This blanket took about 100 hours to complete. It is one of two of my diploma works (the other one was in ceramics). I completed it as part of the 2 year traditional craftsmanship course at Uniwersytet Ludowy Rzemiosła Artystycznego in Wola Sekowa in southeast Poland. This has been a great experience, which I will share in a separate post. Thank you to all the students and tutors – I am a much more conscious artist thanks to you.
The idea for the blanket developed gradually. I didn’t know what my work was supposed to present. I certainly knew the job was going to be big. I wanted to do something that would exceed my previous projects, would be ambitious, but also correspond to what I had been creating so far. Last year, I made a few orders in which there was a concept of separate, small, simple plant forms, which I usually embroidered with mouline on linen. One of the works were micro-pouches with embroidery, and the other was a pillowcase depicting three women with a crown of flowers. And here, for the first time, there are flower drawings, the same ones which I also used in my diploma thesis.
Another of my work are two sweatshirts, one I made for myself and the other one made to order. Here, too, I used similar floral motifs, there were also “smiley faces”, reflective, directed inward.
The idea of embroidering blankets came to me about 2 years ago, when I was still living in northern Norway. I wanted to create something that will be beautiful, you can wrap yourself in it and feel really special. Relax and satisfy your senses. Before embroidering my diploma thesis, I did not do any rehearsals, I started embroidering immediately. I didn’t know if it would come out, but that’s how I have it – I have an idea and it burns me, so I embroider it right away. I made few trials and the blankets after washing stay very durable.
But in fact, the complete beginning of this technique can be found in the work I finished in the spring of 2020, in the first phase of the pandemic. More about this work HERE. Already then I used wool for floral embroidery. I recreated flowers known to me from northern Norway. I also invented my own motives. A fancy meadow was created.
I must admit that I came up with the idea of embroidery with wool on wool after watching beautiful, traditionally decorated Norwegian folk costumes. Norway, divided into several areas, has several dozen of such representative costumes, each of which refers to the typical vegetation found in a given area.
For me, the wool itself was a great inspiration for this project – both the juicy color of the blanket and the harmonious colors of the wool. I have been buying them successively over the last few years and I did not know what design they will ultimately be used for.
I tried to choose the colors so that the composition was interesting and maintain the balance and symmetry on the whole blanket, while letting the plants “flow” next to each other. The colors I chose are supposed to soothe, please the eye, harmonize with each other, but also energize. I often use colors and textures that are supposed to have a “therapeutic” effect on me in the process of creation and on the recipient. When embroidering individual forms on the blanket, I reached for the colors I needed at the moment – orange for energy, white for relief, etc.
I am glad that I took up this large, time-consuming challenge.
It is an amazing experience, especially since the blanket will stay with me, it will remind me to connect my embroidery interests with the decision to start and finish my studies at ULRA. During the winter months, it will provide spring warmth and remind you that I, as a creator, can take on and complete big challenges.
Blankets this type can be made to order – please contact me for details.
