Transparency in Textiles - Tapa dura

Achieving transparency and translucency in textiles - the major new trend Combine stitch and cloth with acetates, acrylics, perspex, resins and gels Techniques, projects and inspirational textile art All the materials are readily available and safe to use One of the major new trends in textile art: achieving transparency and translucency through design and with the use of new, harder materials - acrylic, perspex, acetates, fibre optics, gels and resins - in combination with stitch and fabric. The author takes you through the design process for achieving transparency in texiles and then introduces you to the materials, from paper and fabric to acetates, acrylics, perspex, resins and metals. She also explains how to create the illusion of translucency through layers, reflections, shadows, lighting and stitch techniques. The techniques for combining stitch and cloth with these harder materials are covered in detail, along with stunning images of the latest transparent textile art. To get you started, there are projects to make a piece of jewellery, a three-dimensional object and a textile piece combined with lighting. As the range of heat tools revolutionized textile art in the last five years, so the introduction of these harder materials - all readily available and safe to use - will take textile art on to another level.

Dawn Thorne is the course tutor and co-ordinator for the Stitched Textiles course at the East Berkshire College, Windsor (one of the most prestigious textile colleges in the UK). She exhibits at the Mall Gallery, as a member of the Society of Designer Craftsmen, in addition to Studio 21.She lives in Warfield, Berkshire.