Fibre Focus Friday: Flax/Linen

If you know your plant fibres then you'll be familiar with Flax.  Flax is also known as linseed and is grown in the UK for it's oil, but traditionally it was grown for its fibres which when processed can become linen.  Most flax comes from Europe, but there is a growing movement in the UK to bring it back into commercial production.

Flax is a bast fibre which means it that is made from the woody stems of the plant; the process is long, labour intensive and requires specialist machinery to help separate parts of the plant.  The more the fibre is processed, the finer the resulting fibres are.

It is a popular fibre with crafters as it adds defined textures and depth to projects whether they're spun, woven or felted.  We've been speaking to Wendyann from Blooming Fibres who uses this fantastic plant fibre in her business.

"Linen is an integral part of my creative practice, using it within my fibre papers increases the stability, giving me a firm foundation with which to embroider and embellish into. I usually start with a white base layer mixed with bamboo fibres and work my image/design over it, like starting with a blank canvas. The range of coloured linens is extremely extensive and with its slightly courser texture it causes the coloured linen to stand out against the other more delicate fibres. I tend to use it where I want to lift a full area or add more texture to a plain background. 

The process I use is the silk paper making or fibre fusion technique, I just use a wider range of fibres as well as silk. There are so many different plant fibres to use I am spoilt for choice at world of wool.  Linen is a firm favourite as it comes bleached white for used in my base layers, natural which I use for more muted tones and bright colours which I use to create my images and pattern designs.

My studio can be found at Farfield Mill, Sedbergh in Cumbria, an old textile mill, housing a wide variety of contemporary arts and crafts alongside more traditional heritage crafts. I work from my studio most days using linen alongside a wide range of other plant fibres creating my framed artworks, lampshades and wall hangings, amongst other things!"

You can find Wendyann online here and if you're feelin' the flax you can find it on our website here.