April 16th Wednesday morning - Cromer Pier from the cliff top.  Its lovely here when the weather is like this though there's

still a nippy breeze

Had breakfast with Simon Horrocks the other day at the Hilly Cafe in Alexandra Park Rd.

Saturday April 5th I visited Excel and the 'Stitches' show, as a friend of mine Jennie Callomon was showing work including cloth dolls with her group.  Apart from this I didn't really find this a very stimulating show - nothing to compare with Knit and Stitch in October.  Heres some pictures of Jennie's dolls.

Saatchi Gallery and Selvedge Fair.  April 4th - Friday.

Visited the Selvedge Spring Fair on Friday morning at Chelsea Town Hall.  As I walked back up the Kings Road I passed the Saatchi Gallery so went in to see what was on.  There is an exhibiton of modern African Art with one gallery full of these monster spiders - very striking!!

The Selvedge Spring Fair was fun and some nice work by very talented designers.  I did see a few people who were at Country Living the week before.  Well worth a visit and a nice mixture of vintage, supplies and lovely designs.  Reasonable entrance as well.

Saatchi Gallery and V&A

I visited the V&A for the preview day of the 'History of Italian Fashion' Thursday April 4th with my friend Sarah Fogg.  We enjoyed the exhibition which spanned the last 60 years but decided we weren't that taken with Italian Design - its a bit 'bling' orientated for me but interesting to see the developement from post war.  The men's fashion is much more stylish than the ladies I feel.

Here's the lovely Sarah and the V&A Pool in the garden where we sat for Tea.  I love sitting out there.

http://www.countrylivingfair.com/Spring/

We shall have a stand at the Spring Country Living Fair at the Business Design Centre in Islington
http://www.countrylivingfair.com/Spring/

This is stand M29 on the mezzanine.  You will find all sorts of info on the website about visitors, workshops, special talks etc.  Do hope to see some of you there.  I have a whole lot of new knitwear and some other items as well.

Doll Classes in Oldham

For Cloth doll Classes in Oldham please contact:
Patchwork Parade tel:0161 633 5900. Or email. Pclangford@hotmail.co.uk.

New Website Launched

Have a new website for my knitwear and silks just launched
www.janhorroxtextiles.co.uk
 Still has lots to add but thought I'd get it out now.

From Jenny Callomon:
I have a textile group 'Running with Scissors ', we are four in number. We are exhibiting with ICHF at the NEC in Birmingham 21st - 24th March and at Londons'
Excel 4th- 6th April.
I shall have 8 dolls displayed plus mixed media/ textile pieces .

Also, we are taking part in the SOS ( Suffolk Open Studios) every weekend in June.
I will have more dolls during the open studio month. This takes place  
at Antar Studio,
Marlinspike Hall, Walpole , IP199AR. This will be in the open studios booklet.

 

Creative Cloth Doll Makers

 

We are a small group of enthusiastic doll makers who meet on the last Saturday of every month ( 10.00 - 4.00 ) in Farnborough Hampshire,to learn new skills and practice old ones.We have a pleasant environment to work in with a self contained kitchen and loo.

 

We would like to welcome new members to the group so if you are interested in meeting us please contact Judith on   judith.stainer@googlemail.com

The Dover Bookshop will close on March 24th - which is such a shame - its a great resource and a lovely shop to visit.  Visit online or in person before it goes.
http://www.doverbooks.co.uk/

Funky Dolls & Critters Club - Coggeshall studio, Essex with Norah Stocker (textile artist)

This is a monthly club wehre you will learn how to design your own cloth doll, softie and critter (wonderful hares, mice and woodland folk!) The club is for beginners through to the master of this world!  We are starting a series of lessons for DOLLS FACES AND HEADS Tuesday 19 February Features, Tuesday 19 March Expressions and sculpture, Tuesday 16 April 2013 hair. Visit www.fantasiatextiles.co.uk for enquiries and to book email: norahjanet@hotmail.co.uk.

Haven't blogged her for a couple of months - so trying to get back into it again.  Here's a couple of photos of my studio and some new knitwear - work in progress.  I'm basing my 2013 knitwear on 1970's Bowie - new album and exhibition at V&Ainspired.

Photoshoot at Search Press, Tunbridge Wells.

Recently I have devised a use for all my dyed and printed silk off cuts - silk roses - they are gorgeous.

Last week I was exhibiting at the Norwich Forum.  This is a super exhibition space and extremely well run.  I was showing all my new silks and knitwear.

We held our Textile Adventures Exhibition in the Cromer Studio Oct 22-28th. 2011. It was pretty busy and we had a really wide range of work. Brigid Warner, Justine Williamson and myself shared this space. These are some professional photographs for a change taken by John Worral.

Another busy year - this year we returned from holiday on September 30th with 3 days to prepare for the K&S show!! All got finished and set-up on wens 5th October. It was another really good show - this year I included some knitwear on the stand. Doll supplies still very popular and I shall be starting on a new book very shortly. This should be out summer 2013 and will be on fantasy dolls. Next week we shall be holding a week's exhibition in the shop/studio in Cromer as part of the local Arts Week. More of this end of October.

Recently I spent a considerable time on a hanging in 3 panels. It is 2 sided i.e. can be viewed from either side. It was made specifically to submit to the ERTF exhibition to be held in Dragon Hall in Norwich in September this year where free hanging pieces are particularly suited. Unfortunately, I was unable to submit this piece as the list of duties I would have had to agree to were beyond my availablility. This hanging is 1mtr long by .75 mtr wide. It is composed of many pieces of cotton fabric I had dyed and printed. The structure is based upon Louise Bourgeouis' textile pieces which I had spent sometime copying how they were made. These are in a previous blog I wrote about a year ago. I was moderately pleased with it.

I have also been working on some knitted silk and cotton in white/natural and then dying with procion dyes. I think this has a lot of possibilities and exciting progressions to come.

Long time since I last blogged - as usual I'm afraid!

Some progress with the new studio - I have added new blinds and also work names on our window. my new working name is 'Textile Adventures with Jan Horrox' which will encompass what ever types of textile work I am involved in. I have started knitting again and shall be posting images of new work shortly. I am preparing for the 'Knitting and Stitching' Show at Ally Pally as well as our local Arts Festival in Cromer where Justine Williamson, Brigid Warner and I will be showing all kinds of textiles in My studio - Oct 22-28th as well as doing some taster workshops.