Browsed by
Category: Book Review

The Codification of Stitch

The Codification of Stitch

Comments 22 comments
One of the UK’s major textile events, the Knitting and Stitching Show, is held annually in November in the Harrogate Convention Centre. It’s packed with “must have” products and showcases inspiring work by a wide variety of textile artists. Within the show there is a dedicated exhibition area called the Graduate Showcase, which highlights outstanding textile art from recent UK BA undergraduate courses. This initiative, run in partnership with the Embroiderers’ Guild, provides a platform for emerging talent in the textile art world and it was here last November that I first saw the work of Charlotte Farrant.
Charlotte hadn’t originally planned a career in textile design, in fact growing up she had formed a fascination for mechanics and saw herself becoming a mechanical engineer. At some point Charlotte discovered she also had a love of embroidery and enrolled in the Royal School of Needlework, graduating with a first class degree. 

Charlottes “Codification of Stitch” is an innovative coded embroidery system developed by the textile artist herself and it is used to form hidden messages within the garments she designs, transforming textiles into wearable narratives. Specific embroidery stitches represent letters, forming hidden messages amongst the exquisite, decorative Goldwork, Blackwork, Whitework and Raised Work.
 
It was her fabulous “coded” Ann Lister black coat that first caught my attention on her stand at the show. In 2025, in collaboration with the Anne Lister project, Charlotte designed a range of costumes re-imagining the BBC cast of Gentleman Jack and bringing them in to the 21st century.
 
I hadn’t heard of Ann Lister but I’m guessing plenty of you will have, especially if you’ve seen her life story as portrayed by Suranne Jones in the BBCs series Gentleman Jack. This woman was an ardent diarist and from 1896 to 1840 she wrote a five million word diary, approximately one sixth of which was written in code. She combined the Greek alphabet, zodiac, punctuation, and mathematical symbols allowing her to document, but also conceal, the most private aspects of her life. It’s fitting that this beautiful coat should also conceal its message which is a quote from Ann in August 1823. It reads “I am not made like any other I have seen, I dare believe myself to be different from any other who exist.”
Ann Lister Coat
 
Sampler for coat

Another “Ann Lister” inspired piece on Charlottes stand was a waistcoat inspired by the diarists love of nature and the coded message on this garment reads “We are not alive if we’re not taking the odd risk now and again.” 

Ann Lister Waistcoat
Detail of waistcoat

There was also a selection of beautiful intricately stitched, coded brooches on display, each with a printed label providing its deciphered message.

Check out Charlottes website charlottefarrantembroidery.com where you can see her portfolio of designs as well as her shop selling Coded embroidery kits, brooches and many other embroidered coded art works.

Throughout history textiles have been used not only for protection and comfort but also to communicate our personal values and identity. Long before the written word came in to use Ancient civilisations would use specific colours and symbols to convey their environment, spiritual believes and culture. In this way meaning could be woven, felted or stitched into rugs, blankets, clothing, etc. delivering visual messages that could be easily read by the people around them. Examples include the felted rugs created by ancient nomadic tribes which would embody powerful symbols across different cultures signifying the wish for good health, long life, prosperity, etc.

Examples of just a few of the Symbols used in Middle Eastern rug making.

On the other hand, hidden “coded” messages in textiles have been used for a very different, but very important role in history. While imprisoned Mary Queen of Scots embedded complex and personal symbols within her embroideries to express her frustrations, assert her claim to the English throne, and comment on her unjust captivity. This panel depicts a grapevine and a hand holding a pruning knife. It references Mary’s claim to the throne, suggesting the need to cut away the fruitless branch of the Tudor tree represented by the childless and ‘illegitimate’ Elizabeth. The point is driven home by the Latin motto ‘Virescit Vulnere Virtus’ (virtue flourishes by wounding). (source:vam.ac.uk)

Embroidery also enabled Mary to communicate with her supporters by sending coded messages hidden in her needlework. 

In the realm of espionage, traditional handicraft skills were to take on an even more covert dimension during the World Wars when prisoners, spies and resistance members used embroidery to pass on information under the noses of their enemies. After all, who would suspect that something as innocent as an embroidery or tapestry could offer any threat from the enemy? Morse code and binary code were easily represented using a combination of long and short stitches, or French knots and seed stitches, and these would go undetected when hidden amongst other decorative stitches. Other methods required the person receiving the work to “undo” the embroidery as messages were hidden in the padding of trapunto or concealed beneath a second layer of embroidery. 

Knitting was another innocent looking but very useful craft when it came to espionage. Morse Code knitters employed single purl stitches for dots and sequences of three purl stitches for dashes. Their sequences translated into short and long coded signals. Some knitters used knots to conceal Morse code by tying specific configurations to represent dots and dashes, or varying the distances between their knots. These encoded messages could then be discreetly passed across enemy lines or integrated into knitted items such as hats and scarves to be decoded by the recipient. Written messages were also known to have been passed on, hidden in balls of wool!
This practise wasn’t exclusive to the allies. Using a system similar to Morse, German agents based in the UK also passed encoded messages using knotted yarn which was then knitted in to garments. 

Although an extremely dangerous occupation it’s said that the practise of covert knitting became so prevalent during WWII, some countries actually banned the posting of knitting patterns aboard, fearing they may carry coded information to the enemy. 
During times of war, a knitter was often more than just a creator of warm garments; they were also keen observers and messengers, their needles clicking away as they kept watch. (Source: Timoneillstudios.com)

Image Source: ww2wrecks.com

I will leave you with an embroidery created by one Major Alexis Casdagli. Alexis was captured and spent four years in a German POW camp where he passed the time in the innocent pursuit of cross stitch. He also set up a stitch school, teaching other POWs to embroider. Of the many embroideries he made this piece was so admired by his captors that they proudly hung it in the castle where he was being held and subsequently had it displayed in three other camps.

The prisoners must have found it very amusing that the guards had no idea of the defiant message hiding in the Morse dots and dashes stitched around the borders which read “God Save The King” and “Fxxx Hitler”. Fortunately it was never deciphered during those four years and so the embroidery, and the Major survived the war. He told his son on his return that the Red Cross saved his life but embroidery saved his sanity! 

 

 

New book on Blending boards to tempt you

New book on Blending boards to tempt you

Comments 10 comments

I am not sure how it got to be Thursday so quickly. It’s been a busy week since we last chatted. I was working on another post about demoing felting, but it needs more work, so that will be coming later.  This week at the local guild, we had a social focusing on Blending Boards. My Kia is partway through her gastric surgery (one of the parts of the new parts was missing from the box, so next week?)  The weeds are trying to outnumber the plants in the pots, so that has to be done; they are all looking limp from heat and lack of water, i have to fix that too.  The last part of the huge fleece is finally in for its first rinse. Just to add extra excitement, I am still wiping out and having long naps at odd moments. Life is fun!

Since you probably are not interested in the gastric distress of my car, and are likely trying to tackle your own weeds and lack of water (although it keeps raining?) So, this will be a short blog, so you can go enjoy the weeding and fleece washing while the snowbanks are not here.  Let me show you what turned up, besides blending boards and bags of bits of fibre, at the local guild on Monday.

