Book Reviews\
I had to look for a definition to learn what this book was going to be about, it is a technique which had been out of my sight. The cover made me think of patchwork, so I wrongly taken its content to be about this subject. This book is totally a cultural love nest celebrating the true context of Korean textiles.
Read MoreIn My Nature
Sustainable Art and Autism
James Owen Thomas
Herbert Press
The worth of this book
Monty Don, a well known writer, gardener and - I hate the title but ‘personality’ in his own right (admittedly one of my own loves) had chosen to write the forward to this title.
Read MoreAll-New 20 To Make: One Patch Quilts
Carolyn Forster
Search Press
A tiny hardback, which on first glance looks rather disappointing. What can be learned via a book so short of pages? Wrong. This little gem contains all the full size template and simple instructions to create twenty designs.
Read MorePaper Flowers
15 Stylish Projects to Make Your Own
Almeja Space
Sine and Sara Finne Frandsen
Quadrille Publishing Ltd
As a child, I learned how to make paper flowers with my mother. Simple twists, in crepe paper (hard to come by back then for some reason) and those bendy sticks with wire in them - the name lost to the age. It was enjoyable, but not furthered, developed into an artisan skill. I always thought it a method of art for children, not adults.
Read MoreIs this title simply another stitch dictionary? No, it is most certainly not. Sitting rather large and thick in size (336 pages in all) it is not the size which here counts. No, it is the reason this book has been curated and throughtfully been brought together by The Royal School of Needlework. It is all about conservation, holding onto this heirloom in our midst which is Embroidery.
Read MoreWithin this title, Ukrainian author Tatiana Popova brings together her long lived love of Crewelwork and develops designs which are both on dark and light backgrounds.
Read MoreTextiles for practicality, for projects, for cold hearted technique. What is your understanding of what Textiles should and actually is - if we make it so? Setterington here by leads us through evidence to solidify that actually, Textiles matters. Rather than a icy device, Textiles can be your, my, our vice. It can take us by the hand to mend more than a moth eaten jumper - wellness for soul.
Read MoreLooking at the cover of Wild Yarn, I felt underwhelmed, it seemed so alien from my own art practice. On reading though, it is the sense and the meaning behind Imogen’s practice which makes you really want to read further, no matter what your own favoured textile art method is.
Read MoreAs a child, I was taught to document the passing of time, through foraging for items found on walks within our locality - namely leaves. I fondly remember hand in hand with my mother, coming home to open books to store these treasures.
Read MoreImprove Quilts
Building Confidence In Color and Technique
Laura Loewen
Search Press
Some of us work well by rules, the rest of us love to rebel. I at heart, hate straight lines, I do not enjoy measuring and calculating. That is why I write about Textiles rather than be a tailor. So the title of this book have my curious nature a nudge
Read MoreEmbroidery Encyclopedia: Stitches and Techniques for Every Embroiderer
Are you a teacher, someone who needs to guide others in Embroidery techniques? Or are you simply a lone Embroiderer, who wants to reunite with stitches long forgotten. Whoever you are, this look will support you.
Read MoreCross-stitch embroidery is a part of our history. We might ignore it, but we will come across it. Likely, we will even unknowingly be storing it within our very homes.
Read MoreAs we sit in the dark patchy space between winter and spring, we nest, yet feel comfort derived from a dual sense of a plan - a future adventure, something to “look forward” to. If you are of the arty type as I am, you will feel a need to include this within your list when choosing where you go. Devaney and Andrews have used their own experiences traveling such cities as Paris, New York, London…
Read MoreImagine fairytale weddings, instagram worthy floral displays and food to make you want to cook - all the simplistic pleasures in life, which we may sacrifice due to professed need - i.e. other things get in the way and suddenly we lack ourselves joy, be being allowed to be happy. Personally I see this book as a visual and textural life lesson.
Read MoreAs an artist, I seem to battle so many forks. Those who follow this path with me, know that yes a 9-5 career would have been so much more restful - but fulfilling? No. We cannot hope to be good at everything - we have to be our business start ups, funding, artist, writer, promoter…..do we teach within the arts? Do we write? Something is bound to be neglected.
Read MoreI opened this book, expecting it to be an easy scan and review - you see, I have a pile of jobs to do and although I love a cover to cover submergence into the finer detail of the text, aesthetics and placement - I just havent the time. Well, I said. That was the plan.
I realise that on doing so, I would actually be being disrespectful to the author and publishing house. Naturally some art books are easier read than others. There are those where we get the expected, yet there will also always be the displacement from this rule. I am please to tell you that this book hits that nail.
Read MoreThis paperback guide, uses the traditional method of Whitework in a compemporary way.
The usual method of Whitework is of course, seen in white, usually with a coloured background so the thread and pattern stitched takes key view. But this can seem boring, a look best left for the historical or familial samplers of a bye-gone age. Burr here pledges to bring this method up to date.
Read MoreI am always honest within my reviews, yet I hope this never presses on too negative a thought. I said yes to my lovely contact at Search Press to review this title; however inside I had pre-judged it. Already it was twee, stupid and for those who were more “tacky”. I silently apologise to anyone this ever in my mind resembled, because I have well and truly been bitten by the farm bug, one which was inside of me in truth all along.
Read MoreAs a child, my mother began making me a crochet blanket….thirty years on, the pile of not-enough-yet squares lies in our families wooden chest. I live in hope that one day it will be finished….but when….what for? What will be the push? That is why this title appealed to me.
Read MoreWhen we think of knitting something, we generally will fixate first on one of two objects, a scarf or a cardigan. They are the objects of desire for anyone who wants comfort, reassurance and yes - warmth.
Read MoreI am a freelance Fine art and Textile artist.
I teach all over the UK, holding workshops / Masterclasses and giving talks to a variety of groupps; including the Embroiders' Guild.
I welcome commissions and any questions.
I enjoy writing articles for maragzines and hope to publish my own books in the future.
Ailish Henderson | 5 Coltspool, Gateshead, NE11 0YS, United Kingdom