Thoughts from the Bus Stop

Morris Dancing festival in Horsham

We went to Horsham just for an afternoon's shopping and, by happy coincidence, we'd chosen the day that more than a dozen different Morris sides were dancing all around the town centre, wearing fantastic costumes. I found a good spot and got snapping:

(Above) Dancers from the Knockhundred Shuttles, a Northwest Clog Morris side from Midhurst in Sussex.

(Above) The ladies of the Magog Morris side from Horsham, supported by their drummer and one of their junior members on tambourine.

(Above) Members of the Pentacle Drummers group from Eastbourne.

(Above) The Jackstraws, a women's Cotswold Morris side from Hale, near Farnham in Surrey.

(Above) Ewell St Mary's Morris Men from Ewell, Surrey.

Sticks, staffs and swords belonging to Horsham's Broadwood Morris Men.

All images in this post are (c) Kristen Bailey 2012

 * SONG OF THE DAY: Leo Sayer - You Make Me Feel Like Dancing *

Grinding gears at Hove Museum

 

Mum and Dad came down for the afternoon so the Blonde and I took them to Hove Museum to partake of afternoon tea. In the foyer of the museum is a wonderful coin-operated automata by Ian McKay.

 

There's a chap reading a newspaper, seated next to a lady with a flask of tea...

 

... and a kissing couple!

 

I love automata. I enjoyed making the sheep automata for my mum, and I'd like to learn how to design one myself. I'm not a woodworker so I'd like to see if I could make a fabric one - over an armature of some sort I guess.

Rob Ives' Paper Engineering and Pop-ups for Dummies looks like it might be a good starting point.

* SONG OF THE DAY: The Rolling Stones - Start Me Up *

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Grow old with me

Mum and I were in Birmingham in June 2005 to go to the ballet. While we were out shopping in the city centre, I spotted this gorgeous couple walking along with arms entined behind them. They stopped to look in a shop window, which allowed me time enough to get a close-up, then carried on up the road...

 

Images (c) Kristen Bailey 2005

Nickel Creek: Toxic

Nickel Creek performing 'Toxic' (venue unknown)

Because I love bluegrass, and I love pop. Because I love unusual cover versions. Because I heard Nickel Creek's performance of Britney Spears' Toxic on Radio 2's coverage of the Cambridge Folk Festival yesterday and I'd love to go there one year. Because unfortunately the word 'toxic' has sprung to mind too many times today.

Growing old curiously

Two excerpts from one of Maureen Lipman's recent columns in the Guardian really appealed to me. The first soothes me with fabric talk...

"The kids laughed at me this week when I mentioned the word Moygashel. They'd never heard of it and accused me of making it up. I told them it was one of the words bandied about in my childhood home all the time. My father was in tailoring so there was a frequent backdrop of phrases like: "Well, of course 'e's going potshop! He ordered it in cavalry twill and when it came in, workshop had done it in gabardine. No, we've none left... unless we do it in barathea and hope he won't notice the difference."

My mother was also a rampant materialist. Rare was the day when she didn't have a swatch-based decision to make before sundown, concerning a choice between the moire with the gimped edging or the doupion with the slight watermark that wouldn't show, or the grosgrain with the slub trim..."

...and the second with the appealing possibility of retaining a spontaneous and curious nature in old age (aided and abetted by the bus system):

"My iconic friend Elsbeth had her 95th birthday party last week... We heard that each morning Elsbeth waits by the bus stop near her home. If the no 9 comes first she goes to the Royal Academy and if the 19 comes first, the National Gallery. You don't have to be a seer or a sucker to see that it's her endless curiosity that keeps her alive."

Guardian: Maureen Lipman, May 15, 2006

Book Art: Curious And Cold...

This looks amazing: M.L. Van Nice’s installation The Library at Wadi Ben Dagh at the National Museum of Women in the Arts:

"The Library at Wadi Ben Dagh uses the book as an artistic medium to produce an insightful response in the visitor. Visually translating such popular titles as Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Joyce’s Ulysses, and Baudelaire’s Flowers of Evil, Van Nice allows the visitor to see the books and the ideas they contain in a new light..."

And in other book art browsing, I spotted this: 'Ice Bound: Antarctic Bookworks'. Book artist Rachel Hazell has produced tissue bergs and ice shelves inspired by her recent visit to Antarctica as artist-in-residence on an expedition ship which travelled 5,000 miles from South America around the Antarctic. Brrrr!!! It's weird though - lately I'm hearing a lot about trips to Antarctica... and I'm starting to think it's something I'd like to do one day, money permitting. Which is barmy - I hate the cold! I'm always cold and always wingeing about being cold! I'm even scared of walking on ice since I slipped over years ago and knackered my coccyx... I wouldn't last five minutes in Antarctica. How contrary.

The Ties That Bind

Handmade book with Chinese stitching and a Greco-Romanesque cover paper. Stitching magnified, signatures of grouped leaves. © 2004 Dennis Yuen

Having come across Dennis Yuen's great paper and bookmaking blog CaiLun.info, full of enthusiasm and beautiful examples of handmade books, I thought I'd revisit a few book art links:

When I was researching evening classes in bookbinding at the University of Brighton, I came across Graeme Dawes' wonderful Japanese bookbinding site. This is the original version - I see he's got a new version in progress, expanded to cover new areas, which I'm really looking forward to seeing.

