Recycled men’s ties and catch up gel prints
Towards the end of 2025 I submitted my PhD thesis, a process that was interrupted for 3 years by Covid. I have also become semi retired, as I recently resigned my primary school teaching role. I will continue research in Arts, Education and Sustainability with Deakin University as a graduate researcher.
With more free time I am on the path of catching up with many things that have been on the back burner. Later in 2025 I was able to spend a day at a gel printing workshop with Lynette from ATASDA VIC group (she is running another in February so check the website shortly for details).
I began with printing on paper but soon moved onto fabric, just adding some fabric medium to the acrylic paints. Some of the gel prints on paper were used in this ‘junk journal’ called Tidelines and Rockpools. Lots of recycled and upcycled materials were incorporated. This artist book was displayed at the EGV Geelong exhibition in September 2025.
And here are some prints on fabric. I chose to work with cool and warm colours:
These will be used in 2026 for artworks or book covers. I often cut up prints so prefer the abstract effect.
I am currently creating a footrest/pouffé as a Xmas present. I am using this free pattern and the top is made from recycled men’s ties, the rest of the fabric is from my stash. Photos after it is finished.
Flag books and Balancing boxes
Today was a busy day for GeeBaggers especially. Kerrie had lined up not one, but two projects and we also had work to do on the Bollards for our GeeTAG challenge for the Geelong Embroiderer’s exhibition in September. First up was a tutorial of making Flag Books
Patsy brought along a flag book previously made – swimming fishes:
And her new flag book in progress:
And lots more flag books in progress:
Recycling calendars:
Gillian:
Gill:
Pauline:
Meg was adding stitch:
Hilary brought along some fabulous show & tell:
And my balancing boxes made from old book pages:
Keep an eye on the blog for the Exhibition Flyer, it is going to be amazing!
Working on pages for GeeBAG
I have had a couple of weekend workshops over the last two weeks:
Cyanotype at the Geelong Gallery was an introduction to this technique and a learning experience (35C temperature made for very quick prints).
The one on the right was an acetate sheet print (AI photo) but possibly should have had the dark and light tones reversed.
Then a workshop with Papermakers of Victoria with Jo Horswill using various techniques pre and post exposing the cyanotypes:
At GeeBAG (Geelong Book Artist Group), Kerrie Maloney demonstrated grungy gel printing techniques. Mine were not so grungy but great colours for my scrappy book based on Rockpool’s and Tidelines. The books we make at GeeBAG will be on display at the EGV Geelong bi-ennial exhibition in September.
GeeBAG/GeeTAG
Saturday was the first GeeBAG (Geelong Book Artist Group)/GeeTAG (Geelong Textile Art Group) gathering for 2025. The Geelong group of EGV will be holding their bi-ennial exhibition in September so both groups have 7 month projects started for this exhibition group challenge.
These groups are wonderful for inspiration with many talented book and textile artists involved. Each project begins with a form and then each person can interpret this in their own way.
For GeeBAG we are making ‘junk journals’ based on our chosen theme. This means we can recycle old artworks, stitcheries, fabrics, papers and also use whatever techniques on our signatures that we choose. My theme for the Artist book will be ‘Rockpools and Tidelines’ and I am planning seven signatures with each one a different focus (like book chapters). I have started the old recycled book cover by covering with cool colour wallpaper samples:
I have also decided to make a book wrap from fabric. For the book wrap base I used a piece of an old white coverlet that was a freebie as it had holes in it. I stitched some bits and pieces and scraps of fabric including some textured motifs from an old op shop tablecloth. I then bundled it with onion shells for colour and cooked in a pot with a bag of onion shells, some rusty metal and eucalypt leaves. Photos of front and back below.
More stitching to come on this before it is stitched to fit over the book cover.
For GeeTAG we are revisiting bollards. My bollard/s will be on the theme of kelp forests of the Great Southern Reef to raise awareness of their importance. I am just beginning to construct these so will post progress in a few weeks.
