Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

 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 - Introd...

Some art work from 2018 - Wilma Simmons  Reflecting on 2018, I would like to thank everyone who supported and encouraged me and assisted and taught me during the last year. I think it was a really wonderful year - I enjoyed teaching in new places like the Grampians (Victoria)  and the Central Coast as well as in Sydney, Canberra and locally.  I  learnt so much in  workshops with wonderful artists from overseas and within Australia like Jette Clover, Sophie Munns, Gaye Nieuwenhof, Patti Culea  and Bobbi Oliver.  I  was privileged to exhibit at the Embroiderers Guild of NSW and Timeless Textiles Gallery. I have also had  so much fun participating and contributing to groups like NCEATA and Gumnut Dollies in Newcastle and online with Art Dolls Only and Tag Tuesday.  Sometimes, the creative process looks like this for me, but with the support of family and so many talented friends, it all works out well in the end! Best wishes for a...

Amendment - Since writing this post, I have found out that this art doll was created by   doll,  artistNeva Waldt,  entitled "Gertrude finds the perfect holiday wrap "  For more like this go to  t his Pinterest page     Advent  Blog : Day 16 - Dollies  Strictly speaking, these are not alternatives to a traditional tree, but I just had to include them.  Those of you who know me know that one of my passions is doll making. This is  a special blog post to wish all my friends at Gumnut Dollies, Newcastle , Original Doll Artists of Australia and Art Dolls Only a merry Christmas.   Many professional doll artists like Cindy Moyer like to create Christmas  tree themed dolls, using a mixture of techniques and media, publishing their patterns. Others make dolls for their own enjoyment or as a response to a Christmas challenge in a group. The reasons for creating Christmas dolls varies as much as the techniq...

Art Dolls only hosted a Midsummer Challenge  for doll makers around the world.... here are some of the beautiful dolls made in response to the challenge. 

Art Dolls /Stick Dolls : copyright Wilma Simmons  I confess to being a fan of Angry Birds and challenging myself to a game of Angry Birds Ham'O'Ween will be about as far as I will go to celebrating Halloween here in Australia. However it did start me thinking about how birds became associated with this celebration with its Celtic origins. I can understand spiders, bats and even black cats  and wolves associated with spookiness, but birds? Halloween Art Tag :  copyright Wilma Simmons  It appears that the black raven has long been considered rather ominous, in spite of  a harmonious history of sharing the environment with human beings. Associated with wizards and witches,  the raven supposedly inherited some secret powers " to carry magic across long distances  and collect secrets to bring back .. . " (from natureworldnews.com)   Add this information to its throaty  territorial "kraa" call and scavenger habits, it is no wonder that th...

Ruby Regina - beaded art doll  Years ago, I loved beading and bead embroidery.... then for no particular reason, I stopped beading. I maintained my membership with the Beaded Art Doll group on Facebook, and this year, I decided to participate in one of the Round Robin events - Birthstone. As there were only two Australians doing the challenge, we decided just to swap dolls, rather than send them on and have four or  five people working on the dolls in other countries ( postage is expensive!)  My swap partner, Marj, worked on my doll, Ruby Regina. As you can see the dolls are sent naked and are returned fully beaded Ruby Regina - before beading  Ruby Regina - close up  I beaded Marj's Topaz Traveller.... This was a bigger doll, and the mass of pale topaz looked rather pale and insignificant. Marj had already given her red lipstick, so I thought she needed to "out there" a little more....and so the addition of copper seemed to be appropriate...

Rose Keemun, Masala Chai, Lady Grey - art dolls.  In my exhibition I have a series of art dolls/mixed media sculptures which personify teas. Here are three... not quite finished but just needing some finishing touches. All the fabrics are either tea dyed, overdyed with tea, or dipped in tea. Rose Keemun tea is Keemun black tea with rose petals - a lovely delicate blend . Masala Chai is black tea brewed with a mixture of Indian spices and herbs - green cardamom pods, cinnamon sticks, ground cloves, ground ginger and black peppercorn. Lady Grey is a tea scented with oil of bergamot, with hints of lemon peel and orange peel oil. It is a very "young" tea, first being produced for the Scandanavian market by Twinings in 1994. Exhibition : " Leaves of Distinction" 18 September - 12 October 2014 Timeless Textiles, 90 Hunter Street, Newcastle East. NSW Opening 6pm - 8pm  THURSDAY 18 September. 2014