new hydrangea picture in progress
Felty Beached Boat, Blooms, Beads and Birthday

Felty Beached Boat, Blooms, Beads and Birthday

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Lyn

This is one of my early felted pictures from over 15 years ago that I decided to remake as my style has changed quite a bit over the years.

Old boat on beach amongst broken fence with sea and yachts

I laid out a simple background, about half of the size of the original picture…

Merino wool fibre background layout sand and sea

… then I made an inlay of a boat by thinly needle felting it.

needle felted boat hull in red, green and multi merino wool

After the boat was in place on the background, I used my own pre-felt to add the body of a seagull, 3 yachts and 7 fence posts – then I added wool yarn for fence wire.

I felted the picture by rubbing mainly from the back then rolled it a few times.

When it was dry I needle felted the seagull’s eye then stitched his legs and beak.  The finished size is approx 33 x 20cm (13” x 8”) and much more my style today.

boat hull on beach with seagull on it and sand, sea and yachts

Annie

I still haven’t finished my hydrangeas picture.  So much for a quieter few weeks!  I have done a bit of work on it though.

This is where I was at in the last post.

hydrangea flowers and ferns multi colours

I decided that although I love a colour explosion the picture was getting too crowded and the turquoise wasn’t working.

So I needed to shake it up.  I turned it upside down and suddenly it felt better and lighter.

hydrangea and fern

Then as much as I loved the fern I removed it from the top as the hydrangeas felt squished (it will become it’s own picture instead).

Then I turned it on its side and removed everything except the hydrangeas.

bare bones of hydrangea picture new arrangement

While that was a convoluted way to get there I finally found a composition that I liked, just a vase display of the hydrangeas to let them speak without my usual bombardment of “stuff”.

new hydrangea picture in progress

Next job was to work on the detail of the hydrangeas and introduce some contrast, and this is the stage I’m still at, but it’s getting there.  I find a lot of fibre and fabric isn’t light enough or dark enough to give much contrast but I’ve been trying to find the best bits of my stash and found a dark green and aubergine that work quite well.

monotone image to inspect value

colour image with dark try-out

Lyn

I have a small mauve vase that’s damaged so it can’t hold water, but as it’s of great sentimental value I display it with fake flowers.  The tissue paper flowers I made have become faded and jaded so they needed replacing. Although they don’t look too bad in the photo, the pink and yellow have lost their zing and the camera didn’t pick up the dust nestled amongst the petals.

mauve vase with tissue paper flowers in orange pink and yellow

Recently I went to my local garden centre and I saw springtime ‘felt ball flowers’ in small vases for sale – looked easy enough to make and I didn’t need to buy any supplies as I already have a stock of wire and wool to make felt beads.

florist gold wire and wool felt bead threaded onto twisted wire

Ta-Dah!

felt bead flowers on gold wire in a small mauve vase

We bought wool fibre colour sample books years ago that are not helpful anymore.  What to do with pages and pages of little bits of wool?

After making the vase flower beads I thought maybe I could make lots more beads with the bits of wool.  I knew they would be smaller than those I made for the vase and I was pleased with my first one.  Then I realised that I would be making beads for the sake of it as I don’t have a plan for them.  So maybe the scraps will end up on the drum carder?

Small colour samples of wool stapled to cards with one blue felted bead

I have a stock of card blanks and from time to time I like to make greetings cards using scraps of fabric or felt on the front and finish with a paper insert.  This 6” square card was decorated with cut felt shapes for a relative’s birthday.

birthday card with felt flower on the front

What have you made from felt scraps?  They’re too precious to throw away aren’t they?

 

Lendrum wheel workshop on the way to the cottage

Lendrum wheel workshop on the way to the cottage

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Last post, we were chatting about the Peterborough Fibre Festival and my quest to find the new Lendrum wheel company (lendrumwheels.ca). I found out that a lovely young couple had taken over the company from Gord Lendrum and had moved it to Carlton Place (so much closer to Ottawa than Odessa). He would also be very happy to meet my Rook (a castle wheel) and my folding upright with the heavy drinking problem. We arranged to chat and set an appointment next week.

We had plans to drive back and forth to the cottage several times that week, it’s still a bit chilly to stay overnight. The trip takes us through Carlton Place each time, so we didn’t have any trouble arranging a time to meet James at his workshop.