Guild social with Blending boards

Removing one dowl from rolag0.11) Ann making rolags on the blending board, 2 more blending boards used in the background

removed last dowl and the rolag looks flopy0.12)- Ann’s rolag is flaccid!

some of the spinners at the social, 4of the 6 spinning are using drop spindles. One you can see the rolag she is working from0.13) 4 of the 6 spinners are using drop spindles

Daisy brought in her new book: “The Spinner’s Blending Board Bible: From Woolen to (Nearly!) Worsted and Everything in Between”,  by Deborah Held. Released April 2025,  it is hardcover and has 136 pages, in English.  (ISBN: ‎ 978-0811773676, if you wanted to look at it too)

cover of: The Spinner’s Blending board Bible, from wool to (nearly!) worsed and everything in between”,  by Deborah Held1.1)cover of: The Spinner’s Blending Board Bible, from wool to (nearly!) worsted and everything in between”,  by Deborah Held

This book was written for spinners, but felters may also be inspired by it. Anyone working with fibre has more options if they know more ways to prepare that fibre. Different fibre preps produce different kinds of yarn if you are spinning, and will behave differently if you are wet or dry felting. More options are always good. For felters, the fibre mixes that a blending board can create may inspire you. Probably a turbulent sea or impending stormy sky, even mixes of greens suggesting distant trees?

first 2 pages of table of contents1.2) first 2 pages of the Contents pages

chapters 3-6 plus appendices1.3) Chapters 3-6 plus appendices

Let’s have a look at the contents of the book to see if it sparks your interest. While I am writing this, Indigo (online) has an excerpt including the full list of contents (in case my new camera and I are still discussing visual acuity) https://www.indigo.ca/en-ca/the-spinners-blending-board-bible-from-woolen-to-nearly-worsted-and-everything-in-between/c06b9a51-bd73-3adf-adf6-1d363cd16a3c.html

Here are the main topics covered (I have listed the contents of all of chapter 4, since it may be of greatest interest to felters):

Foreword

Introduction

1: YOUR BLENDING BOARD: THE ALL-IN-ONE FIBER-PROCESSING TOOL

  • Breaking Down the Blending Board
  • A Comparison of Tools Used in Fiber Preparation

2: INDUSTRY SECRETS: UNLOCKING THE HIDDEN POTENTIAL OF YOUR BLENDING BOARD

  • Aftermarket Accessories
  • Technique: Dos and Don’ts
  • Smooth vs. Textured Preparations
  • Working with “Difficult” Fibers

3: ROLLED-OFF PREPARATIONS: ROLAGS, ROLLED LOGS, PUNIS, AND ROLY-POLIES

  • Rolled-off Preparations, Defined
  • Rolling Fiber Off Your Blending Board
  • Color, Texture, and Other Creative Play

4: BATTS AND CLOUDS, ROVINGS AND SLIVERS

  • Batts
  • Better Batts
  • Make the Best Batts
  • Layer Your Fiber in Thin Staple Lengths, Burnishing Often
  • Remove the Batt from the Blending Board
  • Make It a Double
  • Make It More Woolen with Multiple and Directional Passes
  • Directional Loading
  • Recard Your Batt
  • Make It More Worsted
  • Carded Clouds
    • Make It the Most Woolen
  • Roving vs. Sliver
    • Pin-drafted Roving
  • Make Your Own Roving, Multiple Ways
  • Hand-pulled Rovings: from a Batt/Cloud or Roll-up, as a Z-strip
  • Diz a Roving or Sliver
  • Diz from the Board
  • Off the Batt or Roving
  • Double-diz
  • Make It More Worsted
  • Creative Play with Color and Texture
  • Flecks/Tweeds and Heathers
  • Garneting for Extra Texture
  • Make It a Marl by Stacking Your Batts
  • Stripes/Repeating Colors and Variegates
  • Color Blocking
  • Gradients
  • Vertical and Horizontal Gradients
  • Individually Carded Gradients
  • Scraptastic Sandwich Batts
  • Fractals
  • Fancy Farm Batt
  • Bizzed Datty Bumps

5: UNEXPECTED WAYS TO USE YOUR BLENDING BOARD

  • Bring a Braid of Fiber Back to Life
  • Flick-card Locks and Line Them Up for Spinning
  • Flick-comb Your Locks
  • Diz a Repeatable “Combed” Top
  • Wet Felting

6: CARE AND STORAGE OF YOUR BLENDING BOARD

  • Keep It Clean
  • Storage

Acknowledgments

Appendix A: DIY Blending Board

Appendix B: Comparison of Blending Boards Used in This Book

Resources and Credits

Glossary

I like that the book considers repeatable and totally unrepeatable ways to work with fibre.  While it’s fun to do artsy one-off things, it’s also nice to be able to get a predictable effect and repeat it if you want to. There are two tables I am particularly impressed with, one on types of fibre prep and what they produce (with pros and cons)(I want to meet this author!!). And the other on the Woolen to worsted continuum. It’s an elegant way of explaining vocabulary. Which is a problem when shopping for the prepared fibre, you want what you thought you were purchasing to arrive.  There are good photos of various ways to lay out colour to get different effects as well as photos that show how to use the equipment, including the diz.

Let me show you a few interior pages to see if I can tempt you to check it out further.

2.1--2.6) interior shots of the book to tempt you to go take a look at it.

As you can see from the list of contents and the photos, this book covers a lot of ground, not only in ways to make use of a blending board but also in the various fibre preparations and how they are different.  If your library or guild picks up this book, seek it out and take a perusal. Even if you never find a blending board at a garage sale or make your own, there is a lot of info here in case you do!

Back cover showing text and photos of rolags and dizing and photo of authors picture3)Back cover

Also, you can absorb the info presented and transfer that knowledge to a drum carder if you have one, or have access to use one.  You can lay fibre directly on the drum, diz off or make rolags. Even after a short-ish perusal and skimming, it has me thinking odd thoughts of trying things on my drum carder.  But first, I have to finish washing the last of that giant fleece. Just how big was that sheep? And what was he rolling around in? That water is filthy.

Oh no, a big storm is coming through in consecutive waves this evening, I guess the weather thought that fleece was very dirty too and is helping with the rinse!  I will hope the waves of the incoming storm don’t take out the power before I get this posted!!! (Ann may not be able to do the final spellcheck and find all the missing or extra capitals!)

Have fun! Stay dry, Enjoy Summer and Keep Felting!!

New Book on Needle Felted Pictures

New Book on Needle Felted Pictures

Comments 11 comments

I am so sorry, I have been rather derailed since surgery. Last week I had the post-surgery oncology doctor visit. All reports have come back good so maybe I will stop stressing and shaking. I did get to work on my moose bag landscape while waiting for the appointment to start.  Glenn, who was my driver,  just had a nap. I am pretty sure, even so stressed before the appointment, I had more fun felting than he did napping. Today is the end of week 5(?) so at least 3 or more weeks to go, just in time for spring?

landscape on canvas bag surrounding silhouette of moose1)Picture of bag in progress (there is still more to do but it’s looking like a landscape now!)

To cheer myself up, I ordered a new needle felting book I had spotted online and a clover tool, since I could not find where I put mine. I found it after I ordered a new one, it was at the bottom of the moose bag…. What was it doing hiding there?

