Gallery
This is our showcase gallery
Angela Keen
"Reversible poncho"
By Angela Keen
Thispieceincorporates magical images such as fairies and butterflies. All theimages have been hand drawn and coloured onto fabric and then appliquedonto the backing fabric. The artist hasalso used a voile fabric "to give that illusive feel to the garment."
Arbab Khan
Moonlight Attire
By Arbab Khan
This
black garment demonstrates a full moon on magical night, in which the moon is making a
magical connection with the stars. The moon itself is distorted in to a magical
pattern, and the lines are showing the communication through magic. The
overlapping of so many lines coming out form one single circular object is also
showing the power inside the moon. Arbab has "used this concept of full moon night
because it is popular for doing magic, and magicians wait for a full moon night to
practice magic."
Beverly Belshaw
"Angels Falling"
By Beverly Belshaw
Beverley's piece shows an angels waterfall. She says "Inspired by natural beauty, I am seduced by the dynamics of flowing
line, depth of colour, infinite detail, pattern and the quality of light. Silk
painting has been the catalyst for letting go of visual boundaries and
developing an intuitive and abstract style of creativity."
Corinne Phillips
"The Dream Machine"
By Corinne Phillips
"My
piece depicts a magical Dream Machine floating through the night skies
scattering pleasant dreams over the sleeping fairy village below. The
Dream makers work hard throughout the day time so that the dreams are ready for
delivery each night."
The
Dream Machine is made from found objects, machine wrapped threads which are
woven to make the basket, tyvek, and gold thread. The Village Hanging is made from silk velvet,
satin and silk dupion with couched sari silk, buttons and sequins. It is
quilted with words from a poem that appear and disappear, as if by magic,
depending upon where you stand to view it.
Di Schonhut
Magical Book
By Di Schonhut
Books can take you anywhere: to a different time, an imagined world or ever inside someone else's head. Being totally portable, they can transport you in an instant whether you're travelling, waiting around, or just desperate to escape. You can write your own, share your discoveries with others or relish your personal favourites in secret,
and all this from simply squiggles on a page. How could anything else be so magical?
Diana Francis
Magical Stucture
By Diana Francis
"A collection of fabulous wools, threads, yarns and string spanning many decades have been twisted gently around the framework to create this piece. Upon completion the fine wire was coaxed and twisted before being threaded with a multitude of beads and sequins to create 'magical' droplets."
Freya Perry
The Enchanting Family
By Freya Perry
Using a combination of new and recycled materials, and new and traditional techniques, Freya has developed an enchanting range of textile sculptures. These delightful faerie and elfin folk range are created to enchant you and invite you to unlock your dreams.
Freya says of her piece, "The Faerie Queen has an exciting time bringing up these 'elfin' children. She and her family have an 'enchanting gift' stitched into them to help others unlock their dreams."
Adele Scott Harrison
"Lady of the Lake"
By Adele Scott Harrison
"Magic
can summon up many meanings for different people - magic tricks,
spells, witchcraft, illusions, enchantment and even nature. For me the
first thing that sprang to mind was magical characters from literature
and film. So with my interest in fashion I decided to make a costume
for the Lady of the Lake.
"My reasons behind my design was to give the illusion of a character that lives beneath the water - her world is watery, dark and cold. I wanted her to look as if she had swam up through reeds and underwater plant life. I aimed to give her another worldly look to enhance the image of magic. Her hair would be dark, her skin pale from little light. She has an iciness quality to her - shimmering and glistening in the earth's light giving her an enchanted appearance.
Judie Mellars
Rock pool
By Judie Mellars
"I always find nature the most magical of subjects, be it a landscape or a tiny flower. For this piece I have let the sea be my creative inspiration. I wanted to recreate the movement and ever changing tidal influences of a rock pool. I have used six separate diamond shape pieces fitted together to form a star. Each piece is a tiny pool that stands alone, yet becomes a magical insight to the beauty and variety of the humble rock pool found on any beach."
Katie Noakes
Human Nest
By Katie Noakes
"Initially, I wanted to create a magical, human sized nest by collecting natural materials and scraps to form a similar habitat to a bird’s nest. I gathered material from scrap stores, my wardrobe, car boot sales, friends and markets to find the main material for my sculpture. In a way, I felt it was the human’s method of finding pieces to create a habitat or space, which adds extra magic.
The aim of my piece was to design a space where someone would feel separate from their surroundings, no matter where the location. They would be in an enclosed environment where they felt safe and comforted. A light is on inside which creates a magical atmosphere where the fabrics are reflected and this light is intended to be on at all times."