The address is in an industrial part of the north end of the City. With a bit of guessing, we found the right door. One of the big machines was running, so it took a moment to have the door answered. What an amazing space full of exciting woodcutting and turning equipment!

Large woodworking machine 2.1) machine is making the maidens and mother of all

Rook, Lendum Castle wheel and the old single tredle folding upright also by Lendrum2.2) My Rook (a lovely castle wheel by Lendrum)on the left, and on the right, my folding upright with the heavy drinking problem, both went to Carlton Place for a spa stay.

 The rook has a problem with the drive wheel turning if nudged. The upright has a pin underneath that has either broken or had the glue let go.  We will find out shortly!

James was excited to see both of them. He said he thinks he may have seen a wheel that looked like the rook on a shelf at Gord’s shop. He also said that the upright was an early single treadle and was not exactly the same specs as the modern double treadle versions. He checked bobbins on both wheels against the modern version.

It was an amazing place full of spinning wheel parts, impressive looking machines and photography options! Let’s take a look around.

drive wheels sitting together wating to be added to the new wheels2.3) Drive wheels waiting to be added to new spinning wheels

spinning bobins drying in various woods 2.4) Drying bobbins

lath and bobin in the lath2.5) lathe and a finished bobbin showing where a new bobbin would be positioned

showing the making of the Madens and mother of all parts; the madens and the mother of all held in the jig to be cut2.6-2.8) making the pieces of the mother of all, and the maidens

spinning the flyer to make sure its ballanced2.9) balancing the flyer

a spindle head for the upright lendrum wheel3.) I didn’t know that Gord had made a spindle attachment for the upright wheel.

I hope you will be as amazed and impressed as I was. It was kind of James to let me take photos to show you some of the parts, before the pieces become lovely Canadian Spinning Wheels!

After a chat about the wheels and a tour of the workshop, we eventually let him get back to work.  I wished my wheels a happy spa time and got back into the car to drive to the cottage. We got there and over the day saw a few of the new neighbours.

2 photos of a canada goose at the cottage4.1) Canada goose

4 photos of Bufflehead ducks4.2) Bufflehead ducks

small turtle swimming in creek with reflections of trees in the water4.3) Small turtle swimming past the dock

I don’t have a dedicated studio yet, but I am taking over some of the space with fibre-related activities. We moved furniture to create workspaces for spinning and felting.

I have 2 of my castle wheels moved to the living room and the screened porch.

small casle flax wheel5.1)Wheel #1, a small flax wheel of unknown maker

small castle wheel with decritive drive wheel beside wooden wordrob near window with trees 5.2) Castle wheel #2, a more decorative drive wheel, but needs a new drive band before I can get her running again.

round table with green striped table cloth infront of window showing trees and creek.5.3) The table on the porch has moved to the west window so I can work and watch the creek.

dead bullrushes along shoreline in front of trees which are reflected in the water infront of the reeds. 6.1) a close-up shot of the bay

rocks covered in moss and pine needles with mostly pine trees to the left the corner of a wooden deck6.2) The rocky slope uphill from the cottage and deck

dark silowets of pine trees in front of creek with sky of blue and sundet very little colour just behind the trees. 6.3) sunset across the creek

Out the windows, I can see the creek, the swampy bay and the moss-covered rocks. I am sure such views will inspire lots of felting!

 

 

Medieval Spinning

Medieval Spinning

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I took a Class in Medieval spinning with a distaff last Thursday. I originally signed up for the class before the COVID-19 lockdown.  So I have been waiting a while to do this class.  This was a 2-hour evening class.  We were learning 2 things at once. How to spin in hand and how to use a distaff. Our teacher Judy said it’s like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time.

First, we got some distaffs to dress. This means we had to tie the fiberbatts to a stick. Judy had a couple of nice wooden ones, but mostly we had forked branches she had taken the bark off.

Judy brought several spindles with different whorls. The whorl is the disk that adds weight, so the spindle spins better. The whorls are removable. Once you have some yarn built up on your spindle, you can remove the whorl.

First, we practised twirling the spindle with the leader.  You have to make a half hitch on the end of the spindle and then twirl it.