What I had spotted: Create Beautiful Needle Felted Landscapes, everything you need to know to create stunning needle felted pictures, by Helen Winter. The cover looked good, but I know you are not to judge a book by its cover. The reviews looked good too, so maybe the cover is correct? I ordered the paperback edition and went back to bed. It arrived Feb 22 before my appointment. Let’s have a look. Although this book focuses on 2D pictures, its introduction also mentions needle felting 3-D as well.

Create Beautiful Needle Felted Landscapes, everything you need to know to create stunning needle felted pictures, by Helen Winter.2) Cover of new book

To give you an idea of the scope of the book, let’s look at the index

The Index:

Page 1   Introduction

Page 3   About This Book

Page 5   To Get You Started

  •  Why Needle Felting?
  • Get Comfortable To Needle Felt

Page 7   Understanding the Needle Felting Process

  • What Is It?

Page 9   Tools And Equipment

  • Types Of Felting Needles
  • Identifying Needle Felting Needles
  • Other Needle Felting Equipment That Will Help You

Page 12  Different Types Of Wool

  • Choosing The Right Type Of Wool For Needle Felting

Page 15  Colour Theory And Composition

  • Understanding Colour Theory
  • Colour Wheel (Needle Felted Wool)
  • The Role Of Light And Shadow
  • Composition Techniques
  • Practical Application In Needle Felting

Page 19  Tips And Techniques

  • Needle Felting Action

Page 22  Projects

  • Warm Up – Blue Surf
  • Sunset Over Sulby
  • Ballaugh Curraghs
  • Port Erin Bay, Isle Of Man
  • Smaefell From Agneash
  • The Headlands, Peel

Page 115  Embroidery Stitches

  • Straight Stitch
  • Back Stitch
  • French Knot
  • Chain Stitch

Page 118   Mounting Suggestions

  • Embroidery Hoop
  • Pieces Of Driftwood
  • Wooden Frame Without Glass
  • Wooden Box Frame
  • Professional Mounting And Framing

Page 122  Frequently Asked Questions

Page 124  Resources

  • UK Suppliers
  • USA Suppliers

Page 125  Next Steps

Page 126  Acknowledgements

 

As you can see, she has an overview of needles and other tools, wool options, and a quick overview of colour.

For Needles:

She has a quick overview of the most common shapes that are presently available. A bit more info on gauges and when to use which needle would be helpful if included at this point.  It’s a good start on needle information, and later in the book she does list what needles she uses as she explains the projects.

Fiber and Fiber prep:

photo labled Roving and Sliver 3) diagram of fiber

Looking at one of her photos, again there is an odd interpretation of what is “Roving” which seems to be confused with combed top. She is a very good felter, she may not be a spinner who has used combs for fiber preparation.  The problem of inconsistent vocabulary goes back to those who are selling/re-selling prepared fiber.  We have been told by sellers that Roving is a rope like fiber preparation, and all long rope like preparations are roving. Unfortunately, there are two rope like presentations of prepared fiber. If you are a spinner or felter you will quickly notice there is a big difference.  The spinners likely have been taught the difference between the two.

Combs produce a strip of parallel fibers which, when spun, will create worsted yarn (smooth, think of the fabric in an expensive men’s suit). While carding (whether on a drum carder, hand carders or pet brushes) will create more disorganized fiber, and when spun will produce a woolen yarn. Think fluffy sweater yarn.

When needle felting, the disorganization of Carded fiber will make fiber entanglement easier.  Combed top can be used, but if you disorganize it (use one of the carding tools or hand blend it), the fiber entanglement will happen much more quickly. If you are trying to create a sculpture with a long fur coat, then combed top such as alpaca or blends with silk will work wonderfully since the fiber is less inclined to felt to itself and can be added in shingle like layers to build up an outer fur coat. So don’t write off combed top as useless to us, it just takes a bit more persuading to felt and some fiber types can make beautiful fur for sculptures.

Projects:

She has found inspiration in the Isle of Man and its diverse landscape. There are examples of sky, sea and land. At the start of each project there is a note about the image, what tools will be needed, and wool colours will be required. The step-by-step instructions for her project are full of explanatory pictures, which are clear and should be easy to follow.  There are also good descriptions of what she is doing and why. She suggests working with small amounts of fiber in layers, which is similar to the watercolour like effects I tend to work with in wisps of fiber.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

4.1-4.5) a few examples of photo instructions, they are clear and give a good indication of what she is doing.

Sewing Embellishments:

Examples of using stitches to embellish the felt picture 6)Sewing Embellishments

There are a couple of pages of embroidery stitches and examples of embellishing your picture with stitches. She also includes a list of suppliers for the UK and the US to get us started.  I hope, in the next edition, she will include some of the Canadian suppliers too. (Olive Sparrow and Fiber Craft spring to mind, but we have other sellers in other provinces too.)

If you are interested in Picture needle felting, this book is worth a look, and probably adding to your library. It would be a helpful resource, to those reasonably new to needle felting, as well as inspire those who have been felting for a while. Although I probably will not create her Isle of Man landscapes, she has inspired me to look around locally for inspiration.   I am glad I have added Create Beautiful Needle Felted Landscapes, by Helen Winter to my library.

Other books you may want to investigate if you are interested in this topic,  check second hand or local book store to find a copy:

Needle felting book fist impresions

Needle felting book fist impresions

Comments 3 comments

I am home from surgery, and still quite sore. Last week I was feeling too sore to felt, so tried to keep reading my new book but none of the words wanted to cooperate and enlighten me. hummm. Ok, let me try that again in a few days ( Stupid anaesthetic brain). It’s now a week later and words are not just pretty shaped line, so I returned to enjoying my new book, still a bit slower than usual but then I will just enjoy it longer. I would like to give you my first impressions. But first, you probably want to know what it is I am trying to read.

For Christmas, I received the third felting book in a series by author Cindy-Lou Thompson; A Masterclass in Needle Felting Endangered Species: Methods and Techniques to Take Your Needle Felting to the Next Level. I have her two previous books and was excited when I saw the third listed as soon to be published. My husband seems to have noticed that excitement since it was there Christmas morning. (I found an excellent blacksmithing book about making locks for him).

1) Christ mass presents from 2024 candy, bergus shails stuffed fossel creature, and felting book 1) Christ mass presents from 2024

This is not written as a beginner book. The felter is expected to know how to, or figure out sculpting shapes to create a firm under-structure. She includes an interesting overview of her tools and covers specific techniques as she explains her projects.  She explains she was self-taught and has, as a result, come up with some interesting ideas that I had not seen in other books.  This creative approach makes her books worth looking through and considering for your library.