Maryanne Morrison
"Peelings"
By Maryanne Morrison
"'Peelings' is my sculptural interpretation of the theme of magic. I have created the colourful, continuously spiralling forms from basic materials, stitched and edged with thread, which appear to embody the movement of a magician's wand as it weaves its magic spell."
Nicky dillerstone
Mudskipper Shoe
By Nicky Dillerstone
"My Mudskipper shoe was created
as the antithesis of Cinderella's glass slipper - something ugly but beautiful,
sturdy and tough but delicate and detailed, an object of desire. Created with a
cork base, and plastic cane for the framework, the sombre fabrics and rough
textures create a mythical creature half shoe-half mudskipper that looks like
it has just risen from the swamp. He is not something fragile that would
disappear at midnight, he'll stay and put a spell on you so that you recognise
beauty in the strangest of places."
Sophie Long
Magical Dragon
By Sophie Long
"A mysterious fire breathing winged reptile, created by ones
imagination. Incorporating a range of shimmering gold threads and bright
coloured stitches, to create a magical creature."
Sue Lindsay
The Waterfaries Purse
By Sue Lindsay
This magic purse has silken pods, golden fronds,
fairy
Susan Taylor
Magical Spells
By Susan Taylor
After visiting and exhibition at
My interpretation of the magic theme is more romantic and I started to research the three witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth and then love potions. My work is a collage and mix of several ideas using gold to represent the spells and blue for the midnight sky. Hidden in the design are images of a good witch and her cat.
Tracy Curtis
"Merlin's Magic"
By Tracy Curtis
My interpretation of the magic theme shows the wizard Merlinand a unicorn amidst some standing stones, one of which has runic symbols engraved in the stone. Merlin's crystal ball rests on top of the smallest stone and through the crystal's mist the top of his staff can be seen, which he holds in his left hand. From his right hand issues a stream of stardust as he creates his spell which results in the appearance of an owl. The whole scene is watched by a fairy as she sits on another of the stones."
Kay Haskins
Children's Booties
By Kay Haskins
"What could be more magical than the precious first steps that a
child takes? Those first steps are the most important and most magical and
these children's booties represent that wonderful moment."
John A. Clark
"Metamorphic Magic"
By John A. Clark
John's piece represents the life cycle of a butterfly - from egg, to caterpillar, to chrysalis and then the final emergence of the butterfly.
The piece is a 3D felt embroidery.
Julie Jackson
"Abracadabra"
By Julie Jackson
"My
design is based on symbols and shapes that are created by a wizard's
magic wand - creating light, drama and energy. I made the two tones of
blue felt to represent the sky and added stitching in gold to represent
the stars - giving it a finishing sparkle."
Stephanie Jacobs
"Transition"
By Stephanie Jacobs
"The magical spells of moonlight awaken the lotus from its dark murky waters and swathe its path in an ethereal atmosphere of beauty and tranquility. The piece represents gentle transition, a time of release when life and light emerge from the darkness."
Stephanie's piece is hand-painted and embellished, machine appliqued, quilted and embroidered.
Cheryll Kung
Magical jewellery pieces
By Cheryll Kung
"I have made two jewellery pieces using a recycled shirt in white cotton, which consists of a neck piece and matching bracelet. The techniques used were screen print, machine embriodrey and some bead work. Done with the use of two colours black and white, the pieces are bold although delicate to touch.
The inspiration came from looking at nature and the magical forces coming together to create a visually stunning piece of contemporary jewellery. From a series of drawings from various Lillies I made a screen and printed onto white cotton and black discharge cotton. I then machine embroidered onto my printed images to create a light texture to the fabrics. I further embellished using seed beads - by cutting and layering the flowers I created a three dimensional effect.
The colours black and white symbolises the magical forces of good and evil coming together as one."
Laura Slater
"Optical illusion"
By Laura slater
"My piece is based around the idea of optical illusion and the tricks which the eye can play to form Magical Illusion - through two and three dimensions.
Inspired by the optical work of M.C Escher I have created a sculpture that involves the idea of illusion at the same time as embracing domestic textile craft techniques, to reinvent their potential within a contemporary textile solution."
Christine Heath
"Sacred Circle"
By Christine Heath
"When I was fortunate enough to live on the edge of the cliff at Robin Hood's Bay, North Yorkshire, I had a secret garden. It was wild and precarious, but had one level space where I could build a fire.
