Paper yarn and bones

I’m working a lot with paper yarn at the moment. It’s one of my favourite materials, very strong and grippy, with enough body to hold sculptural forms. The down side is that it can be quite unforgiving, with a tendency to kink and twist. But sometimes the twist can be channelled to create extra movement […]

Basketry: Rhythm, Renewal & Reinvention

This wonderful exhibition at Ruthin Craft Centre in north Wales, curated by Gregory Parsons, is the second basketry show they’ve had in the past couple of years. Apparently the first one was immensely popular. So here’s hoping that the image of basketry is on the up – about time! The exhibition certainly showcases the extraordinary […]

Tea and Textiles with HGA

I’m very honoured to have been invited to discuss my work as part of the “Tea and Textiles” programme run by the Handweavers Guild of America. The HGA describes the programme thus: “Each week HGA will host a conversation with some of the most respected fiber artists in the field today. In our 45-minute discussion […]

Exhibition in pictures (and video)

The Prism Textiles exhibition “In Search of Possibilities” is now over, and very successful it was too, with lots of really positive feedback about the work and the venue. If you didn’t manage to visit, here are a few pictures to give you a flavour – plus an interesting video of my bindweed piece by […]

Rebound: hanging the bindweed

I managed to finish weaving the last of the 50 bindweed pods a couple of weeks ago. Then I had to start thinking about how to suspend them. My original idea was to use a metal grid, which would be robust enough not to bend. But my friend Magdalen suggested that it would be better […]

In Search of Possibilities, 21-31 October 2021

It’s just under two weeks until the Prism Textiles exhibition “In Search of Possibilities” opens at the Art Pavilion in Mile End, London. Our last physical exhibition was in Birmingham in October 2019 – of course, last year’s exhibition was cancelled (though we did manage an alternative version online). So it’s exciting to be back […]

Bubblewrap basket

A couple of weeks ago we started back at City Lit on the second year of the Creative Basketry course. It was great to be back in the classroom with my fellow students again. We spent the first two sessions developing visual designs and processing materials. In the first week we played with newspaper, seeing […]

Bread baskets, and much else, at MERL

Last Saturday I spent a very pleasant afternoon at the Museum of English Rural Life (MERL) in Reading. The occasion was a commons feast, to launch the project The Commons: Re-enchanting the World. The commons is a social system that cares for and preserves resources that we all share: land, air, and water. This project […]

First place in Basketry of the Year competition

I’m thrilled to share the exciting news with you that I have been awarded first place in the contemporary category of the Basketry of the Year competition 2021! Every year the Worshipful Company of Basketmakers organises this competition for members of the Basketmakers’ Association. The Worshipful Company of Basketmakers is one of the many ancient […]

Twining in an embroidery hoop

One of the commonest ways of starting a twined basket is a bundled start, where you lay one group of stakes on top of another at right angles and twine them together, gradually separating out the individual stakes. I wondered what would happen if I created a circular “warp” by winding thread around an embroidery […]