Jo Hill Textiles

Felt Nuno workshop 19th Feb

2012-02-27T03:15:00.000-08:00

Hi, I ran another felt nuno scarf workshop last sunday @unittwelve Tixall, went very well nearly a full house, 7 lovely ladies attended and made 7 lovely scarves unfortunately I only took a few photos before my camera memory was full. Here they are anyway.

Carolyns scarf still wet but the silk will be all floaty when dry.

This is a new design of mine, shown as an example, the circle of wool fibres will shrink and pull the silk rectangles into yummy crinkly shapes, I put wool circles on every rectangle, making a long skinny scarf.

Robbies scarf and rose brooch again wet but will look lovely and floaty when dry.


Susans double sided scarf made using viscouse fabric worked very well and gave a more substancial feel.

I am working on some samples of vessels to do another workshop in the spring.

Landscape commission

2011-12-29T12:26:00.000-08:00

I have been slightly out of my comfort zone and made a landscape with a cottage and no birds, quite enjoyed it and very happy with the end result. The customer supplied most of the fabrics which were left over's from soft furnishings in their lounge.

Yellowstone Art Boutique Trentham Gardens Staffs

2011-11-28T11:29:00.000-08:00

Just Delivered a commission from Yellowstone Art Boutique, hope the customer likes it, I am pleased with it.
Also delivered another 5 bird embroideries and apparently 2 sold that same day, better get making again.

The last one has no birds in it.......shock horror.....does have a butterfly.

I will be having an exhibition at Yellowstone early next year.

Free machine embroidery Stafford College workshop day

2011-11-11T00:42:00.000-08:00

Nov 5th another very successful free style machine embroidery day making bird embroideries, photos above.

free machine embroidery workshop 17th September

2011-09-25T02:30:00.000-07:00

Had another very successful workshop last Saturday lots of lovely bird embroideries made.

This workshop was over subscribed so I will be running another one mid January 2012

Paper making workshop Tixall Stafford

2011-08-23T12:58:00.000-07:00

Had a lovely paper making day last Saturday 14th August, we made a variety of papers from recycled papers and fabrics and foliage, I demonstrated how to mix colours on the deckle and how to couch multicoloured papers, the results were great. Here are some work in progress photos.

In the afternoon we made some silk paper sheets and then some silk paper vessels.

This vessel has silk chiffon fabric to add design, silk and hemp to add texture.

Tea Cosies

2011-08-12T00:52:00.000-07:00

Hi Been busy making Egg Cosies, Tea Cosies and Coffee Cosies, they are machine embroidered with my trade mark birds on them, but this time they are in a cage, the Tree of Life fabric, I love, it was given to me, it is really yummy cloth, top quality soft furnishing quality, linen and cotton mix I think. They have one side tree of life fabric and one side with a bird in cage embroidered on it, I may make some with a bird in a tree embroidered on them with tree of life leaves.

Felt making workshop july 2011

2011-07-17T04:49:00.000-07:00

Unit 12, Tixall heath farm, Stafford 16th July 2011
I had a lovely day yesterday, teaching felt making to a lovely group of ladies, they made a sample, to get there hands in, a felt rose brooch and then a silk and wool nuno felted scarf. judging by the feed back everyone really enjoyed the day and learnt lots and were happy with there products. Photos of the day and their work follow.

General view of the room and busy felters.

The samples they produced.

Felt rose brooches

All of the scrves are still wet in these photos, so they will look even more yummy when dry and floaty.

Wolverhampton Embroiderers Guild regional day

2011-06-30T03:36:00.000-07:00

I had a lovely day on June 25th (my birthday as it happens) at Wombourne, we had a very interesting lecture by Maggie Grey on old walls and ancient Halls. I bought some beautiful silk chiffon scarves for my Nuno felt making workshop in a few weeks from the 'silk route'. There was a competition on Fresco's and Fragments, I entered this embroidery, it didn't win never mind, I enjoyed making it. It is now for sale in gallery at 12 Eccleshall.

My embroidery workshop

2011-06-14T02:50:00.000-07:00

Well we all had a wonderful day making free machinery bird pictures, it was hard work but I really enjoyed it and cant wait for the next one. Here are some photos of work in progress and some finished pieces.

Didn't they do well and Bruce used to say.

summer silk scarves

2011-06-05T13:13:00.000-07:00

My latest creations using pure silk chiffon with silk and pure merino wool ends.
The chiffon is bonded with the merino wool fibres using a Japanese nuno felting technique.

I don't know how to turn it the right way so you will have to bend your head

For some reason this one came out the right way.