Judy showing us how to twirl our spindle

Lucie is seeing if it is easier standing up.

Then we practised the drafting and the twirling at the same time. milking cow motion on the right and twirling on the right. This is the patting your head and rubbing your tummy part. The only thing we had to bring to class was a belt to stick the distaff in. I do not own a belt, so I got some bailer twine and braided myself a belt for the night. You can see this great fashion piece below.

Then we started spinning. It’s hard to know where to look, at the hand that’s trying to twirl correctly or at the hand trying to draft the fibre down from the distaff.

Here I am winding on. The idea is to make a football (rugby ball) shaped cob on the spindle.

Here’s a close-up of twirling and short suspension. You can let it drop a bit on the last twerl before winding on. Usually, you need to keep it in-hand so you can twirl it again.

Here is what I managed to make by the end of the class. It’s lumpy and thick and thin just like the yarn I made when I first started spinning. I was just starting to wind off when I remembered to take a picture. I haven’t decided if I will ply it or not. First, I have to find my spindles.  I’ve seen them recently in their little case. Of course, I couldn’t find them before the class. I will find them again when I am looking for something else. I hope I will be smart enough to grab them and not think I will remember where they are.

Counselor in Training Backpacking Trip from Camp Judy Layne
Making Jellyfish Bracelets – Kumihimo

Making Jellyfish Bracelets – Kumihimo

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This summer I am volunteering at Camp Judy Layne in Kentucky for a week. I grew up in Kentucky and went to CJL Girl Scout camp every summer for years. Girl Scouts and this camp made me who I am and I have many fond memories and friends from more than 45 years ago. I will be helping with arts and crafts and also teaching wet felting to the campers. In preparation, I decided I needed to make some friendship bracelets to give away. Here is the tutorial that I found on Instagram for “Jellyfish” bracelets (Kumihimo).

Kumihimo means gathered threads and was historically used for samurai armor ties. The round ones that are made with this technique are kakugumi. The seven color bracelets are considered lucky and ward off misfortune. Mainly, I wanted something simple and easy to make.

Variety of #3 perle cotton threads in different colors.

I started with some wool yarn that I had in my stash and made a few bracelets. But I thought they were a bit too “hairy” and might be itchy for some people to wear. Suddenly, I remembered the embroidery threads that I got from my mom. There were a bunch of #3 perle cotton threads that I rarely use in my stitching/embroidery. She had already cut most of them into lengths and I found that I could make two bracelets from the cut lengths.

Cardboard circle used to create "jellyfish" Kumihimo bracelets.

The nice thing about the Instagram tutorial was that the disc used was made from cardboard and was simple to create. There are Kumihimo discs that you can purchase with more slits and you can create more intricate patterns, but this was something that can be reproduced to teach the girls at camp.

Cardboard circle with #3 perle cotton threads separated into slots on edge of circle.

Here’s the top of the circle once the threads are “loaded”. If you put similar colors together as shown above when you start, the pattern is different than if you randomly place the colors.

And here’s why it’s called a jellyfish bracelet. It definitely looks like a jellyfish when you’re making it. The directions are quite easy and it is a simple pattern. The bracelet slowly developing is quite satisfying to see.

Finished jellyfish/kumihimo friendship bracelets

Here are my finished bracelets so far. You can see the “fatter” ones on the right are the wool yarn bracelets. I think I will use small rubber bands to connect them although I will also look into a sliding square knot closure. But I was supposed to leave long ends for that type of closure which I didn’t do.

Closeup of different patterns of bracelets

Here’s the difference in the patterns using this method. The bracelet on the left is loaded with the orange threads together and the blue threads together. The one on the right is random blue and orange mixed when loading.  I have been making these at night while watching television. Not sure how many I will get finished but it’s been a relaxing activity.

Here’s the square knot closure for the bracelets. The bracelet needs to be long enough to easily slide over the hand for this to work correctly. The video I viewed used long lengths of extra thread for the closure but I had already cut off those ends. I will use this type of sliding closure for the longer bracelets and use a small rubber band for the shorter ones.

