September Textiles Love

September Textiles Love - Week 1

Background: Seam are a contemporary textile collective based in Bath, England. We are emerging and established embroiderers, printers, knitters, weavers, dyers, fashion designers, eco-designers, makers, artists…

…who want to make textiles that are irresistible, and find their way onto your body, into your house and onto your walls. We share a commitment to pushing the boundaries of our craft and making high quality objects realised in the hands and thoughts of the maker. We hope to make a sustainable living from textiles, work locally and bring textiles into contemporary focus This month, all textile artists are enouraged to share their love of textiles and respond to 30 different textile prompts for on Instagram during September. You can respond to as many of the prompts as you wish, this could be only a few or it may be all of them - with the hashtag #SeptTextileLove

Here is my first week of #SeptTextileLove

Days 1 & 2 - Introduction

Current Project -stitched collages , especially portraits.

Day 3: Tools -

Bernina sewing machine and hand stitching needles , pins and scissors.- I often wonder what I would do without these, then remember that when we were in Papua New Guinea, women showed me how to make a needle and a cutter from found metal waste

Day 4 Inspiration -

I am inspired to create with simple materials by my interest in social justice, women’s issues and personal family and local history and places . My most memorable work is an installation of 193 ‘dolls’ made from sticks, giving voice to the girls of the Newcastle Industrial School (1867-1871) - the first government ‘welfare’ institution in NSW

Day 5 - Stash

There is far too much of everything in my stash but can I do without my abundance of used tea bags and sticks ?

Day 6 - Colour

In one of my recent works , a stole for ‘an upcoming exhibition ,’ Stole the Show’ - I hope these colours help to tell the story of regrowth and regeneration

Day 7 : Inside/Outside

Most of my work starts outside, but inside , the next part of the process happens - the editing of photos and the thinking , writing and the stitching ‘Red Grevillea’ is an example

Day 8 : Pattern

The traditional art of temari (stitched thread wrapped balls) is an engaging journey of discovery and experimentation involving embroidering the endless pattern variations with attention to design , colour and symbolism

Please contact me if you have any questions or add comments below.

For my #SeptTextile Love posts, follow https://www.instagram.com/empress.wu.designs/ and to look at others also posting about textile art this month, follow the hastag.

Entomological Elements - Mixed Media Sculpture

Entomological Elements hung in Timeless Textiles Gallery. My latest big piece of work is "Entomological Elements" - let's call it EE ... It is a mixed media sculpture in response to the theme "Elements" for a current exhibition by the Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists. If you a regular reader of this blog or and Empress Wu Designs Facebook follower, you probably know that my thing is "stick dolls".... dolls made with sticks. EE is just an extension of those , with a piece of local driftwood as its base. EE is also a celebration of the natural elements depicted by insects from different parts of the world. EARTH - Common Black Ground Beetle ( Pterostichus melanarius ) - Europe/Eurasia AIR - Blue Ulysses Butterfly ( Papilio Ulysses ) - Australia WATER - Golden winged skimmer dragonfly ( Libellula auripennis ) - Central/North America FIRE - Scarlet Fire Beetle ( Pyrochroa coccinea )- Europe Common Black ...

Stitched Gardens and Magpies

Magpies are always around in our garden , strutting, poking about for insects and having a splash in the birdbath. They often call if the water is at a low level in the birdbath until one of us replenishes the water supply. It is no coincidence then that they have figured prominently as part of recent little works in the stitched garden series. I also like to include human figures in my gardens, especially taken from old photos of family members. This "impressionist ' stitched garden features my husband's great aunt, Sarah Ann Bath. I like to think of her in this abundant garden , when in reality, she grew up in the early 1900s in rather cramped living conditions in Birmingham UK See more and read more about my stitched gardens - other posts: How does your garden grow with stitch? How does your garden grow with crayons?

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks .... The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or my husband or from off cuts gifted to us from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks. Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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