New work: Process Colour #1

With one day to spare I am all ready for Festival of Quilts. How do I know? Because I have checked everything off my Festival of Quilts 2018 checklist. I love a good checklist! Have I forgotten anything ....

• FoQ paperwork / car pass / Hi-Vis / Exhibitor Passes - check
• Float / Phone / Tablet / Chargers / card reader / power bank - check
• Sack truck - check
• Two table tops (with pre-drilled holes for legs) - check
• Eight legs (in their handmade carrying bags) - check
• Makita drill / small screws / screw driver / spirit level - check
• Two table cloths - check
• One stool (but I will be too busy to use it!) - check
• Small steps (can't reach top of stand) - check
• Quilts for stand (in their handmade bag) - check
• Postcards / stands - check
• Leaflets / stands - check
• Fabric for sale (lots) - check
• Display boxes - check
• Velcro dots - check
• Panel pins - check
• Small hammer - check
• Duck tape and cable ties (thanks for the tip Ruth) - check
• Double sided tape - check
• Invisible tape - check
• Scissors - check
• Wet wipes - check
• Hand fan (hot flushes!) - check
• Notebook - check
• Pens / pencils - check
• Twine - check
• Fabric care slips - check
• Business cards - check
• Labels for quilts - check
• Price labels for fabric - check
• A4 workshop 'adverts' for stand (love laminating!) - check
• 100 snazzy paper bags / labels - check
• Lint roller (for the quilts) - check
• Tape measure - check
• Fine pins - check
• Calculator - check
• Newsletter sign up sheet - check
• Workshop sign up forms - check
• Paypal sign (yes I take PayPal and cards) - check
• Price / availability list for workshops - check
• Joe (oldest son, my gofer, and, he says, ace salesperson) - he is around here somewhere!
• Clothes to wear (by far the hardest decisions!) - check

If you are at Festival please come see me on stand H35 in the main hall! It will be lovely to put faces to names x

And my spare day .... unless it is pouring down I'm taking my grandson to the beach and eating ice cream. 

This time next week Festival of Quilts will be in full swing and the halls at the NEC, Birmingham will be buzzing with 1000's of quilters, embroiderers and textile enthusiasts. There will even be a handful of long suffering husbands and partners ... And I will, hopefully, have lots of visitors to my stand H35. My life plan didn't have me doing this until I was in my early 60's but life is never a straight line and so here I am and I couldn't be happier. I will turn 55 next Thursday and have already given myself the best present ever by deciding to become a full time artist and teacher. 

Deciding to take a stand at Festival at such short notice has meant that I've been working long, long hours in the studio. Being me I marked out my stand full size, decided what size tables would work and spent a really lovely few hours figuring out how to display my hand dyed fabrics. I folded fabric, I printed labels, I wrote and printed wash care slips, I ordered black fabric to use as table cloths, I brought some paper bags, I created a blog subscription sign up sheet and, one that I hope gets used lots, I made a workshop sign up sheet. 

I marked out the three walls of my stand on my design wall and went through my older quilts to see what might fit and look good. Most of my recent work is just too big but I did have a small Ruins piece that never got exhibited so, after fusing on 'urban studio north', this has become the centre piece of my display. I didn't have the right mix in my existing pieces so have had to make two quilts - Off The Grid which is a rather nice example of breakdown printing and Pass The Tequila which showcases a tray dyed piece of fabric. I've also made a funky little 'workshop' quilt. It has been a long time since I worked on anything that wasn't part of a series or destined for an exhibition and really enjoyed making them. It's been fun.

I've also decided to develop a couple of 5 day retreats for 2019. The first one will be called 'Breakdown Your Palette' and will focus on breakdown printing and the benefits of using a limited selection of colours to create a cohesive collection of fabrics that can be used as whole cloth, pieced or used as yardage for clothing. The second will be called 'Colour Your Palette' and will focus on the addition and removal of colour through various dyeing and discharging methods. Again the emphasis will be on creating fabrics that work together. Both will be launched at Festival. 

Oh yes and I also heard last week that I will have a solo gallery at Festival 2019! Super excited! Going to be super busy! The Art gods have been shining on me - I am living my dream!

Last Monday was an important day. It was the day when everything that needed to find a home in the studio had a home, everything that needed removing was removed, everything that needed a label had a label and everything that needed cleaning had been cleaned. Yes, even the windows! It was the day that my beautiful studio was ready for it's first students! 

