The artists at Rural Arts have considerable experience in developing skills in decorative textiles. Workshops can involve a single technique or several can be incorporated into a longer project. Groups can learn to create wall hangings and banners, soft furnishings and hand painted curtains, backcloths, clothing, altar frontals and soft sculpture.
Dyeing Techniques:
Experiment with a wide range of methods to produce hand dyed fibres, cloth and even wrapping paper. Techniques include dip dye, folding, pegging and various others mentioned below.
Hand Painted Textiles:
Participants can produce a wide range of decorative fabrics, including silks, cottons and canvas, using a variety of methods.
Batik:
This traditional technique is a resist method of decorating silk or cotton fabric using hot wax and cold water dyes. Fabrics decorated in such a manner can be use for wall hangings, soft furnishings and clothing.
Tie Dye:
Using string, elastic bands and cold water dyes produce your own had dyed t-shirts, sarongs, soft furnishings and wall hangings.
Velvet Devore:
Use georgous velvets to produce etched fabrics that can be dyed and made into scarves or soft furnishings.
Felt Making:
This ancient process involves producing a piece of decorative fabric from the raw materials. Felt produced in this manner can be used for bags and clothing, decorative wall hangings and soft furnishings.
Weaving:
Use traditional and non traditional materials such as fibres, recycled polythene, mesh and cellophane to produce wall hangings and 3D objects.
Embroidery - Hand, Machine and Beading techniques:
Experiment with a large range of fabrics, threads and beads to produce a wide range of decorative items from a bag to a wall hanging. Specialist sewing machines will be provided.
Stumpwork:
This raised and padded 3D embroidery technique involves working with a wide variety of hand and machine embroidery stitches as well as fabric paints, beads and so on. The finished pieces can be used on soft furnishings and wall hangings.
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