Textile art Archives - Page 2 of 2 - Jane Mercer Felt Artist

Work in progress

Slightly delayed post due to problems uploading photographs when away from home !. I recently went on a workshop , lead by Jeanette Appleton at the lovely Art van Go studios in Knepworth. We looked at mark marking in felt and the effects of different densities of lots of different fibres. I was introduced to Soy which I had never used and liked particularly the effect of flax. The workshop was so relaxed , no pressure , unlike many of the other workshops I have been on there was space to experiment and ask questions. I made a few a samples. And two pieces that need finishing off. I thoroughly enjoyed the great location and the workshop. Lots of individual attention and encouragement to take it easy and let the felt do the talking.

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21/07/2015

Drawing / Textile art

Drawing for Textiles

For the last two weeks I have been taking an on-line course called Drawing for Textiles D4T by the wonderful textile artist Dionne Swift. In the first week I had fun drawing some small objects , really enlarged , using a variety of techniques. My objects ( some family heirlooms here) and examples of the large crazy drawings I made are below. I say crazy , because of the fun drawing techniques and because they felt to have little connection with the objects by the time I had finished - I think that was the idea really. We then had to seek out gems in the masses of lines. I found quite a few I liked and cut them out, making a little book for future reference. Then came the textile part. Using sewing and embellishing to make textile lines , in order to repaint the gems. Great fun even…

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21/06/2015

Textile art

Textile inspiration

This week I have had the opportunity to visit the Rijswijk Textiel Biennale with my good friend Els. For me walk, metro, train, bus, walk for Els , bike, boat ,bike , train, bus, walk and we were there . Only in the Netherlands would this degree of transport integration be possible. The Textile biennial , with 19 international textile artists is held in a beautiful old Dutch Building on a tranquil square in old Rijswijk. It's garden was a maze of beautiful wild flowers , including foxgloves, one a my favorites. A perfect place to enjoy a coffee and some wonderful Dutch Apple cake. I love the thread thinness of these pieces by Raija Jokinen from Finland. And the fragile ethereal nature of this thread thin furniture by Amanda Mccavour from Canada. These dimensional faces , made by Monica Bohlmann from Germany, are like formal portraits , with…

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14/06/2015

Eco Dyeing / machine stitching / Natural dyeing / Textile art / Wet felting

Success

Well after last weeks disappearing yellow dye , I first rushed out to see if there was any hawthorn blossom left. I was in luck as the trees down by the river were still mostly in flower and I was able to easily pick some more. I do wonder if the colour comes from the petals , which are really beautiful , or for the tiny berry in the middle of the flower ? I also had a good look at my pans , and concluded they were not very clean. So I boiled them with washing soda solution which produced a ghastly pink scummy solution. I then scrubbed them with abrasive powder cleaner and finally rinsed and rinsed. In parallel with this I was making another vessel to dye . Trying Shetland fibre again. Looks a little hairy as it still here needs a shave and I am…

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06/06/2015

Textile art

Textile festival Leiden

Last week I visited the Textile festival in Leiden with two friends. The festival was in de Peiterskerk , and large spectacular church , in the centre of the town. There were more than 30 other textile exhibitions in the centre of Leiden , amazing ,and as it turned out far more than could be visited in one day. The theme of the festival was Water-land, and this was beautifully interpreted in all forms of textile art. I photographed a few of my favorites. Weaving with a whole new perspective for me. The beautiful woven book /scroll really captured the peace of the seashore for me. I found this piece with its razor shells , very evocative of the shore. A more traditional style of embroidery. A felted piece by Annemie Koenan , called Genesis - then there was land. In addition to…

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20/05/2015