Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

This Sunday 6th May, I will be running a workshop, 'Making Messenger of the Peace Dolls' in conjunction with the "Stitched up in Sydney" exhibition. With the  exhibition being a huge success,  this workshop is nearly booked out! If you can't make the workshop,  I  will also  be hosting a curator's talk afterwards from 4-6pm.    If you are interested in  securing one of the last spots in the workshop or coming to the curators talk, please give  The Embroiderers' Guild NSW a call and they can give you more information on requirements and pricing! Phone 02 9743 2501 or 02 9743 2293 Workshop requirements: Please bring: a stick ( approx. 25cm-30cm long. However, size is not important -we can always cut it down to size) , small quantities/strips of favourite fabric (this can be any type - new or old , cotton, polyester, wool or felt), threads in coordinating or contrasting colours, a small quantity of alfoil (about 1 metre). If you are ...

workshop 19/1/14  Today was my  first workshop for 2014 -  a stick art dolls workshop ... This was a repeat of a workshop offered  quite a few times recently , so I started thinking  why do creative people love workshops and why they  are good for you.  Here are 10  reasons I've thought of ... I am sure you may have others?   1.  An inspiring  workshop tutor can motivate to improve your work, change the direction of your work or try something new and different.   2.  A workshop offers a supportive and encouraging environment where you can learn a new skill (s)  and/or  experience  different approach ( either from the tutor or fellow participants)  workshop 19/1/14  3.   Being with other artists assists you in finding solutions to problems as well as making new contacts and friends. workshop 19/1/14 4. A workshop allows you to experiment and try  new/ different ge...

WORKSHOP   Date:  Sunday, 24 November 2013 Times: 9.30am – 4.00pm  Venue:  Lambton NSW   Exact address supplied once you have registered for this workshop.    Lunch, morning tea, afternoon tea provided. Please notify of any special dietary requirements. Contact   Timeless Textiles  via contact  or leave a comment at the end of this post with an email address, please  Information for participants : This workshop is a combined workshop (two projects in one) and while you will learn most of the techniques for both creating an ancestor bottle of your own and a message stick doll, it is recommended that you focus on creating either one on the day. You do not need to bring anything very much at all, depending on whether you have something specific in mind to create on the day. Please bring a basic sewing kit - scissors, needle and neutral coloured thread, pins Please also bring any favourite sculpting tool...

Message Stick Art Doll - stick, polymer clay, hand dyed & stencilled fabric with embroidery  My    message stick art dolls    have evolved over the last couple of years.  Why have I called these art dolls “Message Sticks” ?    I wanted to recreate a doll which was based on traditional techniques, so I have used ideas from a few different cultures. Many traditional dolls were made from wood - often wrapped with fibres.   In Egypt, several types of paddle dolls have been discovered in tombs in Egypt. The dolls are made of wood, flat, and constructed in a shape has led the form to be called a 'paddle doll'. The dolls seemingly follow a convention for the female figure, emphasizing the hips and hair. The wooden figures are usually painted with a geometric pattern of lines and dots. These patterns may reproduce tattos or ritual scaring in female Egyptian culture of the period or represent clothing or jewellery.  A fine exampl...

Everything has beauty but not everyone can see it. .. Confucius

Original fabric for textile art ... an article   'Surfaces for Stitch " by Pauline Verrinder in the February/March edition of Quilting Arts Magazine caught my eye. It reads " Scrim or cheesecloth - is an inexpensive woven cotton that is both open and loose. It has many uses around the house : cleaning windows, straining cooking ingredients, and as a bandage. But for textile artists, it is the perfect material for creating richly decorated art cloth...."  So, with some cotton fabric,  gesso, paint, pastels, pencils, newspaper headlines and cheesecloth ... this is what I got :  I also applied the same technique to a cloth doll body - inspired by the ocean and shipwrecks.  (The100th anniversary of te Titanic sinking is next month )  So enough of playing around with paint... back to some naked bodies desperately waiting to be embellished into some message stick  art dolls. I wonder what the person who ordered these would think if he saw the...