The fire is at the centre of the sacred circle with four corners to the points of the compass. The hanging is stitched and slashed gauzes - veils for the other world. It has a central panel which is woven and beaded, and represents the core of life surrounded by the sacred circle, which we may enter when we are ready. The hanging is boarded by hand-dyed fabrics with beaded corners.
Freya Perry
A Fairy Wand
By Freya Perry
“While working in my SHED – “Summer House of Enchanting Dreams” – in my garden, The Faerie Queen requested a new butterfly wand. She wanted to ensure that the faerie garden divas who look after the butterflies would entice even more butterflies to come and rest a while.
I was spellbound by the idea and created this gorgeous wand.”
Ticia Lever
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Arctic Hanging
By Ticia Lever
"The inspiration for the hanging is the beauty, isolation and
expanse of the arctic. The magic of the Arctic comes from the beauty of
the changing light reflected in the ice and snow in the different
colours and hues. The magic is revealed in the rushing wind
re-sculpturing the wild, inhospitable landscape. The Arctic holds a
magnetism that draws us to explore and be challenged. The Arctic is
fragile and under threat, since the ice caps are melting due to global
warming and the land possesses significant oil reserves which are
subject to competing claims. The magic of the Arctic is transitory and
his hanging captures this element."
The textile comprises four layers of delicate free-hanging
material suspended at one inch intervals from a metal frame. The front
piece is the most decorative and includes silk organza and velvet with
coloured threads and beads. It has areas of transparency and holes,
through which glimpses of the layers behind are seen. Three three
layers behind are constructed of white silk organza and very fine silk
and convey the vulnerability and fragility of the Arctic. Beads and
crystals adorn the layers. |
Carol Coleman
Astrid Pendant
By Carol Coleman
"My work is directly inspired by materials and fossils, gems, stones and minerals, often recycling broken or found objects giving them a new life in another form. As I discover new media and techniques, more ideas follow and my work moves on to explore the potential of my latest discovery to create fantasy jewellery"
The pendant is made from Labradorite with metallic thread and black vinyl fabric.
Labradorite: a flash of light in the darkness, a power stone said to see through illusions and to enhance the source of power.
David Rodrigues
“untitled 2008”
By David Rodrigues
“My works emerge from an obsession I have with repetition. I will systematically create works that are made and than erased and remade over and over again. Unstitching works and taking them on a journey back to their beginning and than remaking them. Taking imagery from the body I want to create environments that are magical and open to interpretation.”
The piece is made from freehand machine stitching on linen.
Donna Cheshire
“A Magical Ocean Chair”
By Donna Cheshire
This piece combines the fascinating world of the ocean with the spellbinding sphere of story telling to make a magical child’s chair; designed for curling up in with a good book.
The piece features machine and hand stitch in a design that covers all visible surfaces of the chair. Most of the fabrics used are recycled or remnants; a magical transformation from abandoned fabrics to favoured furniture.
Flo Reynolds
"The Lady Of The Lake Receives Excalibur"
By Flo Reynolds
In my piece “The Lady Of The Lake Receives Excalibur”, I have attempted to capture the mystery and magic of the moment when the mortally wounded King Arthur returns his legendary sword to where it came from. The magical Lady of the Lake holds the sword aloft before sinking back into her watery lair, taking Excalibur with her. The piece takes the form of a series of banners.
I used various materials and techniques in this piece, most notably hand dyeing, machine couched hand spun yarns, knitted commercial yarn, handmade felt, and stencilling.
Gul-e-Raana
“The legend of the Arabian Nights”
By Gul-e-Raana, Pakistan
The
inspiration for this piece was the legend of the Arabian Nights and was
influenced by “Arab tradition in a stylised form as opposed to
traditional usage of motifs.”
The artist used the following techniques in her design:
Colours:
Contrasting colours of the day-night cycle in deserts; clothing
prevalent among the cultures striving in an Arabic desert. Black colour
was specifically used for depiction of an Arabian Night; also used for
depiction of camels.
Jute: Used by Arabs in clothing, turbans, beds, etc.
Laces: Used for depiction of sand, dust and desert twilight.
“My
piece uses many elements associated with magic, such as a crescent
against a backdrop of stars, spiral puffs of smoke and the project
shape itself representing a magical flying carpet.”
Jacinta Salmon
"Tangu Bag"
By Jacinta Salmon
The inspiration for my bag is the Magic Carpet of Tangu from the “1001 Arabian Nights” tales. As a child, I would dream of owning a magic carpet to transport me to wonderful magical places.