2) Cover of Cindy-Lou Thompson latest book 2) Cover of Cindy-Lou Thompson’s latest book

 3) A sample page from the chapter Getting started tools and equipment3) A sample page from the chapter Getting Started, tools and Equipment

Book Content:

  • Dedications and acknowledgements
  • Preface
  • Introduction
  • Getting started tools and equipment

Projects:

  • Snow leopard
  • Przewalski’s Horse
  • Painted Dog
  • Secretary Bird

 

  • How to prepare and blend Merino wool
  • Fur attachment
  • Glossary
  • Suppliers

Four endangered species are used as examples, to show some of the techniques she uses to make her sculptures. She uses cabochon eyes and the tinting of fibre with pastels or makers as well as fibre blending to create colour. Again she assumes previous knowledge of sculpting with wool but she does show how she does a lot of her finishing

  • Snow leopard – eyes and armature wire, adding spots (blending, markers or powder pastel)
  • Przewalski’s Horse – hooves and reverse needling. Silk clay and Mod Podge
  • Painted Dog – Short reverse needle coat, clay nails, acrylic eyes, on a grass base
  • Secretary Bird – eyes and feathers

4) Sample page of snow leopard instructions4) Sample page of snow leopard instructions

5)sample page of Przewalski’s Horse project5)sample page of Przewalski’s Horse project

There are odd little bits of information that were left out. Such as,  what kind of mettle is in the coated wire she is using. Ok, I might be the only one really curious about this. I am suspecting it may be steel since the coated garden wire I have found here is steel and not aluminium. This may be a UK vs Canada shopping thing, and there may be coated aluminium there.

I also found her understanding of fibre prep a bit odd, her definition of core wool is a bit unspecific. I have a strong suspicion she does not spin fibre, so has not investigated the difference between Combed (top), whose fibre alignment is generally parallel, which makes worsted yarn, VS Carded (roving or batts) whose fibre structure is more disorganized, thus easier to needle felt, which make woollen yarn. Carded fibre can be removed from the carding drum as a batt or various widths of roving. Unfortunately the word “roving” is missuses by some sellers who sell combed top as Carded roving since they both look like long strips of fibre. If you look carefully at the strip, if the fibres look mostly parallel it’s combed top, if it looks more disorganized it’s carded roving. Core wool is usually carded or carding waste, not a breed or special type of preparation. World of Wool sells both a roving and carding waste version of core wool. I have used both but found re-carding the carding waste made it easy to use.

That said even with a few odd bits of vocabulary, this is a book worth looking at and probably getting. I am not sure I will try any of her projects, but some of her techniques may turn up in something else I do in the future.

Sorry this is a bit shorter than the small books I usually write, but recovery is a bit slower than I had hoped and so far has been an exciting roller coaster of pain, but it’s much better than last week!

September Adventures

September Adventures

Comments 25 comments

September has been a busy and exciting month in contemporary textile art (specifically felting art) in Ireland so I thought I would feature what I got up to, I will call it my September Adventures.

Weather wise, the month started as we hoped it would continue (it didn’t by the way) with a return to fine warm weather – something we had not seen since last June.  So I took the opportunity to visit our National Botanical Gardens (https://www.botanicgardens.ie/) which are situated on Dublin’s north side.  The gardens (there’s free entry, if you ever visit Dublin, Ireland) opened in 1800 and are an oasis of calm with restored glass houses, magnificent specimens, bee hives and, of course, a tea room.  There’s also a pedestrian access to the historical cemetery next door which I suspect is not seen too often.    Glasnevin Cemetery also houses a genealogical archive for anyone wishing to trace their Irish ancestors (https://www.dctrust.ie/genealogy/home.html).

But, I digress.  Let’s go back to the gardens.  My visit coincided with their annual exhibition ‘Sculpture in Context’.  The exhibits feature artworks in various media including ceramics, wood, metal.  I decided to focus purely on the textile element of the exhibition and to photograph any pieces I came across as I wandered around.  I was aware that some of the members of Feltmakers Ireland had pieces accepted for the exhibition; Clare Merry (http://www.merryland.ie/index.htm) an exceptional artist who quietly creates her pieces was featured.  If you would like to see some of Clare’s work please check out her website, which, she tells me, is not really up to date, or Google her and feast over the images; Fiona Leech (https://www.instagram.com/feltathome/?hl=en) had three beautiful pots which were originally housed in the cactus house.   Annoyingly two of the three pots were stolen within a matter of hours of their arrival and the remaining one was moved to a safer spot in the garden’s gallery.  I thought I would show you the three pots as they were originally grouped together.

Fiona Leech’s three pots (source: Fiona’s Instagram page)

I searched but could not find Leiko Uchiyama’s beautiful work but here is a link to her website if you would like to check her out: https://www.leikofelt.com/my-felt-work/  I found two other exhibits from members of the guild.  Their featured work while not through the medium of felt were equally stunning.  Congratulations Mel Bradley (https://melbradleysilks.ie/)  and Mette Sophie Roche (https://metteroche.com/)

I put together a slideshow of my textile finds in the gardens which I hope you enjoy.

  • Mette Sophie Roche; The vital matter of Fungi
  • Mette Sophie Roche; The vital matter of Fungi (detail)
  • Mette Sophie Roche; The vital matter of Fungi (detail)
  • Fiona Leech; Drought
  • Fiona Leech; Drought (detail)
  • Frances Crowe; Terrain
  • Frances Crowe; Terrain (detail)
  • Frances Crowe; Terrain (detail)
  • Claire Merry; Floral Path
  • Claire Merry; Floral Path
  • Ella Quinn; It’s nothing but a dead fish
  • Niamh O’Connell; Cocoon
  • Mel Bradley; Grasses
  • Mel Bradley; Grasses

We had our first meeting after summer in Feltmakers Ireland and as usual the committee put an incredible amount of preparatory work into making it successful.  It was a busy morning as everyone beavered away felting flowers to create a tapestry as part of the 20th anniversary celebration for the guild.  Much to everyone’s delight, the guild’s founder Elizabeth Bonnar joined us. I thought I would feature Elizabeth here as without her it is doubtful that there would be such a vibrant community of feltmakers today.   Here she is with her granddaughter and with the committee.

Feltmakers Ireland founder Elizabeth Bonnar and her granddaughter
Feltmakers Ireland committee with founder Elizabeth Bonnar (3rd from left)

Here are some photos taken on the day.

  • Feltmakers hard at work
  • Breda and Elizabeth hard at work!
  • Lots of flowers were made that morning by members
  • Suzanne, Breda, Deirdre and Elizabeth catching up

The finished tapestry was revealed at Feltmakers Ireland ‘Bountiful’ juried exhibition which opened on 30th September.

Feltmakers Ireland members: The Floral Tapestry to celebrate 20 years.

The exhibition also saw the launch of the new book “Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking”  The book is the product of a collaboration between many members of Feltmakers Ireland guild, sheep farmers, shepherds, shearers and suppliers and not forgetting the various washers and carders who took the raw fleeces, converting them into usable fibres for testing.  I think this approach was quite unique and it will certainly be a worthwhile and useable addition to any textile maker’s reference library.  Understandably it was a huge project so congratulations are due to all, especially Annika (Berglund), Breda (Fay) and Sinead (Doyle) who collated all of the findings into an invaluable resource on Irish wool.  It’s so full of well written practical advice and it was made extra special by the presence of one of our Government Ministers, Pippa Hackett an ardent supporter of the project, who officially launched the book and the exhibition . Here is a quick look at the contents page to give you an idea of the scope of the book:

Exploring Irish Wool Contents page

An added bonus is that feltmakers/wool artists can now make direct contact with numerous artisanal suppliers so there is no excuse for any of us not buying closer to source and of course for anyone overseas who wishes to use Irish wool fibre in their work purchasing from source.

