CRT Annual Showcase

Just over a month ago, on Friday 6th November, I was invited to hold a stall at the Canal & River Trust Annual Showcase in Shropshire. There were many other organisations and individuals attending, from wildlife, boating and angling organisations to charities working with young people and the resident Blacksmith at Ellesmere canal yard.

I displayed the newest additions to the Monty Canal modelling kit: some fish-bellied 'cast-iron' beams, and the moulds used to make them. The CRT education specialists and workshop leaders had a stall too, and it was good to talk to them about some of their canal-connected activities including a modelling kit they use with younger children in sandboxes.

I also presented information about the other strands to the residency, such as the Newtown Field Trip, the textile collaboration and this blog.

 

In the afternoon there was an opportunity to take part in planning sessions and I joined the Montgomery Canal group. It was a good chance to put forward ideas that have emerged from my research and time spent on the canal but have not directly become part of the project. It was also a good forum to talk about the contact I've had with different communities along the canal, as well as my own points of view on the future of the canal as a native of Mid Wales.

Layout

After a few trials and mock ups we are starting to plan how everyone's ideas can work together in the final banner. See below for a watercolour outline of the layout I did to help visualise what will go where. 

Some of the visual influences we are incorporating in to the design are Trade Union banners, retro-futurist art, geometric pattern and traditional canal boat painting, as well as the engineering, flora and fauna of the Montgomery Canal itself. In terms of textile techniques, collectively we are likely to use applique, maybe even reverse applique, paper-piecing and needle-felting, to name but a few.

I look forward to our next meet-up in January when we will start to construct the  background and central elements of the banner.

Mock Ups & Motifs

During last Thursday's session working on the banner we started laying out the text to try out different ways to structure the design. We agreed it would be a good idea to wait until the motifs are designed before positioning the text or cutting the backing fabric to size, so we can make sure there is enough space for everything. 

Below are some possible layouts, although they may evolve again as the collaboration develops. The backing fabric will be dyed to fit in with the shared colour palette too.

Possible layout for the backing fabric

 

Possible text layout

We made a rough guide to the size of some of the motifs that will go on the banner (see image below). The motifs could be oval, square or irregular shaped and most people are going to make two, one for each side of the banner, that mirror each other slightly.

Here are a few images to show how people's ideas are developing...

Liz did some experiments with fabric textures, colours and patterns...

Diana tried different combinations of colours and backdrops for her industrial cog motif...
 

Mary is planning two floral motifs inspired by canal-boat painting. Joan was inspired by the two images below to design a 'paper-piecing' motif based on lock gates.

We decided to meet again in January, to give people a chance to develop their ideas and to give a bit of space around the busy Christmas period.

Banner Palette

I've been working on a shared colour palette for the textile collaboration. Because of the difficulty in getting an accurate colour match on a computer screen or printer I decided to use watercolour and give everyone a postcard version of the palette instead.

Devising the colour palette in watercolour

Just to give some idea, here is the final palette below. Although the colours look different on screen they are essentially a mixture of strong canal-boat inspired colours on the right, and more watery grey, green and blue on the left.

Field Trip Follow Up

On the Morning of the 15th October, twenty or so of us gathered in the Canal Road area of Newtown and set off in search of clues and traces along the 'ghost' section of the Montgomery Canal between Newtown and Pwll Penarth. We were a varied group including geologists, historians, poets, artists, canoeists and the generally curious.

We started at the remains of the last bridge, just before the mysterious and now filled in canal basin. Joining the dots from there we followed the line of the canal taking in the sites of missing bridges, the canal-influenced architecture, the pump-house and a missing lock, hidden canal-side sheds and bridges.

Stopping at spots where the aura of the canal as a living, industrial entity was still at its most concentrated and potent, I supplemented the power of the imagination with images of artefacts I have come across in archives and museums during the residency.

Most of us on the walk were familiar with the route we took, but we attempted as a group to strip away our habitual responses and look in a different way. Contributions from geologist Andrew Jenkinson and Kate Lynch, Heritage Officer from the Canal & Rivers Trust, added insights from other angles.

 

Standing by the Pumphouse looking at images of its engines and chimney before it was removed.

At the end our walk and talk evolved in to a well-earned chat and sip at Newtown Market Hall.

Beautiful Beams

Progress on the Monty Canal Modelling Kit! I've moulded the first miniature 'fish-belly' bridge beams, making it possible to model one of the Monty Canal's signature bridges. They are a very satisfying shape to pull out of the mould, and on this scale a lot easier to handle than the original cast-iron ones...

Like the bricks, these have been cast using plaster with added iron - so they are almost authentic! The red colour gives them a look of rusty rather than fresh cast-iron.

Ta daaa!

I found a few volunteers after the Canal Field Trip last Thursday to try out the new components.

 The model below ended up with an unorthodox but intriguing staircase detail.

Bridge model with unorthodox staircase detail!

Spider Stitches & Bulrushes

I'm getting ready to meet up with a group of stitchers from the Llanymynech area on Friday, to start designing a collaborative textile piece for the Montgomery Canal. 

Last weekend I visited the National Waterways Museum in Gloucester, and found some nice examples of stitching by canal boaters. These belts using 'spider stitch' were apparently made for the boatmen by their daughters.

Last time I met up with the group we talked about designing applique motifs inspired by canal flora and fauna, and someone mentioned bulrushes. Minutes after leaving that meeting I came across some lovely bulrush specimens near Llanymynech and took a few photographs for future reference...