These bowls and sculptures are made from scrap thread and tiny fabric snippets, all waste material from previous projects. It's a technique I learned from a workshop led by Meredith Woolnough, which basically comes down to using water-soluble fabric and a lot of machine and/or hand stitching.
I love this way of using every last scrap of material as in the Japanese concept of mottainai : a caring culture in which you try to use something for its entire effective life.
This collage got made while I was reading “The Secret Garden” by Frances Hodgson Burnett, what a wonderful book! I tried to capture the enchanting story, the magic of nature and of place, using fabric, paint, paper, transferred images and stitching. The atmosphere is calm due to the muted colours, but at the same time it’s buzzing with life, adventure, and possibilities.
The piece grew organically during the reading process, which I love. I think I will try this with other favourite books; it’s an intriguing way to make!
After Sketchbook Revival 2023, I stumbled upon a new challenge : Workshopweek 2023, another bundle of online lessons with an emphasis on drawing. I enjoyed this immensely again : the diversity of the lessons, the enthusiasm of the teachers and of course just doing the practice. So another huge thank you to the to the generous organisers and teachers!
Here are some of the sketches I made:
I had a lot of fun with this piece I made for a workshop by Mirjam Gielen. Blanket stitch is used to create organic structures. By manipulating the stitches and carefully choosing the colours, it can almost feel like these creatures are as natural as actual microscopic sea life. I added some beads and a piece of sea glass and used satin stitch and stem stitch to complete the piece.
I really want to improve my drawing skills. That’s why I took part in “Sketchbook revival 2023”, an online event with a lot of free workshops led by almost 30 teachers. Being a novice at most of the techniques taught, I learned so much. I can’t thank the organisers and teachers enough for their generosity!
These are some of the drawings I made during quite an intense week of workshops:
This is a portrait of my mum, always with her mug of coffee, created for a workshop led by Susie Vickery at Textileartist.org.
I'm more of a landscape or collage person, really, so this kind of work rather takes me out of my comfort zone, and certainly doens't come easy. I'm glad to have accepted the challenge, though, having learned so much about stitching for portraits; also not unhappy with the result.
I knitted this narrow curtain for my bedroom, using wool yarn I spun myself. It has an irregular thickness, which I like a lot for this kind of application.
That narrow window kind of functions as a night light now, filtering the light that shines in from the street.
This puffin is made from 2 pompoms. The yarn I used is Jamieson and Smith Shetland wool.
I made him during an online speedcrafting session with Helen Robertson, a designer from Shetland.
These sessions (I joined three series during lockdown) were so joyful, meeting new people, learning a new craft, having a chat. I hope Helen will host more online ones in the future š!
I enjoyed making this piece enormously. The 3 parts consist of the same number of small pieces from the same pool of 11 plain fabrics. I made the squares seperately from each other, not looking at the ones I made previously, so they came out quite differently. I even made them all in different countries, as holiday projects, so they connect places and moments in time.
Back home, I brought them all together in this wall hanging. To add something special to the piece, I attached flat pieces of rock on 2 of the 3 rectangles, which looks great!
Twice now my work has appeared in the Canadian Uppercase Magazine, which I'm really rather proud of, being a big fan of them! I love the magazine's credo and the artists and work they give a platform. So thank you, Uppercase!
“Song for the asking” in issue 56:
