YOU ARE PURCHASING ONE FABRIC WALL HANGING, NOT THE ENTIRE COLLECTION OF 8. DRIFTWOOD LOG AND STRING NOT INCLUDED.
This unique wall hanging represents shapes from pressed seaweed, joined together without a background to allow light or your wall colour to show through.
It is the size of a large picture so could be ideal to add decoration and texture to your wall. It could suit a coastal home or one with a natural theme. The muted tones of olive green, faded red and beige would complement many home colour schemes.
The striped fabric has cut outs still attached to add further texture, revealing the fabric behind. The shape is outlined with green faux leather, stitched down with copper thread. The dark green shape is outlined with red thread, giving a ripple effect, making it feel like real seaweed. The dark pink shape is embellished with yarn dyed with seaweed. The bottom shape is cut from green and pink printed fabric, edged with pink threads taken from a chunky pink cord, to enrich the pink in the fabric.
There are grommets around the top edge so that the hanging can hook over fixings on the wall, or as seen here, hung with yarn from a piece of driftwood.
Approximate measurements:
105cm height
75cm width
Materials:
Cotton, polyester, faux leather, wool, metallised thread
Cleaning advice:
Spot clean with a damp sponge if dirty
Blow with a hairdryer occasionally to keep dust free
Keep away from fire
How this Wall Hanging came to be
My collection of seaweed inspired wall hangings took shape over a number of months.
The starting point to my project was discovering a collection of pressed seaweed on postcards (see image on Home page), which had belonged to my great grandfather. Through research I discovered that these postcards were likely from the Victorian era, as collecting and pressing seaweed was a very popular woman’s hobby during this time. The colours of the pressed seaweed survived well, and I was inspired to use them as my colour palette. I wanted to base my project on a coastal theme whilst not being generic and predictable, by choosing seaweed as my subject matter, which is often overlooked for the more appreciated, prettier shells and seaside creatures. I value the fascinating natural textures of seaweed and aspired to show this through my collection.
I enjoyed learning new skills such as pressing seaweed, dyeing with seaweed and other natural plant dyes, heat press techniques, using bondaweb, and couching. I also expanded on my existing skills such as crochet, shibori, fabric manipulation, beading, melting plastic to make fabric, water soluble fabric embroidery and machine embroidery. I have always been attracted to dyeing fabric and used seaweed, tea, coffee, madder, goldenrod, walnut leaves, and birch bark to dye fabric and yarns, which I used to decorate my wall hangings. Having previously enjoyed pressing flowers, I taught myself how to press seaweed which enabled me to use actual seaweed in my designs. For example, I made prints using the heat press of pressed seaweed which I appliqued onto my wall hangings.
A major part of my project’s ethos was using recycled and scrap materials as well as ensuring the authenticity of my project by using the seaweed itself as much as possible. I aimed to create a unique and sophisticated collection of unconventional coastal wall hangings, which are designed and handmade with reused fabrics and authentic use of the subject they represent.