Month: January 2024

Keepsake is a new body of work featuring my hand embroidered text and some very special objects from my childhood home.

Each small piece has been collected over the years and holds precious memories. The embroidered text shares a little story about the object.

The artworks are hand embroidered with vintage Sylko thread onto an old pillowcase that has been eco printed with leaves from my garden. The cloth is attached to the treasured object by a handmade cord made from vintage Sylko thread.

This form of hand embroidery appeared in my body of work called Reel Stories, which shares narratives of Lancashire’s cotton mill industry.

Keepsake 1: Toggle

A well-worn and cherished hand-me-down made of woollen cloth fastened up tightly with wooden toggles. I could tackle any weather that winter had to offer, wrapped up tight in my duffle coat.

Words: Snow is falling … School finishes early … bus stops at the bottom of the hill and we’ve a long walk back home in the dark … Wellies, duffle coat, scarf … forgot the gloves today and my hands are frozen … snow is deep and getting deeper … strong wind and driving thick snow… our school bags get heavier with every step … Home at last … Warm air on my face … Smell baking – Flour on mum’s apron … It’s pie for tea … my favourite.

Toggles: These wooden toggles, salvaged from an old duffle coat, were found in my mum’s button tin.

Cord: Handmade from vintage Sylko thread.

Size: wound 5 x 5cm: unravelled 141 x 5cm. Vintage Sylko thread hand embroidered text, Eco printed cotton cloth from an old pillow case.

Keepsake 2 : Pencil

Measure twice. Mark once. Then back behind his ear.  Whether he was working on stone flags or timber, Dad always had a sharpened pencil tucked behind his ear and ready to use.

Words: He wore a flat cap, shirt with rolled up sleeves and always had crisp turn ups on his trousers filled with grit.  Of an evening he’d put his dusty cap down with his keys, a pencil he’d sharpened with a Stanley knife and a torn scrap of cereal box he used for writing on.

Pencils: These treasured pencils were discovered on my dad’s workbench.

Cord: Handmade from vintage Sylko thread.

Size: wound 4 x 6cm: unravelled 84 x 6cm. Vintage Sylko thread hand embroidered text, Eco printed cotton cloth from an old pillow case.

Keepsake 3: Key

I walked past them every day before I left the house and there was a comfort in seeing them there – Mum’s keys. If they were on the hall table, it meant she was home. 

This key once opened my childhood home.

Words: On a barley twist table that bakes in the sun, at the foot of the stairs in the hall. On a fob on a chain near a shiny black phone, lives a bundle of keys to our home.

Key: This front door key, locks changed long ago, kept as a keepsake of my childhood home.

Cord: Handmade from vintage Sylko thread.

Size: wound 3 x 8cm: unravelled 57 x 8cm. Vintage Sylko thread hand embroidered text, Eco printed cotton cloth from an old pillow case.

Spare Key

Words: In a terracotta pot, chipped and broken in the frost, by the mossy gravel path, near the door.

Key: Orphan key found in the garden.

Cord: Handmade from vintage Sylko thread.

Size: wound 3 x 7cm: unravelled 22 x 7cm. Vintage Sylko thread hand embroidered text, Eco printed cotton cloth from an old pillow case.

These are the first pieces in a new series of work that I’m looking forward to adding to this year.