Juliette Orton

A little while ago I had the pleasure of introducing my 'Stitch'n'Rip' technique to some members of Marlborough Embroiderers' Guild in a 1 day workshop. I remember receiving this booking nearly a year ago and I am always shocked by how quickly time passes! I started the workshop by showing some examples of my work which use the 'Sitch'n'Rip' technique and several of my sketchbooks were available to look at and use for inspiration.          I then explained the different stages of the 'Stitch'n;Rip' technique and gave my students materials so that they could have a go at making a flower in order to understand the process. They created some fantastic flowers!               Having gained an understanding of the technique, I gave the ladies some materials to create their own interpretation of one of my Plume pieces. On a linen background, they combined paper layers which included some pre-printed ...

Since I've started a new sketchbook recently I thought I could do a diary of sorts to explain how I have put the various sections together. I chose the theme of 'Layering' as I was looking through some old A-Level Art & Design question papers and this topic appealed to me. If you want to create your own sketchbook obviously you could choose any theme you like, just make sure that it's something that interests you and you will find plenty of inspiration. I favour an A3 size sketchbook but there are no hard and fast rules on this, and it's best to go for a scale that you feel comfortable with. I started out with a title page and a 'mind map' of written ideas of anything that I felt could relate to the theme of 'layering', a brainstorm of sorts. This is a good way to get over the dreaded 'first page fear' when you just can't bring yourself to start your pristine book and any mark you make is overly scrutinis...