Harness the beauty of the natural world to create unique textile art pieces. For textile artists and embroiderers, nature is a perennially favourite theme, and Marian Jazmik creates some of the best nature-inspired textile art around. This beautiful book, packed with practical tips and visual inspiration, reveals the secrets of Marian's lushly textured and sculptural pieces, showing how to turn a chance spotting of lichen on a tree trunk or a scattering of autumn leaves into a glorious work of textile or mixed-media art. Learn how to begin with photography, homing in on details in nature and manipulating the resulting images to create microscopic and often surprising detail. Then comes the fun part: translating the images into 3-D work, using an eclectic mix of natural and man-made textiles, as well as unusual recycled materials that would otherwise be destined for landfill (packaging, bubble wrap, car parts!). Marian goes on to outline the myriad of techniques she uses in her work, including not only hand and machine embroidery but also dyeing, printing, painting and liberal use of the heat gun and soldering iron, helping her build up a heavily textured surface which in turn is manipulated to add further texture and dimension to her finished piece. Illustrated throughout with stunning examples of Marian's work, this book will provide you with endless imaginative ideas for distilling the wonders of nature into your own textile art