Liz Cassidy: Silk Painter
Artist Profile
My professional life has been spent in the health service working in a number of imaging disciplines, radiography, nuclear medicine and ultrasound.
Away from work I have been drawn to creating my own images but, unlike the greyscale format of diagnostic imaging, I find the vibrant colours in silk painting, and the slightly unpredictable nature of the outcome, exciting and creative. The charm of silk is its inability to be controlled, leaving endless possibilities.
My work is always on sale at Jaspah of Hexham. This includes hand painted silk scarves, some of which are incorporated with coloured jewellery, as boxed gift sets.
I also sell original pictures and prints. The prints vary in price from £15 to £25. They include images of local landmarks such as Dunstanburgh Castle and Sycamore Gap.
I use DuPont steam fix dyes which produce wonderful luminous colours and maintain the softness of the silk. All the scarves are washable by hand.
Jean Haste: Silk Painter
Artist Profile
I am a silk painter based in Teesside. I sell my silk scarves and paintings at Craft fairs throughout the North East.
I am part of the co-operative at Allendale Forge Studios in Northumberland, and work two rota days a month at the centre which opened in March 2011.
The one thing that makes the long journey to Allendale pleasurable, is the amazing changing scenery throughout the year.
The wonderful tapestry of colours has recently inspired me to paint landscape pictures, but as I wanted more detail on them, I experimented using machine embroidery to 'paint' the trees and detail. This often gives a 3D effect to the pictures.
I am always looking for new and different ways to incorporate silk into articles to sell, I cover gift boxes, make silk brooches. decorate notebooks, produce keyrings, greetings cards as well as silk scarves and pictures.
The Allendale Forge Studios is open 7 days a week, the cafe is open from 9am, the gift shop from 10am and the centre closes at 5pm.
Thelma Russell : Feltmaker
Artist Profile
I am a former IT professional, but I have always been involved with textiles in my non-working life. I started as a teenager with simple dressmaking and went on to knitting, crochet, macramé (which paid the deposit on my house) soft furnishings, patchwork, needlepoint and so on. Historical costume has been a lifelong interest and I have made many costumes for my local theatre group.
I have been making felt for several years and have found it a fantastically versatile medium - I haven't run out of ideas so far ! The ability to make a strong, warm fabric from sheep's fleece using just water, soap and elbow grease seemed like magic the first time I tried it, and I'm still excited by the process. Recently I have been experimenting with printing and transferring images onto felt, but my favourite technique is 'nuno felting' which incorporates fabric into the felt to create unique surfaces.
My work is always on sale at Allendale Forge Studios in Northumberland and includes fashion and home accessories and covered sketchbooks and photo albums. I run occasional workshops at the Forge, and have started a feltmakers' group which meets there - beginners welcome.