Sarah Appleton - Textile Artist Blog

On my last day I helped Robert with a sort of 'admin' task; we worked in the military room sorting out all the laces, braids and Related Things. Here's a picture of the racks before we started:  And here's the racks at the end of the day: We didn't quite manage to finish them but as you can see we made a vast improvement! Here's a picture at the sort of middle stage: We emptied each rack, re-wound and untangled everything that needed winding and de-tangling, sorted everything by colour, design and size and put them back on the shelves. They were quite mixed up so it took us a while! Some people may have found this job a little dull but I felt very satisfied seeing the cages looking so neat and tidy at the end of the day. Unfortunately that meant I didn't have time to get creative with the goldwork materials but Janika told me that they will keep my sci-fi beading sample to show future beadwork students as inspiration. I'm really pleased about

Today when I arrived I was surprised to be asked whether I wanted to join in the tambour beading class; which of course I did! I'd never tried it before I was really lucky to be given the opportunity to try it out under expert supervision. First we tried out the stitches and casting on and off using only the hook and thread: This part wasn't too difficult as it's just like a chain stitch which I have done before. After that we traced a pattern and started the beading, this was my sample by the end of the day: A bit wonky in places but not bad for a beginner I feel... I wanted to try several techniques to make the most of the day but the sequins were the most successful and my favourite element to do... interestingly they are supposed to be the most difficult! I was really pleased that I was asked to join in the class and had a lot of fun; I'd recommend the classes to anyone interested in embroidery or beading as it's a lovely environment to learn in and Hand

Today was primarily spent checking 28 metres worth of embroidered curtain panels for glitches and marks, so there isn't much specifically to write about! The panels had been embroidered out-of-house and needed their backings and loose threads trimmed, some minor adjustments by hand, spot checks, plus ironing, rolling and packing (there was a team of us for this job but I had a major role) so this took most of the day. I rather enjoyed working as a team though since I've been a bit of a Han Solo lately! Other smaller tasks included key cutting and lightbulb buying, machine embroidery placements and my beadwork where I could fit it in!

Today I did a few small errands such as buying stationery, making tea for visitors and folding / packing shirts: But mainly I continued with my creative beadwork samples. Here are some photos of what I've done so far: As I said yesterday, I chose materials that I liked the colours and shapes of and began with this sample: As I'd been asked to find inventive new ways of using existing stock I used the oversized sequins upside down, which sort of reminded me of satellite dishes so as I went on sampling, I made myself a mental mood board of sci-fi b-movies and tried to make new shapes and patterns that were reminiscent of UFOs or strange plants that could be growing on other planets. Here are some images that might help explain what I mean: Barbarella War Of The Worlds illustration by Edward Gorey Plan 9 From Outer Space AT-ST I still have some more work to do on these samples but I'm enjoying the opportunity to be creative and have had some very

This morning I began by continuing my beadwork from last week , trying new samples and finishing the old ones. Unfortunately I forgot to take a picture but will add one tomorrow / later in the week! After that Laura asked me to touch up an owl she had machine embroidered; similarly to the French Bulldog I worked on last week there were a few not-perfect areas that needed a little mending. Here is the owl before I fixed it: Design by Hand & Lock, London And here is the owl after I'd made a few small changes: Whoo! Can you spot the areas I hand stitched? Didn't think so! This was another piece I really enjoyed working on as the design appeals to me a lot and it was fun to work on something with such an exciting colour pallet. The next job of the day was to take down the Christmas window  that some of the other interns and I had created in December. I cleaned the window, took down all the decorations and stored them for next year and then put The Collection back

Day 14 was a half day as it was New Year's Eve, so I finished Mr. / Mrs. Dawg from the previous day ; filling in the remaining gaps with satin stitch (by hand), re-stitching some black detail over the top and then unpicking and trimming the excess grey area: Finished dawg And here's the back of him... I always find the back of embroidery works interesting, plus you can see more clearly the areas that I hand stitched (along the bottom): I was really happy with how he turned out and so was Laura, plus I really enjoyed working on it so this was a success in every way! After that I helped with trimming threads and folding some shirts that had been machine embroidered and then it was home time. On day 15 I was asked to make some small beading samples, my brief was that I could use whatever I liked and to be creative, so that was very exciting! Having not done much in the way of bead work I think I may have had an advantage in that I wasn't constricted by any 'rules