Layers of Meaning

Fabric relief Illustration by Salley Mavor

Salley Mavor has combined a number of traditions and techniques to come up with a form of fiber illustration that it both warm and comforting. Her acorn dolls are reminiscent of the handicrafts traditions that Waldorf Schools around the world pursue with their students. But she has taken these simple dolls and used them to create story illustrations using what she has labelled "fabric relief technique".

image: Fabric Relief Illustration from "In the Heart" by Salley Mavor

Her page, Behind the Scenes: A Photo Album - Salley Mavor, at work reveals some of the creation process behind the dollmaking. Mavor describes the creation process, " To make a book, each picture starts as a clear, vivid scene in my head. I do not know exactly how the pictures will unfold and it will go through many steps to get from the imagined to the finished product. I start by working out a rough layout in small thumbnail sketches. They are blown up on a copier to full book size and made into a dummy to show the editor. She then checks to see that the content of the layout works with the text and that there is enough room for the type. After making any necessary changes to the layout, and with the trust of my editor, I start work on the fabric relief pictures. Each illustration requires about a month of hand sewing, so it takes more than a year to complete all of the pages. The original fabric relief pictures are then photographed and used as illustrations in the printed book."

Mavor recently published a book, Felt Wee Folk that describes the process of creating miniature felt images.