Felty Beached Boat, Blooms, Beads and Birthday
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.
I laid out a simple background, about half of the size of the original picture…
… then I made an inlay of a boat by thinly needle felting it.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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”.
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.
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.
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.
Ta-Dah!
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?
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.
What have you made from felt scraps? They’re too precious to throw away aren’t they?
20 thoughts on “Felty Beached Boat, Blooms, Beads and Birthday”
Definitely a different style Lyn, in fact the pictures could have been done by 2 different people – same basic subject but 2 completely different pictures, so different it’s impossible to say that one is better than the other.
I love the wobbly seagull and his beady eye makes me wonder what he’s peering at.
Your felt ball “flowers” are a great idea, and with the wire stems you can change the arrangement whenever you fancy it.
I recognise your fluffy samples I think – Wingham? You’ve reminded me that I have their sample sheets somewhere. [ Note to self – find them and use them]
Annie, your progress with the hydrangers is fascinating, and I think I see that you’ve put the ferns back in? I’m looking forward to seeing the finished picture.
Ann
Well spotted Ann, yes, Wingham samples! We also have WoW but those samples are very small.
My style has evolved to be sure and I can hardly recognise my stuff from the very early days – I’ve managed (thanks to the influence of Annie) to loosen up a bit and I’m happier for it.
The ‘ball flowers’ are so easy to achieve and they have really brightened up a corner shelf in my sitting room. They could be made much bigger for a larger vase or embroidered and hung from foliage as Annie did in her vase:
https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2025/01/10/a-felted-winter-trees-table-centre/
Annie has taken her time with her picture because as she was working on it she felt that something wasn’t right. She bravely dismantled it to its bones and re-built it and is now happily finishing it.
Your posts are always interesting with your processes.
Lyn, I love your wobbly seagull and the colors you added with the boat. I have many things that I may have to dismantle and redo thanks to your ideas.
Annie, I think your colors are great and the final representation of the hydrangeas in a vase is the best one.
Oh yes, I have many many many felt scraps that I guess I need to get to before the moths do.
Thank you Donna – the good thing about these felting and forum posts is that they inspire ideas in all of us in one way or another!
Annie will be pleased to know that you think she’s done the right thing with her hydrangeas – it’s not always easy to change plans midway is it?
Get going with the felt scraps! There are so many ways to re-use them and it always feels like a bonus because you haven’t had to make the felt especially for the new make 🙂
I love the picture re-do Lyn. It is much livelier and it is funny to look back at early work, thinking, “who made that?” 😉
The use of the wool samples is inspired as the little felt balls are a great addition to any decor. I made some small wool balls and stitched them into an embroidered piece, which was fun.
Yay Annie for being willing to ditch one design and find something that works better for you. It’s always hard to change course but if it isn’t working, it is better to go back to the bare bones and start over rather than felting something you don’t really like.
Sorry Ruth – forgot to hit reply button! See above.
or below 🙂
Thank you Ruth – I think the new picture does have more ‘life’ to it and it only came about after a gentle pep-talk from members of the forum 🙂
Felt beads are always pretty and useful in many ways and although I’m not making any more presently I’m sure those little bits of wool will make more beads when I know what colours I need.
Annie struggled for weeks trying to make her original layout work but as soon as she decided to bravely change course, it was like a weight being lifted off her creativity.
Lynn – your 2 pictures, as already mentioned, could have been done by different people looking at a given photo. So different & thus would appeal to different folk.
Your new version is so you now….we’d all recognise it….fun & loose.
Annie – we can all sympathise with the ‘freezing’ for want of a word. The not being able to move forward because it doesn’t feel/look right. In taking it back to your main subject you have achieved, to my mind, a great layout and then the additions are so ‘you’.
Looking forward to seeing the finished piece.
I have a work from years ago that has remained incomplete & recently saw some crafted simplistic flowers (like Lynn, for a special vase) that might make use of that piece……..eventually 🤪
Thank you Antje. I prefer my current style – I like the looseness and freedom. Until Annie influenced me I was always very precise and it’s hard to let go but I’m doing my best.
