September Textile Love #1, #2, #3

It’s September - the month of #SeptTextileLove, sponsored by the Seam Collective , when we are prompted to share our love of textiles each day on social media. Each day, a prompt is given and participants are asked to respond in a way which highlights textile art, especially our own.

Day 1: Introduction … my name is Wilma Simmons and I live in Lambton , a suburb in a beautiful city, Newcastle NSW Australia . I am a textile artist continually practising and working to ‘find my thread’. I love to stitch by hand and machine , I love to collage and I love to use various materials including snail mail ephemera, recycled and found objects .

At this very moment , I have just stepped away from my sewing machine, from a small experiment with stitch and postage stamps…

Day 2 : Discipline/Craft I find it difficult to name one speciality area of textile art I enjoy the most. I chose images of my stick dolls ( Garden Threads series) as examples of ‘doll making’ as a discipline which gives me the most options to do what I enjoy - to respond and engage with Nature , to design, to make a pattern , to collage , to stitch by both machine and by hand and to recycle materials .

Day 3 : Prompt - Current Project Day Just one? This project has hardly been started but all the prep is done . It is an interpretation of a watercolour landscape by my friend , Anne at Timeless Textiles who is curating an exhibition of textile art interpretations of her selected artworks. I am attempting a stitched shaded relief map of the area depicted in the painting . The materials I have chosen are silk , organza , metal fabric thread and beads.

Hope you will follow along with me this month.... thanks.

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Too Precious to Waste

Stitched tea bags/ old doily "tea lights" - Wilma Simmons More than a year ago, a decision was made. The annual exhibition of NCEATA ( Newcastle Creative Embroiderers and Textile Artists) 2015-2016 will have the theme "Mottainai". Mottainai in Japanese refers to more than just physical waste (resources). It is even used to refer to thought patterns that give rise to wasteful action. Grammatically, it can be used in Japanese as an exclamation ("mottainai!") or as an adjective phrase ("it feels mottainai"). There is no plural form. The collection of mottainai things could be called mottainai koto ( もったいない事 ? ). As an exclamation ("mottainai!") it means roughly "what a waste!" or "Don't waste." [2] A simple English equivalent is the saying "waste not, want not." A more elaborate meaning conveys a sense of value and worthiness and may be translated as "do not destroy (or lay waste to) that

May I Present Mrs Chalumeau...

Finally Mrs Chalumeau takes a bow …She is a Pearly Queen … 695 buttons on the doll and 10 on the journal.(I think – could be more). I would like to thank Paula from Antiques and Collectables here in Hamilton, Newcastle and Raku Buttons ETSY seller for supplying me with about 500 of the vintage mother of pearl buttons, and the rest I had in my stash. I think they look great on my pearly queen, but I am truly tired of sewing on buttons. It made me think however, how many buttons must be on the elaborate clothes of the real pearly Kings and Queens! I drew my inspiration from the lovely lady pictured here, and the following description from Wikipedia. ... A Pearly King ( feminine form Pearly Queen) is a person dressed in a traditional Cockney costume covered in mother-of-pearl buttons. These costumes were treasured heirlooms, hand made and sometimes representing much of a family's wealth. .... This doll is all cloth – a little different from most of my other dolls which generally h

Wednesday's Child /2

Work in Progress - 3 of the 193 for "Stitched Up"- Wilma Simmons The work for the "Stitched Up " Project continues. See the previous "Wednesday Child" post for the background to this art project celebrating the 150th anniversary of the Newcastle Industrial School. I have been documenting the progress of my work, so I thought it might be interesting to share some of the early stages of the "stick dolls" ... Here are some of the beginning steps.. Sticks collected while walking the bushland in my neighbourhood Drying and getting rid of any insects - oven heat 75 degreesC for approx 1-2 hours. Trimmed and cut if necessary Ends sealed with matte sealing solution. Drying - solution goes on white but dries clear. First wrapping - foil to create a body shape Second wrapping - stretch fabric. Third wrapping - fabric strips Some stitching - more stitching and embellishment to come. Follow thi

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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