It is available to purchase from the following link and I understand will also be available in eBook format shortly:  https://feltmakersireland.com/exploring-irish-wool-for-feltmaking/

I hope you have enjoyed my September adventures.   It has been an exciting month.  Once again I would like to thank Feltmakers Ireland and their hard working committee who work tirelessly to maintain this vibrant community – it makes such a difference that, as textile artists, we can gather together and create regularly. I take my hat off to Elizabeth Bonnar and her decision to found Feltmakers Ireland twenty years ago; the catalyst for lifelong friendships, masterclasses, collaborations, exhibitions, networks and travel.

To complete September’s birthday celebrations, I thought I would produce a slideshow of the Bountiful exhibition which is running for the month of October in Phoenix Park, Dublin Ireland.  I took photos on the day so I apologise where the light may be shining on the artwork.  There are over 30 pieces of art and it will give you an indication of where Ireland’s vibrant felting community is at in its journey.  I hope you enjoy it!

  • Annika Berglund: Variations on a Green Theme II
  • Astrid Tomrop-Hofman: Positive Vibes
  • Deirdre Crofts: A good Day’s Catch
  • Clare Brophy: Share the Bounty!
  • Helene Dooley: Visualizing the beauty of the Sunflower Field
  • Mel Bradley: Flame Silk Velvet Devoré Nuno Felted Wrap
  • Aisling Hassett: Seeds to Life
  • Fiona Leech: Fading Memories
  • Karena Ryan: Saol Fluirseach (Abundant Life translated from Irish)
  • Eithna O’Dea: Plenty of Fish
  • Juliane Gorman: Emerging
  • Claire Merry: Danu, Celtic Mother Goddess
  • Maria McGarry: Conference Call
  • Breda Fay: Torthuil (Bountiful in Irish language)
  • Sharon Wells: Kerry 1
  • Joanne Foley: The Gathering
  • Sandra Chase: Seed Burst
  • Adrienne Dempsy: Where Wild Things Grow
  • Annika Berglund: Variations on a Green Theme 1
  • Astrid Tomrop-Hofman: Life is Funky!
  • Sharon Wells: Stay Awhile
  • Mel Bradley: ‘Royal’ Silk Velvet Devoré Nuno Felted Wrap
  • Caoimhe Tuthill: Nature’s Bounty
  • Neasa Ryan: Scattery Island
  • Valerie O’Ceallaigh: Bountiful Love
  • Neasa Ryan: Suaimhneas (detail)
  • Caitriona Nolan: Particles
  • Beibhinn Delaney: Faith in the future
  • Sandra Reynolds: Summer’s End
  • Helena McGuinness: Inspired by Traditional Arran Patterns
3 book covers on needle felting, showing cat face, polar bare and Pengqins
Starting 2023 with books

Starting 2023 with books

Comments 14 comments

2023 has already sent me a change of plans notice. My last goal for the end of 2022 had been to have the local guild library book check completed. Then I would spend hours grouping, sorting and formatting data into lists so the library would be more accessible for members to use. I was running a bit behind schedule and the new deadline was to have the circulating books counted by 4 pm on Jan. 9th.  If I cannot get all the circulating books checked between one meeting and the next it means I have a lot of extra checking to do once the books start moving in or out of the library. Ann had been extra busy this past year and was not as available as she had hoped. This meant that on the day of the meeting, there were four full cabinets of books checked, leaving one last cabinet full of books to check (780.’s Basketry to 900.’s Textiles – Finished cloth).

1) OVWSG Guild Library cabinet full of weaving books, on the door is a list of what is on the bottom shelf. In front of the cabinet is the old guild computer on the library rolling table.1) OVWSG Guild Library cabinet full of weaving books, on the door is a list of what is on the bottom shelf. In front of the cabinet is the old guild computer on the library rolling table.

I got into the studio extra early and It all was going quite well until I got to my nemesis, the bottom shelf. The “Problem” shelf.  The Shelf placement within the cabinets does not allow binder-height books to sit upright on the bottom shelf, so most books sit with their spine edge facing up. For easier use, I had created a photo and list of what should be on that shelf. Unfortunately, I had to check to make sure that all were present and accounted for. This involved a bend, twist and lean maneuver that I had to repeat as I found each miss placed book or worse lack of book. Missing books kept me searching longer before giving up, and marking them as not there. I finally got to the end of the shelf and thought I had gotten away with this particular acrobatic bending maneuver…. But my back was only considering how best to discuss this grievous insult to its dignity. (It also likely recalled the 4 previous circulating cabinet bottom shelves.) I knew well before the meeting had started I was not going to be able to stay. I had the library set up for the evening, labelled everything I could think of and waited for Ann to arrive after work so she could run the library. (Sorry Ann!!) I got help back to the car and headed home, hoping to watch the meeting on Zoom. (There is still the Reference section, Audio-Visual and Magazines left to check!)

It was a fabulous presentation on a reinterpretation of district checks by Carl Stuart. But by the end, it was a challenge to get from the computer down the short hall to the bedroom and into bed. It’s taken 4 full days to get the grumbles back to a manageable level so I can hope to think and type.

My original plan of having a chat about fibre prep vocabulary has been put on hold (it will let me find better photos for you too) and instead, I wanted to keep with the theme of this post so far and show you the books of X-mass 22.

Glenn has discovered buying Felting Books for me is as much of a challenge as buying Blacksmithing books for him. Even so, he did very well this year.

2)  Unwrapped Christmas presents, 3 felting books, candy and a plastic box sitting on a black duvet.2)  Unwrapped Christmas presents, 3 felting books, candy and a plastic box sitting on a black duvet.

(The Mysterious contents of the plastic box we will chat about in an upcoming post with Ann.)

He also found an IKEA Octopus and an Octopus winter hat!

3) Yellow IKEA Octopus wearing a Red, Black and Purple Octopus winter hat sitting at the pillow end of the bed.

4) Japanese book cover by Sachi with framed needle felted cat on the front

The first book is in Japanese, I think it may be “Portrait of Cat Made of Wool Felting”? It has a lot of detailed pictures about the needle felting of cat faces including how to make eyes, whiskers, patterns, and fur in detail. The text is completely in Japanese but the layout is correct for a European book (spine on the left-hand side) so I hope there will be an English edition soon. Ann said there should be an app on my phone to take a picture and translate it. I don’t think my phone is that smart but it would be helpful while waiting for an English version.

Let me show you a few interior shots so you can get an idea of the content, the pictures are extremely detailed and give lots of information even if you don’t read Japanese (Written English is still challenging enough for me, arigtozimasu).

4.1-4.4)  A couple of random pages showing photos and text from the book.4.1-4.4)  A couple of random pages showing photos and text from the book.

This would likely be a good book for those interested in extreme realism and fur applications. I suspect it will be even more enlightening if you have a friend who reads Japanese! I hope it will be printed in English, I would buy it.

The second book I had seen mixed reviews on.  I was hoping to find an inexpensive second-hand copy to check out. The rumours had been quite negative, that the book was basically a coffee table vanity project with lots of pictures of the artist’s work and almost no info about how to needle felt.

