Friday 19 August 2016

Sandra Brownlee + string-making *updated 24/08/16*

Sandra Brownlee teaches how to make string; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016
In July, Sandra Brownlee taught Susie Brandt and me how to make string, a technique that Sandra learned from India Flint, who learned it from Australian visual artist Nalda Searles. Earlier that week, Susie Brandt taught me how to make rope (more about that in a future post). 
Sandra Brownlee's string ball for Warren Seelig; Photo © Karen Thiessen, 2016
Sandra is making this ball of string for Warren Seelig. He wants it to be B I G.

Once home from Nova Scotia, I practiced making string while standing at my kitchen counter. I cut up several tea bags and got to work, making a fine string. It took a few tries before I found my rhythm. While cleaning out my studio, I found fabric strips leftover from a rug-hooking project that I undertook while I was a Sheridan student. The results are similar weight to that of the above ball. I am grateful to Nalda, India, and Sandra for passing on this skill.

3 comments:

Judy Martin said...

very interested in this technique!

and Sandra's ball of string is gorgeous.

and i would like to see the tea-bag string -

string string string
xxx

india flint said...

And I was taught to make string by Nalda Searles
....there's a long string that links us all

Karen Thiessen said...

India, thank you for sharing the name of the woman who taught you how to make string. I've updated my post to reflect this new information.

Judy, my tea-bag string ball is very tiny at the moment as it takes much longer than cloth strips.