Planet Ruby Starrs

A little bit of away time - almost peace and quiet in the Lake District - Dr Fred and I took off in Beryl the Yellow Peril across the hills to some find some relative solitude in the south Lakes.  Of course its the Easter holidays so it wasn't as quiet as we would have liked but we still managed to find some vaguely empty spaces off the beaten track... it doesn't take much, just following a few back roads and finding a few wild spots to park up where not many people go too often.   I do sometimes worry that I've taken up with a chap who seems to know every layby and pulloff across the UK - graded by camping suitability - but it means we find a lot of good wild camping spaces - useful actually if you enjoying wild camping. We spent a night high up on the moors, but still sheltered by Black Combe in the near distance.  We were surprised how busy the little road over the moor was - it must be a short cut somewhere - there was quite a lot of passing traffic but it wasn...

Boys will be boys - even grown men... Dr Fred and his stargazer pal built a rocket, using extremely suspect measurements from eye, guessing heights of ceilings and working out from fire door sizes.... they managed miraculously to make it just small enough to fit in the middle of the Girsby and Over Dinsdale Village Hall to be the 'space'tacular  centerpiece of this years Yuri party!! We have held a party every April 12th now for quite a few years - the date that Yuri Gagarin became the first man in space - there are parties held all over the world every year - not so many in the UK and we were defo the only one in Teesdale.  We have varied the venue from having smaller bashes at home, parties in friends barns, for a couple of years we did more public events in a bar in Newcastle and this year it was the village hall- set in the middle of nowhere with a camping field right next door - excellent venue! The day coincides with Dr Freds birthday which means even more excuse for...

With our Bowes Museum exhibition finally up it was business as usual for the rest of the week at College.  Usual being really getting all the stuff ready so I can work at home in the three week Easter break.  I had loads of fabric I wanted to print and also to do some laser cutting for some 'fancy bits' to adorn my final piece should it ever evolve!!! I got the fabric printed and it most looked mighty fine - I'm a tad disappointed with the way some of the prints behave when printed on the poly linen.  There is a definite bleed and in some places it renders the fabric unusable - I cant quite work out why it does it in some place and not others and why some times its just on one patch of the fabric... no one else seems to know either!!!   However the fabric is printed and any scabby bits will not be wasted but will make piping cord and soon the final cushion will be under way... that's when I can bring myself to actually cut the fabric!!! I don't know why t...

I have spent a couple of days at the Bowes Museum helping to curate an exhibition the Northern School of Art textile students of my year have been invited to hold.  The work on show is a wonderful eclectic collection of fabrics, scarves, clothes, and objects all inspired by objects in and the building of the Bowes Museum. The Museum already holds a nationally renowned art collection and now has some contemporary additions.  The building itself is stunning, built in the 19th century by John and Josephine Bowes with  the idea of creating a world-class museum in order to introduce the wider world of art to the local people. Our display is spread across the three floors of the museum and is vibrant, colourful and hard to miss in among the more traditional exhibits.  The juxtaposition  of 19th century   artifacts  and the modern take really works  showing how historical objects, buildings and interior spaces can be developed and repres...