Letter H

I seem to have found several examples of the Letter 'H'.  This first one is the most creative and is part of a brick wall pillar I have turned on its side ....

It could also be two H's, one being silent of course

and there again it could simply be a proper character, which I may have used in the past for embroidery ...

Letter i

You need to use a bit of imagination and half closed eyes to see this as a dotted 'i'.  I walked to the hairdressers and was on the lookout for suitable things for my alphabet and found several of these.

Letter J

Another letter for my alphabet.  This is a photograph of a handrail on a building in Harrogate which I have cropped and turned to form the letter 'J'.

Otley Courthouse

Having spent a few days up in Yorkshire for the Knitting & Stitching Show, you would expect me to have taken pictures of textiles, but not me .... I came back with pictures of features to be found at Otley Courthouse!  It was lovely to catch up with my old friends who I miss so much.

Birmingham

On Thursday (for the first time since we moved) I took the train to Birmingham to visit an exhibition of 'The Library of Lost Books' which is currently on until 24 November at the Library of Birmingham in The Pavilion (Library of Lost Books).  Surprisingly it is possibly only the second time I have ever been to Birmingham!

Whilst there I took the opportunity to explore the new Library, following the Discovery Trail around the building.  Favourite items were the typewriter by Jennifer Collier; two panels in the Book Rotunda by Lucy McLauchlan (Lucy McLauchlan); The Book Apothecary on the lower ground floor; the animated feature based on Birds of America by Matthew J Watkins also on the lower ground floor and, finally, the best of all, the piece of work by Su Blackwell  'A Midsummer Night's Dream'.

Thought I would hate the building, but loved it, especially the outdoor spaces and the views over the city.  Amazed at the bird boxes situated in the gardens on Floor 3 and 7.

The exterior from the Discovery Terrace

Glass Lift from Floor 4 to 7

Another surprise was finding an Anthony Gormley sculpture in Birmingham.  I discovered it on my way back to catch the train after popping into the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery.  I will certainly be back to explore the Museum further.  I only had chance to have a look at the Staffordshire Hoard, the Pre-Rephaelites gallery and a current exhibition, which is on until 19 January, "Birmingham Printmakers: Thirty Years of Printmaking 1983-2013".

Boiled Books/Eco Dyeing

Last week I was playing around with watercolour paper and plant material to make a concertina book.  My first attempt was not very successful, however, I was pleased with these three pages ....

The left hand side had marigold flowers and leaves laid on it.  The next two sides had a shaggy ink cap toadstool cut in half and squashed between the two pages.  Amazing result.

The lack of colour set me thinking soI saved up some onion skins, both brown and red and used them to interleave between the pages with other plant material. This produced much better results, but there is still plenty of room for experimentation.

Letter K

I have been looking for some nice wrought ironwork to photograph to get a letter 'K' but having not found any I have made a rusted 'K' using old nails on some heavyweight watercolour paper ....

Left = with nails/ Right = after their removal