Interviewing Jan and Jean

I’m really getting into this blog thing again and it’s good to have such a response from old and new friends. We have had lots of favourable comments on the new site but it will really come into its own when the WOWbook is published on 1st December. In addition to the wonderful workshop from Sherrill Kahn, you’ll find a workshop by Paula Watkins on Altered Books (there will be a video to go with this) and a review of Jan Beaney’s and Jean Littlejohn’s amazing new DVD.

We were so lucky to be able to arrange an in-depth interview with Jan and Jean. And we are the first to show their latest work. Sam Packer is really good at interviews and in the past, she brought us a WOW feature on Michele Carragher, the embroiderer responsible for the ‘Game of Thrones’ costumes, and with the Victoria & Albert Museum team behind the amazing Opus Anglicanum exhibition earlier this year. In addition, she pulled off one with Anthea Godfrey who led the Embroiderers’ Guild and Royal School of Needlework collaboration on making the Hardhome Embroidery of the ‘White Walker’. For a small person, she has the cheek of the devil and WOW has benefited from it.

We were as keen as Jan and Jean to commemorate the tenth anniversary of Julia Caprara’s death. In the interview, they talk about their friendship with her and we will follow this up on the Members’ Club page where we will have some previously unseen pics of her work. Her D4Daisy book, ‘Exploring Colour’, was published just in time for her to see it (she loved it) and it was a great privilege to be part of that. The photo shows one of her colourful pieces, a detail of ‘Flying Dragon in the Heavens’.

Meanwhile, I am off to put the finishing touches to the first lesson of my online course. It will be in the Members’ Club on the website in mid-January – just when we need to get over the after-Christmas blues. This course will loosely follow the syllabus of the old one-year City & Guilds course that I used to teach, beginning with simple but effective (and I hope exciting) methods of recording ideas for textiles which will lead to the making of stitched pieces. The pic below shows the beginnings of one of my pieces for the ‘Long Diaries and Tall Tales’ book (www.d4daisy.com) which was based on illuminated manuscripts.

I’ll be running at least two modules of the course in each WOWbook and it will build up in subsequent books. We can share our pics and have discussions on the Members’ Facebook page.

I’ve just found some photos of my first attempts with a die cutting machine. This one is a lettering and I put a very thick piece of card through so that the die would only cut part way through and just leave traces. Must play with that again sometime.