LYNNE STONE

Botanical Artist - 3 Dimensional Embroidery

In 1997 I left Melbourne to travel Australia in a converted Toyota Coaster Bus,exploring the fascinating diversity of the countryside and its flora and fauna. I collected the originals of the pieces I now make during those 10 happy years of wandering.  Settling back into a land base was a little bumpy, with the  the bushfires of February 2009 destroying my home not long after I moved in.   I have now replaced the burnt-out bus with a nippy small campervan, and my burnt-out home with a new and much improved structure, with a purpose-built sewing-room (8 double power points!) and a special dyeing area.

I try to convey my delight in Australia's native plants by creating realistic models using machine embroidery. I build the three-dimensional pieces from fine wire and organza, heavily machine stitched with white rayon and/or polyester threads. These are then painted with dye and restitched with hand-dyed threads to add veins and special features. The detail of the piece is important - its myriad colours, the emerging flowers and leaves, and marks of insect damage etc. Each new specimen demands new techniques, and each new technique presents new problems and new solutions.