Deeply Felt (and the stories carried within)

Deeply Felt (and the stories carried within)

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This post is from guest author and our multi-talented felting friend, Sarah Ritchie, please check out her website to see all the incredible things she does (it’s not all felting!): https://www.sarah-ritchie.com/

 

Earlier this year, I had the privilege of being part of Deeply Felt (and the stories carried within) – a group exhibition by Auckland Felters, a Creative Fibre community of contemporary felters from across the Auckland region. The exhibition was held at Nathan Homestead Pukepuke in Manurewa, Auckland.

This exhibition was spearheaded by Teri Berry, whose vision and leadership brought the group together to present a cohesive and thoughtful body of work. Auckland Felters is a diverse group, and what makes this group so special is the breadth of practice within it. While we are united by wool fibre as a medium, the way each maker approaches it is entirely individual.

That diversity was evident throughout the exhibition. Works ranged from finely detailed fibre paintings and wall hangings, to sculptural forms and wearable works, each reflecting the interests, techniques, and creative voices of the felters involved. There was no single style or narrative, but rather a celebration of process, patience, and the tactile nature of fibre. It was also a privilege to bring fibre to the attention of the public as an artform – more than just a functional material or a craft.

As needle or wet felters and fibre artists, we all understand the time it takes to bring a piece into being. The process itself becomes embedded in the finished work. That sense of time and touch was present throughout the gallery, inviting visitors to slow down and engage with what had been deeply felt and carefully made.

This was the second exhibition held by Auckland Felters and it felt like a natural progression for the group. There was a sense of growing confidence – both individually and collectively – and an excitement in sharing felted works as art.


Held in Remembrance

Alongside the exhibition sat a special art installation titled Held in Remembrance.

The original idea came from Clare Hocking, who envisioned a collective work of handmade felted poppies to mark ANZAC Day. What began as a simple concept quickly grew into something much larger.

A call-out was made through our personal networks, social media channels and Facebook felting groups, inviting contributions from the wider felting community. The response was immediate and generous. 287 poppies were sent in by more than 50 felters from across Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world. Each poppy was handmade and unique, and many were accompanied by messages of personal connection with the men, women and animals who served.

What arrived was not just a collection of objects, but a gathering of individual acts of making. Different techniques, fibres, and interpretations came together, unified by a shared intention of remembrance, and a remarkable generosity of time, resources, and care.

I had the privilege of leading the installation, with the support of Clare Hocking, Teri Berry, and Jaq Spirrett. Jaq also created the felted barbed wire that formed a central element of the work, adding both visual structure and symbolic weight.

Constructing the installation was not without its challenges. Covering 3.6m wide and 2m tall, each poppy was attached to clear nylon thread and suspended between two battens. The felted barbed wire added a strong narrative to the artwork. Every poppy could be seen. Every maker’s contribution held its place within the whole.

The installation was created as a fundraising initiative for the RNZRSA (Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association), supporting the health and wellbeing of New Zealand’s veterans of military service and their families. All qualifying donations will receive one of the poppies from the installation as a thank-you gift.

Apart from its fundraising purpose, what stands out most to me is the sense of international connection and camaraderie the project created. Felting can often be solitary, yet Held in Remembrance brought together a wide and generous community of makers – many of whom we have never met in person, yet are now connected across distance through a shared act of making.

The Open Day that wasn’t

We had originally planned to hold our exhibition Open Day on ANZAC Day itself, bringing together the Deeply Felt exhibition, Held in Remembrance fundraiser installation, a fibre market, and a workshop. However, we were advised (at short notice) that Auckland Council-run galleries would be closed that day, and the event could not go ahead (though, fortunately, the workshop ran as planned in an alternate location). This was immensely disappointing to everyone involved.

Clare and Beth demonstrating the art and magic of felt-making

And yet, in some ways, it felt fitting. ANZAC Day is, at its heart, a day of pause and reflection. While we had hoped to gather, the quiet absence of that event served as a reminder of the deeper purpose behind both the exhibition and the installation.

The finished poppy paintings – it’s hard to believe none of the participants had tried wet felting before!

What remains is the work itself – the hours of making, the shared effort, and the connections formed along the way. For Auckland Felters, Deeply Felt was more than an exhibition. It was a continuation of a collective journey, and a reflection of what can happen when individual makers come together with a shared intent.

