There really is light at the end of the tunnel. I have finished lecturing and am more or less over the worst of the marking, so I can get back to my research and textile work. And therefore back to the blog which I have really missed doing, but endless stories about the day job would have been too boring for words.
As a warm-up I thought I would blog about a couple of things which I have found really inspirational. The first is this lovely book which I found in the college bookshop on a recent trip to Anglia Ruskin in Cambridge to work with my Grate Frend, Beatriz. It’s called Textiles: A World Tour published this year by Thames and Hudson and translated from the French text by Catherine Legrand. Every single page is an inspiration and the photographs are sumptuous. I don’t normally find this sort of thing that inspiring because I can’t see myself copying work done so much better in the original, but this is just irresistible because the colour and detail and pattern is just piled up. It has a tiny bit of how-to in the form of some watercolour sketches showing how the pieces are worn, but otherwise it is a gorgeous pattern book. Here are some hazy photos:
It is a book you can open at any page and find something stunning.
The other recommendation is Waldemar Januszczak’s BBC4 programme, The Dark Ages: An Age of Light. I have not seen the previous programmes in the series, but I think I will look them up on the iPlayer, because the one last night on the Vikings and Carolingians was right up my street. Waldemar Januszczak is a bit of an acquired taste:
But the programme was stuffed full of exactly the sort of bling I love and in loving close-up:
After my recent weekend of palate-cleansing stripped down elegant Danish Christmas decorations this was an oasis. I made me desperate to get back to sewing beads on something, anything. So, watch this space.
Annjrippin's Blog 
Glad you have a chance to be creative again. I know what it is like to be ‘starved’. Enjoy.
It’s weird how edgy I get if I can’t make something. I don’t think I used to feel it this acutely.
LOVE all the bright colours xx
A change is as good as a rest…
I’ve been enjoying waldemar wotsisface’s new series too
It’s your sort of period, isn’t it? Although I am hoping that Santa brings me a box set of series two of the Borgias. That costume designer was inspired.
Hey I watched Waldemar last night too – absolutely agree about subject matter. I too missed one but will certainly catch up with it. Even with his irritations he is bringing fascinating insights.
Exactly. His series on the Impressionists showing how new technologies influenced everything about their work was really fascinating. And it is a minor triumph for the ordinary looking among us rather than the beautiful specimens we usually get!