War Collar 4: The Blood Collar
This is the first collar I made. I started by thinking that the throat was a vulnerable part of the body with so much blood so near the surface and made the collar in blood red tones. As I have...
View ArticleThe Femme Fatale Collar
The title of this one is pretty self-explanatory. I was in two minds whether to include a collar like this. The whole topic of sexuality at work is a tricky one. There is no doubt that some women...
View ArticleThe Athena Collar
For some reason, the photographs on the blog are getter worse. I still can’t find my proper close-up camera for the details, and I like to use my camera phone so that the pictures will load quickly...
View ArticleThe Buffer Collar
This collar started life as a plain velvet base like this one: The idea behind this one is to provide a collar to protect the vulnerable throat, which I have written about in previous blogs. I...
View ArticleThe ‘Little Me?’ Collar
This collar in my War Collar Series is examining the popular feminine tactile that comes from believing that if you are sweet and demure enough the warrior men will protect you. This is nonesense, of...
View ArticleThe ‘Don’t Take Any Wooden Nickels’ Collar
I made this collar because I wanted to say something about the need women have to look out for themselves, because despite Equal Pay acts they are often paid less than men doing equal work of equal...
View ArticleThe Evil Eye Collar
This piece is based on a very common amulet. Amulets to ward off the Evil Eye are found all over the world, and the eyes are often blue, as seen on the cover of Desmond Morris’s book containing...
View ArticleWhat I did at the weekend
You may be familiar with the phenomenon of saying yes to something which seems in the very distant future only to find it coming up very quickly indeed. Well, flicking through my diary last week to...
View ArticleOn the joy of getting something right
Last week I had a particularly bad day at work. I went to a meeting where just about every behaviour I warn students about was on display. So, no-one (except idiotic me) was prepared to stand up to...
View ArticleThe joy of making
I am not entirely sure what this post is going to be about. I spent quite a lot of the weekend sewing, which was a massive luxury. I am preparing a new talk which will be given its first airing...
View ArticleLatest additions to my Laura Ashley project
First of all, I am very sorry about the long gap between this post and the last one. I know a high proportion of people like to read the blog on Sunday afternoons, and I haven’t been providing you...
View ArticleLatest Laura Ashley panel
I have started doing some work with Laura Ashley fabric again. This time there is no rush. It’s not for an exhibition or a conference paper, so I can take as long as I like. It started with one of...
View ArticleRelaunching the Laura Ashley quilt
I have had a new lease of life with my Laura Ashley project. My huge Body Shop/Anita Roddick quilt has finally gone to its new home and this seems like a good time to make a start on the large Laura...
View ArticleWhat I did at the weekend
These are really not very good photographs of the work I did on the new Laura Ashley piece. I have had a big burst of interest in this quilt, and I am wondering if it is because the other large piece...
View ArticleFalling in love again
There haven’t been many posts recently as I have been finishing things off and there hasn’t been much to report, but suddenly I have quite a lot to post about. This is a big project from my work on...
View ArticleWill your anchor hold in the storms of life?
This is quite a small panel, one of the last ones I made, but the one which will be in the top-left-hand corner. Some of the panels have fents or offcuts instead of costume prints, including this...
View ArticleWhat I finished off at the weekend
I am still working on this large Laura Ashley wall piece, although there are other things I should be getting on with. As I mentioned in a previous post, I lost all interest in this piece and so I am...
View ArticleUnder lock and key
(Please note: this is one of my slightly more academic posts – continue reading at your own risk of terminal boredom!) One of the reasons that I like using textiles as part of my academic work is that...
View ArticleWhat I did yesterday
Something slightly different today. I have been working on presentations of working women in a suite of magazine issues from 1984-1985. The magazine is Working Woman, which I just about remember....
View ArticleWhat I did at the weekend, or, the joy of having the right tools
It’s a bit of a stitcher’s post today, although it rings true for anyone practising their craft, I suspect. Over the weekend I had to make some prototype cushions for a project we are doing at the...
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