Four month catch up
After the Artist Residency at Jam Jerrup (where there is currently a bushfire nearby!), many of the printed and dyed fabrics ended up in artworks for the ‘Teachers as Artists’ exhibition at the Gordon Gallery Geelong in November:
The basket was stitched from cotton and linen op shop shirts twine (twined while on residency) and driftwood from the beach at the residency. The bottle resulted from a workshop at the Australian Tapestry Workshop (ATW) with Artist In Residence Tammy Gilson (the twine is offcuts from ATW looms and dyed in chamomile tea). The wrapped and textured sculptures were inspired by a workshop with Jennie-maree Tempest.
Water 1 is a hanging based on the importance of the ecosystems in and around our water (in this case the Bass Coast and its mangroves).
Breakdown and gel printed fabrics were combined to tell the story of the importance of our waters and the mangroves as nurseries and habitat for many different species.
The other vignette displayed was called ‘Sky’. Many of our coastal water estuaries are important habitat for local and migratory birds. I thoroughly enjoyed a one on one printing session with master printer Phillip Doggett-Williams at the Sunshine Print Artspace where we printed my design of migratory godwits onto silk organza.
I dipped into my large stash from previous indigo dyeing sessions using a variety of different techniques to create a hanging and vessel. The printed, endangered godwits featured on both of these.
Fellow exhibitors included Kirsty Zahra (ceramics), Aphra Perkins (painting), Sophie Garrard (oils), Tracey Newnham (oils) and Joanna Wiltshire (mixed media).
This post is long enough! I will do more posts on the Geelong Fibre Forum (Jen Crossley) workshop and a fabulous trip to the Grampians (currently engulfed in bushfire) with my two daughters.
Artist travel book
Kerrie taught us this interesting spine cutout binding at GeeBAG a couple of months ago (Geelong Book Artist group-see Geelong Textile Art Group blog-GeeTAG). My first book was snapped up by the youngest daughter for journalling.
We had a visitor from Switzerland on Christmas Day and gave her a lined journal (not handmade) as part of her present. Following discussion we found out she had brought watercolours with her so I offered to make a journal with watercolour paper in it. Cover paper is once again from the sample wallpaper book stash.
Then I had to search my stash for ‘white’ watercolour paper- easier said than done as many pads a greyish white or creamy white. I did find some 300gsm which is quite thick so the signatures have a central watercolour sheet, two sketch papers and a decorative textured and coloured outer sheet.
Because our visitor is from Switzerland, (originally Germany) I glued a map endpaper. After visiting in Victoria she is heading up the East coast so the back endpaper is a map extending up to QLD.
This was a good warm up to creating the cover for our 2025 Artist Book project.
Artist Residency Day 5
Thank you to Jennie-maree https://www.instagram.com/jemartem.textiles/ for a fabulous 5 days in her beautiful studio and tiny village of Jam Jerrup, such an inspiring place to spend a Textile Art Residency. Today was open day at Jennie-maree’s studio and we had a few people drop in for a visit/chat/browse. See the instagram above for a great reel Jennie-maree made from my photos to advertise her open day today.
June from Leongatha Embroiderer’s Guild dropped off the ATASDA Travelling suitcase for its next journey to Norwood Secondary College. June was blown away by J-m’s studio and amazing art works, so much so she will be returning with a group from Leongatha in the future. Next up was a pair from Canada who are stopping at J-m’s airbnb for a couple of nights. They were also blown away by the beautiful studio and artworks then went off to feed the cows, Jennie-maree’s barn has it all.
I would like to sincerely thank ATASDA for their Grant which enabled me to spend the week with Jennie-maree, I am thinking there was a great cross pollination during the week of ideas, techniques and skills.
I managed to nearly finish two postcards from Jam Jerrup, free machine stitching onto some beautiful green felt: ‘Speak for the trees’ – I am thinking all the bits of threads from this week might end up stitched in washaway to add 3D leaves to the postcard and ‘Coastal erosion 1’ -nearly done but I did not have the right blue thread for the water.
The second finish was the eco printed 100% cotton paper into a concertina book. I bought the dictionary in an op shop and selected appropriate pages for printing using the mangrove stencils made from old overhead projector sheets. The dictionary also contains some wattle flowers being pressed ready to go into the book.
Stay tuned for more finishes from the Art Residency over the next few weeks.
Day 4 Artist Residency
Now that I have settled in to this beautiful place it is time to leave!!
