YOU HEARD IT HERE FIRST!

Here is a film to advertise Felix's new podcast. It features me on spinning wheel. And here is the press release. Put it in your diaries.

The Domestic Soundscape is a specially comissioned podcast series for Cut & Splice: Living Rooms. Researched, recorded and produced by Felicity Ford, the series will feature an aray of sonic experiments, artist's conversations, sounds, home recordings and compositions. Exploring the relationship between domestic space and the artists' imagination, the Domestic Soundscape podcast series will investigate the role of domestic appliances, daily routines, habits, rooms and home-recordings in a contemporary sound art/ composition practice.

The first one will be coming out on the cutandsplice website http://livingrooms.cutandsplice.com/ on 28th May and will focus on tape and domestic soundscape. this episode will feature Rachael Matthews (ME!) and Analogue Amnesty as well as experimental recordings made from putting speakers inside a tea pot and some versions of Alvin Lucier's 'I am sitting in a room' and many recordings of everday sounds...... 

GLASS PINGLE - IN MY GARDEN I AM QUEEN.

This is Fleur Oakes's corset entitled,

"In My Garden I an Queene'

It went on display at Prick Your Finger this Friday last the first of May.

Most corset makers don't sign their work, but Fleur has embroidered her name and left a little pouch at the bottom  of the front in which she will leave the following information.

The corset pattern is from 1585 and this style of embroidery was fashionable from mid 1600's.

The animals were an idea from some embroidery from the book "House of Spirits" by Isabelle Allinde. These animals are from original pen and ink drawings by illustrator Richard Gray. They take an average of eight hours each.

From left to right;

Peepus has colourings of a Kestral. He is made with bullion stitch, Turkey stitch, and normal long and short stitch.

The Goatle, half goat half turtle is made in turkey stitch, long and short stitch, raised satin stitch with a needle lace shell.

The Boarfinch is the colours of chaffinch or Goldfinch and he's mostly long and short stitch with needle lace wings.

The Marbat, a combination of a Marsupial with bat wings has the colourings of a Bluetit.

The Mallardapard has a Mallard coloured head and a leopard coloured body. He has raised satin stitch, turkey stitch and long and short stitch.

The two fruit trees, one silver apple and one golden pear, both made in varying sizes of French knot, done in hand dyed threads. The apple tree has a bee in a loose french knot.

 The pear tree has the Mallardapard's nest with a padded satin stitch egg and a hand dyed gimp nest. The fruit are needle lace covered wooden beads. Two leaves and a pear take about 3 hours.

The flowers Snowdrop and Cyclamen represent hope and doubt. The snowdrop is a specific variety called the Hefelump.

 The cyclamen was the most complicated thing that Fleur has ever made with each petal taking over an hour!

The moths are all made in needle lace and are based on tiger moths, but made in ivory to look like lace.  

When the corset is closed the eyes come together at the back. 

And underneath, the corset is lined with old kid leather evening gloves which are faggot stitched together using the fingers of the gloves to resemble the fans that come out t the hip on Elizabethan corsetry.

Wow.

EMBROIDERY ART SHOW HELL.

Miss Rosie Cooper came across this hilarious picture and sent it to Miss Fleur Oakes.  Fleur is hopefully resting her fingers after finishing an incredible show, which went on display at Prick Your Finger, Friday last, and of which I shall write tomorrow. 

MARION'S MYSTERY.

Can anyone help us answer Marion's question?

Marion's great Scottish grandmother made this fabulous antimacasar.  The colours are from natural dyes like madder and onion skins, and the whole 'thing' is 60cm wide by 140cm long.

Here is a close up picture of the stitches. Marion, a skilled knitter can solve most mysteries, but she can't identify this stitch.  She has spent all her knitting life trying to work it out. Is it knitted or crochet? It is not broomstick crochet.  Here is the wrong side. Any ideas?

THE WONDERFUL GIRL MONSTERS.

Packing a spinning wheel for flight is not easy. We thought my blanky, duck tape and laundry bags were the best form of wrapping. The wheel was fine.When we arrived at the festival, we saw Reverend Billy, a soul /gospel / protest group, who excorsied the devil from credit cards, and sang chorus's about identity, climate change, recession and the world falling apart. Then we drank some beer in a glass which said 'beauty and obsession' and then we went to bed. 