It will probably never look like this again; all those virgin drop cloths will soon be covered in random colourful marks for a start. But for now let me walk you through it. The studio is 8.5 metres wide by 5.5 metres deep. One long wall faces south and contains two bay windows and a set of french doors - so lots and lots of natural light which is supplemented by six large LED ceiling panels. The long back wall is mostly a design wall, useful for putting up teaching aids and looking at students work. One side wall is the 'wet' area with two sinks, two tea urns for hot water, a fridge, cupboards and counter top. I still need to install a washing machine. The other side wall is the 'dry' area. This is where my PC and laser printer sit. It is where I store all my finished work and work in progress behind a white curtain that can also double as a design wall. And the very important bit - it has the tea and coffee area! In between there is my large print bench with cupboards and shelves underneath. And six student 'work stations, each with height adjustable 180 x 80cm bench, stool and storage trolley. 

I want to provide all the equipment and media needed for each of the workshops. Wherever possible the 'requirements' lists will be limited to fabric, the means to take work home, apron and notebook. Most of my workshops are suitable for beginners who might not want to buy a lot of stuff up front - although I'm going to work really hard at getting them / you all thoroughly hooked on dyeing and printing!

Have a look at my workshops at www.leahhiggins.com/workshops and I hope to welcome some of you soon in the Urban Studio North.

When I decide to do something I really go for it, I give it my all and I aim to succeed. Determined, ambitious, tenacious - that's me. So I have taken a stand at this summers Festival of Quilts in order to promote Urban Studio North and my workshops to as wide an audience as possible. I will be on stand H35 which is in one of the alleys near the Nancy Crow exhibition. Please, please, please come find me if you are at the show!

My stand is only small (2 metres x 2 metres) but I want it to showcase as many aspects of surface design as possible. After all that is what I teach. As well as showing a couple of my favourite small quilts I will be showing a couple of new pieces. These are 'process' driven - they do not have a specific inspiration but they each show how printed and dyed fabrics can be used. The first one is almost finished. I'm calling it 'Off the Grid', detail below. The cloth went through 3 wet processes - I breakdown printed the first layer, then scraped through colour in the second layer and finally breakdown printed using formosol discharge paste. I will be supporting and encouraging students on my Introduction to Surface Design courses to take their cloth through multiple processes - you get such wonderful, totally unique, depth of colour and texture.

I'm rather nervous about this new venture - it cost quite a bit of money and what if nobody signs up for a workshop! or even worse, what if nobody even stops to talk to me!! But I am also absolutely fizzing with excitement. I love talking about my work and my processes, and I especially love talking about colour. I am looking forward to seeing friends and making new friends. So if you are at Festival (9th to 12th August at the NEC, Birmingham), please stop by!

I am hot, I am sweaty and I am surrounded by chaos. But actually the studio is just a whisper (and a few hours work) away from being ready to welcome my first students. My Urban Studio North now contains 6 lovely, height adjustable print benches, each with their own stack of washed drop clothes. Each 'workstation' has a stool (albeit 4 still need putting together) and a wheeled trolley that contains / will contain cat litter trays, lots of pots with lids, tile grouters (the sensible persons cheap screen squeegee), lots of spoons, masking tape, pins and scissors. And lots of space for students to put their stuff. Each workstation will also have buckets. Partly I want to reduce the amount of time students spend fetching stuff the stuff that they are most likely to use but also because I don't have the cupboards or shelves to store everything I will need to teach surface design.

I still have a list of things to buy but all the 'big' stuff is now in the studio. Dyes, screen printing inks, fabric, screens are all in place. Over the next week I want to turn chaos into a calm, tidy oasis of potential creativity. But to get there I need to hang lots of my art, scour and varnish the new screens, clear out all the stuff that shouldn't be in the studio and clean. Boy, do I need to clean!

In amongst the chaos I have been developing a mini-workshop to give at the ICHF shows and stitching pieces ready for my stand that show various aspects of surface design. I have even found a few hours to try out some new breakdown printed ideas. This lovely hot spell is perfect breakdown weather with my screens drying in a few hours. Just need to find the time, and clear bench space to print that latest set ....

I took a break this week from preparing my studio (and me) to teach and started working on my next piece for my international fibre group Cloth in Common. We have 11 members and each need to make a new piece every 2 months - so that is a 11 quilt, 22 month commitment. I wasn't 100% convinced that it was the right thing for me but decided to go for it. I decided that I would use the challenge to use colours, techniques, materials and ideas that were radically different from my current work. But with limits - I declared that I wouldn't do cute, wouldn't do sequins and definitely wouldn't be doing animals / flowers / nature type stuff!