The bag began as plain white silk which I hand painted to create a silk panel of vivid night sky colours. I wanted to form an impression of the endless night skies that occur in desert lands. I made drawings of Arabian-style houses and a magician, flying on his magic carpet. For the reverse of my bag, I drew another image of the carpet and magician disappearing into the night. I also designed a bag charm, as no self-respecting magician would ever leave home without a genie lamp!
I digitized my drawings into embroideries using 3D Digitizing software and prepared the bag pieces using metallic threads. The bag has a zip and is lined with more hand painted silk. It is interfaced and has a reinforced base to add structure. The bag charm is stitched onto organza and soluble stabilizer and burnt out to become free standing.
Marion Michell
“Von einer die auszog, das Fürchten zu lernen” (“About a-one who set off to learn about fear”)
By Marion Michell
“Magic is about change, transformation: from human to animal form and back – lowly to royal, mousy to beautiful, ashen to golden. About bringing forth, giving form to what we keep from ourselves, to what is submerged in the hidden layers of our unconscious – our fears of instability, permeable boundaries and unfixed states, physical as well as mental.
This work is called Von einer die auszog, das Fürchten zu lernen, which can be loosely translated as About a-one who set off to learn about fear, after a Grimm Brothers’ fairy tale. It seemed an irresistible title for the dynamic-looking pair of half-legs, applying the tale about a young man stepping out into the world to make his way, to a little girl still in knitted socks striding so eagerly and cheerily ahead, unaware of dangers and pitfalls. There is at first glance a cuteness, a merry mood in this work, but it does not last the distance.”
Michelle Devine
“A Walk in the Woods”
Michelle Devine
Walking through old woodlands, their world envelopes me. Through the gnarled, tangled trees, a scene draws the awakening sun towards it, realeasing a cascade of dancing colours. A dark ray of life creeps through the picture. Shocks of electric blue highlight distorted, twisted vines. They lace their forms together, crawling across your view, distorting the woodland that lays behind, leading you in deeper, curiosity beckoning you to want to know more.
A dark fantasy of a beautiful untouched world reveals itself in mixed media layers of digital print, felt, as well as hand and machine embroidery designed to create an atmospheric piece that entices your imagination to look deeper.
Sally Stoneman
“Black Magic”
By Sally Stoneman
“My piece of work has been made of Sateen, organza and velvet. With added stitching of sequins threads and beads. The idea of the piece is to give you the feeling of a magic spell exploding and unfolding at you.”
Sara Gadd
The Essence of Magic – ‘Spellbound’ Feather Headdress
By Sara Gadd
"Magic to me is a mysterious quality that evokes enchantment; it is so fascinating that it is all encompassing, spellbinding and enthralling. My creation aims to capture the essence of magic and its intangible quality. It attempts to portray purity and delicacy. The choices of white feathers are a direct reference to the white dove, often associated with magic and well known for its symbolism."
Sarah Symes
“Magicland”
By Sarah Symes
My entry depicts a magical landscape. Alluring and yet foreboding. A world populated with objects of wonderment, holding promise of alchemic power. Purple trees dwarfed by mystic rocks that whisper to one another, dotted with ancient flowers growing strong under the moonlight. All sprinkled with star dust, floating playfully – like dandelion spores just out of reach.
Teodora Podina
"Moonshine garden"
By
Before I found out what crazy quilting is, I was a passionate gardener...everyday
for three seasons in the year I was just there, in my beloved garden – digging,
sowing, harvesting.
After "crazy quilting" struck me, I forgot all about my dearest garden...but it is alive in my mind, as a spell. Today, I walk through it just under the moon light, remembering its glory days.
I still sew with the same hands but now it is stitches and beads harvesting pleasure and dreams...quite a magic!
Vikki Lafford
Enchanted woodland
By Vikki Lafford
I am particularly inspired by the magical, mystical and imaginative nature of fairy tales and this dress is my interpretation of the enchanted woodland so common to the fantasy realm.
The dress is pale green silk dupion, dip dyed and embroidered. It features many hand-painted, embroidered and beaded silk butterflies and flowers, as well as some embroidered spiders and the occasional centipede hidden amongst the folds of the skirt.
Janice Myers
“Hat Trick”
By Janice Myers
“A giant top hat and a flight of doves on the face of it, however those doves may not be all that they seem. Look closer. Why are they masked? Why is one so different? And how did they all come out of that hat? It must be magic.”
Pippa Hughes
The Elves and the Shoemaker
By Pippa Hughes
Nestled in a tiny shoebox, wrapped in alternating layers of crisp white tissue paper and magic, is a baby’s sandal. Inspired by the enchanting story of The Elves and the Shoemaker, this little sandal was handmade on an old wooden shoe last and is decorated with delicate French knots and naïve running stitch. Lovingly crafted from vintage atlas pages by a team of elves, while the shoemaker slept, the little straps are nostalgic with tales of the past, while hinting at journeys and memories that are yet to be made.
