The English proverb: “Necessity is the Mother of Invention” probably holds true for this third part in our series where we will be showing how we improvise in our art practice by making use of everyday objects, and adapting those designed for other purposes.
Joan Glasgow turns to the cocktail stick continually. She uses it for stuffing and turning the points of very small objects. There may well be purpose made tools for the job but when working on a small scale, Joan would not be without her cocktail stick.
Marie-Ghislaine Beaucé is using the flat handle of a wooden kitchen spatula to turn larger strips of fabric inside out and the rounded end of a knitting needle for the narrow ones.
A selection of Jo Coombes’ favourite tools ……
…. and here are some in action for breakdown printing:
These are the tools Alison Hird-Beecroft is using at the moment to produce the photographs she takes of her threaded structures and the shadows they produce. There are several coloured bottles and the jar with iridescent cellophane strips and all contain water. The shape and thickness of these affects how the light is refracted. She uses sunlight beams in a dark room or light beam from the torch shown in photo, putting the structure in the beam that comes through these props or behind them, which makes a more distorted shadow.
Jude Kingshott uses roofing plates and bulldog clips in her eco-printing process.
Rosaline Darby’s initial training was as a zoologist and she finds that the precision tools from her university dissecting kit often come in handy in her textile work.
…… to be continued ……