Nuno Felt by Liz Clay

Unfortunately the review did not make it into the latest Felt Matters so it is supplied here

Review

Nuno and Felt is a marriage of woven fabric and fibres. This alliance allows Liz Clay to pursue her artistry over the medium with subtle, inspirational subversions. Using pebbles as fortuitous interlopers, or in her masterly apprehension of the gossamer translucence of fibres into wearable forms, which is where her greatest innovation lies. In this book, she shares her secrets.

Clay uses the subtle and gradual changes in her fabrics to reveal the evidence of nature's own processes. Clay's pieces are not pictorial. I really like this honesty. Let's not be afraid of edges, or wrinkles, this is unremitting, contemporary feltmaking. The underlying strength and forces of these seemingly fragile fibres belie the delicacy and honest relationship with her materials and her processes, which Clay achieves again and again in her work.

The book's layout is really clear. Key revelations appear in coloured boxes: materials, processes, comparative qualities, these will satisfy the expert feltmaker and inform the beginner. Clay's own creative ideas do not overpower the processes either, the photos are very clear, showing how to achieve many textural effects, including transparency, layers, lacy edges, use of cut-outs, cut and stitch, a three dimensional project, resist dyeing and an individual approach to shibori. The final chapter reveals the temptations of using the new embellishing machine to force control over those fibres. Clay however teaches how to work with the fibres, and in this book, shares her innovation, integrity and hard won mastery in a great tradition of sharing which epitomises the global feltmaking community.

Annie Sherburne October 2007