March meeting - Tori Riley

Our speaker this month was Tori Riley, her talk was on traditional and Indonesian batik.

Batik fabric

Tori grew up in Jakarta, and later studied at the Batik institute, so she was able to speak very knowledgeably about the different styles and techniques of batik.

Batik fabric and stamp

She also brought a delightful collection of different fabrics to show the variations in style and type of fabric used. These included pattern books made from copper stamps, and the corresponding fabric.

Embellished fabric

This sample has a raised gold design added after the dyeing has been completed.

Mask

Her collection even included wooden masks which had been decorated using the same wax resist techniques, to produce highly intricate pieces.

This was a very interesting talk, and having the opportunity to handle all the samples of different types of batik and ask questions, made for a very informative and sociable afternoon.

In other things . . .

The travelling book has gone missing. It was last seen in a hessian bag. If anyone knows of its whereabouts, please let one of the committee members know.

Regional day is on the 6th June. Further details in the Regional Handbook.

The library now gets Embroidery magazine - available to borrow. We also have a book missing. Embroidered Landscapes by Judy Wilford. Please return it if you have it.

The trip to the Castle Museum with a behind the scenes session with the curator will be on Monday 6th July at 2:00pm. Please sign up if you would like to go.

Please Note the April meeting has now been cancelled. At the April meeting, the competition theme is 'Best Commercial design' which means any piece worked to a commercial design. (And it doesn't have to have been completed in the past year!)

Sue would like help with designing the banner which is being made to hang in the Folk Hall.

Sign up for Elizabeth Almond's Kogin darning workshop in June, will open at the April meeting.

Stitch club in April will continue with stumpwork with Shirley (requirements as for last month) and Josie will be working with paper moulds.
To take part with Josie, you need:
Toilet paper
Water
Spray Starch
Shapes to press the paper in to - Rubber stamps, Print blocks, heavy lace etc
Gesso
Fabric - canvas etc to fix to
Cards
Paints - rub on and spray paint
And importantly, something to take the things home on!