stitching

Prehistoric Fertility 1

Angela Porter2 Comments

15×23 cm, around 12 to 15 hours of work/pleasure.

Needle felting in silk fibres, embellishments done with various metallic fibres, beads and custom made sequins.

Patterns inspired by British Prehistoric rock art and Neolithic/Bronze Age pottery.

I had my doubts part-way through whether this was going to work out, but I’m really now quite pleased with it. When friends saw it, they thought it was like cells expanding and reproducing – hence the ‘Fertility’ part of it’s title!

When I mount it for display, I’d like to put it onto a piece of slate, an old slate tile maybe; however, I have my doubts about the sensibility of that with the damage dust and fingers could do to it … I’ll work on the idea!

Swirls and sparkles …

Angela PorterLeave a comment

I’ve just finished this piece of art created using wires and beads and threads and custom made ‘sequins’ using black felt for the ground.  It measures approx. 20cm x 15cm and has taken some 25 hours or so to make.

The inspiration for the swirls and loops comes from La Tene or early Celtic art and ammonites and shells.  The sparkly-ness is all my own – my inner magpie will not be denied!

I find working with this is a lot like drawing for me, but using the wires, threads, beads and ‘sequins’ as the mark-making tools.  There’s something calming about doing the work, and something magical about turning the black of the felt into something much brighter and lighter.

The choice of colours – coppers, golds, blues, greens, with the odd dark metallic purple and brown – was specifically for the friend who asked me to create a textile artwork for them.  They love all shades of blue, but especially turquoise, and copper and the gold and greens and other colours just seemed to go with these.