5) Cover of “Make Animals felt Arts from Japan” by YoshiNobu5) Cover of “Make Animals felt Arts from Japan” by YoshiNobu

While I would agree the first section (66 pages) of the book is inspirational images of the artist’s work, the second section, (page 67 to 118) are divided into information on tools, types of wool, ways of blending fibre, basic techniques, then on to small projects to teach the basic techniques and expand on them. The projects are finger puppets and broaches. The instructions start out with simple shapes and a bit of colour blending and get more complicated. There are occasional translational word choice problems but overall it has good information. (There is a drum carder labelled as a combing machine! I will return to address that in a later post).

This book may have received better reviews if the inspirational section was after the informational section. But the information included is good and the pictures though small are reasonably clear to follow.

5.1-5.4) A few interior pages from Make Animals felt arts5.1-5.4) A few interior pages from Make Animals felt arts

 6) Cover for “The Natural world of Needle Felting, learn how to make more than 20 adorable animals” by Fi Oberon showing needle felted pengquins.6) Cover for “The Natural World of Needle Felting, learn how to make more than 20 adorable animals” by Fi Oberon showing needle-felted penguins.

The last book he found for me was one I already had picked up in 2021. “The Natural World of Needle Felting, learn how to make more than 20 adorable animals” by Fi Oberon.

6.1-6.4) parts of interior pages of “The Natural world of Needle Felting, learn how to make more than 20 adorable animals” by Fi Oberon6.1-6.4) parts of interior pages of “The Natural World of Needle Felting, learn how to make more than 20 adorable animals” by Fi Oberon

This book has a different approach to sculpture than I usually take. There are a few projects where the wool is cut and the armature inserted when the sculpture is almost complete. There are a number of projects with partial armatures and some with no armatures. I purchased a copy while I was working on the armature wire project. There is the use of strips of felt to make the core of a sculpture as well as the suggestion of using a ball of wool yarn to start the center of a spherical shape.

There is an interesting suggestion for making felted mushrooms (a currently popular topic) by using cardboard yarn and then adding a cap and stem of needle-felted wool. Most of the projects are simplified shapes which are not too intimidating for a beginner or advanced beginner.

All 3 books are worth looking at and depending on the direction your style of needle felting is taking you may want to get a copy of some of these for your own library.

7-7.1) Ann looking at my Christmas felting books7-7.1) Ann looking at my Christmas felting books

Ann and I will show you a bit more of our Christmas acquisitions but that will be in a later post. In the meantime have fun and keep felting!!!

Magazines

Magazines

Comments 14 comments

The Other Ann had posted about a challenge in a magazine she gets. Inspiration Magazine. https://www.inspirationsstudios.com/product/inspirations-issue-116/ it’s a needlework magazine. It looks really cool. So, I thought it might be an idea to ask people what magazines they read for knowledge and inspiration. Everyone seems to really love the Christmas beetle brooch. So I thought I would edit in the price for the kit, $129.00.  I am assuming that is Australian dollars.

I read Filz fu4n. the guild subscribes and there is an English supplement available. https://www.filzfun.de/magazin/en/

Wild Fibres is another interesting one. Lots of interesting articles and pictures.  https://www.wildfibersmagazine.com/

I look through Ply https://plymagazine.com/ and Spin-Off https://spinoffmagazine.com/ magazines at the Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild too. They don’t do felting but I spin and there are lots of colour inspirations.

     

 

I would love to see Felt Matters but can’t bring myself to pay $65 for a digital and $81 for a printed ( 4 per year) magazine.

I like to leaf through unrelated magazines too when I see them. art quilt magazines are inspiring. They are good at showing you how to break down and simplify a picture. Nature magazines of course are great for inspiration. I have an old National Geographic magazine that talks about wool. It’s packed away but I found a picture

 

So tell us which magazines do you read to learn, and/or get inspired.

Getting in a Spin

Getting in a Spin

Comments 16 comments

Creative Fibre in New Zealand are hosting a series of workshops next weekend, one of which is a beginner’s spinning workshop with Pat Old. She is quite the celebrity in NZ spinning circles but I’m not sure if that is also true internationally…. have you heard of her before?

I dithered about signing up for this class because one of the prerequisites was that you need to bring a wheel in good order, bobbins and lazy Kate. I wasn’t sure how much I wanted to learn to spin and buying all that equipment up front was quite an investment, so I put out some feelers to see if anyone had a wheel they would like to sell. I was (and still am) keen to make art yarns so was ideally looking for a wheel with a jumbo flyer. It took a few weeks of asking around but a friend from Auckland Fun Felters came through for me, she had an Ashford Traditional and best of all, it was already fitted with a jumbo flyer! 🙂

I took delivery of my new toy at the end of May and have been watching far too many Youtube videos ever since 🙂 These are my first efforts….

Autumnal colours spun from a Merino art batt full of textured bits and pieces, probably a bit ambitious for a first go but I was pleased with the results:

Aoifa says it makes a very nice pillow…

After reading Ann’s post on FFS a few weeks ago I had a shock of inspiration and added some orange to the singles I planned to ply post dying with purples and blues:

This is the plied yarn:

After plying I had some “single” left over on one of the bobbins so thought I would have a go at chain-plying (apparently it’s not very PC to call it Navajo plying any more). This method produces 3-ply yarn and in theory you can line up the colours on a gradient dyed yarn so you loose the stripy, “barber-pole” effect. I succeeded in places but definitely need more practice!

I am really enjoying spinning with Polworth (a Merino-cross breed that is better suited to the wet NZ climate), it is a lovely, soft wool. I crocheted this cowl but was not keen on the hot pink.

So I over-dyed it with blue:

One month into my spinning journey, a beginners class in Auckland came up so I toddled along with a friend (Margaret) who was curious but not really interested in taking up spinning (she couldn’t knit or crochet). They gave us some mystery brown and white wool to play with, I am pleased with the results but it is very coarse, too coarse for anything wearable so I am crocheting it into a bowl.

Margaret ended up buying the wheel she had been practicing on in the class (from the same person who sold me my wheel, I am starting to imagine Shirley has a house full of wheels that she has to climb over to move between rooms) 🙂 Margaret is also learning to crochet now she is enjoying spinning – another convert to the wonderful world of fibre!

I have also been playing with making slubby and chunky yarns and then dyeing it:

I found a few books on spinning at the library, the first one I read, Hand Spinning by Pam Austin was a bit disappointing, it didn’t cover anything I hadn’t already learned from watching YouTube videos. Frustratingly it mentioned a limited selection of art yarn types but didn’t offer any information on how you might spin them.

I found Spinning and Dyeing Yarn much more useful, jam-packed with technical, how-to information and lots of drool-worthy photos of beautiful yarns by different artists to give the reader inspiration and something to aspire to. For me, I was very taken with the art yarn chapter – I had no idea there were so many different species of art yarn and for each one there is at least one page explaining how to create it yourself.

