This has been the inspiration behind three recent projects. Cosmetic imprisonment, Karvol imprisonment and imprisoned ceramic Israels. I started this when I was on my sabbatical in India just before the Covid-19 pandemic. Here is a short summary with one or two images from each of my earlier imprisonment projects.
1 Goan Sewn Postcards
There was a supermarket near where Betsy (my daughter who came to visit) and I were staying in Mandrem, North Goa. We bought a few bits and bobs there and really liked some large postcards. They were modern painted versions of Hindu gods and other Indian icons – cows and tuk tuks. Betsy kept some but I don’t think she ever sent them. They are nice just to pin up on the wall.
I cut most of mine up and sewed them onto nice thick white card. I sat in a comfy sofa looking over the river where we could kayak in Olaulim Backyards taking a break from fighting with the manual sewing machine that I was using to make my three fabric books. I liked the idea of sewing on the cards using some interesting yarns like Tencel from my stash I had stocked up from the Finsbury Park iconic Handweavers Studio and brought out with me to India. I also enjoy cutting things out and I could edge the five of these montages with tapes going in different directions.
2 Large Andeshe Plant Montages
Every morning in Andeshe after my yoga (ok very short – 10 minutes using the Yoga Studio App) I ran with Johnny the adolescent dog there. We ran up and down the road and returned in time for my breakfast of an oat, date and banana dairy smoothie. Collecting interesting seed pods on the way is important as a way of not having to run (!) and also to incarcerate/imprison within some Tencel yarn I have brought with me in a variety of purple hues. I was inspired to “catch” things on paper by sewing them on when I did my postcard series in Goa by the encouragement given to me by a fellow guest Lynne Lawton. I love the juxtaposition of a natural plant in India, encased in a criss cross of purple thread with an exquisite piece of lace at the bottom signifying all the loudness, richness and colour that is truly India.
3 Imprisoned Purple Cars with an Escape Route.
I made a series of imprisoned/encased purple cars with escape routes. I imprisoned all the cars and they each had a different escape route with different threads/yarns and thread for making candles burn. I still have four of them with me on my wall in my bedroom in Jaffa, Israel today.
4 Large Dyed Yarn Enclosed Montages
I dyed cotton threads from my yoga mat made from water hyacinth plant fibre and imprisoned them on a piece of A3 card. I did a further four more including some from dyed candle wicks, some furry fluffy yarn which was lilac and I dyed purple. This ended up being spiky and not at all soft and furry! Finally, I incarcerated some balloons from my pool project which all burst pretty early on in the process. One morning, when on a run with Johnny I found a bit of balloon on the roadside at the end of my run. I could tell you it had blown for miles but I do short runs – in fact just like I do short yoga sessions of either 10 or 15 minutes.
The bottom edge lace is from Samrat Craft Megastore which is a treasure trove of all sorts of wonderful haberdashery and other items. And with the usual huge number of staff members. Hilarious to go in there and be served by about 20 young men. So delightful.
5 Hampi Montages Large
I had some new A3 thick white watercolour paper and I had found a formula of sewing on objects that I found satisfying to undertake whilst listening to podcasts. I was enjoying some by Stephen Fry who is witty and clear. A joy to listen to!
The seven plastic flowers are for an aquarium and were actually quite difficult to sew on as they were 3D and wouldn’t really behave all that well! I loved imprisoning the feather/s and sewing in the pretty corsage flowers I had previously dyed purple and mauve. The caterpillar was fun too! The series should fit my rules. And be a prime number but I had six ideas and six pieces of card. And what are rules if not to be broken!
I finished them off with the lovely spiral stamps using stamp ink which stains everything! But does stamp nicely. Here I used spiral trails too.
This blog is a look at all my imprisoning from my sabbatical in India. Many of these pieces I still have today.
