Textile Fine Art: Conversations with Artists Creating by Hand

Helen Adams

Laurence King Publishing

My own thoughts and notes

A fellow artist, Helen Adams has long since been sitting well and truly on the edge of the arts. Her website, her name Textile Curator, so simple and obvious, and so memorable

Making Matters: In search of creative wonders

Clare Hunter

Sceptre

In a society where we obsess over recycling, get fined if we get it wrong - paper, plastic….goodness depending on your catchment area, you will be led down a different law path. Let me ask - do you get great joy from separating the lids from the bottles, the papers from the non recyclable plastic ready meal dishes….do you meditate while doing it thinking, wow, I am saving the earth, what beautiful materials?

Design Then Quilt: A Dynamic Guide to Creating Stunning Modern Quilts

Irene Roderick

Schiffer Craft

Dynamic. That is the word that stood out to me in this most recent tile, by Irene Roderick. It suggests fresh, new, enthusiastic, full of life. How does this relate to making quilts? It is a traditional craft, one which could have been done by Prairie women and modern artist alike. However it depends on the style. It is, as I seem an exciting genre.

The Cumulative Cloth: A Guide to Fabric Color, Pattern, Construction, and Embellishment (Wet Techniques)

Susan Brandeis

Schiffer Publishing

Basic idea behind this book

This is a real get into it book - it is in my opinion, not a “read and leave it on the page” - the whole point is to use its education to provide you with the ability to surface design yourself. It is a book with a direct intent, a purpose. If you are not wanting to use it, do not bother to buy it.

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.

Master Your Craft: Strategies for Designing, Making, and Selling Artisan Work

Tien Chiu

Schiffer Craft

As an artist myself, I know I have worked out my practice, I know who I want to be…but do I know how to successfully promote this to an audience? Do I understand how to make money from what I do? Or do I know how to sell my work? I may struggle to balance these areas, but for those of which art is a career, the way we, you both make sense of the world and manage to have enough financially to remain in it - this is vital.

So in comes this title and maybe, just maybe this will be the tool, the chip to elongate for career in a practice you love.

The Red Dress Conversations In Stitch

Kirstie Maclead and voices from the embroidery project

Quickthorn

What is the red dress about?

This is a project, directed and brought into fruition by Kirstie Maclead, which offered a vocal visual pathway for women to be able to speak their truth through embroidery.

The project involved the cross land pulling of fifty one countries and three hundred embroiderers, all with one fabric - the red dress itself.

Textile Protest

Artists, Activism, and the historical power of cloth in protest

Julia Triston

Batsford Books

I would like to begin by revealing to you my first noted thoughts…..

Resistance. Itchy. Universal language of stitch can convey message of weight more than its fibrous cloth.

Abstract Textiles: Colour, shape and pattern in textile art

Anne Kelly

Batsford

First thoughts?

I meet many students who find the idea of creating something which does not look like a likeness difficult - no matter what technology has come into fruition there is always the narrative in the background of making what we see, what we know. But how risky would it be, if one day we came out from under that protection - the known and walk into some excitement? Because that is how I see Anne Kellys new publication.

Magical Crochet: 13 Charming Patterns for Imaginative Crowns, Wings, Unicorns, and More (Step-by-Step Crochet Patterns - DIY Fantasy Craft Ideas for Children's Costumes, Dress-up, Decorations, and More

Jeanette Bøgelund Bentzen

Schiffer Craft

First thoughts

The first word I came up with? Charming, I felt it was simply a charming book. I read many creatively based books for review purpose.

Shedding the Shackles

Women’s Empowerment through Craft

Lynne Stein

Herbert Press Ltd

Overview

With its coffee table luxe vibe, this book is set for more pickups than you may imagine. It is set in two halves, the first documenting the preservation of the traditional craft practices, the second is set around women’s craft initiatives.

The Cumulative Cloth Dry Techniques

A Guide to Fabric Color, Pattern, Construction, and Embellishment

Susan Brandeis

Schiffer Publishing

Who is the author?

She is a well known presence within the arts. She has 35 years in the game, it is not just about the art, it is about the research, the work behind her practice - I love her description of making on her website - simply put: ‘making a textile is a kind of magic’.

Artisans by Design

An Odyssey of Education for Textile Artisans in India

Judy Frater

Schiffer Publishing

‘Craftsmanship in an ability to do’ - Harkhuben Bhojraj Rabari, (Chapter Four)

Doesn’t this simplistic statement take the weight from the active actions which bring together development within an arts practice?

Craftsmanship - what does it take? What does it mean? More importantly, what can we discover via a look into the Indian traditions and heritage? Judy Frater is the women, the writer to tell you.

The Field Guide to Embroidery

52 North American Animal & Plant Designs For Nature Lovers

Jessica Kemper

Schiffer Publishing

Connect to nature via the power of embroudery.

Sometimes it can be hard to know where to begin, how to be inspired. Maybe you are not someone who can locate animal inspiration easily and lack the ‘sight’. Through this title, you will be guided through designs which respect wildlife which has been threatened.

Exploring Printmaking

A practical guide to printmaking techniques

Gill Thompson

Herbert Press

About the artist

Gill Thompson works on very much a grounded to the location in which she lives. This is the Isle of Lewis in Scotland. I see this evidenced within her visual creations, she lives by the sea so this has affected both her colour palette and materials - i.e. beach sticks for a drawing tool.

Wild Basketry

Making baskets and natural cordage from foraged plants

Ruby Taylor

Herbert Press

I have friends who weave baskets…but never like this…meet Ruby Taylor, who very obviously marries her love of the natural world with her craft.

Cloth 100 Artists

Contemporary and Heritage Techniques

Lena Corwin

Abrams

Background information on the author

Corwin is defined on any search as a ‘visual artist’. She works and has an interest in many mediums, this book showcases this via its multi topic contents. She has studied both design, fashion and arts practice - again this shows through this publication.

Pick-Up Bandweaving Designs

288 Charts for 13 Pattern Ends And Techniques for Arranging Color

Heather Torgenrud

Schiffer Craft

Looking at this books cover, I was reminded of bygone days, making friendship bracelets and trying to learn new patterns and colour ways for them. There was always a new combination to try or at least attempt.

Japanese Paper Yarn

Using Washi and Kami-ito to Knit, Crochet, Weave, and More

Andra F. Stanton

‘To all who are curious, brave, and compassionate’ - the opening words of this book open a question mark in my mind - why would I need to be brave to read this book?

I have heard and I am sure you have too, of the popular Sashiko, maybe even Kintugi terms, but this transition to paper yarn is new to me. Maybe that is why the author asks us to be curious.

Slojd: The Swedish Art of Wood and Textile Handicraft

Kerstin Neumuller

Batsford

A little comment about the artist and writer herself…

This is a woman of many skills. She has trained in textiles and even more exactly, men’s tailoring. Yet she teaches plant dyeing, woodcarving, weaving, textile object building, slow stitch skills….she cannot be defined. Let’s just say she does craft.

It is a technique of care. It stitches the broken, or the cast off and allows them to have a future. It is of course an embroidery technique, but it is the way it is used which is of import. The word Kantha, to give some background here, refers to both the stitch and the cloth. It is about finding beauty in the ordinary.

Bojagi

The Art Of Korean Textiles

Youngmin Lee

Herbert Press

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.

In 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.

All-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.

Paper 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.

RSN Stitch Bank: 200 Essential Embroidery Stitches

The Royal School of Needlework

Search Press

Is 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.

Contrast in Crewel Embroidery: Modern designs on light and dark

Tatiana Popova

Search Press

Within 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.