Conversations with Women Friends cards

I have popped all the cards into their packets/pouches and will see if I get any more made before we head to Scotland; but for now I have enough stock to got with in preparation for the Pop Up in Armadale in late August.

Women Friends are so important in our lives, and  I felt I wanted to honour those relationships somehow - recognise and celebrate them.

I ended up sequencing them - calling them CWWF I, II, II, IV etc all the way up to X.  I thought it would help people choosing, but also I wanted to think my way through sequencing them for a book I might print with them all.

CWWF I is a smily one - simple. We can often say so much with a delivery of chicken soup. Or a friend just delivers it without even talking about it and you know all the love and care that is in it.

Sometimes the conversation is pretty much one where one person does the listening as it's a hard, tough, sad, soul-destroying experience that needs to be shared and heard; not solved. CWWF II.

CWWF III - so often this is my answer to "how did it go?" Whenever I think back over all the topics we touched on - the health, the books, the politics, the friends, the work, the weather... so many things!

This one is powerful, and potent, and didn't need a red thread of conversation between us... CWWF IV

CWWF V - oh my this is cracker! Those moments when a shared experienced is captured in one word and you both just burst out laughing! The stitching line tries to capture that explosive burst somehow.

CWWF VI - this one captures those special friends you have known for decades, where your conversations cover so much territory. Over decades we have seen the ups, the downs and the round abouts...

Sometimes our conversations with friends are texts, chats, messages, emails and oh the bliss of a written letter. CWWF VII

Nothing beats sitting side by side and blethering whilst the road unfurls before you. CWWF VIII

CWWF IX - so true! Somehow time disappears and you take a breath and look around your and realise its been hours...

CWWF X. This one. The special ways of knowing and understanding, of sharing, connecting and checking in... is like no other relationship.

And yes, they still look glorious in a bundle!

Conversations with Women Friends - the choices

I have turned to these conversations because they feel unique, they feel special, and they feel enriching.  They are something I want to make small portable bits art about. The small works will try to celebrate the joy of women friends and the conversations we share.

Whilst I have bene pondering and playing with possible words for a while, I have settled on my ten descriptors/verses around different conversations with women friends. 

This is their first iteration as a set of words. I have thoughts about other ways to share them and use them, but for now I have settled on some business card sized pieces of printmaking paper, with typewriter, vintage Letraset, silk thread hand stitching and tracing paper pouches with machine stitching.

But the journey to this point has been a bit round about!

The first challenge was what sort of pouch to present them in? I tried a few origami fold style ones of different sizes. I tried some rectangular ones made of printed lightweight paper with tape holding the edges down and I tried my usual pocket pouches that I make for pebbles and some of B's jewellery.

Interesting how I came down on the side of what I know, and what I am known for.

And I decided I wanted to try out lightweight tracing paper as the pouch. Luckily I had a pad of 25 sheets I could use to test, but then I had trouble tracking any more of the same stuff down. I found another alternative, after trying some drawing/tracing paper friends had gifted me years ago. In some circumstances it would have been right; but for these, it just looked a little bit dirty, which was a real shame because I have a stash of it still!

I had typed the cards, and cut them all down to size and rubbed out the pencil guide marks and then it was down to determining how best to use the illustrations I had in mind.

I had decided on two circles with a line of running stitches between them, signifying a conversation. But first to the circles. I selected a couple of the letter O from a  few different typefaces we have and quickly stamped them using an ink stamping pad. Of course that ink ran, but I also wasn't too sure that I would get a crisp mark out of them anyway just by hand inking and stamping.

For the sake of testing I also chose to trace a few circles using a circle tool I have. They came out pretty cleanly which was good.

Then Barry asked if I had considered Letraset? And I hadn't, so I popped downstairs to the studio space and collected my bags of Letraset and set to work searching for a variety of Os that could work. Generally speaking they came out well and I thought yes, we have a solution. They aren't always perfect, but I kind of don't mind that they show their age.

And then to deciding which of the conversation lines I might use. Not the solid lines, and not the ones that were underlining but rather the intermittent lines that went between two people. I thought hard about do I choose a single style or ????

And as is often the way with me, the answer was in the ????s and it came about as I read each card and thought "that's a jumping up one" or that's a between two people one" or "that doesn't need a line between them" or "that is a very close one" and the images just happened.

And so here they are in sets of ten. I have made three sets of ten with a few spare. The idea is that they get sold individually because one of them might be just the perfect one for a friend; but that all ten could also be bought together as an art piece/installation.

The red thread harks back to my Women Friends work for The Red Thread exhibition and felt like the right choice. See here and here and here...

The wild dangling threads are just part of me and my making (dating back to A Subversive Stitch I think way back here).

I'll go through the finished cards individually next time I think.

You can see that each card is individual and unique with different typefaces and sizes of the Os, and different placement and numbers of stitches.

 Just like our friends and our conversations. Unique.

Red Card

 We are on the mend and even tho I love not feeling physically sick with aches and pains and grunge; I think I love having my brain back more!  I have really noticed how my brain is getting back to normal - seeing connections and getting enthused, wondering about new techniques and ideas. It feels good.

So I managed to finish my book Red Card.

I made my first artists' book about Australian women being killed by their partners or ex-partners back in 2014. Ten years later, after much hand-wringing, promises, plans and consultations, very little has changed. 

