Iron Age

150cm H x 100cm W

Staying in a ski chalet, I was impressed by a collection there of antique irons, many of them steam irons

I sketched them and I also made paper masks from them, to use when dyeing an antique French linen sheet.

These masks transferred the basic images of the irons onto the sheet.

Iron Age

I used the resulting printed fabric to construct a traditional pieced quilt in three layers called 'Any Old Iron'.

The printing was done using procion dye paint.

Iron Age

I also made a 'steam curtain' to hang in front of the quilt to give the impression of the work, heat and clouds of steam involved in ironing.

Iron Age

This translucent wall hanging 'Steam Veil' was made from lightweight voile with images of irons from my drawings machine embroidered onto the fabric before it was pieced with strips of the dyed linen.

The final work 'Iron Age' is the diptych consisting of the 'Any Old Iron' quilt with the 'Steam Veil' voile hanging draped in front of it.