In a time lapse-looking at these, making this.

Woven Pareidolia.

Pareidolia is the imagined perception of a pattern or meaning where it does not actually exist, as in considering the moon to have human features or seeing Jesus in your cheese on toast.
in these mini tapestrys ive been weaving no jesus or the virgin mary has appeared just yet……

Craftydermy.

Craftydermy is a new book from those lovely people at black dog publishing on how to bypass the doom n death n obvious east london pub vibes of taxidermy to make  DIY soft sculpture versions without terrorising the local squirrel population! ..and heres a piece i did for the book…. its a woven highland cow……done on a mini loom, i was inspired to read a few years back that Shelia Hicks carrys a mini loom around in her bag to weave on the go…its amazing what you can weave on a very small frame, and ive done many projects on it and taken it everywhere from Australia to Bali….my mini loom will be in my hand luggage when i head off to Tokyo in a few weeks….

Wormholes,Heterotopia E8 Lie Groups and other Basket Cases…..

Wormholes is up! a Conversation about ley lines, physics, and math theorys on everything manifested itself into giant woven hula-hoops in the enigma that is Vogue Fabrics…….go check it out…its up ALL of June and it flashes at night…

The art of completion.

Action of thought,Starting,progression,completion. The 4 stages to any project..sounds obvious but you can get lost and stuck in any of these stages…the end needs an acknowledgement just so you can get on with the next thing!…so Eye Spy Volcano is done…large tapestry using fabric,hand spun yarn,lurex,light reflective yarn,acrylic yarn, swaledale yarn, herdwick yarn, shetland yarn.string.

ps looking up the word completion i found this textile phrase which referred to finishing…….

go through-stitch To go through with; to finish or conclude; to follow through. This expression alluding to the work of a tailor was popular in the 17th century but is no longer heard today.

For when a man has once undertaken a business, let him go through-stitch with it. (The Pagan Prince, 1690)

There ain’t no hassel with a tassel…

Theres a few things in life you can count on…death,taxes and ermmm Vogue using camels in photoshoots….nothing say ‘exotic’ like a camel…but never mind the lovely ladies and slightly bemused looking locals…..CHECK OUT THE CAMEL BRIDLES! ….a feast of pom poms, tassels,braiding,cording and a beautiful technique called split ply braiding…good ol’ Peter Collingwood wrote tomes about this in the 1970’s(more about this in another post) but todays hero is totes the tassel.i love tassels. i embrace the tassel.in fact im slightly obsessed with making them,in all variety of materials.the above are made from old pillowcases,synthetic hair,embroidery thread, lumo thread,copper,ribbons,acrylic wool,hand spun and old t-shirts…..watch this space for more,more more!

Woven spaces n faces

Last summer i went traveling.I packed my favorite knitting needles,crochet hooks, drawing books paints and mini wooden loom. Every morning i went pottering on the beach and collected flotsam and jetsam in Bali and Oz…among the things i made were these woven facey things…When i got back to London and unpacked the vast treasures i had collected which included alot of pebbles,’interesting’ bits of wood, washed up plastic doll arms (they seemed so essential at the time!) and woven patches.. i found these chaps…Then i realized my favorite book that lives by my bed in London is the above book on Paul Klee hand puppets. I love this book.i gaze at it often. and I had carried it across the other side of the world in my head…..somethings you just cant leave behind!

Cardboard Looms.

You dont need complicated equipment to weave. Tapestry weave which is classified as weft faced fabric,is an ancient technique producing everything from the most intense medieval hangings depicting hunting dogs and gardens to Navajo amazing geometrics. I made the above tapestrys from making my own cardboard looms…Cheap,portable and like most textile production beautifully simple principles which can take a life time to master!