Perspectives picture for an exhibition

Perspectives picture for an exhibition

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I’m a member of a local group of artists and makers called Made in Whitstable. We have an annual two-week group exhibition around Easter which has a theme. This year’s theme was Perspectives. Only one piece of work has to meet the theme, with the rest being whatever work we normally make.

I have to admit I struggled a bit with ‘Perspectives’.  It didn’t really speak to me. I thought about both visual / architectural perspectives and perspectives as in opinions / points of view. I spent quite a while thinking about sea, water, my viewpoint in relation to water and all sorts of other things but I wasn’t really happy with what I was coming up with. 

After much rumination, I decided to do a printed tree picture, but instead of a flat piece of silk below the tree, I’d try to create a simple sense of perspective using strips of different recycled silk scarves. 

I picked out a few scarves I’d like to use. They included a couple where I wasn’t sure what the fabric was, so I thought I’d better make a quick sample to test their felt-ability. 

I bought this lovely scarf in a charity shop thinking I might make some kind of seed pods with the orange section. I’m pretty sure the orange fabric is raw silk and assume the pale area is a slightly elasticated fine silk.  I ironed some of the scrunched (probably silk) fabric and cut out a small rectangle. 

The second ‘unknown’ scarf has stripes of dense material and something fine and open-weave. I think the dense sections may be cotton or linen and the open-weave feels like silk. I put a small square alongside the other sample on top of a piece of merino prefelt. I’m rather mean with this type of sample – I do hate to feel I’m wasting materials.

They both felted like a dream so I would definitely incorporate them into my picture. 

I had done several very rough sketches to think through potential ‘perspective’ pictures. Having settled on one, I made a rough to-size paper template so I could try out what to put where.  

I thought I’d put something on top of the scrunched silk strip so lightly prefelted some fine spotty silk then cut out some oval shapes. I mixed strips of the spotted silk with the ‘unknown’ other fabric. I then cut out leaves from a very fine silk scarf to put larger ones in the foreground with the size receding into the background. 

Testing out the layout of different fabrics took a surprisingly long time. How I fiddled about.

When I was choosing from a couple of options I sent photos to my Mum for a second opinion. She’s got an excellent eye and made a couple of really useful suggestions. 

Finally happy with my layout (number 3) I carefully transferred the fabric pieces from the paper template onto wool.

I ran a line of dark brown recycled tapestry yarn across the top of the silk-filled area to give the idea of a horizon and could finally get on with the actual felting. 

Here’s the felted piece. I was pleased I had mostly kept all the fabric bits in the right places. 

All that remained was to dry and iron it, ask my local frame-maker to make a frame (at rather short notice), find & print a suitable tree and put it all together. 

The printing process is the scariest bit. Heat transfer printing onto felt is not 100% reliable: sometimes the print doesn’t fully transfer, leaving gaps, the image can transfer but sit too much on top of the felt or it can singe as it transfers. All are pretty disastrous and usually completely ruin a picture. In the past, I have cut up a spoiled picture and turned it into cards. I SO did not want this to happen in this case: partly because I’d already invested a lot of time in this picture and partly because I didn’t have time to make a new picture for the exhibition. My fall-back would either be needle felting a tree over the failed print, or printing a tree onto a separate piece of felt and hand-stitching it into the picture. 

I did a couple of test prints on scraps of felt then took the plunge. Fortunately the print transferred well. 

I collected my frame and was ready to frame the picture when I realised I hadn’t specified it needed to be a box frame. The felt was thin and would sandwich fine between the glass and the backing mount but I wouldn’t usually mount felt without a gap between the glass and the mount. I chatted with my felting friends (some fellow-bloggers on this site). At their suggestion I considered framing it without the glass but I decided to go with it as it was. Here is a lesson for myself: try not to leave everything to the last-minute, Lindsay.  I have had this thought many, many times in my life, but it doesn’t seem to make a lot of difference.

And here it is as part of my exhibition display. 

In addition to the wall pictures, on the table I have (back row) mounted prints (left), felt and printed cards (middle), mounted felt pictures (right) and felted glasses cases in the front.

I sold quite a bit of work at the exhibition but not this picture. I’m happy to have it in my stock of felt pictures for other sales & exhibitions. I’m still not entirely comfortable with the standard (non-box) frame but I’ve decided to live with it.  Will I learn the lesson of not leaving everything to the last minute? Probably not.

