Contemporary basketry
Making a basket is probably the oldest weaving method that goes back thousands of years. Young branches and strong grasses were used to make small handy baskets for hunting, fishing, carrying, and More »
Fabrics for Fashion: Part 1
Without fabric there would be no fashion. Whether woven, knitted, printed, embroidered or bejewelled, textiles are crucial to the eloquence of apparel and fundamental to the fashion design process. We are presenting More »
Rosalind Wyatt: Text and Textile
The versatility of textiles and the wide spectrum of usage of fabrics and threads are enormous. Rosalind Wyatt, London based visual artist and calligrapher is well aware of it and use it More »
Paulina Bartnik’s embroidered brooches
Paulina Bartnik is a Polish textile artist based in Lublin. Her work amazes equally art lovers, textile crafters and bird enthusiasts. She creates beautifully detailed bird brooches using techniques of needle felting and More »
Limed wood furniture
Several methods of decorating wood exploit its natural grain pattern. Limed wood imitates the old custom of painting wooden furniture with diluted limewash left over from painting the walls in farmhouses. Now, instead of using limewash, liming wax (a mixture of beewax and whiting) is worked into the wood and the surface is polished, leaving the residue of white wax in the grain.
Your Next President!
Textiles have a history of political use as emblems within campaigns and causes, whether trade union banners, uniforms or signature quilts. As the USA slides into the final furlong of the presidential election, The Textile Museum presents Your Next President! which presents rare campaign flags and patriotic textiles from the Mark and Rosalind Shenkman Collection, which explore how presidential campaigning developed in the 19th century.
Introduction to the animation
Animation is the process whereby a series of gradually changing drawings or objects are photographed on to film frame by frame and then projected to create an Illusion of movement. In 1825 John Ayrton Paris, president of the Royal College of Physicians in London, drew a parrot on one half of a disc and a cage on the other half. He attached a string through the centre and when the disc was spun rapidly the parrot appeared to be inside the cage. From this simple invention, named the Thaumatrope, came other illusionary devices which eventually lead to the birth of the motion picture industry.
Patrick Commecy’s street art
Many buildings has build with no aim to impress us. Ugly gray wall of the building is not something that pleases anybody’s eye and often makes the whole area of the town so unattractive. French street artist Patrick Commecy decided to fight back. His murals transform dull and boring facades around France into vibrant scenes full of life.
Conté crayons and pencils
Named after Nicolas-Jacques Conté, who invented them in the eighteenth century, Conté crayons are made in a range of traditional colours: white (made from chalk), sanguine (from iron oxide), sepia (from the ink of the cuttlefish) and bistre (from the soot of burnt beechwood). Terracotta, umber and black are also available, as are sets that provide a range of greys and browns.
Memory box
It is very nice thing to decorate the home with personal items. The objects that mean something to you and your family. Even better is you made it yourself. Creating a personalised memory box is one of the projects that are so fun to make and such a pleasure to look at or give as a present. The memory box can be filled with a nostalgic collection of family mementos: old black-and-white framed photos, vintage toy cars, someone’s favourite dolls, souvenirs from vacations and family trips, a letter for the child to read when they are older, rolled up like a scroll, and other miniature objects.
Hope Gangloff’s contemporary paintings
Hope Gangloff is known for creating vibrant and truthful portraits of her friends as a way to share her view of modern American life. By capturing this generation of young adults in her illustrations and paintings, she documents this era’s struggle during these tumultuous economic times. Gangloff studied fine art at Cooper Union in New York. After leaving art school, Gangloff worked in a bronze foundry and made illustrations for publications such as the New York Times, the New Yorker, Spin Magazine, and Built by Wendy. Her work now hangs in galleries and museums around the world.
Andy Goldsworthy’s land art
Andy Goldsworthy, an internationally renowned land artist, was born in Cheshire in 1956. There are regular exhibitions of his work in Britain, France and the United States. Although he travels all over the world to carry out commissions, the landscape around his home in Dumfries, south-west Scotland, remains at the heart of his work.
Catnip mouse
Filled with catnip, this little mouse make a delightful gift that a cat literally cannot resist. This is a great project for using up offcuts and leftover pieces of material. Cotton fabrics work well, but why not also try tweed or leather? Catnip or Nepeta cataria is cultivated as an ornamental plant for use in gardens. It is also grown for its attractant qualities to house cats and butterflies. With domestic cats, catnip is used as a recreational substance for pet cats’ enjoyment, and catnip and catnip-laced products designed for use with domesticated cats are available to consumers. Common behaviors cats display when they sense the bruised leaves or stems of catnip are rubbing on the plant, rolling on the ground, pawing at it, licking it, and chewing it.
Interior accessories
As the architect Mies van der Rohe once said, ‘God is in the details.’ This insight reflects one of the pillars of cheap chic interior style: make the most of accessories. On one hand, they are a home’s personal signature – a visual diary of who you are and what you love. On the other, they are the practical objects that you couldn’t live without.