Our 'theme' for these 22 months is 'unusual prompts' and boy, have I struggled with some of them. Hmmm .... so it turns out that I have done cute. Cherry Cupcake Baby is cute. With a punch! And I've done a stylised tree in Hope Springs. And I've used lots of breakdown printed fabric. So much for my good intentions!

Our latest prompt is 'road'. I draw a complete blank when I read this. Tumble weed rolling around an empty head. But then a quote popped into my head - 'the road to hell is paved with good intentions'. I'm not sure making a cute quilt will send me to hell but, when I started thinking about it, I fill my life with good intentions most of which I fail to achieve. I will get up when the alarms goes off tomorrow morning - oops I seem to have accidentally hit the snooze button. Five times. I will eat a healthy breakfast - oops that bread is going to go off if I don't eat it. Toasted with butter and jam. Right through to I will go to bed earlier ....

So for this quilt I am busy writing out all those good intentions on strips of cloth. And I will finish the quilt in plenty of time .......

I'm amazed with the response I've had to my workshops since launching them just over 4 weeks ago but am mindful that social media on it's own is unlikely to provide me with a steady stream of new students. So as well as having the new title of 'teacher' I am pleased as punch to be able to add 'demonstrator' to my list of titles. 

I contacted ICHF about demonstrating with them but expected to have to wait until next year. Which was OK because it would have given me plenty of time to practice demonstrating in front of my students. But fate sometimes does everyone a favour and I am delighted to tell you that I will be demonstrating at their Creative Craft Show at Event City in Manchester on 6th to 8th September. I'm excited and terrified at the same time! This is a great show to be my first - Event City is about one mile away from my home and studio so I won't have to worry about forgetting things. And I know that I'll see some friendly faces amongst the visitors. I'm trying to develop a workshop for the event as well - something that will last either 60 minutes or 90 minutes and can be done in a room where the only water is what can be carried in a bucket. So something that doesn't get too messy. This particular challenge is keeping me awake at night but I'm sure inspiration will strike soon!

I've also started placing adverts and have had new flyers printed. Thanks to the African Fabric Shop and Patchwork Parade for taking some! If you would like some please just contact me - I have lots! Maybe I should give myself another new title 'marketing manager'! Blimey, I think I might need a lie down!

Having decided to start teaching I spent a lot of time drawing out potential layouts. To scale of course. I didn't want to lose my giant print bench but quickly realised that my not so giant print bench and my sewing table would need to make way for the students benches. I know, I know; you have to break eggs to make an omelette. And so converting my studio into a space where I can teach 6 students has inevitably meant making a mess and breaking some stuff.   

The not so giant print bench has been dismantled. I was feeling sad that we were going to get rid of it. I forgot that the men in my life hate throwing things away. Instead it is going to be used in the cellar as a Warhammer gaming table (don't ask!). Not quite sure how it will fit but that is not my problem. At least it won't be once they move the bits out of the studio!

I thought my studio was well equipped but as I work through the lesson plans I'm realising that there is a lot of stuff I need. And that all that stuff will need to find homes. It's slow going but I am making progress. I now have a second water boiler thanks to my friend Ruth. I've christened them Stan and Ollie. I also have labels on cupboards. Next weekend we are making the tables - exciting times!

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I love colour! And whilst I've always kept records of the colours I've mixed for my art I have never taken the time to systematically create colour blankets. Until now. Colour is fundamental to the classes I am teaching so creating resources to help my students understand colour seems like an obvious thing to do. And it has been so much fun, I wish I'd taken the time to do this years ago!

My favourite piece so far is the colour wheel above created by blending two primary reds - magenta and scarlet - and two primary blues - turquoise and royal blue. It's my favourite for two reasons. Firstly I didn't make any mistakes when making it but mostly because of the surprising colours you get when you mix scarlet with either of the blues. Instead of the 'purples' you might think you're going to get you get some beautiful browns.

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When you mix the two primary blues with two primary yellows - acid lemon and golden yellow - all of the blended colours are colours that you would label 'green'. No surprises but using the colour wheel I can see instantly how to mix an olive green or a lime green. 

The third colour wheel mixes the primary yellow with the primary reds to create an abundance of oranges. What is interesting in this colour wheel is just how overwhelmed yellow is by red. Even a small addition of red creates oranges that are close to their red component.

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And finally (for now!) I have stolen an idea from the excellent DVD 'Exploring Fiber Reactive Dyes with Claire Benn' to create what Claire calls colour tartans. I have created exactly the same 'tartan' on two different cottons - the cotton poplin that I use in my art and a more open weave plain cotton. The colours are extremely close although they are very, very slightly richer on the poplin which has a slight surface sheen. Doesn't really show up in a photo so you'll have to trust me on this. Or make you own!

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