-op encompasses a wide range of artistic practices including ceramics, printmaking, scultpure, painting and drawing, some textiles, and music. It is only a part time position- very part time- but I am excited to be involved in this long standing co-op. My first exhibition to oversee is an Open Call for Entry with the Theme Close to Home. Anyone can enter an art piece- the entry fee is $12.50 for a non member or $10 for a member. The deadline is 12 June. Email me if you would like an entry form. The exhibition runs for a month and of course your work can be for sale. The gallery opens on Friday, Saturday and Sunday.

The main gallery is booked out for the rest of the year but I do have the thinking cap on for a dedicated group textile event for 2022.

I will be having an exhibition in the small gallery in October this year- it is a cosy space not without possibilities and I will be making work inspired by my morning walks and also creating a chap book ( I hope)- I have been playing with ideas for this, but for now I have to concentrate on the tifaifai book.

In thinking about creating a chap book I did a workshop with Amy Bodossianlast weekend as part of the Latrobe Literary Festival. There were only four of us in the workshop- lucky us- it was so much fun. I highly recommend her workshop ( she is doing a workshop in Melbourne- Brunswick running from June 10 on Thursday evenings there is a link on her website). I also came out with quite a lot of writing given it was a one day workshop and what a delight she is when delivering her own work. Lots of food for thought , it was the first time I had ever done a poetry workshop, and some new poets to explore to boot.

On Sunday we did a water colour workshop out at ARC Yinnar as part of the family health exhibition that is on there at present, withPolyannaR. We had a lot of fun with that as well, lots of laughter and a few water colour images made. Polyanna’s background is large scale black and white photographs and she has made one of the longest photographs around. Polyanna is also opening a small gallery in Morwell in Commercial Road and the opening will be in June with an exhibition of her works.

Been doing lots of reading about walking and writing by all new writers to me but who seem to be touching on writing and ideas i have been engaged in for the longest time . The first book ,”Wanderers” by Kerri Andrews ( reviewed here ) which is about women walkers over the centuries who wrote about walking. It is fascinating reading and I am in awe of the miles that these women covered on a daily basis and one wonders what foot wear they had available to them and what shape their feet were in after some of their longer walking tours. I am enjoying it immensely and must admit I also obtained a book by Nan Sheperd “The Living Mountain” ( written abouthere) which i also enjoyed a lot and was awed by her ability to walk so much at altitude and to write about it in such a compelling way. She walked the Cairngorm Mountains in Scotland all her life.

And then completely by accident I stumbled across the work ofKate Zambrenoand I am completely absorbed. I am reading “Heroines”- loosely the lives of Vivienne Eliot, Zelda Fitzgerald, Jean Rhys, Virginia Woolf and other literary women who were considered minor (( except Virginia Woolf of course)in comparison to their more famous husbands/lovers ,who discarded them either to mental asylums or poverty where they died at relatively young ages. Entwined in these stories is her own quest to write and to find her way into a writing career. She expresses what I have felt for so many years ( I adore the writing of Jean Rhys and have read all of her books) that the patriarchy continues to control and did control the canon of writing in such a heavy booted way that it is almost criminal. I know in my uni years I felt that DH Lawrence was a mysoginist ( I read most of what he had to write and also biographies etc) and tried to prove it in an essay I wrote in English lit- it was not well received and I went on to study Australian History instead. It also loosely ties into the women writers who walked- whose writing about walking was not received in the same way as the writing about walking by men- and their writing is so different. I can’t wait to read “Drifts” her most recent book. In fact I am having to wrest myself away from reading to do some of my own writing…but but…I love a well written book.

The Story of a Commission

2025-12-18T10:00:00+00:00

I mentioned in my last post that I was working on a two piece commission. Initially the people commissioning had asked for a large piece- larger than what I normally work or can manage on my littlest Bernina workhorse which has a small throat. So we agreed that I make two pieces which are still on the large side of the size I normally work but still manageable. So the pieces were to measure 150 cm x 100 cm.