I have only just started reading Yarn-i-tec-ture but I find the concept behind it intriguing, that you can spin a yarn with exactly the properties (stretch, warmth, shine etc) and colours you want…. Can’t wait to see if it delivers on that promise 🙂

I had to share these with you, there are several of them along the Wellington waterfront, they were very popular for selfies so I only managed to get photos of two of them but they are so cool I just had to share. Something for me to aspire to on my learning to knit journey! 🙂

Following several requests, I have posted my Concertina Hat and Snail Hat tutorials on Etsy. If you enter code FAFS30 (before the end of July) you will receive a 30% discount at check out. Alternatively, if you prefer a more interactive learning experience, the full online course, including the “taking it further module”, will be starting again in October, for more information and to sign up for notifications when registration opens please follow this link. Or for the bag class this link.

Busyness and Books

Busyness and Books

Comments 8 comments

As it often happens in Ottawa, the transition out of winter into spring can be quite sudden. Some years when it’s quick, we get to experience the river’s quick rise and many homes discover they unexpectedly have indoor swimming pools.

Ottawa geologically was at the bottom of an inland sea, it got up and suddenly left long before I arrived in Ottawa. Its departure left patches of Leda clay (an unstable marine clay) and locally 3 raised beaches where the waterline sat for a while before exiting the Ottawa valley leaving us a river that occasionally wishes to try to reclaim its distant glory of being a sea. I am 1 raised beach above the present flooding area for the Ottawa River and am slightly uphill from the creek down by the transitway, which is moving to a deeper but closer canal so the new train can go in. I understand the train will be wonderful but It seems to have a fear of heights since it is incapable of climbing much of a slope. I hope they asked the train’s thoughts on winter since we have a lot of that as well as a few too steep for the train slopes.

Some years we are lucky and have a slow spring, no flooding and we get to enjoy the tulips. That was this year! I suspect summer got annoyed having to wait and we have now been enjoying August in May with +30c and heavy humidity.  This is providing the plants with a bit of a panic! “Oh no, I am missing my display time! Quick, Flower!!”  It’s a bit confusing at the moment in the front and back garden.

We got word the garden centres would be deemed essential services and be open with restricted numbers and access. I was able to get most of what I was looking for. I have been frantically doing and overdoing the potting out, removing and replanting stray catnip and some of the self-seeded lettuce (have you ever considered Lettuce as a ground cover?)

As I think I told you when the Raccoons were being evicted, we need to replace the roof as well as working on fixing the garage.  Then we found out that the chimneys (I am lucky and have 2!) need to be unbricked then rebuilt. The face of the brick has been falling off and it is in very rough shape. That needs to be done before the new roof. It also explains the mysterious pieces of brick that I find in the garden and on my patio…. I was reasonably sure it was not the birds dropping them on their way to build a nest. On further consideration, that might not be a bad nesting material, good against cats, raccoons, and other birds. They would get a reduced price on nest insurance but would need a strong tree. It would be quite cozy lined with some wool. (I would say my musings are due to sunstroke but it’s cloudy and looks like we are about to get an impressive and windy rainstorm.)

1-2 the newly rebuilt front chimney and the about to be rebuilt back chimney.

3-4 the portable forest, herb and Vegi garden  &  the extra catnip on the old bench

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

5-10 the confusion of spring and early summer flowers all trying to get your attention

  11-12 the Japanese lilac is particularly impressive this year!

I wish I could share the aroma coming from my Japanese lilac and the adjacent thicker sweet scent of the flowering Honeysuckle vine. I was going to get a new hummingbird feeder for beneath the vine but with stores closed, I have missed the setup time so I hope the hummingbirds are enjoying the honeysuckle this year. While I was sitting on my (sorry Miaka’s) swinging garden bench, the perfume from the Lilac drifted over in waves on the gusting wind. I wanted to sit there longer but still have a lot to do today. More work on the Guild Library database and the year-end report as well as a blog post to write, but after taking pictures of clematis, bachelor buttons (the fancy ones) and trying to get a shot of the lilac as its flower-filled branches bounced in the wind. I still have raspberry’s to relocate or rehome, topping up the soil, some pruning of the back hedge and the grapevine (I saw more grapes starting than I have ever seen!! But the raccoon doesn’t share, it likely following the example of the chipmunk that eats all my strawberries!)

13-14 Grapes and Strawberries!

So it’s been very busy but not a lot of felting since Mother’s Day. (Ah I have finally got to the felting!)

15 Two of my felting books I wanted to tell you a bit more about

Although I have not found a book solely focused on wire armatures I have found a number of books that have small sections, to a brief mention of how they use armature wire. Recently I have picked up a couple more books that discuss armatures. The most recent was “Adorable Felted Animals: 30 Easy & Incredibly Lifelike Needle Felted Pals” by Gakken Handmade Series. This was originally a Japanese book translated into English in 2015.  80 pages, softcover, I was able to pick up a second-hand copy labelled as a knitting book. There is no knitting but 30 small scale animals to make.

It starts with posed pictures of the finished animal projects giving the name of the maker, the page numbers for the instructions and the size. The size of the pieces are interesting to note, with the largest just over 6 inches long but most are half that or smaller. This means they are excellent travel projects or you can just absorb the techniques and work on a bigger scale. There is a short section on the method used to create the golden retriever with lots of photos. This includes a layering technique for creating the fur look outer coat. The rest of the book is instructions for each figure. They have templates at the finished size to check your felted piece against as well as any special instructions such as a pattern for laying in the fur coat if needed or markings to add. The wire used varies from the full body to just the forelegs or tail.

I suspect a beginner who has never felted could be a bit hesitant to dive in, but if you have done a bit of needle felting and are comfortable with how the needle moved the fibre this may give you some ideas to take the information and use it for your own projects.

If you are interested in creating realistic fur you may want to look at “Needle Felted Kittens: How to Create Cute and Lifelike Cats from Wool” by Hinali.  96 pages, softcover with dust jacket. The author has more in-depth step-by-step instructions on each part of the creation of the cats. Although this book looks like one that an intermediate felter would choose, a newer felter would likely still be able to get a lot from this book because of the excellent photo instructions.

There is information on how to trim the fur to make it even more life-like. (Yes scissors and fibre can be used together much to the horror of the spinner in me!) There are both full and partial armatures used with good descriptions.  The suggestion of using yarn tightly wrapped over the armature to give the fibre something to stick to is interesting too (more experiments to come!). There are excellent examples of naturalistic shading to create a more life-like coat.

16 three more of my felting books I will tell you about

I have bought 3 more books dealing at least partly with armatures

  • Making Needle-Felted Animals: Over 20 Wild, Domestic and Imaginary Creatures by Steffi Stern,  127 pages softcover. this book has a couple of projects which use armatures.  It has a good beginner section of tools and some basic techniques before the project instructions. Pipe cleaners are used in one example as an armature which I would switch to one of the finer aluminum wires to reduce sensitivity to humidity. Scrap wool wrapped in yarn and used as an example for a possible core to felt over. the use of glue over bird’s feet is also shown.
  • A Masterclass in Needle Felting Dogs: Methods and techniques to take your needle felting to the next level by Cindy-Lou Thompson, 128 pages, softcover. (This one I liked immensely for all the extra tools and  techniques she suggests) She shows her starting armatures and thoroughly depicts how the four dogs were made. Many of the techniques I had not run into before.  Make your own Taxidermy like eyes, the uses of added colour; pastels, markers, paint, using mog-pog and clay. This is one I would suggest checking out if it crosses your path!
  • Next Level Felting: Professional needle-felting techniques to take your felted wool creations to the next level by Nancy Wesley. 90 pages, softcover. There is limited use of armatures, but good examples of blending fibres for a more naturalistic looking skin colour. she shows techniques to create a sharp edge when changing skin colours as well as subtle transitions. She has included many felting Tips scattered through the book.  If you have the opportunity to look at this book in person, check out the anatomical detail in her humped back whale.

and I have one I am waiting to order, so I will update you on it shortly.