 

In this book I give red cards to governments, lawmakers and law enforcers who need to do so much more to stop women being killed. I give a red card to those men who quite simply, need to stop killing women. I also give a red card to the media who continue to blame women and describe him as a good bloke. 

In many sports a red card sees you sent off the field or court, no longer able to participate in the game or match. 

 

I am weary and tired that so little action is taken against this domestic terrorism. I repeat and repeat and repeat STOP. JUST STOP.

 I like the combination of black and stitched running stitch and the red machine stitching. When the book cover is open fully and laid flat and face down; the red machine stitching takes on the form of a cross. With the cover closed, the horizontal stitching flatlines...

As ever, I do love a random, dangling thread. The horizontal stitching is nice and clean, but the spine sewing leaves these threads. Domestic terrorism is tangled and messy for those stuck within it.

A lot of stamping of the word STOP took place. The inside cover and the central pages and pocket.

The seven cards inside the pocket read: STOP killing women; STOP blaming women; STOP saying he's a good bloke; STOP finding excuses for him; STOP pretending it's normal; STOP making women responsible; and JUST STOP.

STOP women being killed.

STOP killing women.

STOP saying he's a good bloke.

JUST STOP.

Lots of stamping and letters

 The red book continues along. I have made a cover and am happy with the way it worked out; although piercing all the holes for the hand stitching took a while and a lot of control to stop the covers slipping. I tried some tape but it didn't hold, so I just had to be very careful.

I like the contrast between the single red line of machine stitching and more rugged hand stitched black running stitch.

The inside cover looks good with its overstepping.

And how the cover looks standing alone.

More stamping on the pages inside.

Working through Letraset options for the red cards that go in the pouches.

I changed my mind and rather than do the titles with Traditional Letterpress and metal type; I am going to continue with the Letraset. I thought it would seem odd to introduce a different style of lettering so went for a consistent feel rather than the jolt of contrast that added nothing, and may have distracted.

I think this will be the title Letraset.

My work table is a complete mess; but that is the good thing about a studio space you can lock and leave. It doesn't have to bother anybody else; and I can return the next day and just dive back in.

I am aiming to make an edition of three books, but you never know how things will work out. Fingers are crossed as the finish line gets closer.

The red book continues

 So I had sorted out the look and feel of the pocket, the title and the cards for this wee book; but the cover was making me think long and hard.

I knew it would be black. And then I could see segments of red machine sewing and threads dangling. That feels like me, and the jagged nature of the stitching felt a part of the story I was trying to tell. But when I tested it, it just didn't work for me. It was way too messy and disrupted, and did not feel nice at all.  

I then moved all the dangling threads inside and tidied up the front to see if the helped. It helped a lot, but still wasn't quite right.

So I think I have landed on a single continuous line of red stitching about a third of the way down. Yet to be tested!

The inside cover will be attached to the outside cover by  a frame of hand stitching. I needed to check if red was the way to go; or black. This is what it would look like on the outside cover. I chose the black.

Instead of doing a pamphlet stitch or variation of it I think I will machine sew the book to the cover, and

 here I was testing how that might look on the inside, with either red or black. At the moment I am going with the red.

So many choices! So many decisions!

So I sat down and wrote down everything that I think I have decided to do - from the paper size, to where to stamp; to what to mask off, to which typeface to use for the title; to whether or not I will use Letraset or letterpress on the cards....and I think I might just about be ready to get fully going!

In the meantime it has been nice to visit my Dad's orchid house and see some of his beauties on show. A couple of my current favourites...

The grief side of Pebbles, Stones & Rocks...

 As mentioned, for the show which opens on Saturday, I have explored the connections between grief and stones.

I wrote three small poems about grief and what it can feel like as you travel along with such a confronting companion. They are called Grief is a Stone I, II & II, with hopefully some sense of movement  over time.

My sense of it is, that they may act as small reminders when your are in the midst of the worst of it, that you are not alone and what you feel is real. Perhaps they can then offer a pathway forward as well - with a sense that whilst things are so awful now, the hurt may ease and there may be a time when you feel differently. And perhaps too they can remind us when we have travelled further, of how far we have come.

I created three small book-ets,  with the poem on the centre page, each in an edition of 15. Hand set and hand printed with traditional letterpress and metal type. Covers are blind-embossed with pebble forms.

I also printed and hand-illustrated an edition of 10 cards with each poem on the reverse.

And stitched beautiful pouches to hold them. 

I like the way the pouches offer the poem a secret place. They allow it to be tucked away and drawn out when it feels right, rather thanking on permanent display. The book-ets offer a similar approach - you have to actively engage with them to find the words.

I also think the pouches suggest that the feelings and emotions are precious, and that they have a special place to dwell.

I also took the title of the poem and did some calligraphy with it to get cut in steel (and corten steel) and here is how a couple of them are looking in sandstone and in stones...

And last but not least, some small solace stones to hold in your hand, to carry in your pocket, to feel the weight and warmth of memory.

What I like about these as well is that they can be turned over. That the words can be private and  hidden from view. They can sit by the computer or on the coffee table, the bedside locker...and you can know the feelings are there, but you don't have to publicise it.

These are smaller than previous solace stone, and will really fit in pocket so well.