A quest for Lendrum Spinning Wheels and Shopping in Peterborough

A quest for Lendrum Spinning Wheels and Shopping in Peterborough

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Dear Fibre Friends

It is again that time of year, when opportunities to replenish, or increase, your fibre hoard begin in earnest. April brings the 2026 Peterborough Fibre Arts Festival & Sale, hosted by the Peterborough Weavers and Spinners Guild. It is held in the massive gym at the Sports and Wellness Centre beside Sir Sanford Fleming College. If you meet us on the driveway at about 6:15 am, we can start the 3-hour drive from Ottawa to Peterborough.

It was a pretty drive down Hwy 7,  and only a few cars that could not read the speed limit as we approached our destination. Don’t get between someone and the acquisition of more fibre!!

I had two goals for this trip. The first was to shop at the Olive Sparrow booth with Monika. I am a little low on background felt for the picture felting class. The other was that I had spotted that the new owners of Lendrum Wheels would have a booth there.

Gord Lendrum was an engineering student who, upon graduation, made his mother a folding upright castle wheel. She took it to her local guild and received requests for more wheels from her friends.  So instead of going into a company to do engineering, Gord started his own company and made folding Canadian Lendrum spinning wheels. We had heard he was retiring, so all Lendrum owners are ecstatic that this wheel design will continue with another generation.

Gord would occasionally have a wheel repair clinic in Kingston (only 2 hours drive away), but I kept missing them. I have one of his very early wheels. It was stored for 20 years in an unheated storage locker, after a divorce, before I bought it.  It tips from side to side as she spins, and it looks like she has a heavy drinking problem.

The second Lendrum wheel  I own is also second or more hand, she is a Rook, and don’t tell the other wheels, but she is my favourite wheel. She is a small Castel travel wheel, but one of the uprights supporting the wheel is loose, and the wheel rotates if knocked. A light nudge will bring her back to true.

So you can see why I need to find out where Lendrum Wheels has moved to and when I can bring my wheels for a spa and repair day.

 

a line up of people wating to go into the fiber festival1.1) We arrived before opening, but a lot of other people had had the same idea, and there was already a line up. (There were at least 15 people in front of us)  Glenn brought a book, so he was happy.

a table with baskerts of door prizes and people standing around it1.2) As in previous years, there was an hourly door prize draw. We will come back later and check out the prizes, but first, let’s look at the booths and find Lendrum wheels.

vew of half the gym showing some of the booths1.3) There was one row of booths around the perimeter of the huge gym and a double row in the centre.

I kept getting distracted on my quest for wheel repair. This is the first fibre festival in the last couple of years that has more than one booth with batts of fibre. There were still lots of top, various fleeces, and finished yarn to choose from.

1.41- 1.44) shopping at various booths

2 photos, very crimpy wool fiber top light creem, lower is brown fleece 3 photos long locks dark, carded roveing and group of carded rovings in large clear plastic bags Booth with bags of raw wool fleeces1.51–1.53) Shopping Fibre

husbsnd carying bags of shopping (Mostly Fiber)1.6) I could not put anything more on my walker, so it was time for Glenn to take a trip to the car. He had found a chair and had been reading beside the demos.

a close up of teh door prize table 1.71) A brief shopping break while I fill out the door prize.

 

The 12 pm prize will be drawn shortly.  It’s hard to hear the announcement, but I think the end of the name sounded like Scott. I should go check.

list of winers for each time slot1.72) Winner of door prize draw for noon, Jan Scott. Well, that was a surprise.

door prize basket i chose1.73) There were 4 baskets left, and I chose the one that had more of one of the fibres I had just purchased.

I took a quick trip out to the car, since Glenn had not returned. (I think I did not catch him napping in the fibre fest, because he had retreated to the car for a nap).  I left him to check out the basket and head back to chat about wheels.

lendrum booth table with lendrum wheel being tryed out at the end of the table1.8 The Lendrum Booth

I was so excited to see this booth! They had one of the folding double treadle wheels for people to try, and examples of some of the accessories and types of wood available.  The new owners are a young couple. They are just restarting the business. James Nugent has moved the business from Odessa (near Kingston) to Carlton Place (Near Ottawa)(!!!!).  He even has a website! https://lendrumwheels.ca/

He is continuing the tradition of making Lendrum wheels, but would love to see the Rook and my old single treadle drunken upright.   We made plans to chat next week.

