I’m involved with a group locally that meets once a month and works on a variety of surface design techniques. We decided that this year, each of us would pick an artist and then the group would each do some sort of project inspired by the artist. We didn’t set any specific guidelines as to what the project had to be as we all do different types of work. The first artist that was picked was Hans Hoffman. I took a look online to find a bit more about him and to find some photos that would inspire me. He worked with color and did mostly abstract paintings. I like the painting above so I decided I would make something with this photo in mind. I needed a new pair of slippers so what could be better than Hans Hoffman inspired slippers? 🙂

I made a few batts on my new drum carder from wool that I had previously dyed. Two of the batts were just plain wool (mixed 56’s) and the third batt was several different shades of wool and a few different colors of silk noil for the tops of the slippers. That gave me a nice mottled background and I then added different sized rectangles of pre felt to give the look that many of Hans Hoffman’s paintings include.

When I’ve made slippers in the past, I always used one resist for both slippers and then the slippers have a cuff. I wanted this pair to be more like clogs. So I used two separate resists and then cut out the opening on top. The last pair of slippers I made was too small for me as they somehow shrunk more than expected. These fit like a charm and even though my last pair of slippers was grey, I love the bright colors.

I enjoyed learning a bit more about Hans Hoffman and I certainly wouldn’t have come up with this design on my own as it isn’t really my style.  Challenges are always fun and push you to try things that are new. Have you tried anything out of your comfort zone lately?