Claire Edwards: Pushing The Boundaries Of Traditional Hand Embroidery

Today we meet Claire Edwards, who embodies her brand name of Defiant Embroidery. Claire shares her fascinating story of how she discovered her creativity and passion for hand embroidery as part of her quest to discover her third career. After an enjoyable career in the RAF and then working with young offenders, Claire suffered some setbacks that led her to going to University and discovering hand embroidery. However, Claire has decided to push the boundaries of what is thought possible with traditional hand embroidery and has started combining her beautiful sculptural hand embroidery with unusual materials such as concrete and acrylic resin. Susan Weeks chats with Claire Edwards about: Being inspired to 'entomb' her beautiful embroideries in resin A LOT of trial and error to test resin and its effects upon her embroidery Building up layers and creating a unique wall hanging Our impact and damage to the natural world is a recurring theme Coral reefs and an affinity with the sea Discovering creativity later in life! It all started with crochet... Life changing decisions and discovering her next path Finding her way, developing her ideas and her embroidery 'voice' Beads are a big thing! The challenges of entering the Hand & Lock competition The phoenix as a personal reflection on life's journey A trip to her local hospital  'Accidents & Emergency' For this episode... View Show Notes, Links & Examples of Claire's work at https://www.stitcherystories.com/claireedwards Look: https://www.instagram.com/defiant.embroidery/ Like: https://www.facebook.com/defiantembroidery View: https://defiantembroidery.com/ Link: http://www.linkedin.com/in/%20claire-edwards-6a6990b2 Send: [email protected]   Related Stitchery Stories episodes you might like: https://www.stitcherystories.com/daniellebalfoort/ https://www.stitcherystories.com/maryanntoop/   Other people, places & things we mentioned: Karen Nichol http://www.karennichol.com/