My love affair with fabric began at a young age when I was gifted a sock monkey kit for Christmas. It looked horrifying, but the distorted body and ill-fitting red felt vest pleased me. I suppose working with textiles is a primordial urge. Some fabric sculptures I’ve made over the years include pink velvet organs, a crocheted ladder, and a lump of dough. Besides a recent length of pompom garland made out of thrifted vintage tapestry yarn, I haven’t worked on any soft sculptures in a while. Lately, I’ve been researching glaze patterns and textural details for my ceramic pieces only to find unexpected inspiration in the endless world of textiles. I’ve shared some of my favorite findings below.
Antique Fabric Sample Books
I’m honestly blown away by Father Time’s composition here, created by the pieces of fabric slowly falling out of the book. Slender strips of fabric and frayed edges in perfect tonal harmony. I’m dying to flip through the rest of this book.
What can I say, I’m a sucker for a tender fragment. I especially love the brick pattern knit. The reds in this remind me of Adam Milner’s wrapper drawings.
Worn Corduroy
Sometimes I choose clothing items by running my hand across the rack, always stopping on the wide wale corduroy fabrics. I love when time wears the cotton rivulets smooth and creates faded patches. There’s something so honest about a faded rear end. I think this texture would translate well in ceramics.
Ribbons (conceptually speaking…)
This little sheet holds 20 perfect ribbon rectangles. I compulsively collect ribbons. So many different patterns, colors, textures. More than anything, I love how something can simultaneously be so beautiful and so practical. Keeping things together is a top tier duty.
Dries van Noten Pattern & Color Mixing
Dries consistently unspools some of the most unexpected pattern combos I’ve ever seen. I love his ability to make floral prints that feel like a Haiku about taking a solitary walk lit only by the soft glow of the winter moon. Brown and dusty blue glazes might capture this vibe.
Handmade Plushies
Using whatever scraps are lying around the house lends itself to some pretty intriguing provisional creations. This corduroy lamb expertly oscillates between two and three dimensions. I think building certain ceramic shapes can feel a bit like pattern-making and there’s a lot to be learned from folk sewing practices.
Tartan
I believe tartan answers the question of how to unify various clashing colors. Through a complex layering process, the colors combine and start to make sense. As a potential glazing technique, this would be…ambitious, but I’m always interested in stubbornly pursuing difficult tasks.
Patches
A well-chosen patch not only covers the hole you burned into your jacket from an unlabeled studio chemical, but it also add a new element of interest to a garment. The lifetime of the fabric is extended and a new pop of color freshens up the look. Perhaps I’ll start repairing the mistakes in my ceramic pieces with symbolic patches instead of smoothing over the area as if nothing ever happened.
That’s it for today’s inspiration dump! I’m feeling full of new ideas and excited to get into the studio. If you enjoyed peeking into my browser history, please share my substack with your friends :)
-Paloma
truly insightful