When a laundry is not just the laundry

It's not often we get to design a room "from scratch". Aside from the necessity to have clean clothes and bed linen, there's a lot of textile and fabric design that happens across the hall in the main studio area. So the tub had to be stainless steel, and large enough to take 4-5 metres of fabric at a time. I needed hanging space immediately above the sink which also is neat for hanging wet shirts and human-worn textiles. White-ish stone benchtop - so I see what I'm doing, and long enough to do all the folding and sorting of fabrics (and clothing). Overhead cupboards to store dyes, paints, printing supplies, chemicals, and everything else required in a wet studio. Lots of light - splashback tiles that reflected as much natural light as possible into the space (same deal for the kitchen). Tall (aka broom) cupboards to take all manner of equipment including a recharging station and power points for operating the Elna press and another iron when the dyeing is done. Finally, a linen press 2+ metres in length to take bolts of fabric and all the "long things" that seem to be part of a textile artist's life. Can't wait for it all to be finished!

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A river infuses it

Priority #1: Create My CBD office sits on the edge of this mighty, murky waterway - the Brisbane River. Over the next six months I'll be working on an exhibition piece as part of the Broadstrokes artists group. Starting with the obvious, I'm making preliminary sketches to determine the substrate form. I need to consider how it will perform under the visual intent of the piece. That is, " substrate " can be used to convey those things which " underly " or " sit beneath " the primary image. Infused by a river. I need to consider the political, social, economic, ethical or moral connections. I'll also explore which materials are best suited for that purpose.

Upcycled art quilts

Priority #1 Create: Making zippered bags from some of my art quilts is getting them out of storage and transformed into something useful. I'm using a technique from Design Matters TV whose re-imagined purse pattern is a delight to make. Every time. Each bag is lined with hand dyed and printed fabric. I'm enjoying saying "goodbye" and "thanks for your service" as I cut into quilts that, at the time, consumed every creative moment of my life. I'm enjoying the wooo hooo that accompanies the letting go. It's good for my (creative) soul.

It's all in the background - designing substrate

Scaling up an image of the Brisbane River to develop the substrate for a new art quilt. Each square needs to be 6cm x 6cm to make a finished size of 5 cm square. I created a "to scale" model of the finished quilt on drafting paper. I printed an image of the river (attribution below) and then scaled it up to get a fairly accurate flow across the quilt. The substrate rightly tells the background story. It is the foundation on which the main elements or features reside. So it isn't the "hero" of the piece - it needs to be recognised and visible without overwhelming the piece. I can now easily identify which squares hold a section of the river and start to experiment on piecing, applique, fusing, printing, and painting to learn which gives the best outcome for the substrate. (Brisbane River original image: Magpie Shooter; edited version Paulguard at en.wikipedia https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/indix.php?curid=9724127) My foundation piece might well end up bei

Ali George Artist

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