The commissioners also had suggested some colours in the dyed background cloth. It took quite a few attempts to get cloth that I thought would work which I then sent to the people to choose.

Above are some of the fabrics I dyed- there were more but I had to be mindful that they needed to go together as a set, plus I needed to be able to print on them as the commissioners had indicated they liked the monoprinted pieces I had done with foliage from my morning walks. This method of dyeing gives great results but it is not easy to control where dark and light appears nor how the colours will bleed into each other. The minute you put blue and yellow together you end up with greens and things can become green too quickly - but it also needed dark colour in there for contrast.

Once the background fabrics had been selected I started the printing with foliage that i collected on morning walks,

The photo above is of the printing on the dyed pieces of fabric- once stitching goes in then things can be accentuated a bit more. Once I had the first piece basted the people commissioning had an additional request as they were fungi enthusiasts, they asked if fungi could be included in the printing process. By this stage I had already started stitching in the foliage details so the piece was already batted up and had been partially stitched. This took a bit of procrastinatng as to how I might do it and also as the fungi blocks I had made last year were very blocky and I was loathe to cut them to shape as they are a set with which I intend to do something booky at some point in time. So the only solution was to make some new linocuts that I could somehow manoeuvre into the unstitched spaces.

Phew! It worked, as I was petrified I would spill some printing ink or get a dodgy print which would ruin the whole piece as by this stage I had already done a fair bit of stitching. You can to some extent fix misprints with stitching but this was quite daunting as it was quite a large piece which already had quite a lot of stitching in place. The end result enthused me sufficiently to make another toadstool linocut after encountering one on a recent morning walk.

It was too difficult to include this little toadstool in the first piece I had already started stitching but I was able to print it onto the second piece I had to make. These pieces have been very densely stitched- I call it free machine drawing because essentially I am creating drawings with my machine- and these pieces are large drawings- really large drawings all done on a little domestic Bernina 325 which is the smallest machine in the Bernina range. I dream of a large machine but I am thinking that is what it will remain a dream. But meanwhile whilst it is not easy manoeuvring such a large piece under a small machine it is possible and I have been doing it for a very long time/. Some of the stitching progress…

In this stitching process threads are like my pencil- I use them for line and to create interest in the background and for detailing. I would have to say that thread is of number one importance in the work I create and I have been fortunate to have Aurifilsponsor some of my thread in the past . I use 28 weight cotton Mako thread which is not easily available in Australia but is wonderful to work with and gives such great line and accent.

The selection of threads I used- there are some non-Aurifil threads there mainly as I did not have those colours in my thread box and it is difficult to get the cobs of Mako 28 thread in Australia as I know of no store that stocks the 28 weight thread in a large selection. ( I am aware that Amity Threads in Torquay stock a good range of Aurifil thread but not much of the 28 weight thread which they can order- but I didn’t have the time for this ) . The next most important thing for my work is the weight of batting. I use Matilda’s Own wool/Polyester batting - it will take a lot of stitching and not stretch or buckle- and I stitch very densely.

So the last few weeks have been a marathon of stitching. Then the squaring up which I did out at Arc Yinnar as they had a table big enough . Normally i do this on the floor but because these two pieces will hang together they need to be as much the exact same size as is possible when dealing with textile. I also decided to do faced bindings as I did not really want anything to distract from the flow of the stitching.

And so finally after about 3 months from first contact these pieces have been finished and sent to their new owners. They liked the photos I sent but it is simply not the same as seeing the pieces in the flesh. And so here are the finished pieces, not photographed terribly well I am afraid- there was too much light coming from the left.

In the end I was actually quite pleased with how they looked- there is always that anxiety of whether the people who have commissioned the piece will like what you have done, the anxiety of whether it really works. Whilst I have made forest quilts before, these are a little different because there is more blue in them than I would normally do in the background dyeing and also the printing I do has subtly changed since last year when I started incorporating foliage from my morning walks into my work. The addition of the linocuts was an additional challenge and something I had not done before but I liked how they looked in these pieces.

