John Parkes is an Australian artist who uses pre-used textiles and over works them with complex layers of stitching. "Parkes’ works with...
Agusta Agustsson is a contemporary fiber artist who creates her own fabric for her works that have a message for the viewer.
The Textured Self by Sonja Bäumel uses bacteria to demonstrate how different forms of life work together to make the human body function.
There are a lot of fiber artists out there whose works create a juxtaposition between the traditional and acceptable ‘feminine’ medium of embroidery and the macabre or sexual subjects they choose to depict, but Lorenzo Nanni takes this contrast to a whole new level. His …
3 layers of 75gm Tyvek layered with polyester organza. The Full Works is my basic workshop learning how to use heat tools. We work wit...
* I love the delicacy of Peggy Osterkamp’s fiber work. Once an apprentice to Jim Ahrens in a production studio, Osterkamp has introduced hundreds of students to weaving theory and production …
Sunday morning I played around with new stones thinking they were going to be grey but perhaps because it is the bleak mid-winter the stones turned a warmer colour. This piece is inspired by Mark's paintings of stones disappearing under water. He is brilliant at that. For both of us scenes like this bring up whisperings of summers spent on beautiful Georgean Bay. For those of you in Toronto don't forget The Artist Project at the Better Living Centre February 21-14, 2019 Mark Berens will be at Booth 506. Strips of plant dyed fabrics soon to become rocks. By Sunday evening I was happily couching away. I have based the background onto an old blanket and it is like stitching butter. The one thing about this kind of stitching is it allows for mind wandering and as I stitched these delicious rusts and browns my mind whispered memories of my beautiful Rusty Pups They are dearly missed As are their antics and adventures. And then as I prepared this post A photo demanded to be noticed So much like my new stones. I have a teacher who always says the piece you start next should always be informed by the last piece you did. Perhaps this means my next piece will have to be seaweed in the colours of my Georgean Bay stones. But I already have soooo many new beginnings just started! But my mind is flowing with ideas on how to go about a seaweed piece. It is so easy to have many ideas isn't it The days just aren't long enough for their execution! I hope you have a day rich in creative ideas.
California-based embroidery artist Michelle Kingdom speaks with STIR about her private passion that transformed into a desire to narrate universally resonant stories.
"My art works are made of flax and the working method can be compared to painting and drawing, but the 'paint' is the fiber that is normally used e.g. as a base material for oil paintings. In addition, I use stitching to form 'drawn' lines and rice starch as a binder." - Raija Jokinen Raija
Liam Lee's focus is on furniture + textiles that explore the line between interior spaces made by man + the natural environment outdoors.
This week we were using acrylic paint on fabric to create different effects. We started by stippling some calico with a dry brush using 2 colours - blue and yellow in my case, resulting in lots of green and looking like a flowery meadow! Then we moved on to using a diffuser and thin paint to give an effect like airbrushing, holding a piece of ripped paper in front of the fabric to act as a mask so that some parts stayed white. Then we moved on to a way of making monoprints on glass. We put blobs of paint on a sheet of glass. Some of the paint was special acrylic interference paint that produces a shimmery effect when printed. We then put another sheet of glass in top and pressed hard and twisted the glass to get the paint to mix at the edges. When the sheets of glass are prised apart, you get feathery patterns in the paint. We places pieces of fabric on, pressed lightly and printed off the image. These are some of the prints I made from 2 different attempts. As with all these things, it is the choice of colours that is most important for a pleasing result. The paint dries quite quickly but it can be easily scrubbed off the glass to do further prints. I then chose one of my prints to quilt. I made a sandwich with the printed fabric, cotton wadding and calico. Then I sewed round the edge of the feathery edges using free-machining to produce the quilted effect. It took a long time to do all the 'fingers' of paint but the final piece is very appealing. Next we had to choose another print and try out a quilting technique called Trapunto. Here you have the printed fabric and a backing fabric and outline your shapes. I chose a more 