Ruth Brown - Stone Creek Silk
by Angie Boyer
The long and winding road, that leads to... Stone Creek Silk at Sunk Island. It's a remote stretch of land only a stone's throw from the busy port of Hull. Known locally as 'the land that rose from the Humber', it's the place where years ago coal was brought into the creek for the people and businesses of Hull. Travel the road and feel as though you are entering a different world. Visit Ruth Brown at Stone Creek and realise that you probably have, for she is consumed by her enthusiasm and passion for her craft, talks eagerly about what she's doing, what she plans to do and how working with silk has quite literally changed her life.
Originally from an IT background with a huge knowledge of the subject, (read her feature 'Viruses, Trojans and Worms' in our June issue 155), Ruth started selling her silk work at craft events six years ago.
"It was a great way to get away from the highly stressed job I was in, a total contrast to working in wide area computer networking," she explained.
That release from pressure and stress was vital to her future wellbeing. At one time she was rushed to hospital with symptoms which suggested a severe case of flu, but on further investigation, it transpired that everything actually pointed to stress. "It's easily recognisable in hindsight, but at the time, I was probably just too exhausted to work it out. After 18 months of illness I had to give up my job and have ended up working much longer hours but I feel so much better. I always wanted to work for myself, so I seized the opportunity. At least now I know that if I make mistakes, they are my mistakes that I'm dealing with.
"I knew I was over my illness when I went to stay with a friend in Scotland for a weekend of batik with Anne Dye, a wonderfully inspiring teacher. When I was unwell, I wasn't able to do anything creative at all, but there it all came flooding back, it was wonderful. More important than anything else though is my husband Iain; he's my rock, I wouldn't have got though it all without him, he's such a huge help and support.
Typical of many makers and artists that I speak to, Ruth didn't have a great deal of confidence in her creative talents as a child, being told at school that she 'couldn't draw'. A visit to the Artists & Illustrators Show in London one year with a friend changed all that, though. "I saw someone silk painting at the show. I saw the colour go onto the silk and just thought 'Wow! I can do this and I don't need to be able to draw to do it'."
So she bought a small selection of silk paints, experimented and played around with them and took some huge steps forward. Finding it difficult to progress from the basics on her own, she decided to take evening classes in GCSE Art & Design. "I was nervous about the course, but my tutor, Sue Spivey, was absolutely amazing. When I told her I couldn't draw, she simply said that I hadn't been taught to draw and then proceeded to teach me! It was a wonderful course which set me up with the basic skills I needed to develop in my work.
Ruth was busy creating something particularly artistic when we visited her, working with cyanotypes, a form of photography on fabric (and other surfaces), creating a white image on a Prussian blue background. The technique involved seems remarkably appropriate for Ruth's new creative life, using pieces taken from the countryside around her, perhaps ferns, leaves or flowers, to create an almost ghost-like image, sometimes combined with computer generated imagery. The subtle shadings and strangely iridescent quality are revealed after exposing the treated fabric to a healthy burst of sunlight.
In addition to drawing inspiration from nature and the countryside around her, water and sea life also hold a fascination for Ruth, an ex-diver. "They seem to lend themselves beautifully to the texture and flow of silk and dye." She's constantly experimenting, it's the 'technical' aspect of her brain taking over, I suspect.
"I love working with a variation of the ubiquitous salt technique, putting large grain salt onto steam fix dyes and making the fabric really wet so that the dye can flow, creating craggy marks.
I have used cotton as well, but I prefer to use silk, I just love the fabric. I have it in my mind to develop some cashmere scarves, but I'll need to develop different techniques for that and it will have to wait a while, I haven't come anywhere near to the end of what I want to do with silk yet!"
You'll perhaps have already seen Ruth at one of the major shows, she's at Wrest Park this August Bank Holiday and is a regular at the British Craft Trade Fair in Harrogate. It's at these events that she meets the people who buy or commission her work.
"I met a lady at Ludlow Castle two years ago," she told me, "who asked whether I'd be interested in making the fabric for her wedding dress and for the outfits of her two daughters as well as the men's waistcoats and ties.
I produced twenty two metres of wedding fabric in total, which was quite a job, as the maximum I can manage at any one time with the working space I have is 4metre lengths."
It was that commission which inspired Ruth to produce fabric lengths and pieces to sell at the Knitting and Stitching Show in Harrogate "I love doing the big lengths, there's something very satisfying about seeing this vast expanse of white transformed with colour. They went really well at the show and I'm already thinking about making up kits for next time," she said. The ability to create longer lengths also means that she can now experiment with jackets and caftans as well as producing the scarves that she has become known for in recent years.
As Ruth showed us her workshop, she spoke of the joy of using indigo in her work. "Indigo is fabulous to work with, it works like no other dye I've ever used. Indigo only takes on the side of the fabric you are presenting to it, stitching, folding, tying or wrapping creates the patterns and images, the key is to know where the main lines and images will appear on the fabric, then the dye determines what will happen between those lines."
I asked Ruth about how she decides which fabrics she will use for the different techniques.
"Silk is selected by weight and weave. For example, twill has a diagonal element to it and is quite stable whilst crepe de chine has a twist on the thread, which produces a stretchy quality and a gleam to the fabric. I use everything from filmy chiffon through satin and crepe de chine to heavyweight douppion, depending on the end product and the techniques I want to use"
Ruth's time spent working in IT perhaps prepared her for her new life in textiles more than she realizes. The skills she learnt teaching IT are now applied to teaching craft at workshops near where she lives. "I really enjoy teaching, working with textiles is such fun," she said, "and I'm happy to travel to run workshops for guilds and other groups".
The learning process works both ways, though, and she also enjoys being the recipient of the teaching. "I attend a sewing class each week to learn the best ways to use fabrics and to improve my needlecraft skills," she explained, and when we visited her, she was about to leave for a course at Rainbow Silks in Buckinghamshire. "It's with Sherrill Kahn, I'm really looking forward to working with others who are interested in the same craft and learning from an expert." Ruth still maintains a contact with IT, though, combining her knowledge of craft and marketing with the IT skills that provided her with a good regular income for so many years. She was responsible for the design and production of the Made in Yorkshire website, she maintains the Brigantia and Dalesmade sites and specializes in sites for small businesses such as the ones recently completed for a local publisher and a rocking horse maker. On her own site she shares with you her love of silk: 'add vibrant colour to this sumptuous fabric and you have clothing which hangs softly, looks beautiful and is heavenly to wear, or a painting which gleams and changes as light passes over it'.
"This is the only bit of IT I still enjoy doing, it's a real mixture of 'techy' and creative and, well, it's what's paying the bills at the moment. My site is taking an overhaul soon" she explained, "I think I should have perhaps done it before, but you know how it is, your own work is always the last that you do. It's an important part of my business, people use it to see where I'm going to be, visiting shows, seeing what workshops I'm teaching, finding out about special orders and so on." The computer area in Ruth's home is probably favourite with Maddy the cat, who is not allowed into the painting and sewing rooms. "I once had a cat who swallowed a needle and thread," she told me. "The x-ray showed it laying alongside one of her ribs!"
What did she plan for the future I asked? " Well, I've been experimenting with making silk paper recently and then developing ideas with it. I'd like to sell more of my wallhangings and paintings and I would be delighted if I could work with a good designer who would like to use my one-off lengths of fabric, but basically, I shall be delighted if I can simply achieve solvency this year - I shall be a happy person as I really love what I do, despite the long hours, seven days a week!"