Delia Copland
The Magic Trick
By Delia Copland
The magic trick (an illusory feat, considered magical by naive observers) has been taken as the theme for this two-metre length of dyed and printed pongee silk which can be enjoyed as a hanging or, as if by magic, turns into a floaty sarong or wrap.
The multi-layered tie-dyeing and interference overprinting really complement each other well in both colour and design. The result is a real feeling of the pattern disappearing and then reappearing – in that true magic trick style!
Cathy Pearce
Magician’s Assistant’s Corset
By Cathy Pearce
“Printed textiles are my passion and so for my piece of textile magic I have designed and printed a collection of seven fabrics which combine beautifully to create my Magician’s Assistant’s Corset.
I chose a basic pattern for the boned corset in order that the fabrics shine out as the main feature rather than any styling details. The element of magic comes from the fabric backgrounds. The thistle “faeries” appear to be in motion dancing like sparks from a magician’s wand.
Gill Kirk
"A Magical Landscape"
By Gill Kirk
"This piece represents a a magical landscape such as might be a fairy's perception. It shimmers with excitement and I would love to wander through it.
I have been immersed in textiles after discovering machine embroidery a year ago. I have enjoyed the freedom of drawing with a needle, and the layering of sheets over felt to create depth and intricacy."
Lee Mattocks
Grace Marks
By Lee Mattocks
"To interpret this theme I researched a character from history. The character I chose was Grace Marks murderess from the 1850s. Grace had a very unusual life and disappeared from prison without a trace upon her release thirt years after her incarceration.
Using a mixture of fabrics I have created a surreal image. The image is an embroidery of a picture frame with its contents spilling out into the reality. Using silk embroidered onto blue velvet has created the texture of the figures costume for a 'submerged' quality. Also I have used origami on the silk skirt to create an interesting structure and lace for the undergarments. All the embroidery has been accomplished using free machining."
Stephanie Redfern
"Nature Table III”
By Stephanie Redfern
The Earth with its amazing variety of glorious plant and animal life is magic enough for me; I feel privileged to be part of it.
This work ties in with a theme I return to occasionally, that of the nature table, a fixture in the classroom during my primary school days. This, together with drawing and the “colour table” made school bearable, just!
In this piece I’ve used some new and favourite images and symbols, including the Sun, a growing seed, plants and autumn fruits; an ancient pot [as I was a ceramist], a nautilus and sea fern; and a nest, a bird, a dragonfly and a golden egg; and of course the Moon, a few stars and the asteroid belt, to represent the land, the sea, the air and the universe.
The work is a wall hung triptych made from hand painted and purchased bonded fabrics, with hand and machine stitching.
Nicola Fields
Tomato
By Nicola Fields
The term ‘superfood’ alludes to the magical or potion-like properties of some foods. Tomatoes are considered ‘super’ as they are rich in the antioxidant lycopene. The French also believed they had aphrodisiac properties and called them ‘pommes d’amour’, or ‘love apples’, further reinforcing the allusion to magic.
My piece of machine and hand embroidery was inspired by a close-up study of the inside of a tomato. By eliminating all references to colour, the substance of the piece becomes more important. Its ethereal quality was achieved by stitching the base fabric in an unplanned, random way in direct response to my drawing; nature itself behaves in a similarly random way. Every stitch was a response to the previous one, and so the final piece is something that is quite magical, as nature intended.
Rebecca Clubb
"Titania's Crown"
By Rebecca Clubb
The piece that I have submitted was inspired by my interest in literature and theatre, the theme “magic” immediately bringing to mind a “crown for Titania” in Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (A truly magical play).
My design was created on an Alice-band structure. Synthetic fabric was layered, machine embroidered and then burned to create a lace-like effect. Small ivy leaves were made by combining organza and velvet and machine embroidered using dual threads so that the bobbin thread was pulled through to the surface. These were then beaded. The larger leaves were also made from organza and velvet and machine embroidered using 3 colours and beads. Feathers were sprayed gold and then stripped to provide quills which creates a more dramatic and dynamic silhouette. The remaining feathers were used in the crown. Shells were stitched to the front of the crown along side wired gold berries. Millinery wire was used to portray the tendrils of the ivy.