Swedish Innovation Behind New TexChroma™ Spray Dyeing

2025-12-18T10:00:00+00:00

The TexCoat® G4 Legacy

The introduction of TexChroma follows the runaway success of BW Converting’s Texcoat G4 finishing system in the past few years.

Rick Stanford, VP global business development at Baldwin

“TexCoat G4 spray technology was developed in Sweden from our off-set printing business, and we initially focused on installing units in Europe and the USA,” explains Vice President of Global Business Development for Textiles Rick Stanford.

“In the past two years, however, we have been very active in Asia, with 35 units sold — and many of these customers have been asking for a similar technology for the dyeing process.”

The first TexChroma will be installed at the plant of a very well-known Italy-based continuous dyer which is part of a larger textile manufacturing group, in order for it to be fully industrially tested before going into series production.

“Our first customer is close by our facility in Sweden, has the practical dyehouse skills we can learn from, and is a satisfied TexCoat G4 customer,” Stanford said. “We believe a major benefit of TexChroma will be in eliminating much rework which is common in dyehouses, but we’ve been very cautious about providing details on TexChroma too early. The dyeing process is unforgiving, and we must get it right the first time. The market has been ready for quite some time. And now, so are we.”

BW Converting is at stand B201 in Hall 8 at ITMA Asia + CITME 2025.

TMAS members in Singapore

Eltex (Hall 2, stand C203) has made an important breakthrough on its EyETM tension monitoring system for the heat setting, tufting, warping and winding sectors, with the addition of electromagnetic brakes in combination with the latest advanced sensors. These enable tension variation to not only be detected, but automatically adjusted in real time during operation, rather than manually changed as previously.

The company’s ACT-R unit can further significantly reduce the selvedge yarn waste from the weft insertion systems of rapier weaving machines, while at the same time maintaining equal and steady tension across all pre-winders.

Advanced weaving control is also the bedrock of business for Vandewiele Sweden AB (Hall 2, stand D301e), which supplies weft yarn feeding and tension control units for weaving looms to the majority of the leading weaving machine manufacturers, as well as for retrofitting in working mills around the world The company will present its latest X4 yarn feeders with integrated accessory displays and has recently further strengthened its product portfolio with IRO Gaugepart modules. These are applied to tufting looms to determine the appearance of a carpet in terms of feel and structure.

Finally, the colarette machines of Svegea (Hall 6, stand D109) set the standard throughout Asia for the high speed production of tubular apparel components such as cuffs, collars and neck tapes and in Singapore the company will demonstrate its EC 50 and EC 200 with E-Drive II models, in addition to linked cutting systems.

Re-Invention Part II

2025-12-18T10:00:00+00:00

The other aspects of being an artist they pointed to was the acquiring of a good grounding of skill and then lots of practice and even then the outcome will not always be certain but will have its serendipitous moments through the accrual of practice and will have its disasters. Another point that was raised was research and development- learning about other artists, art history but also learning about the different materials and techniques for using those materials which then go on to inform how you make things.

I consider myself to be a textile artist rather than a quilt maker because I do many textile related things not only quilts- for example I dye fabric, I print fabrics , I use a number of techniques to get imagery onto fabric including breakdown printing and transfer printing and I stitch by hand and machine not only to quilt but to embellish, but I definitely have art in mind as my end result. I also write and have written many industry relevant articles and books but also a book that included some creative travel writing, I am a curator having travelled many exhibitions overseas, and I teach. Oh and I am a traveller. In the textile world I am considered well and truly mid career if not further along but in the art world I am on the beginning curve of mid career. I am also a creative entrepeneaur- I have made something out of nothing and I have done this for quite a few years now. And yes I put that in bold text- I have never thought to describe myself in this way but that is indeed what I am.

I am in the process of rewriting my bio ( what do you think is interesting that I do? feedback would be appreciated) because bio writing has really changed with the popularity of social media and I am in the process of mapping my goals- both business and personal as an interlaced map.

