Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

Eco Print art tags # Wilma Simmons  “Those who contemplate the beauty of the earth find reserves of strength that will endure as long as life lasts. There is something infinitely healing in the repeated refrains of nature -- the assurance that dawn comes after night, and spring after winter.”  ―  Rachel Carson ,  Silent Spring Can you hear the songs of spring ?   ( Click here to see more eco prints) Eco Prints  stitched -#Wilma Simmons  Eco print tag -#Wilma Simmons

More than 100 fibre artists from across Australia and the world will compete for prizes and glory in the inaugural ‘Brooching the Subject’ exhibition at Newcastle’s Timeless Textiles Gallery in July. The artists have been busy creating the wild and wonderfully creative brooches, using many techniques – beading, stitching, embroidery (hand or machine), felting, painting, pinning and more. The contributing artists have all brought very individual approaches to creating these brooches – to be worn or hung on the wall –resulting in more than 100 unique works that will not only create a spectacular gallery display but also impress the ‘Brooching the Subject ' judge, Brisbane-based fibre artist Sylvia Watt. If you love brooches, don’t miss this playful ‘Brooching the Subject’ exhibition, showing for one week only between 12-17 July 2016. All brooches will be for sale and there will be a people's choice competition online.  My entries are one wearable brooch and one crazy...

Some of the 108 little polymer clay  heads I made and  have  stitched into one of my  exhibition  pieces, entitled "Pillars of Patience", depicting  the 108 suitors of Penelope from "The Odysssey - WS 2016  With only five weeks to set up , I have a severe case of exhibition panic. Very few pieces of work completed and to make the situation more complex, is the pressure I'm feeling embarking on my first collaborative exhibition.  There are lots of  warnings from artists about the pitfalls of collaborating for an exhibition. However, I am one of the lucky ones  ... I chose an artist friend, Bobbi Oliver who is not only talented but has an amazing work ethic and produces absolutely stunning sculptures quickly. Not sure how Bobbi feels, but I am suspecting she might be thinking she has stepped into a scenario a bit like this, described by Cissi Tsang  ... We haven't had a difference of opinion. we haven;t stamped around like rag...

indigo dyed khadi paper 

eco print - marigold, grevillea leaf on khadi paper  Today is the first day of Autumn in the southern hemisphere  Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness  Close bosom friend of the maturing sun....   And still more, Later flowers for the bees,  Until they think the warm days will never cease...  Where are the songs of Spring ? Yellow in all the earth and in the skies  The world would seem  Faint as a widow mourning with soft eyes  And falling into dream . ...  The woods are lovely, dark and deep  But I have  promises to keep And miles to go   Before I sleep .....   Words by John Keats, John Shaw Neilson, Robert Frost Images by me -  (Wilma Simmons, Empress Wu Designs) from my handmade book, Where are the songs of Spring? gum leaf captured between tea bag paper , dipped in beeswax  eco dyed wool with handstitching  tea bag and hand stitching  eco dyed wool, f...

I love a sunburnt country,  A land of sweeping plains,  Of ragged mountain ranges,  Of droughts and flooding rains.  I love her far horizons,  I love her jewel-sea,  Her beauty and her terror  The wide brown land for me!  ( Dorothea Mackellar) 

 One of the more enjoyable aspects of  the preparation for this exhibition has been drinking tea and hence, the most labour intensive aspect has been drying and emptying tea bags. Just when I needed more tea bags to choose from, I received this wonderful parcel from my Aunty Jeanie. A lot of people might not appreciate this gift, but this made me very, very happy - lots of dry, clean , flattened tea bags. In almost every piece of work I have included tea bag paper in one form or another.For example, the art which Timeless Textiles chose as the invitation image is a photograph I took in 2012 in Finland  - digitally manipulated and printed on organza embellished with hand embroidered tea bags. At first, I tore quite a few tea bag papers with heavy handed stitching,  but  I have now developed a technique which makes it a most enjoyable and relaxing activity. However, hand stitching on canvas is another matter - yesterday I broke three needles! But there is alw...

sliced centre of Momordica fruit  Momordica tea - I must admit I had not heard of it until I met a fellow traveller in China recently, and she told me about it. In fact, rather than try to describe it, she sourced some for me  in Sydney and sent me some to try.   Momordica fruit    Here is a description of the fruit , summarised from the Life Rising Tea website  and Wikipedia   The  Momordica or "lo han kuo" is a small gourd-like fruit having an intensely sweet taste, widely used by the South Chinese as a household remedy for colds, sore-throat, and minor stomach and intestinal troubles. In the early fall, Momordica fruit is yellowish-red and found in the south of China. Naturally sweet and delicious. Momordica has been nicknamed "longevity fruit" in China because it is believed that prolonged consumption will result in a long life. The fruit's shape is said to imitate the belly of a Buddha and its   names include arhat f...