Alexandra Cooper
"Butterfly Masquerade"
By Alexandra Cooper
At the start of the project I wanted to make a dress that a princess may wear to a ball and have butterflies coming together to make this dress. I started drawing butterflies and abstracting them, I then came across a butterfly in a sticker album which looked magical and drew out a larger version. It was then photocopied, enlarged and then broken down into two sections. Each section of the butterfly is machine knitted using the plating technique mixed with needle transfer and lace holes on the top and bottom using a mixture of cotton, viscose and pearl lurex. I started with the top left and after lots of practice I managed to get it looking like the original drawing, I then crocheted around the edge using black cotton. Next came the bottom left of the butterfly, again I crocheted the remaining part of the wing and sewed both sections together, bringing the crochet in as well. For the right half it was just reversing the pattern and the middle was shaped crochet.
Anri Moolman
"M" for Magic
By Anri Moolman
Letters, words, and typography are all around us. As an obsessive collector of all things graphical and typographical I used this as inspiration to create textile design pieces. Using traditional screen printing methods and a combination of hand dyed, vintage and embroidered fabrics I create a collection of padded tiles that can be arranged to suit an interior space. This small collection of tiles are based on the letter M. "M" for Magic. A simple but aesthetically pleasing personal design outcome.
Charlotte Handley
Felted Collar
By Charlotte Handley
“Responding to the theme of magic, I created a large felted collar with elaborate
beadwork, machine and hand embroidery. I wanted to interpret the colours associated with magic – the rich dark shades, jewel colours and ornate detailing. I wanted the colours to shine and be magical, conveying the flashes magic, like the colours had been sparked from a wand of a great wizard. I wanted to suggest wealth and power through beading and hand and machine embroidery, through peaks and tumbles of beads and crystals and through the organic form of the felt to convey the swirls of magic.
Cheryl Holmes
Sleeping Fairies
By Cheryl Holmes
“My interpretation of magic is ‘Sleeping Fairies’. My inspiration is a long passion of both flora and fauna and fairies’. To work on this theme has been a ‘magical experience’.
The piece was made using an embellisher to create the background and free machine embroidery to create some of the flowers along with hand stitching and beading.”
Doreen Caldwell
Narrative Story
By Doreen Caldwell
“My pieces are figurative and often with a narrative theme. I like to tell the viewer a snatch of a story in the hope they will invent the rest – wicked! The following story will appear in the frame with the work:
…After a time there was another feast. So again she ran to her room, took from the hut the coat of green light, the crown and the golden slippers and put them on. Then she made her way quickly to the castle, scattering starry magic as she went.”
The piece was made from appliqué, hand and machine stitching, transfer printing, fabric painting, fusing, foiling and bonding with synthetic fabric on a cotton base.
Karen Griffiths
Amulet
By Karen Griffiths
As
part of my MA in Contemporary Applied Arts at
Louise Broad
Invisibility Cloak
By Louise Broad
My interpretation of the theme was to create a magical garment combining my passion for textiles and childrenswear design in an experimental way.
I have created an invisibility cloak, with a fluid shape and shimmering surface that is transparent in parts, allowing the light to pass through and highlight the texture and iridescent patterns of the fabric. There are also organic shapes created from tyvek trapped within the delicate layers of cobweb felt, created a multi-levelled effect, whilst remaining ultra-light.
On another level this piece captures the magic involved in ‘dressing up’ and being enraptured by an imaginary world.
Rachel Doyle
Magic Box
By Rachel Doyle
My piece is a box for a pack of cards with an embellished card on the lid. The embroidered design is based on the jack card that has been transformed into a magician. The figure has a top hat, wand and rabbit and is decorated with the suit motifs – hearts, diamonds, spades and clubs.
The piece includes appliqué, gold work, and fine embroidery. The card is mounted on a fabric covered, hinged box with a red silk lining.
Sandra Ross
“willow the witch”
By Sandra Ross
Willow the witch is a hand embroidered piece with symbols that represent magic, including the crown eye symbol, the four elements – earth, air, fire and water, the mythical bird and the spider.
The doll is hand embroidered with mixed media.
Caroline Devine
“The Green Goddess”
By Caroline Devine
This mixed media piece on canvas has evolved by itself and was not planned in this way. It is a mixture of hand embroidery, beads, handmade buttons, bought buttons and found objects. The piece has been carried to different places on its magical journey within itself. I feel it has a fascinating, overwhelming glow about it and has a magical surrealism style.
I used limited colours – greens and blues – because I wanted it to blend well. I also wanted to do something original so came up with the idea of mixing 2D and 3D mediums onto the canvas. I found many of the objects used in this piece while I was out walking – it was as if these pieces were suppose to go on my canvas, as if they were lucky charms.