Since I have shown you the shopping, let’s take a quick peek at the Demos.

triangular loom with close ups of weaving finished tiangular weaving and close up of woven cloth1.91- 1.92-) Weaving on a Triangular loom, she finished it before we left!

3 photos of demos1.93)Demo of Spinners, Basketry and Tapestry weaving

It was time to head home. What a day! Great shopping, Lendrum wheels is now only ½ an hour away, and the second Door prize!!

the back vew of part of my Kia, back seats are down.1.94) There was even room left in the car!

We drove back along Highway 7 past Carlton Place on the way to Ottawa. Let’s give you a chance to unload all your perches, and we will head back to  Lendrum Spinning Wheels in Carlton Place next week. Well, next post.

A class and this and that.

A class and this and that.

Comments 18 comments

I taught a Nunofelt Scarf class a couple of weekends ago. I had a fun group of ladies who were really interested in learning this technique.

Here are a couple of pictures of the setup with the ladies working on thier layout. They used hand-dyed silk blanks and Merino wool. Then there were lots of extras for them to add, lots more merino in many colours,  handspun yarn, speciality wools and several types of silk, silk top, silk hankies and silk throwsters’ waist. A few brought some of thier own alpaca too.

and the scarves they were working on.

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And then we were too busy enjoying the felting for me to remember to take more pictures. Well, I thought I took more pictures, but I guess I didn’t do it properly.

I had two ladies who had to leave early as they had a long drive. They worked diligently to be done before they had to leave. They did a great job, and I hope to see them again.

 

Here are the other 6 ladies and thier finished scarves. I am pretty sure they had a good time.

After that fun I had to get to work myself. I had to resupply The Log Farm store. They sold the last of everything during Sugar Bush. I have been busy making Dryer Balls and Felted Soap

 

 

Next are some drop spindle kits.

All 3 of these are fairly easy to put together and sell well at a relatively low price point. What do you make and sell in this price category? I have been thinking that cards with pictures of my felt might be a good idea.

Mixed media painting "Forest Keeper" on watercolor paper - tree spirit with Mountain Hemlock
Essence of Nature

Essence of Nature

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In my recent art and design class, I painted a series of tree spirit portraits. In researching tree spirits, I found many photos of young women with ‘beautiful’ faces. I thought that if a tree had a spirit, it would be the same age as a tree, which can live for hundreds of years. I decided to base my tree spirits on the beauty of older women, with wrinkles, grey hair and wisdom shining through. Once these were painted, I decided to create tree spirits in felt and stitch. I will be continuing with this series as I found stitching and creating portraits a challenge.

I printed a copy of the original artwork and found a piece of deconstructed screen printed fabric that worked for the background. The fabric was silk organdy and I nuno felted it to a dark green wool. Then I taped a piece of water soluble fabric to the artwork and traced it on the light box.

I pinned the traced outlines of the face and the pinecone down to the nuno felt. Then I used a dark green to stitch the face outline and a dark brown to stitch the pinecone. It’s not shown here but I used a white thread to stitch the outline of the hair. The tree on the left hand side was developed free hand as there was already dark green in the background fabric that reminded me of the shapes of the tree branches. Once the outlines were stitched, I dissolved the water soluble fabric and let the piece dry.

Then on to stitching. This will probably seem like an exercise/game of find the differences as some of the photos seem very much alike. I used 1-2 strands of cotton floss and stitched in a distorted cross stitch. Unlike regular cross stitch, this is a very loose form of cross stitch where the stitches do cross but they are different lengths and directions to fill the space. It is a fairly easy way to shade for darks and lights without doing precise stitching such as long and short stitch. I started with the eyes. I have found when stitching a portrait before, that I stitch the “important” areas first. If I don’t like the eyes, I can either re-do them or start over without wasting loads of time on the rest of the face.

I continued using various shades of green and developing the face and then on to the hair. It was a really interesting process as it seemed like I would add more dark into an area and then find that I needed to add more dark to other areas. There are many layers of stitched threads and hours of work in the final piece.

As you can see, I didn’t take many photos of the tree development or of the pinecone stitching. But I continued with the distorted cross stitch for these areas too. The pine needles were done with stem stitch.

