You can never have too much felt art

You can never have too much felt art

Since we moved to our new home in May we have been steadily adorning the walls with the pieces of art that moved with us, as we were deciding what to hang where, Mr TB pointed out that more than half of the art work on our walls is made from wool. I couldn’t disagree but still felt compelled to make a new piece to hang in the hallway, opposite the front door. Something colourful and cheery to greet any visitors. Much to my surprise, instead of complaining that we have too much wool on the walls, Mr TB helped me hang it…

I really wanted to play with a piece of silk purchased at Fibretron (a fibre festival in Hamilton, NZ), it has this wonderful wavy texture and can be peeled into fine sheets a little like silk hankies. I used some to decorate a large sheet of felt, layering and blending different colours as I went.

Once felted, I cut up the sheet into large petal shapes and continued felting them while shaping and blocking them, before laying them out to find an appealing arrangement.

At this stage I felt like the centre really needed something, a complimentary colour perhaps? So I had a play with some different colours…

But they didn’t quite feel right.

I have recently been playing with making different sculptural flower shapes and had one sitting on my bench. This looked much better, this is the piece after I had started gluing and sewing the petals together:

I tried making another central flower in the same blues as the large petals but it didn’t look half as good, it’s funny how some, unplanned, random elements just work together isn’t it? More on the blue flower at the end of this post…

Here is the final piece assembled and hanging on the wall:

It had been hanging on the wall less than a week before one the fluffy terrorists discovered that, if he jumped really high (4 feet off the ground), he could rip the petals off and add to his collection of toys. So far the hanging has lost 2 petals….

Floki with his “prizes” – if you look closely you can also see muddy paw prints on the wall

There were quite a few pieces of felt left over after making this hanging so I re-purposed them to enlarge the small blue flower I made with the intention of it becoming the centre:

Now I feel inspired to make a whole bunch of these to create an artificial flower bouquet….

Summer has finally arrived here in Auckland, I hope the weather is being kind wherever you are.

23 thoughts on “You can never have too much felt art

    1. Thank you Nancy 🙂 I confess this is not my usual, go to, colour palette, it was decided by the blue silk I was so keen to play with but I am really pleased with how the colours have turned out

  1. I really love these flowers. I thought the orange fibres would make a great centre for the big flower, but the white looks just as good.
    Perhaps if you make one for Floki he’ll leave the one on the wall alone – maybe not.
    Looking forward to seeing the bouquet.
    Ann

    1. Thank you Ann, the kittens already have lots of felted wool balls and dozens of other toys (which they play with), I just don’t think Floki can help himself, he has springs in his feet and feels compelled to use them 🙂

  2. A very striking piece. I liked the lighter Orange too but the white looks great.
    The smaller blue flower looks like a waterlily to me.
    Cats and wool seem to be like magpies and shiny things, they can never have enough.

    1. I had a similar thought about the flower looking like a lily but reading your comment gives me an idea, I wonder if these flowers will survive in the garden? I have some paverpol that I have yet to test… The bouquet of flowers has just become a carpet in my mind 🙂

  3. Your three dimensional work of art is a real treat. I like the white centre best, but that’s just me, If I saw them “in person” I might have a different preference. Thank you for posting and looking forward to seeing the full bouquet.

  4. I love this, it is gorgeous and the story of it’s journey and it’s resculpting by terrorists really gave me joy. I think a 3 dimensional hanging class would be amazing too (wink, wink).

    1. Ha ha – noted – I was debating on creating a flower sculpting tutorial, this may be the little nudge I needed 🙂

    2. I agree. I would be very interested in a tutorial on this. I think I could muddle through but I’d love steps!

  5. Floki is an olympian!

    Love the flower wall art for your entrance hall. The colours are so welcoming – the white peeping through makes the colours pop – and the 3D construction is perfect.

  6. Sorry about the double posting today.

    I love your floral sculpture, the colors, the white edges which give it such good definition. And your smaller flower is beautiful too. I look forward to seeing the bouquet. Glad your hubby is supportive of hanging wool art, what other kind of art is there? 😉

    1. Thanks Ruth 🙂 Sorry, I didn’t realise we had double-posted – have I mixed up my dates?

  7. Being a child of the 1960’s, I made lots of giant tissue paper flowers. Your flower brought a big smile to my face! (I love the culprit photo too) Brian’s comment to you is “kids will be kids.” 🤗 Capi and Brian

    1. Thanks Capi and Brian, sadly the cats get away with murder because we treat them like surrogate off-spring. Come to think of it, I think they get away with far more than a human sprog would 🙂

      How is you hat making coming along, have you been busy?

  8. Gorgeous, I really love those colours too. Reminds me of a sunburst mirror or clock. Naughty, naughty cat. Those colours…. dreamy.

  9. Stunning welcome to your guests! Just absolutely gorgeous, love the white edges and your choice of the center works beautifully.

  10. The Ireland -v- New Zealand rugby match has just started and the team did the full Haka which was quite an emotional experience to watch. Then I come to my laptop and find your super post Teri.

    Adore the colours especially given that it is the start of your summer. What a beautiful way to welcome your guests. It certainly has brought cheer into this Irish household on a rather dull and dreary day. What an amazing amount you have Mr TB have achieved in such a short space of time.

    If only Loki would stop coveting it (by the way I don’t need to enlarge the picture to see the paw prints – what a little devil he is). He is such a cutie – butter wouldn’t melt 🙂

    1. Thanks Helene, congrats on your win over the ABs, your guys have been doing really well in their recent matches 🙂

  11. Thanks Teri, mind you two of the Irish team hail from NZ. There was a grand reunion at the end of the match. 🙂

  12. A beautiful welcoming entrance piece for your visitors. The colours are vibrant & gorgeous.
    Obviously your work of art is ‘un-fur-getable’ to the innocent looking Floki!

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