Tag: craft

art

Oil quilt squares

Each square is a little more than 20 x 20cm and there are more than 70 to make up four quilt panels. Quite a few have been made two or more times and as they are mono-printed and/or stamped as well as inkjet printed, sometimes drawn on, each one is a unique piece. They are also quilted and stitched, sometimes embroidered and that is also unique to each one. I’m not making a second quilt (yet) just want some squares for display and sale.

These are low-res scans, hopefully the originals look better. All work in progress, more printing and stitching isn’t ruled out. And borders have to be added.

I’ve used a free font (non-commercial) all through this work, called Action of the Time New™ by Galdino Otten, although in most places it won’t be recognisable as I have distorted the text, over-drawn, over-stitched and over-printed almost everywhere. It’s a great font family.

Tags art, bombs, Bristol, craft, dye, embellish, embroider, guns, inkjet, machine stitch, nodding donkey, Oil, print, quilt, stamp, stencil, stitch

art

Hare

Summer 2022 I stayed on a willow farm in Somerset and bought withies and other fibres with a view to doing some sculpture. My previous experience with this material is that the whole project can quickly grow beyond first ideas and this happened again. I expected a smaller and much simpler mask but when the basic structure was made it seemed to demand more intricacy and detail.

I worked on it off – one of several projects – and on through last Autumn and into Spring this year and this is the result. The hare is supposed to be outside in my little garden but I haven’t got round to that, it needs a little shelter from the elements. Part of my reason for making this was to amuse my grandchildren and encourage them in artistic endeavours.

Hare, 2023, Withies, grasses and other natural fibres and found objects, 220cm x 90cm Chris Miller

Tags art, bamboo, banana, children, copper, craft, glass beads, hare, hemp, jute, mask, sculpture, silk, string, willow, withies, wool

art

Fukushima

Fukushima is in the news again, as it will be periodically for the rest of your life and beyond. This time it’s for starting to dump toxic water into the Pacific, with partial blessing of the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) who are trying to hedge their bets, or just lying through their teeth. And a Netflix drama series about the 2011 events.

Anyway I thought I might re-post the piece I made for my Masters degree.

Welcome to Fukushima – kimono front, fabric, printed and embellished, 2m x 2m, 2018.

Welcome to Fukushima – kimono rear, printed and embellished fabric, 2m x 2m, 2018

I have managed to lose most of the files, sketches, notes, images &c. I collected for the project and for the rest of the MA, probably when I moved home, twice.

My overall feeling about this piece is that I would like it to be darker and with bigger and bolder images, but at the time of making I was thinking of the confusion surrounding the 2011 events, and a recent visit to the COBRA museum, Amsterdam https://cobra-museum.nl/ where the anti-art movement of Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam (post World War Two) is displayed.

Tags 2011, Boro, Bower Ashton, craft, drawing, embellishing, embroidery, fabric, fabric printing, Fukushima, Japan, kimono, MA, print, printmaking, radioactive, sewing, tourism, Toxic dumping

quilt

Quilting

I have been working on a new quilt for the last few weeks, until the weather became too good to stay home.

This is a (low-res) pic of my sewing bench, work in progress. The quilt will consist of 72 printed, stitched and embellished fabric squares which are then quilted, stitched together and printed/overstitched again, until done. Most of the squares were inkjet printed, some printed with stamps cut from rubber or lino, some were also stencilled or hand drawn and painted. There are also other forms of printing such as collagraph.

Tags craft, design, sewing, stitch

art

Little Owl

Another wire frame and tissue owl. Waterproofed with outdoor varnish.

Tags art, craft, design, Little Owl, model, owl, sculpture, tissue, wire frame

Laser-cut plywood

Miller Toys and Models Narrowboat

Post author By Chris Miller
Post date July 18, 2021
No Comments on Miller Toys and Models Narrowboat

One of my model testers, Laura painted a narrowboat model for me, entirely her choice of design. The name chosen may be appropriate as sales of my range of models – 17 different boats and aircraft – are almost non-existent.

Miller Toys and Models Narrowboat model, 30cm, Tiny Titanic, painted by Laura H/A-M, 2021

Tags Bristol, children, construction, craft, design, laser-cut, model, narrowboat, plywood

art

Barn Owl

A simple frame of florist’s wire – galvanised is best – covered with wet strength tissue, using pva, could use starch paste but then not at all waterproof. This owl is hanging in my cherry tree and hopefully deterring cats from my little garden.

Tags art, barn owl, Bristol, construction, craft, model, owl, sculpture, tissue paper, wire frame

textiles

Animal Masquerade quilt

Still sorting out work from a year or two ago, this quilt was made in 2018, there was also an artist’s book using similar mask images. The animals are all British Isles native apart from the grey squirrel, although that has been here for quite some time now. I haven’t done much work for the last two months and sorting out old pieces, repairing or completing them feels like a way back in to making some art. These are sketches of some of the mask images, drawn on a tablet, or drawn on paper and scanned and manipulated in Affinity Photo. The bamboo silk fabric was digitally printed and I also screen printed some tiles but the results were messy.

Many people have reported how the early part of the Covid crisis was a period of stimulus and creativity, I felt that but in the second UK lockdown I felt quite depressed, especially with our government incompetence and found work difficult. I did start work on a fairly large piece – another art quilt – but progress was slow and I have put it aside for a while.

Animal Masquerade, quilted bamboo silk, 120 x 90 cm, 2018

The next and final step is to make a border, this will need to be a dark material and quite wide I think. The quilt was to be a practical piece for a child’s bed but didn’t get finished and so wasn’t used that way. I try to use organic fabrics, usually from the Organic Fabric Co. in Wales but this isn’t always possible; I like bamboo because it is grown without herbicides or pesticides and is really versatile, takes dye and print beautifully and is widely available. The quilting (wadding) is also bamboo.

Here are some details.

Tags Animal Masquerade, art, bamboo, Bristol, British wildlife, craft, digital print, drawing, mask, quilt, textile print, textiles

textiles

Afghan Boy print

This little fabric print was made with a simple stencil, I made lots but didn’t use them. Came across it this morning and thought I would add a border. The impression of a face was entirely accidental.