There are lots of ideas floating around , out there and in my head and I am also looking at how I value my hours of work. The pay/hours of work equation has been woefully low, yet artists consistently undervalue their worth and are expected to undervalue their worth and are expected to do many things for free because the work of an artist is undervalued in society as a whole.

Anyway I am still working through many of the ideas I have encountered in this week of research and re-visioning my arts practice. What I would really like to achieve in the next few years is an exhibitiion in an established gallery! Plus another book about something closer to home- inspired by morning walks. And I would consistenly likje to make artists books.

My on-line Linocutting and Printing on Fabriccourse starts on 4 April- so there is plenty of time to enroll. In it I share my many years of experience of printing on fabric with lino ( see my previous post for details and Paypal button) and there are many exercises to build your skills. You could also print on paper if so inclined.

And whilst I am on the subject of podcasts I have this last week been making pods. I mostly make these at night at present, as it is a slow process. I was intrigued that I wrote in my journal about this time last year that I wanted to make pods- pods of kindness or tenderness pods- the holders of fragile and tender ideas .

These pods sit in the palm of your hand- part of me wants to make the walls more stiff but another part of me likes that the walls are soft and change shape. They are sitting on top of a hand dyed Sudanese cotton bought at a flea market in Trieste and printed with linocuts.

I have also created a page on my blog of prints for sale. I have listed all the types of prints I have ( there are a few more to add, but I have to print them first). I have not listed all the colours as there are many possibilities with hand dyed fabrics and basically you can request a colour family you would like. If you scroll down the page you will find images of stitched pieces and some instructions and ideas of how I stitch the printed pieces. I use very simple stitching.

Pods, Pods, Pods, and Mono Printing

2025-12-18T10:00:00+00:00

And so the lockdown continues- case numbers keep rising and it seems people are so doing the wrong thing. I am sick and tired of people who think they are above and beyond- get real people this is a panademic, not your unfriendly neighbourhood flu.

I have been trying to achieve some work but because of lockdown I am unable to get a hold of the fabric I normally use to dye, so I have had to be sparing with what I have. I doubt whether I will be able to get fabric in the near future as I get it in Melbourne and Melbourne is locked down for awhile yet.

I am supposed to be having a small exhibition at the small gallery at ArcYinnar starting in October but who knows, however work still has to be made in anticipation of it happening even if it doesn’t. I thought I would make work inspired by walks in the Crinigan Bushland Reserve where I walk almost daily.

This is the cold press laminator and some of the prints I have made. I am not sure what brand it is as the box does not say nor does the piece itself. But it has two orange rollers. The pressure is adjustable and it has a small hand crank. I am using a piece of wood ply as my bed and it is 65 cm wide. It was around $140 delivered- and with the fun I have been having with it I think that is really good value!

The image above is the first print- so that the foliage creates the negative space.

This is the second print showing the shadowing of the first print and with the foliage inked again. I just love how the kangaroo grass comes out int he printing process.

The piece above has been hand stitched ( this is A4 size). The image below has been machine stitched.

And my Pods, Pods, Pods class is running again on 19 September. there is still plenty of time to join into the pod making fun ( i have become a bit obsessed and tend to stitch them whilst binge watching stuff on my laptop at night). Once you get the hand of them, they come together quite quickly and there are three variations on offer which include a pod, a pomegranate and an urchin.There is a button below the last photo for the class which costs $25 and consists of pdf notes, video and we will have a zoom session a week after instructions have been delivered so we can share and ask questions.

The photo below shows a detail of the dots and colonial knots of the sea urchin.

