Trashmenterie No. 3 - Woven using vapes, emergency tape and ropes made from waste clothing, twine, netting etc.
‘Trashmenterie’ is a term I developed to describe the process of reimagining passementerie - the craft of trimmings, fringes and tassels - from waste materials.
Historically Passementerie was used to signal wealth and power and was a highly guarded craft which may have contributed to it's current endangered status.
Passementerie is separated into two categories: loom work and off loom / table work like tassels and rosettes. I was lucky enough to learn table work techniques from leading Passementerie expert @hedgesclare in a 2 day workshop hosted by @thelittleschoolofneedlecraft
I see Trashmenterie as a reclaimation of both skills and materials to create something akin to totems for our throwaway times.
This work was created during a residency at @thewilsonchelt and made possible with funding from @aceagrams
#Trashmenterie #passementerie #WasteAge #textilewaste #textiles
When I first began the work I would later call Trashmenterie I thought I would focus on fast fashion waste but I became interested in these colourful shiny objects I kept finding strewn about the place. I was struck by the sheer density of materials packed inside these vapes: plastics, aluminium, microchips, sensors, lithium batteries, wires, LCD screens and liquid.
Before disposables, vapes were rechargeable and refilled manually from bottles designed for long-term use. Disposable vapes rose rapidly in the early 2020s and were banned in the UK in June 2025. At their peak an estimated 5 million disposable vapes were being thrown away every week in the UK. In 2023 over 40 tonnes of lithium was discarded in single-use vapes, enough to make thousands of electric car batteries. Now only rechargeable or refillable devices are legal though the trend of convenience created through disposables has transferred into prefilled pods continuing a cycle of disposability.
Vapes are classed as electrical waste but with no incentives or consequences most end up in landfill. I imagine this thin, technicoloured layer of materials pressed into the earth’s stratigraphy, entering the geological record to be excavated and interpreted by future archaeologists.
Passementerie historically signalled status, wealth and power, I see re-imagining these techniques using waste materials as a way of reclaiming them. In this piece, I elevate discarded vapes alongside obsolete materials such as videotape and microchips to explore ideas around value, craft and material culture and ask what new meanings can emerge in our throwaway age?
This work was created during a year-long residency at @thewilsonchelt and made possible by funding from @aceagrams
#trashmenterie #passementerie #textilewaste #fastfashion #materialculture
Trashmenterie No.1
‘Trashmenterie’ is a term I developed for the techniques I’ve been working with to create passementerie-inspired pieces from waste materials.
During my year-long residency at The Wilson Museum, I focused on passementerie — the endangered craft of weaving ornate trimmings, fringes and tassels. Historically used by royalty, the clergy and the military to signal wealth, power and rank, these techniques were highly specialised and closely guarded. By re-imagining these crafts through contemporary waste streams, from fast fashion to discarded fishing nets, I’m interested in what new meanings and values can emerge in our throwaway age.
Here are some pics of the studio, gathering and processing materials, making ropes and weaving on my lovely old Harris 4 shaft loom (which was kindly donated to me).
You can see my Trashmenterie works as part of the Meeting Points exhibition curated by @nicola0rg at the @thewilsonchelt till 22 February.
These explorations were made possible by the DYCP fund from @aceagrams
#Trashmenterie #passementerie #textileart #textilewaste #artresidency
The Imagination station collaborated with artist Helena Doyle @h.d.ready last week who introduced us to the concept of using rigging creatively. It was a great chance to play and create changeable spaces, exploring cause and effect.
The Imagination Station is a play space for all ages to make, create and build the spaces they want! Exploring and facilitating collaborative play as a way to explore new imagined futures. The Imagination Station is part of Wyldwood Arts active research to inform our ongoing work.
#Rigging #Play #Spaces #Communities #ForestOfDean
1. Brightly coloured materials, net and ropes with a number of clips and pulleys.
2. A smiling person is under a gazebo surrounded by ropes and materials.
3. Two young people are playing with ropes. In the background are housing and a green area.
4. A hand pulls on a brightly coloured rope attached to a pulley which lifts some purple voile.
5. A childs' hands play with a pulley on a rope.
6. A rope has pulled a string bag full of cones up high off of the ground.
Musings and wanderings at the Woodland Symposium residency September 2025 by @interfaceinagh in Connemara.
Supported by @artscouncilireland
#interfaceinagh #artandecology #landart #artintheland #artinthelandscape #artresidency #artistresidency #connemara #connemaranationalpark #ecoart #Ireland #artinireland
🪢 Cord-Making Workshop with Helena Doyle 🪢
This Sunday celebrate the opening of Material Worlds: Contemporary Artists and Textiles with a hands-on workshop led by artist-in-residence Helena Doyle, @h.d.ready ! ✨
🧶 Inspired by the themes and materials of the exhibition, Helena will guide participants of all ages through the art of cord-making - a simple and tactile technique using twisting and winding.
Once made, your cord can be added to a large wooden spool installation in the gallery, creating a growing, collaborative artwork that will evolve over the course of the exhibition, or taken home to display!
🌟 Helena Doyle is a multi-disciplinary artist exploring textiles, installation, and heritage crafts, creating immersive experiences that connect us to each other and the land.
Drop in and be part of this growing, interactive artwork! 🧵
📅 Sunday 21st September | 10am - 1pm | Free
Image by @emlynbainbridge
#TheWilson #MaterialWorlds #HelenaDoyle #Textiles #ArtWorkshop #FamilyFriendly #Gloucestershire
🎈Did you see my aerial sculpture Himmeli at Alltogether Now?!🎪
📸 If you have any photos I'd love to see them! Feel free to tag or DM me! 🤗
🌳We had a lovely time installing in Curraghmore Estate and even met a super cute but sleepy hedgehog 🦔
✨Thanks so much to @ainemurfx for being the best crew mate, Conor @cmcfabrications and Poppy for putting in me sky hooks, the brilliant ATN Art Director @smith_jessie_
for inviting me and my Dad for being my oldest collaborator 💙
✌️🍉
@alltogethernow.ie
#atn #atn2025 #alltogethernow #alltogethernow2025 #aerialsculpture #skyhooks #softarchitecture #liminaltemple #festivalart #outdoorart
🎈My aerial sculpture at Alltogether Now @alltogethernow.ie 🌈
🌞Tag me in your photos I'd love to see them! 💖
#alltogethernow #alltogethernow2025 #atn #aerialsculpture #skyhooks #softarchitecture #outdoorart #festivalart
Summer Solstice 2025 was the first time I visited Stonehenge and it was a trip!
There was such a mishmash of energies, sights and sounds, a sensory overload but a gorgeous sense of openness, acceptance and coming together.
Walking up to the stones for the first time in the dark, seeing their stature and strength, was awe-inspiring. I was surprised to find them warm to the touch. The love and reverence people had for the stones was palpable and moving.
We were lucky to meet the archaeoastronomer and Stonehenge expert Simon Banton, who was very generous with his knowledge answering my gazillion questions while we awaited the sunrise at Stone 1.
I learned, for instance, that Christopher Wren—who had carved his name at Stonehenge—made the inner dome of St Paul’s Cathedral the same size as the sarsen stones: 102 ft across.
The stones at Solstice are the perfect portal to thinking about deep time; connecting all the people who’ve witnessed the sunrise there across the ages. We spoke about the earliest peoples all the way up to more recent history from the various Druidic orders to the New Age travellers and the ‘exclusion years’ under Thatcher, right up to now.
As sunrise approached, the drumming stopped and silence fell on the crowd. The sun rose in all its glory, and there was a sense of gratitude and hope.
#solstice #summersolstice #stonehenge #thisisengland
