It’s going to be a long winter so there’s never been a time when creativity and innovation has been more important (not in our generation anyway).
I‘ve been keeping my little grey cells active by adding to my textile art skills – slow stitching, coil pot making, more blue prints and even a bit of Joomchi!
Slow stitching has been very slow at times, but a first sampler piece has taken on a life of its own – it’s nearly finished and I’ve had great fun re-learning hand sewing techniques, not used (other than for the occasional button) since school dress-making days.
Coil pots, made from fabric and ‘rope’ are a great way to re-use and re-cycle unwanted clothes, dress-making materials, curtains…. the list is endless and you can make baskets to complement your décor. It’s so additive – you’ll have baskets everywhere once you get going! The ‘rope’ inner can be made from plastic bags, selvages, old washing lines etc so the pots really do ‘tick’ all the upcycling boxes.
What is ‘Joomchi’ you may be asking?! It is an ancient Korean paper-making art – which fuses layers of paper and water together to make a single strong sheet. The ‘fused paper’ is so strong that is has been used for bag making, clothing, wall tiles and even armour. I’m not taking the art form that far, but enjoy seeing the paper deconstruct with constant kneading to expose the fibres. Once deconstructed the paper sheets fuse together - you can see the fibres in the images below and because the original sheets are so thin, their translucency produces wonderful paper art which changes with the amount of light. I am of course experimenting with fusing wool fibres between the paper layers to add another dimension to this fascinating technique.
Another ‘fusion’ of ideas has led me to create a textile which has been sun-printed, nuno-felted and slow-stitched. I do like to ‘play’ and try to combine my favourite techniques together – it doesn’t always work but it’s fun trying.
I’ll be creating new workshops for 2021 which will combine wet-felting with coil basket making, and if the sun shines we’ll do some sun-printing too. Gift vouchers are now available at a cost of £150 for 2 people to cover all materials, lunch and snacks throughout the day. Treat yourself and a friend or family member – the gift vouchers make great Christmas presents. Please email me for more details - jane@fabulousfeltings.co.uk
With the nights getting longer, enjoy the blue-sky days when we have them and stay safe.
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