Gilly Semple – Felted Cards and Hand Painted Goods

As a child, I spent all my free time on the beach or in the sea. My father was a boat builder, so the sea was simply part of life. My love of it still influences my art, and I’m always drawn to blues, greens and purples.

I don’t remember doing many crafts until Primary 4, when our teacher decided thirty‑five seven‑year‑olds should knit penguins using a complicated pattern, tiny needles and fine wool. Unsurprisingly, no one finished. We did, however, successfully make butter from our school milk.

Since then, I’ve tried many crafts with mixed success. I eventually learned to knit (basically), gave up crochet almost immediately, made plenty of macramé plant holders, and avoided the shell‑covered bottles that were popular at the time. I’ve enjoyed silk painting, tried fused glass, fabric weaving, collage, willow weaving, wet felting, decoupage, sewing and embroidery. I once made a large embroidery piece during maternity leave, completely unaware it would take hundreds of hours.  Never again!

When I first joined Ochil Crafts, I was painting plant pots with alcohol inks, doing a few pictures and making wet‑felted scarves. The felting began at an Alloa Art Club workshop, where my equally hopeless table partner and I laughed our way through it and ended up becoming lifelong friends. I later took more felting classes and still do the occasional felt project.

These days, my main focus is alcohol ink painting. I went down a rabbit hole on YouTube, which led me to buy alcohol inks, and I’ve never looked back. I love their vibrancy and use them on tiles, glass and plant pots to create imagined landscapes. Painting pots is always a bit of a discovery, as the inks are so fluid and unpredictable. My early work was geometric, but now it leans towards landscapes built up from light washes and flowing colour.

I’ve only done one commission, a large ink‑on‑glass piece painted from the reverse side.  It was stressful because the ink dries so quickly, and I was worried about whether the client would like it or not. Thankfully, she did, and even bought three smaller pieces.

I’ve been creating less recently, but a friend donated a large supply of inks, and it would be rude not to use them. The only problem is that every time I finish a bottle, I decide I like the colour too much not to replace it. So it seems my alcohol‑ink journey may never end.