about maude
I grew up in the outback mining town of Broken Hill and moved to Adelaide in the late 1970s. I began making felt in the 1990s as part of my love of millinery. The inspiration for many of my designs is the Australian bush, in particular our 300 acre block of land that sits on the clifftops overlooking the River Murray in South Australia.
Felt is such a flexible and versatile fabric that I never tire of experimenting. It is the oldest fabric known to humanity. Since Neolithic times (more than 8,000 years ago) felt has been made by soaking and pounding layers of natural fibre to form a durable fabric and with new combinations of fibres and dyes the possibilities are endless.
A current favourite of mine is Nuno. These most delicate felts are made of silk chiffon wedded to fine merino wool. Wool fleece is placed on top of the woven fabric and using detergent, hot water and friction the fibres move through the fabric to the other side creating a new fabric with the fleece firmly bonded to the base fabric. The result is a unique piece of wearable art, beautifully textured, sensual and light to wear.
In recent years I have had a fantastic collaboration with fellow textile artist, Liz Wauchope. Silk is first hand painted and printed by Liz; I hand felt with an Australian Merino wool/silk mix.
I hope you enjoy looking around my site.
Maude
