Let's start with a confession. I HATED textiles at school. I just didn't get it. It was very dry, lots of pattern cutting, no creativity. I get that it's best to learn the basics of something before you go advanced, but honestly, I don't work that way. My working tends to be more like this:
- Buy lots of craft stuff
- Throw out instructions / rule book
- Attempt craft
- Swear
- Attempt crafting again
- Throw it at the cat
- Cup of tea and a cake
- Pick up instructions, read around stain from discarded tea bag
- Realise the 36 mistakes I was making
- Take a deep breath & try again....
So really, maybe its more a fault of my brain than my textiles teacher, but still! These days I love textiles, and have started to incorporate them into my work. I did a needle felting course a while ago at The Bead Shop, Nottingham, which was lots of fun, allowing me lots of creative freedom while providing lots of information & inspiration. Lately I've taken to experimenting with incorporating needlefelt into jewellery and I've come up with these pendants:
I also did a course in Freehand Machine Embroidery with the amazingly talented Emily Smalley, who is based at Long Eaton Art Rooms. This is a fantastic technique, and very addictive, but I've not really had chance to explore it thoroughly as yet.
It did get me thinking of different hoop art designs though, I think this is my favourite so far:
I also got a commission for some 'toy tidy' bags in a similar style, which I'm pretty pleased with. Apologies for the poor photo though!
I've had loads of fun developing this textiles range, I hope you like them! I've also started some Christmassy textiles too, with glitter & jingle bells! Any orders or commission requests please drop me an email: laura@eriminidesigns.co.uk
No comments:
Post a Comment