Stylized Iris: Floral Fabric Art with Recycled Materials

October 24, 2025 / Karen Lane / 6 Comments

In my last post I mentioned the Iris that I’ve been working on for the Lincolnshire Textile Group exhibition Bountiful Botanicals which will be held in August 2026 in Lincoln Cathedral. Having made numerous leaves, seed pods and flowers in the past using Tyvek I knew this fabric from DuPont would be perfect for the flower project. I think most readers will know of Tyvek fabric but if you don’t it’s made of 100% high density polyethylene (HDPE) fibres. These are randomly laid and compressed through a unique flash-spinning process to form a strong, non woven material that has the properties of paper, film, and fabric. It can be painted, stitched and heat distressed to create wonderful textures and exciting structures.

The idea was to create a single, tall slim flower with four leaves. I began by creating the individual petals, four larger ones to hand down and four slightly smaller ones to stand upright. I decided to make this a stylised Iris and added a twirly flourish at the end of each petal, finished off with a gold painted wooden bead.

Apart from the B&Q wire for the armatures all the other materials used in this project have been recycled or repurposed including the recycled Tyvek which I now buy in preference to the new, non recycled version. It isn’t as substantial as the original but perfectly good enough for creating petals, leaves, etc. and I love the effects I can get when it’s distressed and painted with metallic acrylics. Although it isn’t yet widely recycled there are specialist centres that are doing this which is good to know.

The stem of the flower is a repurposed garden cane and for the base I found the perfect shaped glass vase in my local charity shop. Originally I was going to felt a “bulb” as a base but I’m glad I went with the vase as it not only provides the stability needed for the display but it also gave me the ideal form around which I could wrap the string, plus it emphasise the verticality of the flower making it appear even taller. I was intending to dye the string but after offering up a few different coloured papers to audition the colours I came to the conclusion that it works better left natural as it gives more focus to the flower itself.

The photo of my flower in situ shows where the choice of colour came from. It stands 112cm tall and the flower head is approx 26cm wide.

Photo shows a hand made, single stem Iris created from Tyvek fabric and wire. The flower is painted in turquoise, purple and gold metallic acrylic with four turquoise leaves. It stands in a vase on a coffee table next to a large Monstera plant.

If you use Tyvek fabric in your projects and want to try the recycled version it’s available on eBay UK from Spenic-recycling.

Summer Textile Projects…..

August 27, 2025August 28, 2025 / Karen Lane / Leave a comment

As I sit down to begin this post the sky has darkened and the rain (fingers crossed) is about to fall, heaven knows we need it, but what a fabulous summer it’s been so far here in sunny Lincolnshire! I tend to not do too much in the way of creative stuff through July and August as there are too many distractions and this year the intense heat has made me feel very lazy so lots of time spent relaxing, reading and watching creative videos. Consequently I’ve now got a table full of projects I need to finish and a head full of others I want to start.

A couple of projects I did do this summer are two wet felted vessels. The first one, inspired by a shrivelled seed pod, was made at the İFA Region 8’s Summer School in Arnesby near Leicester. Our region encompasses several counties and is so spread out we struggle to get our İFA members to attend. On the other hand we have a regular group of creative ‘non members’ in the locality who are more than welcome to come along to our events, and thankfully they do! It was a busy and fun two days…..

My seed pod began life as five leaf book resist measuring 27cm x 36cm and various colours of Merino and Corriedale fibres. After removing the resist and fulling the felt I pushed and pulled the pod and attached strong clips to create the shape I wanted. I didn’t want a visible hole so the one I cut was so tiny so meant the resist ended up being pulled to pieces in order to get it out! Now it’s finished I feel like it needs a bit of something adding so I’m wondering about embroidering circles in a dull gold thread?

The second vessel was started last Friday when I was working at the Usher Gallery in Lincoln. I’d seen a post somewhere mentioning they were having their second Artist Studio Day and inviting local artists to apply. If successful it meant I would get the use of a table in their ground floor workspace and get to spend the day with four other artists. It sounded like a great opportunity and I’m so glad I applied! Only four artists turned up on the day and unfortunately one of those had to leave early. My other two companions were both painters and it was nice to get to know a bit about them and watch them work. We had a few members of the public come in to see what we were doing but for most of the time it was very quiet which allowed us to focus on our projects.

