Nuno Felt and Abstracts
I’ve been doing a lot of nuno felting recently, mostly a lot of samples for reference, but also quite a few pieces for using to make into things at a later stage. One thing I like to do with nuno felting is use different types of silk together. I think the differences in thickness, sheen and texture work well together and highlight each others’ properties. These two pieces use hand dyed silk ponge 5mm, which is floaty and shiny, and also silk chiffon 3.5mm which, though lighter, almost seems heavier than the ponge because of its ‘rough’ texture. For this first piece I used strips of silk in roughly equal widths.
This close up shows the difference in the textures of the two types of silk, and also the differences in the way they felt. The silk chiffon seems to sink into the felt, becoming more a part of it than an embellishment or surface texture.
For the second piece, I used smaller pieces of silk to create a kind of mosaic effect.
Another thing I’ve been working on lately is Ann’s 2nd Quarter Studio Challenge. I’ve been looking through photos for inspiration, taking photos, editing, altering… trying to think what technique would work best with different pictures etc. One of my favourite photos is of a bunch of tulips in the snow. I tried a few different techniques in Photoshop to alter the photo and make it more abstract. This is a collection of the original (top left) and 3 abstract versions.
Thinking about the simplest way to achieve all the different shades of pink, I thought about organza and how using 3 pieces of the same colour can give 3 shades when layered. So I got out my organza collection to have a look through the shades. I hadn’t realised I had so many until they were all out together!
Seeing all the shades brought me back to one of the first pieces I started working on, a photo of a Mahonia bush. My first thought was to make different colours of prefelt, cut the shapes out then felt together, but I think this could be achieved more effectively with a combination of fabrics and organza.
Have you thought about joining in with the Abstract Challenge? It doesn’t have to be figurative. Do you often make abstract pieces from fabric, fibres or felt? Do you have any good tips to share? We’d love to see your work if you’d like to share with us 🙂
12 thoughts on “Nuno Felt and Abstracts”
I’m going to give it a try – though I haven’t any huge inspirations as yet!
Now I’ve started I’ve got a huge folder of possibilities 🙂
Great samples Zed. I have some silk gauze and it is flat not shinny. It sinks in more and you don’t get the wrinkly texture. One thing you could do with the tulips is don’t do it in different shades of pink but go more abstract and do it in say pink, red and purple or shades of green and blue. I had heard of a place online that let you turn pictures into needlepoint patterns. You can pick the number of colours to use. It might be an interesting way to play with it. Sorry I don’t remember the website. I look forward to seeing what you come up with.
Thanks, Ann 🙂
I just got some ’tissue silk organza’ the other day, ugly stiff stuff, but it looks like it’ll be interesting. I did try other colours for the tulips, but it’s so ‘delicate’ to start with it, just doesn’t work well.
Wow! Look at all those wonderful colors of organza. I love the nuno samples too. I am still working out the abstract ideas in my head. Hope to get started soon.
Thanks, Ruth 🙂
There’s lots of different thicknesses and softness to the organzas, I might have to do a mosaic of those, too.
I’ll look forward to seeing your abstract 🙂
The experiment you did with the two types of silk was interesting and I like the way the chiffon sank into the felt.
You should hang the mosaic piece on your wall – it’s beautiful!
Thanks, Lyn 🙂
I did have similar thoughts about the mosaic piece. I always do that, plan to make a piece to use for something, then like it too much to want to cut it up!
Wow zed you have been busy, i love the silk mosiac and the nuno samples, you have a huge collection of organza, the colors are gorgeous 🙂
Thanks, Kaz 🙂
The organza pieces are only small, but they are nice, aren’t they?
The nuno felt samples look fantastic Zed, love that close up shot of the mosaic. In love with all your organza too.
Thanks, Jane 🙂