Description

Rainbows and Butterflies Textile Art

An original textile art piece by Jane Spencer.

Wet felted with free motion machine embroidered butterflies – in rainbow colours with a luminescent shimmer using ‘angelina fibre’

Mounted onto a canvas frame

Rainbows are a symbol of hope after a storm. The butterflies add a beautiful fragility to the hope we have in troubled times.

To make this, firstly, using merino wool fibres, curly sheep locks, mulberry silk tops, hand dyed antique lace, ribbon and sparkly Angelina fibre,the rainbow was wet felted. To wet felt, fine layers of wool fibre are overlapped. Agitating with hot, soapy water loosens the scales of each fibre. It is then rolled (and rolled and rolled and then agitated some more then rolled some more – it really is a long slow process) until the fibres ‘felt’ into a wool fabric. The butterflies were made from Lutradur. This is a white manmade fibre. The butterflies were hand painted with inktense inks and then free motion machine embroidered and wired to give them structure before holes were melted into them to give an ethereal effect. Heat bondable sparkly angelina fibre was added to the back to add sparkle. The butterfly bodies are felted

Actual felted piece at widest and highest points 46cm cm x 33cm (irregular shape)

Sewn on to a box cotton canvas splashed with rainbow inktense inks – approx 50cm x 60cm x 4cm