The day before I went I made a textured prefelt using threads, silks, fabrics, etc which I could cut up to create the undulating surface decoration. It was necessary to do this beforehand as I knew my vessel was unlikely to be finished on the day but would need to be at a stable stage in order to be able to fold it to carry back to the car. I got the obvious comments from one or two folk of how my work “looked like a pizza”. The following day after removing the resist and fulling it my 41cm dia pizza had become an 18cm x 24cm 3D vessel weighing 120gms. I’m loving the textures and colours it has!

One of the Summer pieces on my table which I’ve yet to finish is an Iris which I started at the end of July. This is going to be for the Lincolnshire Textile Groups Bountiful Botanicals competition taking place in October. I’m creating it from hand painted Tyvek fabric and wire and the flower will be approximately 30cm dia by 115cm tall. I’ve just got the leaves to do now and then I’ve got the perfect spot for it in my lounge when it’s finished. I don’t want to reveal too much before the competition so this is a sneak preview for now…..

Another work in progress on my table right now is this insect brooch, at approx 14cm long I’ve definitely developed a thing for hand made oversized textile brooches! I’ve just got the legs and antennae to finish, more colour to add and the pin to attach.

My final work in progress is a mixed media project and something else I’m keeping under wraps until October as it’s also for the Lincolnshire Textile Group. Depending on how it turns out, it might replace the Iris as my competition piece. This started life as an oversized wet felted Banksia Nut which I made last year. I’ve never been happy with it but a few months ago I had the idea of giving it a new lease of life with a new identity. I’ve still got lots to do to it yet. It’s by far the strangest thing I’ve ever made and it won’t be for everyone, let’s just say it’s a hybrid of Banksia meets Venus Fly Trap and yes numerous insects will appear to be harmed in the making of this piece! I can’t wait to reveal it!

Gone Fishing…..

April 12, 2024September 3, 2025 / Karen Lane / 10 Comments

In a previous post I showed a wire work Angler Fish made using galvanised wire, aluminium wire, beading wire and sinamay, for Waltham Textiles forthcoming exhibition. My original plan had been to cover the wire frame with painted Tyvek fabric before distressing with a heat tool….somehow I got carried away with making the framework and didn’t get to add the Tyvek fabric at the point I’d intended and the fish was put to one side looking like this…..

Feeling this project wasn’t really finished, last week I decided to bite the bullet and go back to my original idea of adding the Tyvek fabric, although at this stage it was going to be particularly fiddly! Now I can call it done and I’m really glad I took the time to do it, the result is far closer to how I originally envisaged my fish looking.

A photograph of a wire work 3D sculpture of an angler fish. The fabric covered frame has been coloured with blue, turquoise and bronze fabric paint and heat distressed to create the look of metal. — Wire work, Tyvek fabric and Sinnemay

Painted with Dylon fabric paint and acrylic ink she stands approx 31cm tall x 62cm long x 36cm wide.

There are over 300 species of anglerfish living at various ocean depths. All anglerfish are carnivorous and therefore adapted for the capture of prey. Deep-sea species have large heads that bear enormous, crescent-shaped mouths full of long, fang-like teeth angled inward for efficient prey-grabbing. Most adult females of the suborder Ceratioidei have a luminescent organ called the esca at the tip of a modified dorsal ray (the illicium or fishing rod). This organ serves the purpose of luring prey in dark, deep-sea environments, but also serves to call males’ attention to the females to facilitate mating. Who knows what this girls gone fishing for!

Inspired by Nature…..3D Textiles

December 10, 2021December 13, 2021 / Karen Lane / 7 Comments

My recent Forest Floor workshop for the ladies of Snape Textiles up in Bedale has reignited my interest in working with Tyvek fabric. It’s a material I hadn’t used for a little while but making a tiny seed pod a few weeks ago, as a sample for their class, has led to more, and larger, pieces and an idea for a new workshop I’m calling Inspired by Nature…..3D Textiles.