New Adventure

2025-12-18T10:00:00+00:00

It has been awhile since I blogged and there has been a reason. Apart from being very busy with teaching associated with the Gathered Threads Exhibition, Geelong Fibre Forum and Slow Stitch in Ulladulla, my friend Cheryl Cook and I have been experimenting, playing and creating some exciting art and textile art using natural inks created by using recipes developed by Cheryl and pushing them further to encompass a range of textile techniques. They behave and work differently to eco dyeing and eco printing and allow all sorts of ancillary explorations on both cotton and paper. We are excited and have been working hard and we have now launched a website entitled Inkpot Alchemists. There are still more materials to add but we are offering workshops and some eye candy as well as sharing our ethos in working in this way and as we are both passionate about extending our creative muscles as well as yours. I case you are interested this coming Sunday we will be exploring printing with natural inks and including linocutting. Just email me if you would like to come and I can send details. The cost is $80 for a day workshop up at Cheryl’s studio at Tanjil South

For me this has been a very exciting development in a slightly different direction and opens the door to lots of exploration in both textile and book form ( something I had been dabbling in). Cheryl and I also intend to write a book exploring the work we have been doing both creatively and the processes we have used, though the book will also delve into the creative process and how the natural inks have fuelled exploration and contemplation. We have both inspired each other and get a great deal of joy out of working together and meet up weekly in order to explore further. Anyway have a look at our website and see some of the things we have been working on and what we have been thinking about.

Meanwhile here are some of the things I have been working on. Some of the things I have shown will be discussed in the future on our blog attached to the new website. I have not done very much stitching as I have been too busy exploring. I have printed with some of the inks on mulberry paper purchased at Geelong Fibre Forum in September and I am stitching the pages I printed and loving what happens with the stitching in combination with the natural ink printed linocuts. The linocuts were inspired by my two week sojourn in Perugia earlier this year and I love how the inks really have a medieval feel about them which seem to marry well with the linocuts I have made. I have found some naturally dyed linen threads in France from Fontywhich stitch beautifully. I must admit this palette I am working with is quite different to the one I use with the procion dyeing I did, but this new way of working is al about nuance and embracing nature as both inspiration and work friend

Monforts Reports Successful Installations

2025-12-18T10:00:00+00:00

Spain-based lining fabric producer Textil A. Ortiz recently commissioned a fourth Monforts Montex tenter from Germany-based A. Monforts Textilmaschinen GmbH & Co. KG. The nine-chamber Montex 8500-9F installation at Textil A. Ortiz’s Santa Perpètua de Mogoda facility features direct gas heating, a Hercules needle chain, Matex finishing padder and two heat exchangers. The equipment is used to finish fabrics with softeners, water repellents and flame retardants.

Altoteks, a specialist in dyeing and finishing fabrics for workwear and uniforms, has installed its third Monforts Thermex continuous dyeing range at its Çorlu, Turkey facility. The company already operates two Thermex units and a Montex finishing range as part of its annual 18-million-meter dyeing and printing operation. The new two-meter-wide line includes three linked Thermex units, gas-powered infrared predryers, and cold pad batch winding. It also features the Econtrol® process for reactive dyes, designed to support faster, simplified continuous dyeing.

2025 Quarterly Issue IV

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Exhibition at Arc Yinnar; Morning Walks in the Pandemic

2025-12-18T10:00:00+00:00

I meant to post on my blog much earlier than this but October got fiendishly busy with all sorts of things and also with things taking up time that were rescheduled because of the Covid restrictions and lockdowns in Victoria. So this is a catch up on all the work I made for my small exhibition in the SpArc gallery at Arc Yinnar. The work has been inspired by my morning walks in the Crinigan Bushland Reserve which is close to my home, and which saved my sanity these last two years and is now a big factor in recovering my health after my heart attack. The exhibition finishes this Sunday the 31st of October- and I am very grateful to the visitors that have visited despite the difficulties of travel at the moment.The gallery has a window as one wall so I created some new gum leaves to hang across the window space. This piece is constructed from hand dyed fabric and hand painted vilene with each leaf individually stitched and cut out by hand and then sewn together to create a cascade of gumleaves, like you would encounter walking through the bush from low hanging eucalypt brances. The piece is for sale for $800AUD.

