Jacqueline Jeynes

Jacqueline has worked with textiles since she was young, building a range of skills including knitting, crochet, tapestry, dressmaking, silk-screen printing and more recently felt-making. She has been a tutor with the Open College of the Arts for 20 years, providing support to distance learning students on Understanding Art and Textiles Design courses. As her original art qualifications were achieved several years ago, she has been working towards a Creative Arts degree through OCA. Jacqueline is currently undertaking a Level 3 Textiles course focusing on Felt-making Techniques and Design.

There is an invaluable family tradition of textiles design and craft including tailoring, dressmaking, fine art and three-dimensional design and a whole-hearted commitment to learning new skills and trying out new techniques. Jacqueline sees her current textiles work as ‘painting with fibres,’ mainly producing wall hangings, larger pieces of felt and individual seamless jacket designs for clients.

“I love this process, allowing the design to develop organically – basically it is an instinctive process that is difficult to plan in pre-design drawings. Sometimes I use fine silk fibres with a soft sheen or exciting man-made fibres in contrasting colours and unusual tactile qualities. Jackets are generally commissioned in the client’s choice of colours and shape and an initial small felt sample is made for approval, but ultimately we never know exactly how the final product will emerge!

“Recently I have been experimenting with the peg loom – another traditional craft re-invented around 20 years ago. It is a simple loom structure and is an ideal way to use up all the yarns and fibres collected over many years. Future design work includes creating different types of structures by combining fleece fibres with paper pulp, using heat-bonded Angelina fibres, and various forms of silk paper. There is still a fascinating journey ahead in my exploration of textile art and design, and I cannot ever see that I shall reach the end of my travels!”

Jacqueline is a member of International Feltmakers Association; Ceredigion Craft Makers and the Spinners, Weavers and Dyers Guild. Her book “Painting with Fibres – Felted Seamless Jackets and Wall Hangings” is due to be published early 2009.