The small seed pods are 6cm from end to end, the large one is 30cm

These pieces all start with a wire armature wrapped in hand painted Tyvek fabric which is then distressed with a heat gun.

What I particularly like about this technique is the metallic look that can be achieved…..although they are strong, and look as if they are heavy, these pieces actually have the weight and feel of paper.

The first Inspired by Nature – 3D Textile class will be held at Belchford Village Hall LN96LJ on the 22nd January 2022 so if you are interested in learning this technique, or want to know more about the workshop please get in touch via the contact form.

Forest Floor…..

December 6, 2021December 6, 2021 / Karen Lane / 8 Comments

I recently had the pleasure of running two consecutive one-day workshops for members of the Snape Textile Group up in the beautiful village of Bedale, North Yorkshire.

The group had booked my Forest Floor workshop which covers lots of different techniques for working with heat manipulative materials and creating the kind of stuff you find littering the forest floor such as leaves, twigs, bark and seed pods. With 30 ladies interested it was decided to split this fast paced class into two days to ensure all of them had the best learning experience and no one got left behind!

After each demonstration the students set to painting, stitching, wrapping and distressing (using heat guns and soldering irons) their Tyvek and Lutradur to create the various elements.

This is a sample based workshop and students are not necessarily expected to produce a finished piece of work by the end of it when it’s booked as a one day class. We do discuss how to pull everything together and create a suitable background but this is something that can be done afterwards at your own pace. If a group particularly want to see it through to the end it can either be booked as a two day class or we simply limit the amount of leaves made on the day to get a finished piece done. Yes, it’s those leaves that tend to hook folk in and then the time just disappears!

It was a full on weekend with the ladies producing an array of wonderful work and, hopefully, having a lot of fun in the process. This was the first time some had used a heat gun or a soldering iron but going by the response it won’t be the last!

Thanks to all for your enthusiasm, hard work and good company and a special thanks to Sarah Lowe for hosting me for the weekend. I’m looking forward to working with you all again at some point in the future.

Tyvek Seed Pod…..

August 7, 2018August 8, 2018 / Karen Lane / 9 Comments

I developed a ganglion on my right hand as a result of making the bird mask last week. It’s giving me some gip so I’m resting the hand for a while and doing a few pieces that don’t require a strong grip. Yesterday it was a Tyvek Seed Pod incorporating sari silks and acrylic paint…..

Today I made a start on a mixed Media piece with the theme “Abstraction” which was set by the textile group Jeudis which I became a member of a couple of months ago. I’m combining free motion stitch with painted Lutradur and wet Felted Merino, for now it’s work in progress…..

Abstraction

Forest Floor Workshop…..

April 9, 2018June 12, 2025 / Karen Lane / 14 Comments

Last Saturday I travelled back up to one of my favourite workshop venues, the Simply Stitch studio in East Keswick. It was for the first of a new class I’ve put together which I’m calling my Forest Floor Workshop.

12 ladies took part in the two day workshop exploring the use of heat manipulative materials including Tyvek fabric, Tyvek paper, Lutradur and polyester fabrics which we painted, stitched, cut and distressed using heat tools and soldering irons. For the majority it would be the first time they have worked with any of these materials and tools.

Our theme for the weekend was the forest floor and it was great to see that some of the ladies, like Juliet and Julie, had been out foraging for inspiration!

The samples that were created included a variety of leaves, bark, twigs, lichen, etc…..anything you might see on a walk through the woods, and a few things you might never see too!!

Carolyn arrived with her hand heavily bandaged and the intention of just watching the others. That idea lasted all of a few minutes and she turned out to be one of the most prolific sample makers of the group!

Janet and Jackie were looking very proud of their hessian and Lutradur “twigs” and rightly so!!

The ladies threw themselves whole heartedly into experimenting with the various materials and created some wonderful pieces of work with fabulous textures.

Once again a big thank you to Nicola for being such a great host and to all of the ladies who took part. I’m looking forward to seeing some of you again when I return to East Keswick in June.