Blog - Page 5 of 12 - Jane Mercer Felt Artist

Tun house

My secrets for framing felt art work

I have explored many different ways of framing felt art. For my next exhibition, I want wooden frames to hang on the gallery walls. I know that framing felt art and textiles in this way is controversial but if my textile work is competing with other art I believe it must be framed. Here is an interesting article from the textileartist site on framing. I choose to simply frame with no glass because I wanted the textures of the felt to be highly visible - within the grasp of the viewer. Getting my felt art professionally framed is not an option as it is just too expensive. My first secret for framing felt art The first step is to stretch the felt art across some stretcher bars. I am a big fan of stretcher bars, they are simple to use and come in multiple sizes. Far far more flexible than buying canvases.…

9 Comments

07/05/2017

Natural dyeing / Wet felting

My exciting new method to make naturally dyed felt pictures

My first felt pictures with my new natural dye method are based on the tun house at the Peak Alum works in Ravenscar, UK. Really I should say based on the remains of the tun house. Today this is all you can see. Helpfully a drawing by the National trust gives an idea of what the tun house would have looked like in the 17th century. I choose this place because it is beautiful and today is quiet and peaceful,. Once the Alum it produced was an essential component of the natural dyeing process and it would have been smelly and dirty. it a good example of the ability of the earth to recover. A like the idea of exploited land recovering and also of this natural dyeing chemistry link across the years. I choose this place because today it is beautiful and quiet and peaceful. Once the Alum it produced…

1 Comment

16/04/2017

Natural dyeing / Wet felting

The challenges of my new natural dyeing technique

When I first got into natural dyeing of felt, I wanted to make all white pieces and then dye them as a whole. Doing this was unique and special as all the different fibres were subtle shade variations. This process was great and taught me a lot about natural dyeing, but I towards the end of last year I was becoming frustrated with the end results of my l technique. I thought maybe I needed a new natural dyeing technique. Why did I need a new natural dyeing technique? My make it white, then dye the finished pieces, made beautiful pieces but they contained only a limited range of colours. This is perfectly obvious as they had all only seen the same dye bath. Special though it was I felt that the pieces were a bit boring as there was not much light and shade or colour variation. I was also frustrated…

0 Comments

02/04/2017

Natural dyeing

My wonderful palette of natural yellow dye

I am dyeing batches of fibres and fabrics with natural yellow dye. Some of these will remain yellow but most will be turned green. Many many plants give yellow dyes. It is probably the most common natural dye colour. The chemicals involved in the dyeing process vary and are quite complicated. One group of chemicals are known as flavonoids, which are split into the flavones and the flavonols. There are also the isoflavones, the chalcones and the Aurones groups. If this isn't complicated enough there are also carotenoids which give yellow to orange colourants and not surprisingly are found in carrots. Natural yellow dye from alder cones I love collecting Alder cones, filling my pockets with them whilst out on a walk, especially at this time of the year. Once they have been collected they can be stored and used anytime. Extraction of the dye is easy. The cones are high in…

0 Comments

12/03/2017

Natural dyeing

Why was I nervous of indigo dyeing ?

I have had an irrational fear of indigo dyeing for a number of years. I think it could be a blue hands phobia. Indigo dyers all seem to get blue hands and I hate blue hands. Here is how I persuaded myself to start and my results Indigo is the only solution for green. For my new series of pieces, I need naturally dyed green wool fibres and fabrics. A variety of greens. Many native plants give yellows, but not many give good greens. Green is usually achieved by over dyeing yellow with weld or indigo. I reluctantly decided that I had no option but to use indigo dyeing or abandon my whole project. Indigo requires chemicals I would have liked to have used a fermentation vat if I was going to dye with indigo as it is more environmentally friendly. This can only possibly work in the summer, and here…

4 Comments

05/03/2017

Wool

Armley Mills once the world’s largest woollen mill

Last weekend I visited Armley Mills in Leeds. I am going to be involved in a felting project associated with the mill over the next 12 months. This project is organised by region 10 of the IFA and I wanted to get a feel of the place before the project starts in a couple of months. I certainly was not expecting the Mill to be such a large building, stupid really as it once was the world's largest woollen mill. It was huge. Sited between the river Aire and the Leeds-Liverpool canal, it was almost as if the water was following under and through the mill itself. In my head, Armley Mills was a solely used as a woollen mill, and indeed that was its original purpose. But that was not true. As the woollen industry declined Armley Mills was used for alternative purposes. These included munitions and garment making. I did not…

0 Comments

19/02/2017

Eco Dyeing / Natural dyeing

Contributing as a maker to the Ethel Mairet Dye project

Ethel Mairet was a weaver and a natural dyer. In 1916 she wrote a book about natural dyeing. In the book's introduction, she complained that since the advent of the coal based dyes the knowledge of natural dyes had been lost. Coal based dyes were introduced around 1850. This was in 1916 ! She also stated that both natural and chemical dyes fade. But when natural dyes fade they produce paler shades of the original colour. Chemical dyes, she claimed, fade to different colours, generally bad ones. Her book and her work are being celebrated by an exhibition at the Ditchling museum of art and craft. The exhibition is called " Contemporary makers celebrate Ethel Mairet's legacy. " I am one of the contemporary makers. As a contemporary maker, I have to dye a skein of fibre using natural dyes. I can use either a recipe of Ethel's or my own…

0 Comments

29/01/2017

Eco Dyeing / Natural dyeing / Wet felting

Why natural dye records are important to me

When I first stepped into the world of natural dyes, I kept no records I just winged it. I have really learned from my mistakes. As I embark on a new batch of dyeing so thought I should go back and look at my natural dye records - good and bad - to see what they could tell me. It was in 2013 that my youngest daughter gave me Jenny Deans book on natural dyeing. This book became slowly my bible. In May of 2014, I was attracted by a huge mass of blooming dandelions and thought that maybe that would make some lovely dye stuff. Let's try it! Armed with Jenny's book of recipes I set off to dye some silks and cotton fabric. I never gave a thought to keeping some natural dye records. Not one thought. In fact in 2015 one year later I wrote, against a small sample…

3 Comments

22/01/2017

British wool fibres / Eco Dyeing / Natural dyeing / Wet felting

Time for me to have a radical new natural dye process

When I first started using natural dye material I made all white felt pieces containing other fabrics and fibres and then I dyed the felted textile. I have decided I need to radically change my natural dye process. My original all in one natural dye process My all in one process gives a lovely range of connected shades. Everything has been dyed with the same plant material. Lovely but quite limited. Sadly I have also come to the conclusion that it makes boring pieces. There is not enough light and shade or colour variation to make the pieces exciting. Shame. My other reason to change I inadvertently developed two felting methods. One method for pieces that I planned to be naturally dyed and one for pieces made with pre-dyed materials. The felt method I prefer to use is the one I used with the pre-dyed materials. But I really want…

0 Comments

08/01/2017

Wet felting

The online courses that are inspiring my felt art

Have you ever thought about taking an online course but not dared press the yes button ? This was me. Now I am a convert to the amazing things you can learn via on line courses : in your own home. Online sewing skills courses My first foray into online courses was a craftsy course into modern sewing skills. As my sewing skills are rooted in my mothers lessons 50 years ago , I had a lot to learn. The importance of the accuracy of cutting out How to use sewing weights Never using tacking again. ! The relevance of hand positions when using a sewing machine. I have still away to go before I can apply to the Sewing Bee but I really feel more confident with my machine. I followed this course with a stitch and rip course by Carol Waugh. What fun. Her textile work is so vibrant. …

0 Comments

19/12/2016