I also created another forrest piece which has already been sold ( in fact it was sold before the exhibition was hung). I have made these pieces in the past , but this one has been printed with found things from things I found in the Bushland reserve which included bracken and gum leaves.

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The other pieces were all monoprinted with the cold press laminator I purchased last year ( but which I only unpacked out of its box about 3 months ago- it just seemed like one more daunting thing to deal with at the time- but since I have unpacked it I have had a lot of fun with it- and it is still a learning curve for some things). The next two pieces have a central panel which was monoprinted and was then surrounded with hand dyed fabric and free motion stitching with Aurifil Mako threads ( which I love- I use the 30 weight so the thread is slightly thicker because you can get such a good line)

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Both of these pieces have sold to someone who is collecting some of my work and told me that she shows some of my work to her students at school to inspire them- which is a huge compliment!

The next three pieces measure approx 25 cm x 60 cm and are also monoprinted with found things from the bushland reserve. They are for sale for $200AUD. I found that when I picked some fo the gumleaves they needed a longer piece of fabric to express their elegance and despite the fact that gumleaves usually hang down, i liked the effect when I pointed them upwards ( you can defy gravity when monoprinting). I also like the shadow print that happens when you make a second print with this type of monoprinting. And I am in love with Kangaroo grass- it makes such a smashing whispy print.

I also made a series of smaller pieces, some hand stitched and some machine stitched. The intention was to make eight but I got five done and am still working on the sixth- I guess it won’t get done in time after all. These measure 22 cm x 32 cm

For sale $180AUD- this piece is monoprinted and hand stitched-facedbinding

For sale $180AUD- this piece is monoprinted and hand stitched- faced binding

The next three have all been mono-printed and machine stitched and are $100AUD each.

*Sold](https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEii7qaTQ1dMk2aNcgM5cCcOKa75L4XC4PfYtEeVwHHxJdI2QSeYcsMBO9WA14cnU51ToqirpmGDsSUQD7thnrKZeETRiZy10oatbT07PJBjA3wiYOVqlGtMCsTpIdwdPElD9hgt/s3238/PXL_20211009_040534449%257E2.jpg)

For Sale

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The last piece was monoprinted onto a previously hand printed ( with a linocut) hand dyed khadi fabric and then machine stitched.

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I am thrilled with the sales thus far. It has felt like a huge affirmation for working in this way , which is sort of new for me. I have used prinintg in the past in my work but have not really used monoprinting before. Working with the cold press laminator has made those prints come out in a much more interesting way than by simply hand pressing. I also accompanied the exhibition with a booklet which I mentioned in my previous post which also contains a poem of sorts. I still have a few of those for sale if interested ( see my previous post). Some other random photos of my exhibition. I included pods and pockets I had made over the past months. You can sign up for the Pods, Pods, Pods Class ( also in my previous blog post)- i send otu the notes and vidoe immediately and will be organising a zoom question and answer in mid November.

And of course I had to include one of the Sentinelles to watch over all this bush inspired work. If you are interested in any of the pieces that are still for sale please email me. I am also available to make commission pieces. Some of the smaller pieces would make great Christmas gift. I am also selling the little printed panels ( they are unstitched and they are a little bit bigger than A4) which have been monoprinted . They are monoprinted on hand dyed fabric with found foliage from the bushland reserve. They are $20 inclusive of postage. In the image below are four separate prints.

And let me encourage you to buy the work of artists and artisans in this difficult time but to also buy local and things that are made with love and passion, weather it be art , crafted objects or home grown foods. I can’t tell you how grateful I am that so many pieces in this exhibition have sold. Like many artists I survive off the sales from what I make- there is no siginificant other or other support, so it means the world to me that you have supported my work, it enables me to live and to continue making. A number of pieces I have sold in this exhibition have sold to people I have known over the years and that means a lot to me. It is an affirmation that my work is enjoyed, that I am not creating in a vacuum and that what I am trying to say strikes a chord. So thank you!