One day I would like to do the MA in Book Arts at Camberwell College of Arts - which the wonderful Tom Phillips has been involved with. Time and money don't permit at the moment, but maybe one day the right situation will fall into place.

Finally, I have to recommend a fantastic book - Creating Handmade Books by Alisa Golden. It's a great, inspiring read for anyone wanting to get into creative book forms, and full of beautiful photographs.

Edited to add: Having flicked through a couple of old sketch/scrapbooks, I found clippings about the Centre for Artists' Books at the University of Dundee; the website ArtistsBooks.com (the graphics aren't pretty, but it's worth a browse); and the work of Sarah Bodman.

Things I want to do

Talking about ambitions has got me thinking... up until recently I've not thought of myself as ambitious - but I think that's because I'm not, if you're talking about being a highflyer careerwise, or backpacking round the world, or leaping out of a plane. But there are things I want to do, or be, or see, or acquire at some point before I die, so I think I'll start writing them down so I don't forget them. Here's one:

Write a kids book
Well, not write it but illustrate it. I was being nagged by Uncle Meat about why I haven't gone into illustration for kids (based on Mini Meat's last birthday card, if I remember correctly), and I pointed out that I'd need a story to illustrate for a start and he said, 'Well flippin' write one then, it's dead easy!' and I said, 'Well if it's so flippin' easy you do it and I'll illustrate it!' and he looked sheepish for a second then said, 'OK', and we shook on it, and Mrs Meat smiled enigmatically at the pair of us and went off to magic up a delicious meal for us while we tried to sulk at each other a bit.

Expect a tale of a little girl who, after a series of surreal adventures, ends up winning the Tour de France in record time whilst whistling 'A Message To You Rudy', illustrated with collages of brightly-coloured card and sparkly paper.

Love Shack

This article from the Guardian (and a recent article in Eve about 'Women and their Sheds') has prompted me to put down in writing an ambition of mine which has been tugging at my heart lately - to have my own studio or workspace.

Ceramicist Lubna Chowdhary spent £22,000 on a David Adjaye-designed studio for her garden. Mine doesn't have to be anything more than a dedicated room in my home where all my creative stuff lives. At the moment my desk is in my (cramped, single) bedroom, along with my sewing machine and materials. Crates of fabric fill the nook in the hallway and the top shelf in my wardrobe, and the bottom drawer of my clothes chest houses my staple gun, printing stuff, paints etc. Next to that are two laundry bags full of yarn. The bookcase in the living room has all my reference books and sketchbooks. How great would it be to have them all in one place?!

I've spotted a bright pink computer desk in the IKEA catalogue - I could have my sewing machine on top and store my laptop (the one I'd buy if I had a spare £700) on the keyboard shelf. Not gonna happen. At the moment I'm renting a 2-bed and we need a room each. Should the day ever come when I'm renting a 2-bed with someone I'd be sharing a bedroom with then maybe we could have the other room as a workroom. (Message Plums - something else you'll have to fill him in on at Orientation...)

It would be wonderful to have my bedroom just as a room to sleep, dress and read in. It would be like Nanna's bedroom was - with a little slipper armchair upholstered in pink velvet, an old kidney-shaped dressing table with a tilting mirror and a matching stool, and one of those crystal dressing table sets - bowls, a tray and a pair of candlesticks... mmm.

Skin

'I love The smell of your skin In the morning...' From BBC's Day in pictures: A model with body painting by Pang Guohua, a master of traditional Chinese painting, promotes his new book during Hong Kong Annual Book Fair. I don't think I'd ever have a tattoo, but I've often thought that if I ever got married I'd like to have something like this done (not on my face though!) for my wedding day - either flowers similiar to this, or an abstract design of Art Nouveau-esque swirls - in white paint, so it would only show up on my pale, pale skin when the light hit it.

Have you hugged a single person today?

Another great article on the Single Minded: Christian Singles Today site, from the ever spot-on Camerin Courtney, author of the fantastic Table for One:

"The other day I was at my local hair salon, I leaned back at a sink as the shampoo girl washed and conditioned and rambled on about her boyfriend. Shampoo Girl was massaging my scalp and I was nearly nodding off in blissful goosebumpiness, when a funny thought flitted through my sudsy head: This is the most human contact I've had since... since... my last hair appointment!'

It's so true. It's only when someone does touch me that I realise how infrequently it happens. It struck me when my chiropractor stroked my spine to make me relax, lifted my hair up and rubbed my neck, held my feet in her hands. When my 6ft+ friend enveloped me in a bear hug and I couldn't remember the last time I'd had a good cuddle. When I was wearing a satin jacket the other day and people were queueing up to run their hands over it!

There's a need out there, people. Have YOU hugged a single person today?

* SONG OF THE DAY: Saint Etienne – Hug My Soul *