I would describe it as a surreal fairytale.
Chomal Ahmed
“Autumn magic”
By Chomal Ahmed
Do you feel it, that crisp feeling in the air as the autumn winds reach out and lightly touch our senses? There's magic in the air as Mother Earth paints beautiful scenes of colours all around us. Autumn to me is a magical season - one which gives life and beauty, amazing plants and a hope for generations of species to grow. In autumn all the trees change their colours. Inspired from the colours of autumn, I have made a hand dyed and hand felted shawl.
Lindsey Watson
Spellbinding Quilt
By Lindsey Watson
I can remember childhood memories of bunnies being pulled out of top hats, magic wands being waved and card tricks being performed in front of the eyes. The excitement the stage illusionist created was spellbinding. This is shown in the quilt by the spiralling ribbon and coloured swirls exploding from the top hat.
As an adult we know that magic is just an illusion, but it is still exciting as the mind tries to unravel the mystery of what we perceive. This is shown in the quilt by the five optical illusions.
Magic is fun, but just an illusion!
Flower Handbag
Flower Handbag By Paula Maxfield
£60 + £3.50 postage and packing
The bag features hand painted silk images and is made from 100% cotton, lined with Indian dupion silk.
To order please call The Textile Directory on 01386 760406
Judith Lovatt
Fairies
By Judith Lovatt
'Hopefully I have captured the Magic with two ethereal fairies who rest as light as air in a transparent illusion - if you blink they will be gone.'
I love to combine techniques in order to achieve my desired effect and magic allowed me to explore lots of avenues. My interpretation of magic has hopefully been to create a brief stolen moment when two young fairies pause for a rest and a chat. I have painted them and tried to give a floaty transparency of a magical presence.
The woodlands have a sprinkling of fairy mist around the fairies which has given a metallic twinkle to the machine embroidered garlands which border the forest. I have screen printed the forest which I have then scanned into the computer and re-arranged, before printing it onto vylene and then over painting areas of it. The leaf and flower garlands are machine embroidered over a flower pounded background while my two fairies are lying on a hand stitched bed of grass which is resting on a hand painted, bonded and appliquéd layer of leaves. One individual leaf, different to all the rest, is flower pounded and trapped by the printed leaves. The leaves in the immediate foreground are 3d and appliquéd before a heavily hand embroidered bed of wild flowers on hand dyed layers of scrim.
Liza Smith
"Mother and Baby"
By Liza Smith
The inspiration for this piece came from the English Folktale, "Mossycoat". In the story, Mossycoat's mother sews her daughter a magic coat. This got me thinking about the wonderful things that come from our mothers' and grandmothers' seemingly magical needlework boxes. I wanted to show Mossycoat as a baby with her mother, and hope that it celebrates the magical creative spirit often passed though generations.
The dolls are cloth, with needlesculpting, silk painting, machine embroidery and beading.
Maxine Owen
Magical Coat – Journey of my life
By Maxine Owen
This oversized coat based on Middle Eastern influences represents a magical journey of my life to date. I made it using recyclable techniques throughout, creating my own surfaces and embellishments from discarded fabrics and found mixed media. There are many pockets within this garment, hanging, hidden and sealed, each of them contain secrets hopes and dreams from friends, maybe souvenirs, letters, or memorabilia, I have no idea of the content that they have included. Using many techniques and written script I tell a story of my memories, family life as well as my secrets hopes and dreams A magical coat containing "spells" not only my own but "spells from some of my closest friends.
Jo Ball
“Kit of Parts”
By Jo Ball
‘Kit of Parts’ is an ongoing project that is a portable kit for making site-responsive installations in any given space. The content of the kit is a mixture of found, bought and fabricated objects, both natural and man-made. Each object, or grouping of similar objects, is housed within its own box. All the boxes are hand-constructed from recycled, bees-waxed cardboard and silk thread, and lined with soft cotton velvet. The kit currently consists of 27 cardboard boxes housing a diverse array of objects from cat’s whiskers and elastic bands to brass grandfather clock pulleys and dried daffodils. The work is ongoing project and forms a growing collection.
The placement of the boxes at floor level means that the viewers have to bend down to look at the work, lowering themselves to the height of a child and encouraging a sense of curiosity and wonder.
Liz Black
Lace project
By Liz Black
To find inspiration in the theme of magic, I based my research on a mixture of ancestral myths and folkloric fantasies.