.
This is taken in my mums front garden not sure what this plant is called but its fabulous	.

I will be teaching this technique on 16th July at 'Unit Twelve' Tixall Heath farm Stafford.
These are for sale in Eccleshall gallery at the moment and when I have made some more they will be in other galleries

Unit twelve, Tixal Heath Farm

2011-05-16T12:22:00.000-07:00

The new exhibition at' Unit Twelve' is First Anniversary :Paper, it celebrates one year of trading, it is run by Jenniffer Collier a leading Paper Artist in her own right. It exhibits 25 items from different paper artists, the work is very inspiring and varied. visit www.unittwelve.co.uk for more information.

The studio space next to the gallery now houses 5 textile designers,
The tables down the middle are where the many workshops are run from.

This is my space with work in progress on the work bench. I am going to do a machine embroidery workshop titled 'make a bird embroidery' on Friday 27th May and another one on Saturday 11th June. Details to follow soon on my web site.

This is Lauren's space with her 16 shaft loom in working order and a new range of scarves on the go, they are really yummy, I will put her details up soon.

bye for now

New felt cushion

2011-04-11T07:41:00.000-07:00

My latest cushion, made with a background of felt and incorporating appliqued bird and leaves in a variety of fabrics. I have top stitched in free machine embroidery to add detail, you cant quite see it but I have written Blackbird in mustard at the bottom of the brown band. I have some for sale in Eccleshall and Tixall £39.00. I have also made some in other colours.

This is my new work space and shop at Unit 12 Tixall Heath farm Stafford, its only half done so far, I will post more photos soon when it is finished.

R.B.S.A Highly commended

2011-02-07T02:00:00.000-08:00

I went to the R.B.S.A gallery Private view on Thursday 3rd Feb to view my work alongside all the other successfully entries, I was shocked to see a sign on my 'Blackbird' embroidery, as I arrive half way through a speech I couldn't see what it said. moments later I was called up to receive my highly commended certificate, I was very chuffed, made all the effort worth while. If they haven't sold I am making a trip on Sunday to bring them home again and put them up for sale in one of the galleries.

Royal Birmingham Society of Artists friends exhibition

2011-02-01T13:43:00.000-08:00

I was really excited to receive a notice informing me that my 3 bird pictures have been accepted into the RBSA friends exhibition, the private view is this Thursday night the 3rd of Feb and the exhibition runs until Saturday 12th February. I had to drop off the pictures on Sunday for selection on Monday.

This is my Wagtail embroidery, it is the first time I have framed my work in a proper 3d frame with glass, Bob Thacker, the framer from Gallery at 12 Eccleshall did them for me. Its for sale for £90.00, It measures 10" x 10". The wallpaper backing is from my interior designer friend Andrea Brown of Home Farm Interiors, she gave me all her out of date sample books.

This is my Warbler Embroidery, with a more subtle wallpaper backdrop of leaves which compliments the leafy fabric on the embroidery.. This is for sale for £120.00, it measures 13" x 13".

This Blackbird embroidery is quite large, I have forgotten the size, probably about 16" x 24" its for sale for £230.00. All the background fabrics are hand dyed by me, they all incorporate applique and hand and machine embroidery.
The RBSA gallery is in 4 brook street St Pauls, Birmingham,

Felt roses

2011-01-20T13:38:00.000-08:00

This week I have been making felt roses, I use merino fleece tops finely layered in a disk shape about the size of a dinner plate, they are felted together with a little silk to add luster and texture. When the felt disk is dry I cut into it half way and twist the felt into a rose shape, I add a felted wool bow and a brooch back. I have made about 24, in batches of 4 in each colourway, that's one for each gallery, some are already in Radford Gallery Stone and Gallery at 12 Eccleshall, the rest are waiting for a trip to the Tania Holland Gallery Bridgnorth and the craft cabinets at the Museum and gallery in Newcastle- under-Lyme. They are photographed on a Christmas jumper my Mum gave me, I felt the texture made a good backdrop. Next time I make some I will photograph the different felting processes.
Here are some photos of them.

These were photographed in the evening with a flash, I think I will have another go in daylight and no flash.

There also yellow, blue and black and red ones but have not photographed them yet.

My first blog

2011-01-12T05:53:00.000-08:00

Hi how exciting, my first attempt at blogging, my colleague Angela Smith from Gallery at 12 Eccleshall is helping me get started.
I am a textile designer from Stone in Staffordshire, this is an example of my work, and I am looking forward to sharing more with you later.

If you want to see more of my work go to my web site