'blobby' print and outlined the islands of colour using free-machining again. Then you stuff selected blobs from the back with wadding. This shows part of the back of it. You cut a slit with sharp scissors, poke the wadding in with a bodkin and then sew the slit back up with herringbone stitch. I don't know if I have over-stuffed mine as the final piece is now quite wrinkled. Another learning point is not to use this kind of furnishing fabric as a backing fabric again as it seemed very hard to sew using free-machining - the needle seemed to get caught in the jacquard pattern. I have been working on my manipulated calico sampler this week too. Once I had decided what size to go for (about 32cm square) and laid out the pieces I had already made I didn't have that much more to do. I have still got to mount it onto card, which is why the corners are still hanging out. The end result is going to be quite impressive. The techniques used are (clockwise from top left): Furrowing (see post from Week 13) Pleating Stuffed pyramid Fabric strips folded alternately like a paper jack-in-a-box spring Frayed edge strips gathered and sewn in rows Selvedge strip gathered to form a rose Random tucks sewn horizontally and vertically Stuffed sausage shape decorated with a strip of gathered frayed fabric Frayed strip gathered to form a rose Circle gathered round a piece of card and topped with another one and a frayed gathered strip Various circles gathered and stuffed, the large one quilted through in places Thin strips pulled through a square of Binca fabric (in centre of sausage circle) Thick wool wrapped in calico Strips of folded fabric woven Raw edge circles gathered and pulled up, large one round card and small one stuffed Fabric gathered by hand in both directions, ruched up and sewn down round the edge only Fabric gathered round chick peas 2 circles gathered up round card, one with snipped edge and one with turned edge Various fabric 'nipples' made by sewing a running stitch in a spiral and pulling up Evenly spaced tucks pressed and then sewn across at right-angles in alternate directions Today is it my daughter's 16th birthday so I wanted to make her a special card. I chose co-ordinating papers and decorated them in various ways, dragging the edges across a black ink pad to give a vintage look. I was very pleased to find a sheet of paper featuring a rabbit that looks similar to hers, except for the colour! I also made a Valentine's Day card for my husband using a square of red heart plastic bag behind a silver Angelina fibre heart, topped off with a red heart cut from a Quality Street wrapper! The hearts are suspended across the window on very thin wire wrapped round tiny red brads. It looked really good for not much effort and lots of recycling!
Liam Lee's focus is on furniture + textiles that explore the line between interior spaces made by man + the natural environment outdoors.
Philippa Naylor is a textile artist who started as a garment maker and now focused on her detailed applique quilts with intricate stitching.
Extraction of Himalayan Wild Nettle Fiber in Nepal.
From Kelsie Rose to Pi Williams, we've been lucky to interview some of the most vibrant contemporary artists. We list our top 10 most...
Here’s an incredible opportunity. The Textile Arts Center has issued a call for applicants to its artist-in-residence program. In part, the call says, Textile Arts Center seeks six working ar…
Name: Amy Meissner
Weaving is usually done on rectangular looms but this artist is changing the norm with her beautiful, circular creations.
California-based embroidery artist Michelle Kingdom speaks with STIR about her private passion that transformed into a desire to narrate universally resonant stories.
From gathering and retting stinging nettle to stitching leaves into delicately layered quilts, Wild Textiles: Grown, Foraged, Found is a trove of tips and projects involving organic fibers. The forthcoming book by artist Alice Fox is a practical guide to working with nature’s materials at all steps of the process: she offers advice on growing plants and harvesting others, how to transform the raw matter into cord or thread, and examples of artworks that incorporate the repurposed textiles. More
Two girls. Conceived in the same moment. Born within minutes of each other. Indistinguishable in many ways. But for one defining difference. In the 1940s, in
more overdyeing... this one is indigo with goldenrod and tea
Bridget Daly studied art in school focused on sculpture. She discovered Huichol yarn painting and now tells stories with her yarn art.
Share your ‘memories of yourself and your relationships’ in the form of anecdotes, sounds and images.These will inspire new work that I am developing in 2017.
