About me

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Tina Leahey

Textile Artist

Incorporating recycled materials

Based in Liverpool, England

As a Textile Artist who loves to incorporate recycled materials, I have always been fascinated by all the bits and pieces that people throw away and how I can adapt, heat or fuse into an art piece. I keep hold of any old clothes that people are discarding and create “memory items” such as umbrellas. I make beads from old shopping bags, tyvek envelopes and utilise discarded tomato puree tubes. There is no end to the possibilities as I look at everyday objects with an artist’s eye and I have always found it easy to improvise. I create new surfaces to stitch from fibres, threads and scraps of recycled papers and fabrics, which are then, embellished further using combination of hand and machine embroidery. Handmade beads or beads from old discarded necklaces are then added for further enhancement. My work is very tactile and I love working in layers and manipulating fabrics which gives added depth. The importance of texture, colour combination and contrast of materials are all elements that particularly interest me. Using the wealth of wonderful materials discarded by society, I can make many original unique handcrafted creations