Piper Shepard’s cut work

 

Even though Piper’s exhibition at the Crafts Study Centre in Farnham is finished I thought you’d like to see a close up of her work to see how it is made. This is a close up of ‘Lace like’ and you can see where she has cut with a knife in some places and a round punch in others. The fabric she uses is ‘muslin’ painted with gesso – I discovered during her visit though that what Americans call muslin we would call calico, which seems to correspond to the more solid nature of the fabric. During her presentation at the conference she told us that her interest in lace began when she was using devoré techniques and was further inspired by a visit to India looking at filigree screens, windows and walls. She is also interested in the shadows her work creates which are shown quite well in this image.