I mixed magical elements of my Latin American roots, such as the Day of the Dead where beautiful and colourful altars are decorated with flowers and skulls in exchange for favours from little saints, with the Anglo fantasy of Halloween, where pumpkins are cut into the shape of skulls to banish demons.
I developed four final pieces for this project. My favourite is a machine-embroidered lace, with crocheted embellishments to give it a more three-dimensional effect. The materials used in the lace were silk and tulle fabrics, and for the crochet I used silk embroidery thread.
Since magical things can’t be explained, people look for connections to try to understand the inexplicable. For this reason, in my design the skulls and flowers are interconnected to represent the darkness of the magic. The happy expressions on the skulls represent the friendliness and popularity of magic, and the flowers represent the exuberant side of the supernatural.
Sally Buxton
Childhood Skirt
By Sally Buxton
The initial inspiration for this garment has come from childhood memories of fairy tales and magical stories I had read to me as a child. Looking back upon these memories I was inspired to create a skirt that would invoke a feeling of childlike enchantment. To further the concept of memories I have created all the embellishments from my childhood clothes and fabric samples I have created throughout my life. Each embellishment provides an air of nostalgia, further enhancing its enchanting qualities.
The base of the skirt is made from purple linen and lined with a vintage floral fabric with was given to me by my grandparents. The majority of fabric manipulation is made from an embellishment technique called Suffolk puffs. The design for the shape of the skirt has come from the idea of consuming as little fabric as possible and to create no waist in its making, as an environmental element to my work is very important to me I use recycled and reclaimed fabrics as much as possible.
Ellen McBride
As if by Magic
By Ellen McBride
Magic without a rabbit and doves – unthinkable! When these are around, you know magic is definitely in the air.
I like turning ideas on their head and had planned to use an Edwardian frock coat. But the rabbit and doves would have none of it and turned up on this t-shirt instead.
The images evolved from sketches, doodles and scribbles accumulated as I worked on the design. Felt was selected for its clean lines and bright colours. I also felted an old jumper for the dark blue that frames the rabbit. The playing cards are made from interfacing. Apart from a hidden button-hole stitch on the t-shirt, everything is stitched by hand.
Jayne Hewison
Indian Talisman
By Jayne Hewison
A talisman is thought to be imbued with magical powers which can radiate from or offer protection to the wearer. Throughout history, all over the world, talismans have been used in rituals. In India, one type of talisman is traditionally worn on the upper arm.
My textile interpretation uses hand-made merino wool felt in shades of red, embedded with pink silk fibres. I embellished the talisman using couched recycled silk sari yarn to create interesting shapes and surface decoration. I hand embroidered using silks and metallic threads to produce a contemporary piece of textile jewellery. Hand plaited embroidery silk ties complete with tiny brass bells complete the cuff.
Rasma Noreikyte
“Who are you?”
By Rasma Noreikyte
“To me the theme “Magic” is associated with a picture of family, in particular the happiness when a baby comes into the family. In this embroidered work I am talking about the family picture, which is still a live in my memory. The skirt is the symbol of mother, where you can come and hide yourself when you are sad. This skirt would have been in fashion in my mother’s time.
Another symbol in the skirt is the man holding the babies hand.
I embroidered the skirt with women’s hair as this is another symbol of maternity. I chose my friends and family who have long hair.”
Sarah Casey
This work has stemmed from an exploration of the action of stitch and a fascination with the narrative potential of textile objects. Within this, a predominant concern was the evocative power of the damage and absence caused through this puncturing action.
This conceptual agenda has led to formal interrogation of the surface as both ground and object. The result is an ambiguous surface, a space which fluctuates between two and three dimensions
As the light penetrates the surface, a ghost of the image is projected onto the wall behind. Moved by the subtle air currents caused by passing viewers this ghostly image shifts and dances with the physical image traced into the delicate surface of the hanging.
Although imagery is developed from clothing, ambiguous or veiled forms result, suggesting a fleeting or ephemeral existence; the materiality of garments as fragile as the histories and memories that cling to them, a ghostly suggestion of a world somewhere between the real and the imagined.
Margaret Dick
The Green Man
By Margaret Dick
I have chosen as my theme the Green Man – a mythical, magical creature found in many cultures.
The panel is 24” squared and shows the Green Man both merging with and emerging from the dark forest. The foliate mask is made with several layers of fabric, the last wired to make it slightly 3D. It is embellished with machine and hand stitching, sequins and beads.
Karen Solley
Primitive and tribal societies commonly gave expression to their beliefs in the supernatural through the making of objects and artefacts imbued with meanings. These included decorative and embellished objects which formed a part of their everyday life. In m