Annie is so pleased to be able to move forward with her floral project now – it was brave of her to go back ‘to the drawing board’.
Maybe, if you work on that unfinished piece, we would be able to see your rescue?
Lovely colourful pictures, the hydrangeas are a triumph, nearly my favourite shrub of all, and so versatile. Wonderful colours, just incredible! I love the beach scene too, the boat perspective is wonderful. Thank you both.
Thank you Marie – hydrangeas are wonderful and have such a range of colours, as well as variety, such as lace-cap that I find delicately beautiful. Ours have well-developed heads now so it won’t be long before we can enjoy them. Annie has given me some white hydrangea plants from her garden and they are amazing even though they have no colour.
I really enjoyed making the new boat on the beach picture and I’m wondering if there is another old picture I could update 🙂
Hi Lyn & Annie. I like the new boat picture, Lyn. The gull has added a touch of humour which, as others have said, is very ‘you’. And your use of scraps (of both wool & felt) is great. I’m sure Kim loved the thoughtful handmade card.
Annie – I really enjoyed seeing your hydrangea rethink: turn it round, take some bits off, turn it round again, take lots of it off…. You’ve given the picture much more definition and the eye can settle on the flower heads as the focal points. You’ve probably got enough left over for several more pictures too so it’s a win – win.
Thank you Lindsay – it’s very satisfying to make use of scraps -it’s as if you’re getting something for nothing 🙂
Gulls can be a nuisance but they are cheeky chappies and deserve to be celebrated in art. By the way, you helped me out with a competitive crossword recently – the answer I needed was ‘oystercatcher’ and I only learned of that bird after seeing your lovely pictures.
When I first saw what Annie had done by ripping her picture apart I wasn’t quite sure what to think but then when I saw her idea in action I realised it was a clever, and brave, decision. She’s almost there with it now.
I always end up smiling when I read your posts, ladies, as I have said before, you both lighten my heart. So thank you.
I ‘wow’d’ at your original seaside picture Lyn and I just adore your up to date one – when I looked at the seagull, I could actually picture him/her singing ‘yo ho ho and a bottle of rum’ – gorgeous! Great idea for replacing the flowers in your wonky vase too – love the summery colours, they must brighten up any corner.
Annie, you have quite a fascinating process, not sure I would have been that brave but your result is gorgeous – I can’t wait to see what you do next.
Helene x
Thank you Helene. The seagull could be doing the hokey-cokey on his own – you know the bit ‘put your left leg in, your left leg out …’.
The vase does brighten up a corner of my sitting room – not just the zingy colours of the wool but the gold wire too.
Annie’s way of working is not only very creative but it’s loose – no rigid plans for Annie – and I’m envious of her natural way of working.
Lyn, I love the remake. The seagull add just the right amount of whimsy. They are such comical birds. Isn’t it funny how we change over time. I am much more comfortable with organic edges and try to use more colour these days.
Annie, I like your remake as well. The original was like a close up and the second like you stepped back to take in the whole picture. Will you stitch or needle felt on it when its done?
Thank you Ann. I do so agree about the edges. When I started making pictures I believed that the edges had to be ‘finished’ but I really love the untouched organic edges now.
Of course it does depend on each piece whether to go for finished or organic.
We’ve always been drawn to being colourful – you’re lucky we don’t sprinkle glitter on as well.
Your description of Annie’s hydangeas is spot-on, ie a close-up into a whole picture. Will she stitch into it? Who knows? Depends which way the wind is blowing 🙂
Wow, Lyn and Annie you both always amaze me with your creative ideas!
I love all three+ projects, they are all very inspiring for different reasons. I agree with everything that has been said by the others, and I also loved reading about your thought processes and how each work has been born. Thank you for this post!
Thank you Kiki. Reading everyone’s thought processes is the bit we like the best in the forum’s posts – it can often be inspiring – and we love seeing the varied artwork everyone makes 🙂