Stitch, Fibre, Metal & Mixed Media

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Meet the Author

Hey there, can you introduce yourself?

I lived in the Midlands of England for most of my life, and developed the Beetroot Tree Gallery, until moving to New Zealand in 2012. I now live in a beautiful coastal retreat about an hour north of Auckland (New Zealand’s largest city) and concentrate 100% of my time creating, writing and teaching (when not sneaking off to the beach for some rejuvenating walking, swimming and beachcombing – but please don’t tell my husband!). Much of my current interest reflects this coastal environment and a long ago Marine Biology degree.
Like so many other textile artists I was introduced to stitching through my grandma at an early age and also clearly remember school sewing lessons. The first school project was a shirt after which I was allowed to create an abstract ‘composition’ with layers of coloured net and machine stitching. The realisation that sewing didn’t have to be lazy daisy, French Knots, zips or button holes was a revelation and a joy. At the same moment I was also discovering ‘modern’ art – the likes of Monet, Picasso, Mondrian, Klee etc. and the thought that I could marry the two was the start of a (very) long term connection to fabric, stitch and art.
I continually feel that I have only scratched the surface in terms of the possibilities of my chosen medium, and long may that continue! I seem to have an experimental and curious nature leading to continuously evolving and changing works and media, investigating new dimensions as they develop. Currently I am working primarily in copper, bronze, brass, stainless steel and pewter in the form of metal shims and woven metal fabrics and wires, combined with a variety of plastics, paint media, papers, fabrics, pens, threads and natural objects.

Tell us a bit about the book?

Stitch, Fibre, Metal and Mixed Media includes many other media and techniques which are combined with metals and metal woven fabrics. The metal fabrics are used in various industrial processes and can often be obtained from industrial suppliers in addition to textile art suppliers. These fabrics have a deceptively fragile, organza like appearance, offering a more fabric-like, less ‘hard’ surface than the shims.
Other media and techniques combined with the metal in the book are silk and linen fibres; paper; gilding metal; wax; transfer images; Angelina fibres; soluble film; spray paints; chocolate wrappers; fabrics including velvet, organza and silk; a range of embellishments; stitching using hand and machine techniques.
These materials and techniques have been organised into projects which can be followed step by step. However I was very aware that for the less confident, this combination might be a little overwhelming and for the experienced maker, following projects is rarely what you buy a book for. Therefore I ensured that each project is actually a series of related surfaces and techniques which are explained individually and can be learnt separately to the overall project. This allows experimentation and developments to occur whilst there are still clear staged guidelines for those who want them. I also added sections after each project which suggest continuations for those who want to pursue their own journeys.
The projects include ‘hanging pods’ inspired by seed pods and christingles; a tablet case using chocolate wrappers; a Japanese themed framed work in paper, fibre, gilding and stitch; a fern inspired sculptural work; a delicate silk and metal cloth bark design wall piece; a family heritage lampshade and a rich embroidered, beaded, textured wall piece inspired by Elizabethan and Jacobean clothing.
In conclusion, the book is about experimenting with material and technique combinations which you can add to your repertoire and incorporate into your own textile and mixed media art pieces in ways which please you and respond to your themes.

What was the inspiration behind it?

The book is a development on an earlier book (this lustre’d cloth) in which I set out ways to use thin metal shims as a fabric. Exploring the overlap between shim having properties which are not always fabric-like and textile and stitch tech niques which you will be familiar with. The metal shims are able to be coloured, distressed, patterned, woven and stitched and because they are ‘harder’ than a normal fabric, they impart a strength both visually and structurally to any works created with them. This first book is designed as an ideas and techniques book aiming to give you resources for your own projects and creations. 'Stich, fibre, metal and mixed media' grew from this, with the desire to broaden the application of the metal in textile art.

Which is your favourite project?

Hey, I'm not answering this one - it would be impossible to do so. I have phases of using the different techniques and am always developing on them depending on the look or use of the work I am aiming for!

What is your craft space like?

I am fortunate to have a metal 'barn' at home which I use as a studio. It looked huge when I first got it. We insulated it and created a store room and a toilet, put in water and lots of shelves and tables. At first working in it was hard as I had always managed in a small space which had multiple uses, and I felt a little lost in the big space, however now I seem to be able to fill it and would like more!

Have you always been creative?

I think so! I am sure that my mother took care to allow us to be creative and try out different skills. I enjoyed painting and drawing and had stitched for as long as I can remember. I took my art exams at school a couple of years early but was told to get a proper job, so went into science rather than art for University. However, I continued to stitch and knit (badly), and later chose to swap my science life for an artistic one. The combination has been a good one, I don't regret it.

When did you first start crafting?

My sisters and I used to make dolls clothes from scrap fabric and doll houses from cardboard boxes. We learned a lot about relationships through those dolls! I really wanted to be an engineer like my Dad and remember spending lots of time trying (unsuccessfuly) to make a drinks vending machine out of a cardboard box.

Who are your crafty heroes?

Crafts and their origins and social histories fascinate me, so I love finding out about traditional skills from anywhere and anytime. These are often not named makers, but many are heroic in their own right. On the other side are makers whose work takes a tradition and pushes it either conceptually or technically such as Ruth Asawa (wires and crochet), Jin-Sook So (metal fabric), El Anatsui (reclaimed metal), Glen Martin Taylor (ceramics).
I am particularly interested in the concepts for design, creative processes, philosophy, anthropology and nature including writing by Stephen Nachmanovitch, Derren Brown, Yuval Noah Harari, Jared Diamond and Brian Cox, though there are many more.
Basically I think we should all get out to exhibitions and talks whether we know the artists or speakers or not, whether we think we will enjoy the event or not - there is always something interesting to take away from them. If we can't get out and about right now, we are privileged to have access to so much via the www. Take pieces of everything you see, hear and read, consider how it informs and inspires, what resonates with you or challenges you.

Where do you find inspiration?

This is an easy question to answer in the moment - but harder to answer over a longer perspective as themes change over time. I take pictures all the time of intricate details in plants, rocks, bark, rust, in fact any textures or patterns I see around and I'm sure that one of the things I love about textiles and mixed media is that we are able to draw on so many materials and techniques to evoke whatever we are inspired by. I also enjoy seeing what a 'material' is able to do independantly of a theme and sometimes this will develop into new ideas for work. I also like to keep in mind the origins of techniques or materials and what that brings to mind and how we can honour any stories and history held in those things. In less visual terms I spend quite a lot of time being introspective about what I am doing and why, what I am feeling and how that could be expressed trying to bring an emotional power to the pieces.

What's next for you?

I have a few projects on at the moment and am slowly hauling my way along several of these strands at the same time, jumping from one to another. I have ideas and samples underway for new books 9hopefully) and workshops - though the workshops are on hold just for a while for obvious reasons with the pandemic. I'm concentrating on work for exhibitions and gallery display, especially inspired by the coastal environment, the sea, it's beauty and power, but also it's fragility and the damage and pollution we see. These works have drawn me back to my science days, to the process of childbirth (that's a story for another time), and by hitting on the working title of 'seam[i]stress', it also gave me permission to be playful, frivolous, mischevious (mistress-like perhaps?) and to be empowered to use sewing and embellishment skills in work to be shown in a 'fine art' environment where textiles and stitch are sometimes denigrated.