The conversion of Ellergreen, the former country house, into a centre for paper arts is in progress. How exciting that it could become in time a lively place for the paper community, near and far. Plans are in place for a print studio, exhibition and meeting spaces, bindery, conservation workshop, library and archive. As with most creative ideas it all depends on funding!

It’s so encouraging to see traditional skills being used and passed on to the next generation and visitors made so welcome.

The wonderful end product is so great – stacks of hand made paper

I’d heard about The Paper Foundation at Burneside near Kendal and it was a wonderful discovery when on holiday in the Lake District. As an artist working in mixed media, paper is one of the materials I love to include in my work. Book and paper conservation is also another passion of mine so it was a delight to visit this wonderful gem.

Established in 2016 it specialises in hand made paper European style. Each sheet is individually made using various fibres; hemp, linen, cotton.
Here’s Sam in the process of making paper, showing wet sheets on couching felts and then stacked to dry.

Below is an old beater repurposed and a new version of the old work horse, both in use

The paper is sought after world wide by museums, galleries, libraries and conservators.

I’m the lucky owner of the gift of one of their sketchbooks.

I’ll post more but this is just the starter……………………

“We nurture dreams to grow creative solutions from Africa.”

‘The Centre is one of Cape Town’s best kept secrets with twenty-five arts and craft studios and workshops, a historic greenhouse and nursery and stunning restaurant. Montebello Design Centre is located in Newlands, Cape Town, and is the result of a financial and property bequest by Cecil Michaelis who wished the centre to work closely with the University of Cape Town to nurture design, craft and entrepreneurship in South Africa. The project is situated in the farm buildings of the historic site of Montebello. Montebello Design Centre is a Not for Profit Organisation.’

John Bauer and his beads

I love to visit John’s gallery and shop at the Montebello Design Centre in Newlands, Cape Town. He works in porcelain and is known for his innovative ways of working. I am fortunate to have one of his bowls which not only looks beautiful but also sounds wonderful!

On my visits to Cape Town I try to make a visit to the Design Centre and am captivated by the subtle colours of the hand made beads which feed into my creativity.

Here are some I brought back with me and some necklaces now made up ready for sale on the website.

To choose a necklace go to Shop

A Trigge Library Event on Saturday 29th June at St Wulfram’s Church , Grantham

10 am – 4pm Tickets from ghcentre@stwulframs.com

Gessner’s Historia Animalium
Talks from Ms Emma Milnes- librarian at the Zoological Society of London
Professor Andrew Pettegree, CBE FBA Prof of modern history at University of St. Andrews
Dr Jessica Parker Associate lecturer at University of St Andrews
Ms Bridget Warrington accredited library and Archives Conservator

Gessner’s Historia Animalium recently restored as part of the Trigge library collection – one of my favourite prints

Bookbinding and making book structures have always been a part of my creative practice. I love the opening and closing, revealing and concealing elements of making books and they are a wonderful way of presenting visual images as well as text.

So my recent opportunity to steward at the Trigge Library at St Wulfram’s is a joy – founded in 1598 by Revd. Francis Trigge.
His purpose in founding the library was ‘for the encreasinge of learning and knowledge in divinitie and other liberal sciences.”

It’s rather like the secret garden as you have to navigate a spiral staircase to reach the library above the South porch. This was accommodation for a priest before the reformation. It has a fireplace, a lavabo and squint that gives a good view of the interior of the church. When Francis Trigge was looking for a secure place to house the library it was an ideal place as it was no longer in use.

It’s not only the wonder of the printing techniques but also the wonderful woodblock prints, ancient bindings, hand made chains and the other – worldliness of the space.

Spiral staircase – 22 steps to the top!

It’s the Textile Study Group’s 50th birthday this year!

It’s 50 years since the inception of the Textile study Group or The Practical Study Group as it was known in 1973.

celebrating innovative textile practice

Our anniversary exhibition, Making:50 will include previously unseen works of differing topics, scales and dimensions. The ‘common denominator’ we are working towards is the ‘theme’ of 50 in some way, however tenuously (eg 50 units/fragments/spaces/words/stitches, 50 memories, 50 pages from a journal….. ). This is not a prescriptive ‘golden’ exhibition, nor will all completed works measure 50cms by 50cms; we are individually expressing ourselves in the way we choose, having a wide interpretation of what textiles and textile art mean to us all.

Although former members will have a chance to be represented, and there will be an archive element to our proposed show, Making:50 will very much be about looking forwards, rather than being a retrospective. 24 members are taking part.

I chose to make 5 panels to illustrate my creative practice over 5 decades. Here are the first and the last of the set.

Making :50 is now on show at Peebles until August 5th and will open at The Ropewalk Gallery in Barton-on-Humber from September 16th till November26th 2023

The exhibition Making 50 will include the following Textile Study Group members: Lois Blackburn, Bobby Britnell, Jenny Bullen, Sarah Burgess, Penny Burnfield, Jean Draper, Janet Edmonds, Jan Evans, Alice Fox, Sue Green, Kay Greenlees, Gwen Hedley, Ruth Issett, Jane McKeating, Sian Martin, Jan Miller, Sheila Mortlock, Amarjeet Nandhra, Mandy Pattullo, Polly Pollock, Shelley Rhodes, Mary Sleigh, Julia Triston, Dorothy Tucker and

Here’s a little peek at what we’ve made.