Only 1 day left before I pack the car and head to Phillip Island for a recovery weekend. An Artist Residency is not for the faint-hearted. It requires commitment, planning and packing a huge amount of ‘stuff’. Luckily for me anything I did not manage to get into the car Jennie-maree had available in her studio.
My focus in my art is very often about the environment and from walking around this area, collecting photos and marine debris, this ‘place’ has been a huge stimulus for art making. I now have a large body of pieces that will be utilised for an exhibition in November. For the exhibition I will be creating three distinct groups of works based on Earth, Water and Sky. The pieces I have produced during this week at the Bass Coast will become part of the Earth and Water sections of my work.
Today was all about printing in response to this beautiful coastal location. Over breakfast I sketched out how the ‘Water’ hanging piece might look. This gave me some ideas on motifs, composition and colours. I began with cutting a linocut of the Australian Grayling. For many of the fish in this area the mangroves are an essential survival nursery. After cutting I set up an area for gel, stencil and block printing (using the linocut as a block). My intention was to create pieces that could be incorporated into hangings, therefore the colour palette was intentionally restricted to ensure all the pieces, or parts of, could be utilised. The base fabric included bits of an opshop shirt, my previously hand dyed fabrics and some white PFD Pima fabric from my stash.
An intensive day resulting in over 25 pieces.
After cleaning up I was able to pack quite a few bags into the car, leaving out just the ones I will have time to stitch on tomorrow. I have four postcards from Jam Jerrup and also a section of an eco printed piece. I will blog my progress tomorrow evening on these.
Jennie-maree has an open afternoon at her studio most Friday afternoons so I may have some people to chat to about the Residency. I did take a video but I don’t think that can be loaded here on the free blog!
Day 3 Artist Residency
The beautiful weather continues in Jam Jerrup and so does the walking and collecting (of photos and marine debris). Today’s walk was back to the north to explore the cliffs and the problem of erosion.
Access to the cliffs is via Lang Lang beach at low tide and the erosion is clear to see, as are the unstable cliffs. Taking photos means not getting too close! The cliffs have become my fourth postcard from Jam Jerrup.
Today was also the ‘unwinding’ day, my favourite part of eco dying and printing. The bundles of local foliage and seedbeds created beautiful subtle impressions of place on cotton, silk, wool and 100% cotton paper. I am looking forward to working on these further and have some perfect pieces for a hanging.
This afternoon I explored my photos of the mangroves biodiversity revegetation, creating some stencils for printing using old overhead transparencies. Firstly I tried the stencils on a page from an op shop dictionary (m for mangroves). After trialling I then moved onto printing on an A3 sheet of watercolour paper, this may become an origami folded insert into the eco printed paper book (a project for tomorrow).
Taking photos is a good way to check the design and composition. I will alter this when adding to fabric tomorrow.
This evening I will continue twining the strips cut from op shop shirts.
Day 2 Artist Residency-The importance of trees
This morning I set off for a walk to investigate mangroves. The mangroves are essential to estuaries and wetlands as facilitators of complex eco systems. Birds, crustaceans, worms, fish nursery all depend on mangroves and here on the Bass Coast they were diminishing at a fast pace due to humans. Regeneration is starting to show results:
A fabulous old man banksia, love the texture on that trunk:
Large old trees are essential for providing nesting holes for many of our birds and mammals:
After an hour walk to listen to (and try to identify) the birds in the wonderful, massive trees retained in this area, I headed south along the beach at low tide to investigate the mangroves regeneration. The locals and Parks are also, like many coastal areas, fighting the battle against erosion by storm surges and king tides along the Bass Coast. In this estuary large granite rocks have been used to stabilise the coast.
After collecting some broken glass and hay bale twine it was back to the studio to begin transferring photos and collected items into some textile pieces. First up foliage was soaked and bundled into wool, silk and cotton; eucalyptus leaves and bark and rusty items were cooked up in Jennie-maree’s massive pot; bundles added and simmered for an hour. The pot was left for an hour and the bundles which had quickly darkened were removed to cool. A cotton tablecloth from the op shop was left in the pot overnight.
The big unveil tomorrow. Next was some sketching and watercolour in the sketchbook:
Three postcards were begun using inktense crayons to lay background colour onto canvas:
And the art work for this evening will be twining this deconstructed soft cotton shirt in readiness for stitching tomorrow:
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