Dynamic Sisters and Handbags

 Still in New Orleans, I took three classes. 

The first was "Dynamics of Teaching", led by Val McAleenan. Unsurprisingly it was about teaching Needlepoint. I'm not sure that I will ever teach embroidery in a formal way, but I thought it would be interesting to hear a teacher talk about the inter-relationships that happen in an embroidery class. As someone who has in the past trained people in basic IT skills and IT Security (and who tries to be a good boy in class), I was aware of the different types of students found in the business environment, and was, in a way not surprised to find that all of the same types attend embroidery classes. The big difference is that in a business environment the attendee has generally been sent, while in a Needlepoint class, the attendee has chosen to be there and has paid good $$$ for the privilege, so the way you treat the difficult or disruptive has to be, if not different, perhaps a bit more patient. 

I've done a little ad-hoc teaching since then, and I always let my student or students work at their own pace. You can't do this is a class of more than four or five, so you, as the teacher, have to be prepared to sit after class with the slower stitcher to make sure they know what they're doing and how to do it. I don't think there can be anything worse for a student than to be sitting without an idea of what to do. 

At one point it brought back to my memory my first French lesson. As usual, having returned from holiday in Singapore, I ended up in the school hospital for a week. Long story, put briefly, I had an allergy to the school issue vests which made me come out in spots, which the school assumed was some evil foreign disease I had picked up in the mysterious East, so I was hauled off to the school hospital for two weeks. Having been released, one of my first classes was French, of which I had absolutely no knowledge. The teacher (an ex-Polish cavalryman of WWII vintage) immediately rounded on this new face and asked me a question - in French. I had no idea. I shrugged, said I didn't understand, he got angry, he shouted at me. It took me some moments to understand that he was actually speaking English - yes, his English accent was like something out of a bad comedy movie. I became, in his eyes, the class failure, and from then on I dreaded French.

Lesson? Take care how you speak to students. A few badly chosen words can destroy confidence in seconds.

I hated French from that moment, but I'd like to put it on record that I had great respect for 'The Wee Pole' as he was nicknamed, as a man. You may have heard the story of Polish Cavalry charging German tanks in 1939. He was one of those cavalrymen. You can't not respect that.

Well, that was a long story for a one day class. My second class was with Janet Zickler Casey, and was called "Let The Good Times Roll!" (Or "Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler!" - which I still pronounce in a Polish-French accent.)

As you can see, it's a handbag. The Fleur-de-lis is beaded, as is the handle. The class included teaching us how to make the beaded handle as well as how to stitch the body of the handbag. What drew me to this class was the teacher, whom I had already met a number of times. Jane-Beth had taken a few classes with her and raved about how good she was and how much fun her classes were.

On the first day of class, yes, me in my kilt as usual, the lady next to me asked, in a friendly manner, why a man would take a class to make a beaded handbag. I couldn't resist it, "a boy just can't have enough handbags," I replied. That broke the ice as the rest of the class realised I was just as nuts about Needlepoint as they were.

It was indeed a fun class, with lots of discussion around colour choices and personalising the design. There was lots of laughter, lots of stitching, and lots of discussion about colour, stitches and much else. You'll meet the handbag again.

The third class I attended in New Orleans was "Sisters" by Nancy Cucci. Obviously NOLA was my 'beading' year.

I chose this class for a number of reasons. I loved the design, particularly the repetition of the same stitches, but not in the same order, in the large squares. To me it made the point that in a family the siblings may all have started with the same genetic material, but we all become distinct individuals. I liked the colour selection too, the dark balancing the light, the overlaps of the squares slipping into companionship rather than opposition and the background pulling them all together like the members of a single household.

I had been wary of beads for a long time, but I wanted to take a class with Nancy. She was a great teacher, very relaxed and and yet attentive to every student. Thanks to her I am no longer afraid of small shiny things. It was great fun and I really enjoyed every minute I spent working on "Sisters". I still haven't decided which Brother, I have three, deserves this.

Sisters measures 5½ x 10½ inches and is worked on 18 count canvas. It took me 75 hours to stitch.

If you like the look of "Sisters", you can find another version in Melita's blog, Melitastitches4fun. There's a link at the top of the page.

Earthnight, 27th November 2000

I made this for a competition in Scotland in 2008. The theme was Night and the sub-class was an embroidered cushion, The title comes from the inspiration, a NASA photograph of the Earth at night, dated 27th November 2000.

                                         

                                                   

I was fascinated by the strings and clusters of light and the areas with few or no lights and as it fitted, in my mind, with the theme I decided to create a cushion with a wrap-round map of the earth at night. I did not want the bright areas to be 'in your face', nor did I want a contrast in the colours of the land-masses. During daylight hours the earth is a series of bands of colour, but they don't show up in the same way at night. After some consideration, head scratching and fiddling with options, I decided to keep it simple.

The ground is grey linen, the continents are outlined in running stitch and the infill is cross-stitch. The only exception is the Antarctic which shows as lighter that the other continents. I worked that in a zig-zag running stitch. All the stitching is done with the same (DMC) black stranded cotton.
I then added white beads, packed or spread to reflect the values of the bright areas in the NASA photograph. I secured the beads by sinking them between the arms of the cross stitches AND strangling them. I was determined that they would stand proud and not wiggle!

The finished cushion is about 15" tall and 8" across. If it was a picture it would be about 25 inches wide. It took 109 hours to complete.

And the competition?
I'll admit I was disappointed. It wasn't that the piece did not get placed, I don't think this was some of my best work. What disappointed me was that in the show guide, the hundreds of beads I had so carefully sewn on were described as 'pins stuck in'.
That's what comes of not having Artist's Statements. We may hate having to write them, but at least its our chance to describe our work and how we did it, in our own words. 'Pins Indeed!'

Just For Fun

In 2002 I was asked if I would be prepared to act as the 'Class Angel' for ANG Cyber Classes. The class I was appointed to was called "Just For Fun" and was taught by Caela Conn Tyler.
The Class Angel looks after the 'paperwork' and is not required to take part in the class, but the techniques and threads looked interesting, so I signed up for it.

The techniques included beading, ribbon weaving and a wheen of stitches I had not yet tried. The kit also included threads I had never worked with including rayon and ribbons. One important lesson I learned was how to use a damp sponge to take the kinks out of Rayon threads.
The course started in April 2003 and I completed this in June 2003. It was, as the title suggests, lots of fun, and it also gave me the opportunity to see how much organisation goes into preparing a class.
Much respect to all teachers!