Textile art Archives - Jane Mercer Felt Artist

Exciting November Exhibition with York Textile artists

It's been a while since I posted here. What have I been doing? Catching up with friends and family and spending lots of time in Scotland. Plus of course some felting, eco printing, dyeing and stitching. I also applied to and was accepted by York Textile artists. I am delighted to be taking part in their winter exhibition. The exhibition will take place at York Cemetery Chapel on the 13th and 14th of November from 10am to 4pm. Holidays in Scotland So here is the beautiful Sango Sands beach in Scotland. I watched seals from the cliffs above these sands. In Scotland you know the rain will never be far away. And all around beautiful scenery just one example of some inspiring lichens. Work in progress Following the eco printing of a scarf using peony, alchemilla, jack by the hedge and eucalyptus leaves, I have stitched the resultant beautiful iron blanket with…

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27/10/2021

art exhibition / British wool fibres / Felt Workshop / IFA / Natural dyeing / Prefelts / shetland / Textile art / Wet felting / Wool / Yorkshire

How exciting to be taking part in my first virtual exhibition

I like to take part in an exhibition, but this is the first time I take part in a virtual exhibition. ReConnect opens today and I am exhibiting two pieces. The exhibition is organised by the International Feltmakers Association, of which I am a member. The exhibition coincides with the AGM of the organisation it was to have been held in France, but along with so many things has become virtual. I am inspired by the title ReConect. It is so very appropriate to so many of us, who have spent much of the last year isolated from friends and family. Isolation wasn't easy but reconnecting is also going to require relearning old ways and will take time and patience. Sculpture My sculpture piece uses Bluefaced Leicester, Masham, Welsh, Grey Shetland and Swaledale wools, all with such beautiful natural colours. I made 15 different elements to represent different people, isolated in small…

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28/03/2021

art exhibition / Framing / Natural dyeing / Textile art / Wet felting / Yorkshire

How I frame felt art perfectly using stretcher bars

I wrote a blog on framing with stretcher bars in 2017, and I am surprised that it is my most read blog post. I am in the middle of framing felt pieces for an exhibition so I thought I would show some more photos of the framing process I use. What are stretcher bars? Stretcher bars are made for artists to stretch their own canvases on prior to painting but I don't think they are intended for textile work. That is not a problem for me. These are the ones I have just bought from Great Art Stretcher bars are made in a huge variety of sizes and they are really quite cheap. The bars to frame this picture which is 68 cm long x 32 cm wide cost £7.18. Plus a bit of postage. Measuring First, measure your felt piece. I normally start right at the beginning and design the piece…

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21/03/2021

Eco Dyeing / eco printing / Fabric / Mordant / Natural dyeing / Textile art

It’s time to organise my white fabric stash

Both natural dyeing and eco printing require white fabric and I have been building a disorganised stash. I bought a lot of old tablecloths from the local charity shop during 2019 and early 2020 and mordanted most of it. I even have a stash inventory from about a year ago. Meaningless really as I have not updated it. I stored my stash in numerous plastic blags and in an old blanket chest I got from my mother. Last year in the first lockdown I sewed scrubs for the local hospital and I volunteered to take all the white sheeting we were given, as it wasn’t suitable for making scrubs. This has added to the significantly to the stash. And of course, I have bought lengths of fabric to supplement the recycled material. I have kept my small quantity of silk fabric separate from the rest, and for now, I am not sorting…

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28/02/2021

machine stitching / Natural dyeing / Textile art / Wet felting / Wool

Why did I get inspiration from painted fields ?

I have always loved to stand on the top of a hill or a ridge and look down at the patterns formed by the fields in the valley. So it’s not surprising that when I visited The Biscuit Factory in Newcastle I found inspiration in the pictures that were being exhibited by Rob van Hoek. His pictures reminded me of the landscape in the Netherlands where I used to live. They also made me think of standing on a hill looking down on the field patterns in the UK. I loved the lines he had scrapped out of the paint to mark out the different fields. I wondered two things. First could I make a similar piece with my naturally dyed wool. And secondly, could I find similar inspiration for pieces in the North York’s Moors where I live. One step at a time. It is the depth of winter here and…

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27/01/2019

PRINT

Eco Dyeing / eco printing / Textile art

How I was seduced by Instagram

I was introduced to Instagram during a remote Scottish textile retreat. I was seduced by its quickness and flexibility and have been using it instead of writing this blog. Sorry.! How did this happen? In November I went to a workshop with India Flint on the Ardtornish Estate. The Ardtornish Estate is a wonderful, beautiful and remote location, as I hope the photos below show. The workshop was fantastic. We stitched, drew, collected leaves, wrote poetry and eco printed. We did more, we explored the countryside and brought it into our work. Here are some of the pieces I made. Of course, I also chatted to all the other workshop participants. That was when I heard that most of my fellow textile artists, were big fans of Instagram. Why I asked? Overwhelmingly the answer was that it was easy and so much more friendly than other social media options. So…

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17/01/2019

Armley Mill / machine stitching / Photography / Stitches / Textile art / Wet felting / Yorkshire

Why my love of textile machines is inspiring me.

In a dark mouldy area on the ground floor of Armley mill there are three fulling machines, textile machines, in a room that once housed many. The machines were driven by water and large hammers smashed the wet woven cloth , shrinking it and making it warmer and water resistant. On the more airy first floor of the mill amongst the warping, carding and spinning machines stand two jacquard head textile machines. These complex, intricate machines allowed the automation of the weaving process and were at the very start of the development of computers. Each machine contians hundreds of threads and beautiful cast levers, cogs and wheels. Two totally amazing and totally different textile machines both key to the development of the woollen textile industry. Armley Mill is the industrial museum of Leeds , containing not only textile machines, but a cinema and photography equipment exhibits. Plus lots of artefacts relating to…

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07/01/2018

art exhibition / From The Earth Textiles / Natural dyeing / Textile art / Wet felting

How I measure success at exhibiting textile art

In the last few years I have participated in a number of exhibitions. Exhibiting my very first time was my most successful in terms of sales. I sold out. A fluke ? I don't know ? As I think about my pieces for a exhibition in Leeds I wonder what defines exhibiting success . In 2012 I became aware that there would be an exhibition entitled "The dyeing of the Sun - a meditation on fire ". I had never put a piece in an exhibition before. I thought about the exhibition brief and my mind started to think about super novas and the wonderful pictures you see of them. They have crazy names like crab nebulae and pelican nebulae. These pictures are produced by assigning different wave lengths to the colours of the visible spectrum. How techy. Just my thing. I was hooked on this as a exhibiting subject. But how…

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20/08/2017

Tun house

Framing / Textile art / Wet felting

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.…

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07/05/2017

Textile art / Upcycling / Wet felting

Remnant

Remnant. I like this word. I like the sound and I like the meaning. A remnant is defined as a small part that is left over after the majority has been used. I have lots of remnants I have bought as bargains but most of my remnants are true left overs. Having made these felt squares from a long abandoned felt jacket , as you can imagine , I had lots of remnants. I thought perhaps they could be become part of another felt piece. Maybe combining then with some natural white Shetland would be an interesting experiment. I choose a selection of remnants , looking here a bit like tombstones. I laid out Shetland fibres. And a felted the two together. After drying the piece needed to be stitched. A choose to use the same collection of stitches I had used in my felt squares ,…

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21/02/2016