I changed the hair multiple times. I had added stem stitch curls but those seemed to stand out too much. I went back in and stitched over that with a variety of shades of lighter green to make the hair look more natural. I also worked on deepening the wrinkles around the eyes and mouth.

Nuno felted and hand stitched artwork of a tree spirit.

I probably could have kept working on this piece but decided to stop.

Once I was satisfied with the face, I needed a background fabric. I had linen that had been screen printed at the same time as the silk organdy. I tried an overlay of blue green silk but ended up choosing the linen for a background. The nuno felt was stitched to the linen background and laced over a matte board. The final piece is 10″ x 10″. I was planning on framing it but couldn’t find the correct size frame for it. I ended up covering a 10″ x 10″ canvas with green felt and stitching the edges of the fabric matte to the canvas.  Sorry that I don’t have a photo so that you can see the edge of the canvas and how that looked.

The piece is named the Essence of Nature and will be in an exhibition in May at 4 Ravens Gallery in Missoula, Montana.

 

A Catch Up

A Catch Up

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In my last post I mentioned several pieces I was working on and some events that were coming up and I thought I’d use this post to update you on how those went.

I’d made several superfine Merino pendant samples in preparation for a wet felted workshop I had been asked to run for IFA Region 8 in Arnesby, Leicestershire. I had tried to cover options for all abilities from a very simple design that didn’t require a resist, through to a complex design requiring multiple resists. As it turned out all of the samples proved useful because between them my 10 students chose to make one of each of those designs. I was too busy on the day to remember to take progress photos (sorry) and nobody got fully finished before we left but these are some of the images Ive received since…..

One of the ladies, Leah, enjoyed making hers so much she’s gone on to make two more in a style very much of her own which I love!

Another project I’d been working on was Passage of Time, a wet felted Wallhanging inspired by a huge sandstone slab, for the IFA’s online exhibition “Time” which launched in March. You can see the exhibition here. I’d rushed to get this done to meet the deadline. It wasn’t as colourful as I’d intended and I knew it was far from finished! This was how you saw it last…..

After submitting it I continued to embroider and decorate adding colonial knots, free motion stitched mussel shells, machine wrapped cords and embroidered barnacles. As well as needing more surface texture I felt it should be larger and more irregular in shape so wet felted and embellished a second piece to hang adjacent to it. It’s now approximately 1m x 50cm and I’m much happier with how it finished up…..

The exhibition at Harding House in Lincoln went better than any of us could have imagined! Five months of planning and two days of setting up with my friend Jo resulted in an event that we were all very proud to be a part of. Fourteen out of the eighteen participating members travelled from various parts of the midlands to attend the launch party on Saturday 14th March.

We tried to cover as many different techniques as possible with our exhibits and included an “Education Station” with info boards, “touch” samples and the new promotional material advertising the International Feltmakers Association. We also ensured there was an artist in residence every day for the two weeks, either wet felting or needle felting. This meant visitors not only got to see felt being made but they had a point of contact if they wanted to learn more about the art they were seeing, about the IFA, or about Feltmaking in general.

We had a steady footfall throughout the fortnight we were there and it was wonderful to get to meet and speak to so many interested visitors, the feedback received was fantastic!

Earlier this month I travelled over to Risley in Derbyshire to spend the day with Material Girls and the talented, and very entertaining, textile artist known as Mr Finch. Finch creates enormous 3D fabric sculptures of animals, birds, insects, fungi and other fantastical creatures such as this owl and an onion complete with arms, legs and clogs!

He also brought along this Badger and I have to say that the photos really don’t do justice to these fantastic sculptures. To touch them they are rock hard and incredibly weighty, it’s hard to believe that they are stuffed with polyester stuffing! It was fascinating to see close up how he’d made the joints and details such as the paws and fingers.

Finch provided lots of laughs and kept the ladies entertained throughout the day as we learnt his tips for designing templates and creating fabric sculptures. If I’m completely honest I was disappointed that we were hand stitching and not using machines during this class so I’m looking forward to creating another hare very soon using cotton fabric and my machine, putting in to practise some of the useful tips and ideas I picked up from Mr Finch. I think you can see from the photos how much fun we had!