Blog - Page 12 of 12 - Jane Mercer Felt Artist

Textile inspiration

This week I have had the opportunity to visit the Rijswijk Textiel Biennale with my good friend Els. For me walk, metro, train, bus, walk for Els , bike, boat ,bike , train, bus, walk and we were there . Only in the Netherlands would this degree of transport integration be possible. The Textile biennial , with 19 international textile artists is held in a beautiful old Dutch Building on a tranquil square in old Rijswijk. It's garden was a maze of beautiful wild flowers , including foxgloves, one a my favorites. A perfect place to enjoy a coffee and some wonderful Dutch Apple cake. I love the thread thinness of these pieces by Raija Jokinen from Finland. And the fragile ethereal nature of this thread thin furniture by Amanda Mccavour from Canada. These dimensional faces , made by Monica Bohlmann from Germany, are like formal portraits , with…

0 Comments

14/06/2015

Success

Well after last weeks disappearing yellow dye , I first rushed out to see if there was any hawthorn blossom left. I was in luck as the trees down by the river were still mostly in flower and I was able to easily pick some more. I do wonder if the colour comes from the petals , which are really beautiful , or for the tiny berry in the middle of the flower ? I also had a good look at my pans , and concluded they were not very clean. So I boiled them with washing soda solution which produced a ghastly pink scummy solution. I then scrubbed them with abrasive powder cleaner and finally rinsed and rinsed. In parallel with this I was making another vessel to dye . Trying Shetland fibre again. Looks a little hairy as it still here needs a shave and I am…

0 Comments

06/06/2015

Eco Dyeing / Natural dyeing / Wet felting

Where has the yellow gone ?

At this time of the year there are a huge numbers of flowers and leaves that can be harvested and used for dyeing. Unfurtunately I did not plan ahead and have not got a collection of felt waiting to be dyed. Shame . Never mind I shall research this year and plan ahead better next year. I did have this sweet little vase , waiting to be dyed . I thought it would look lovely dyed yellow. So out of the multitude of options, I chose hawthorn flowers. Well in truth I didn't so much chose them , but came across them while looking around the local woods with my trusty 'Wild Color' by Jenny Dean, my scissors and my gardening gloves in my rucksack. Always make samples they say! So I did , here they are good shades of yellow , especially on the silk. Well having made my…

0 Comments

31/05/2015

Textile art

Textile festival Leiden

Last week I visited the Textile festival in Leiden with two friends. The festival was in de Peiterskerk , and large spectacular church , in the centre of the town. There were more than 30 other textile exhibitions in the centre of Leiden , amazing ,and as it turned out far more than could be visited in one day. The theme of the festival was Water-land, and this was beautifully interpreted in all forms of textile art. I photographed a few of my favorites. Weaving with a whole new perspective for me. The beautiful woven book /scroll really captured the peace of the seashore for me. I found this piece with its razor shells , very evocative of the shore. A more traditional style of embroidery. A felted piece by Annemie Koenan , called Genesis - then there was land. In addition to…

0 Comments

20/05/2015

composite photograph / machine stitching / Wet felting

From Photo to Felt

My husband is a keen and talented photographer. He partakes in Blip photo taking a photograph every day and takes beautiful landscapes often getting up before dawn to catch the light. Occasionally he uses software on his iPad to make composite photographs. I love the vibrancy, surrealism and the unexpectedness of these pictures and some just cry out to me to be made into felt. Here is an example. I have been experimenting with turning these kind of photos into felt pictures for a while and like to first make a pastel sketch to work from , as it helps me think about the order of the composition. I make prefelt and use fabrics in order to get the strong colours and straight lines required . I always plan to add lots of machine stitching to add texture and details after felting. Here I am threads at the ready ,…

0 Comments

11/05/2015

fibre / Wet felting

My favourite colour

Purple is one of my favourite colours. I wanted to test of some surface decoration effects on a felted vessel. I have done many tests before , but never with the high degree of shrinkage that is needed to make a felted vessel robust enough to stand up. This high degree of shrinkage tend to make the fabrics and yarns that have been added completely disappear, which defeats the objects of adding them is the first place. As a change from the more muted colours obtained by natural dyeing I decided to make this vessel from purple merino. My surface effects were dyed scrim , dyed cotton broderie anglaise and purchased purple silk yarn.Laid out these additions can be clearly seen. After removing my circular resists they are still visible. After completing the felting the silk yarn was virtually invisible, and the scrim was now a very subtle effect, well imbedded into…

0 Comments

30/04/2015

Eco Dyeing / Natural dyeing / Wet felting

Felting in the garden

It has been the most beautiful weather this week in the Netherlands . So I decided to do some felting in the garden . I always feel freer to use loads of water in the garden where I don't have to worry about mopping up , I also use the hose to rewet my pieces which is really quick and feel that the slats on my wooden garden table help the process. Outside with my neighbours apples tree in full bloom and the sun shining it's hard not to be inspired. I am making a series of vessels to naturally dye. I decided to have a go at making three at once. One Polwarth , silk and merino , one Blue Faced Leicester and one LLewyn and merino. The LLewyn had been in my stash since a Woolfest a number of years ago. It proved to be the problem child…

0 Comments

26/04/2015

Uncategorized

Away from home

This week I am away from my studio visiting family and friends so I have not been doing any felting . A bit of stitching but no felting . I have had some time to do some walking and photographing in one of my favorite places. Far Easedale is a valley north of Grasmere. I find its isolated hills and streams very beautiful and I have often been the only person walking in the valley. Easter weekend was not quite so quiet but it was still peaceful and serene . There is one spot where the beck cascades over some ancient rocks . It is a perfect spot for relaxing and enjoying the scenery . I am particularly drawn to the colours of the rocks with the lichens and the reflections. Here are my favorite images from my last visit. I hope I can capture some of these ideas in felt soon.…

1 Comment

14/04/2015

Uncategorized

Dyeing problems

I made this little wet felted and stitched pot to be dyed. I decided to collect some nettles to dye it. I thought this would be difficult but in fact armed with my gardening gloves it was really easy. I just went to a local small wood and there they were waiting to be harvested . I chopped them up with a knife also wearing my gardening gloves and left them to steep. At this point I did wonder , how small should they be chopped. The scientist in me said as small as possible, the practical person in me said that is just not possible using a knife with gardening gloves and I thought I should not use my hand blender on nettles.So I steeped and boiled my nettles and then with mordant included added my little vessel. More simmering and standing overnight resulted in this. I was disappointed. Was this the…

0 Comments

03/04/2015

Uncategorized

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress. This is your first post. Edit or delete it, then start blogging!

2 Comments

20/03/2015