  • The Natural World of Needle Felting: Learn How to Make More than 20 Adorable Animals by Fi Oberon. 144 pages, hardcover. More details to come on this one, but the preview bits I can see on Amazon.ca have multiple mentions of wire armature so I am quite hopeful and excited.

Have you found books about needle felting that have information on wire armatures that have helped you? Please point me in their direction if you have! If you are interested I can show you the Felted picture books I have collected over the past few years in another post.

 

Happy Mother’s Day 2021

Happy Mother’s Day 2021

Comments 8 comments

Last year I made Mom a felted picture of tulips for Mother’s Day. She is very fond of tulips but not so much taking care of plants. Thus, the felted tulips seemed the best option. I told you about them last year (https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2020/05/10/a-bouquet-for-mothers-day/) so I hoped you might be curious if I gave her another tulip.

This year we have been having a long slow spring. Spring flowers started early and have lasted for weeks! It is a big improvement over some springs. We occasionally go from snowbanks and snow mould to crocuses to 20c+ weather in the space of a couple of days to a week (there is a lot of flooding those years). Ottawa is a wonderful place to experience weather in one year you can live through +40c to -40c. (I am glad there is a lot less of the -40c than when I was a kid)

this year with such a slow spring we got to enjoy the flowers for much longer! While we were working on the sinking garage sort and clear, I snuck out to the front garden to take a few pictures to see what would inspire me for this year’s Mother’s Day Felt picture.

The violets are out as well as the lungwort but mom really does like tulips

1-3 Harratige Violets and Lungwort

It’s still a bit early and there are more daffodils out than tulips in full bloom so let’s see what we have for inspiration options.

 

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

 

4-11 2021 Early Spring Garden

After much deliberation, I chose the lighter of the peachy pink and orange tulips.

 12  The photo was taken May 2nd, 2021. The needle felted picture is based on this tulip and was started the evening of May 6th and then worked on over the next 2 days while Glenn still puttered on the garage clearing.

The base layer is an inexpensive commercial felt in antique white. I have shifted the grey background to a more blue tone. The wool is a combination of superwash merino, Corriedale and a small amount of BFL.  The background was worked with both a single T36 as well as the fake clover tool with T40’s.

13    I used the template method of transfer, although the felt was thin and light so if we had a sunny day I could have done the window or lightbox method. I did not want to use the black permanent black markers and could not remember where I had put the coloured permanent markers so I used coloured pens instead. (the lost markers could have been replaced at Dollerama but are not considered essential!!!)  I measured out the 5×7 box and since my cardboard mat has also disappeared after I cleaned my desk I just kept checking with the ruler to make sure I was staying in the correct size for framing. (It is a lot cheaper to work in a standard size so you don’t need to cut a custom mat later.)

Looking at the picture, I have the Red Maple tree out of focus as the background. This is very gray/brown out of focus bark and is not really as appealing in the felt version. Well, we can fix that, if you need to move a tree, go ahead and move the tree! If the sun is not shining, just turn on the sun In your painting if you would like it to be there! you are God in your creative world! So I used the Magic of Tree-be-gone and switched it out for the amorphous sky and nondescript foliage.

 14-15 I laid in the background first and used both the single needle and fake clover multi-tool to get the background blocked in.

Yes, that is more what I was wanting.

16 Messy desk yet again

Next, let’s look at the colours. I ransacked my wool to find Pinks, purple, navy, greens, yellow, white and a scarlet red I could blend with the pink. The red was from a bit of superwash merino I had bought from the Black lamb and used on last years’ tulips. Unfortunately, I got quite absorbed in the colour blending and layering before I remembered to take another picture.

17-19 thin wisps building up the colour

I had started with the yellows and peach colours at the back part of the flower and worked forward. I found the tulip needed more contrast at the intersection between the edge of the leaf and the background. So working with the fibres generally parallel to the base of the picture  I added wisps of a slightly darker blue to the edge, then folded the fibre back into the blue. In a few spots, I used my fingernail to pull back the tulip so I could work in the blue(if you don’t have scary talons an awl would have worked too).

20-22 getting a stronger contrast along the edge of the tulip

 

I decided after adding the contrast I needed to add bits of lighter wisps to keep the sky from looking too grey. I cut up and blended bits of white and blue. If you are doing a lot of cutting little bits of wool you may want to wear a mask (I know we are still doing a lot of that, but in this case, we are avoiding wool lung, not covid)

 23

I was finally pleased and decided it was time to see what it looked like framed. I had bot extra frames from Dollerama for my felted picture workshop. I use to have Ikea picture frames but they now are using Plexiglass which isn’t as nice with wool pictures. (plexi is not as clear as glass and can get quite a static build-up, not the best if it’s only lightly felted). So I went with the Dollerama black wooden frame, I may get a precut mat upgrade later since the frames now come with a thin paper mat. Unfortunately, we are still in lockdown so no upgraded mat is possible at this time.

24-26

Yes, I think Mom will like that!

When I was done I printed out the info (Happy Mother’s Day 2021 and the photo that inspired the picture.)

 

I also collected the pieces I had used for the template, the reference picture and a bit of the wool I had used. I put them in an extra-large sandwich bag to keep as a reference. I will eventually get around to organizing my work into a binder showing photos and references used on each project.

 27-28

 

I hope you had a wonderful Mother’s Day and Maybe even received a mother’s day present. (Possibly tulips or some very nice wool? Or the whole sheep?) Even many years after having expired from old age, my furry kids sent me a spectacular felting book; “Landscapes in Wool, the art of needle felting” by Jaana Mattson. I am looking forward to reading more of it. The back part of the book has paintings in felt she has made while the front half has step-by-step instructions on how she has made some of her pieces. I’m always intrigued to see how other felters work and see if there is something they are doing that I could incorporate to improve how I work.

 

It’s going to be 23c today so I guess spring is over and it’s time to get the 2 pails with dahlias out to their planters. After a call to Canadian Tier, I found out the garden center is open and the lines were much shorter in the evening (do not tell anyone, I still have a couple more plants to find).  Glenn came with me. he pushed the cart I pushed the walker and selected plants. I was successful and got most of the herbs and vegetables as well as a purple Raspberry and an exotic-looking honeysuckle! We put all the pots tucked between the planter boxes in the driveway.

29-30 No felting for me until I get most of this planted.

I also checked out the front garden the tulips are trying their best but are not going to like this weather.

  31-33 The later spring garden

 

 34  This is the same tulip I was felting. Now it is almost finished blooming and will soon drop its petals. What an amazing colour change!

I hope you have been inspired by spring. If your own garden has not inspired you this year then I hope you will find inspiration here and borrow mine! (Maybe just ignore the construction sign, though it is colourful!)