Unfolding Cloth
Inspiration From Historical Textiles
Hannah Lamb
Batsford
Inital insights
Hannah Lamb has long since been a vocal shout to the fragile, broken and beautiful cloth and fibre family, which may reside in our own homes, in our own drawers - you know the ones - filled with grandmothers white tablecloth and napkins, the ones which only see shades of light on holidays or Sundays.
Rather than keeping them in the ‘dark’ Lamb suggests ideas to use them practically within our art work. Within Unfolding Cloth, you will learn not only how to preserve and use historical textiles within our work, rather you will discover how to bring them into our age, with advice on digital textiles too.
The content layout and information: Points I would like to bring out
I was expecting the book to be formatted from the beginning being about historical textiles, then a gradual introduction to the end with projects or suggestions related to modern digital textile techniques. However the book structure has been written in a more mixed format. I thought at first that this was confusing but actually it captured my attention as it was the ‘unexpected’ for me at least as a reader.
I did love this book’s ability to cross ages, using ancient cloths, for example an old dress with say Cyanotype. (See the section on Textile Blueprints from page 34)
Honing in on this section, I would like to give a nod of thanks to Hannah Lambs tuition and the respect she gives the reader. So many books taking about methods such as these make you feel ‘lower’ ‘less experienced’ than the writer / artist. I do not like being talked down to - Hannah doesn’t. She explains this particular method with depth, complexity and so many details that yes, the method can seem like a challenge. But that gives the reader - me and you respect, because she obviously believes we can challenge ourselves to learn it if we do not know it previously. Images are of what I would call high end cyanotype; there are not basic examples shown, but that made me hungry to try it and achieve the same level of expertise she showcases.
The book continues this mash up approach - chapters showing both the modern and the historical, with exciting methods suggested such as bringing textiles into digital formats.
The bear basics
Lamb yes, brings our attention to the modern ways within the arts, yet she also makes sure we are built by the foundations of the matter. For example, from page 47 direction to research on the background of the textiles we are looking at are given. On page 81 care support for storing old textiles can be learned.
A note on materials used in the book
Some of the methods do require some pre planning and purchasing, or having certain abilities within the digital field - yet what I found was that the methods even if I did not try them all straight away, opened my eyes to what can be done and what I could try. Sometimes all we need is a push - then we can have the idea to develop ourselves.
An ode to Hannah’s love of materials
I would like to point out that Hannah has a deep love of fabric and its culture and history, so within this book, she does not tell us to rip up our old treasures and risk killing them off by trying a technique with them. No, often she suggests making copies of them or other ways we can preserve the originals - so no fear needed.
Conclusion
As one of the final pages text tells us: Making Heritage Relevant Today - this author certainly gives a great advertisement for that within Unfolding Cloth.