In the morning we mixed jam and ham and cheese on rye bread and headed for the Girl Monster Orchestra rehearsal. It sounded great. We had tea breaks with custard pastries and talked to our heros the Raincoats about knitting. The Chicks on Speed made us feel welcome and Gustav put us at ease on stage. The wheel and tape sounded wonderfully perculiar.  After rehearsals we had a paddle in the Danube on a beautiful sunny day with a light breeze carrying the smell of lilacs. 

We couldn't believe we were in such a lovely place, and that this is our job.

We had a sound check at 16:00. Ian, dressed as the 'Farm Instructor', did some plugging in and twiddling knobs and Louise and I discussed having a conversation. It sounded great.  Anat Ben David noticed that we were English and needed more tea than everyone else and kindly had a kettle put in our dressing room.

 Thank you Anat.

'Men' came on. We didn't stop dancing. We are 'Men' fans. We bought the T-shirts the badges and the CD and then ran around screaming about 'Men'.

17.30 We had an interview on the telly. We talked about wool, tape, spinning, knitting, gold and freedom. Louise's wig kept slipping, but that didn't matter. The camera man tried it on . The wig that is.

19:30 Anat Ben David then blew us away with her energy. 

21:30 Yo Majesty. Boy that was good. Check that out.

22.30 Prick Your Finger.  We were not nervous. We made noises, chatted slowly in low voices and read Analogue Amnesty poem. Louise mic'd up carders and knitting needles, and clicked away. There were some men shouting encore at the end, and we bowed.  I said to the Raincoats that I couldn't remember how our performance went and they asked if it was fun, because that's how you know, and the answer to that is yes definetly. It has helped me see ways to develop the Analogue Amnesty. The spinning wheel is a powerful machine and the mix tape much loved. I shall write more about it when I've watched the films and let it sink in.

23:00 The Raincoats.  We were enlightened and very happy. They had applied 'make- down' and looked great. 

00:30  Girl Monster Orchestra.  1st Ramalangadingdong. It rocked. Anat Ben David played a black high healed knee length boot, there was a harp, Ann Raincoat on violin, Ana de Silva on the toy telephone, Gina Birch on the dictophone with the captain of the aeroplane saying 'welcome to the girl monster orchestra'  Chicks on Speed playing scissors and sticks and things, Koko Von Napoo singing and playing behind us. After the first song I kept the spinning wheel squeaking while Chicks on Speed did a lecture about feminist art. It was very interesting. I wish every gig had an art lecture in the middle of it. Then we shouted a tune Post Moderne Societe', which rocked.  The Raincoats started 'Lola' just like they always did, and we all joined in, just like we'd always wanted. Our mouths were wide open with the singing.

Girl Monster Song "She can dance, and she can sing, and....she sure looks good" was pure pop, we danced as much as there was space for and I think some tops came off and there might have been some boob action. What ever it was, it was wild and free, very happy and full of love, and the audience felt it and so did Yo Majesty, who came on at the end and rapped about love, lots of it, all buzzing around the room.

Big up Chicks on Speed for making history and being whole heartedly brilliant. We love you.

FM4, I hope you don't mind, I stole these pictures off your website...

'IN MY GARDEN I AM QUEENE'.

'In my garden I am Queene', is a misquote from the pre-Raphaelite painter Burne-Jones, and the title of a spectacular new show my Miss Fleur Oakes of The Glass Pingle, scheduled for a private view on Friday 1st May at Prick Your Finger. Fleur has been busy making a 16th C. style corset embroidered in raised embroidery / stumpwork.  Fleur suggests that we all be the Queene of May on that day, so we hope to see you there for pagan joy and celebration. (And Kings of course, we must have kings, can't have spring without king...)

TESTING TESTING.

Bless Ian the Tea Thompson who has managed to make some fantastic sounds come out of my spinning wheel ahead of our gig at Girl Monster near Vienna on Saturday night. We have yarn being spun with old tape cassettes, which pass over a pick up and then microphones on the wheel, picking up squeaks and knocks through effects to make it sound like I'm spinning in a dark and dingy cellar, with scary noises going on in my head.  Fortunately we will have Louise there on the stage with us in her fantastic new flax wig, carding beautiful rolags and doing her Bez Happy Monday's dancing.  I think we are going to have a fantastic time.