How it's made

The process is completely organic and is one which fascinates me. I hand make my own material from sheep’s fleece. Having been sheered from the sheep, cleaned and processed this beautiful organic material restarts its new life in my hands as silky white wool fibres complete with that very “organic” smell sheep farmers will recognise too well.

The felting then begins; it is a strangely therapeutic yet admittedly laborious method. The wool fibres are layered, drizzled with soap and warm water and through an accumulation of plenty of elbow grease, friction, heat from the warm water and soap the wool fibres begin to matt together forming a sturdy and unique material, known as felt.

After the felt is dried I then stitch into my handmade background by free-machine embroidery.

I love the freedom in working this way, from the first stitch I am lead by the sewing machine and the material. I “sketch” by eye; the needle is my pen, the thread my ink, the felt my paper. I allow the line to flow endlessly along the curves and contours of the subject matter. The finished piece is a complimentary balance of simplicity and purity met with a flirtatious splash of colour.