Needle-felt Brooches and a Print Exhibition
Since my last blog in November I’ve been very busy, though not necessarily making felt. I did, however, have a week’s exhibition with two friends in a local gallery the second week in December, and this afternoon I’ve dropped off 12 pictures for an open-call print exhibition, so that’s what I’m going to talk about today.
Sitting in the gallery, I had time to do a little needle felting – I generally prefer wet felting but needle felting is better suited to gallery-sitting. My friend Lynzi (yep, same name but different spelling) asked if I’d make two small brooches for her to give to her mother for Christmas. Lynzi liked some earrings I’d made previously …..
….. so asked me to make a mussel shell and a starfish brooch. I’d not needle felted a brooch before but didn’t think it would be very different from an earring so I set about it.
The trickiest thing was that she wanted them very small: she suggested between 2 & 4 cm. The smallest mussel shell earrings I’ve ever made were about 5.5cm and the star fish – which was a one-off – was considerably larger. I didn’t think 2cm was practical, not least of all because of the size of the pin needed to attach the brooches, so we agreed on approximately 4cm. The mussel shell was relatively straightforward. For earrings I make them curved like shells. For a brooch, I just made the back solid rather than curved and was sure to felt it very firmly so I could sew the fastening pin securely onto it.
I had to adapt the starfish design as the centre of the starfish – which had to conceal the brooch pin – had to be a larger part of the overall design than it was for the earring. I started off using a small star-shaped cookie-cutter to help me get an even star shape. I concentrated on working the length of the arms and the centre of the starfish, so that when I stopped using the cookie-cutter I could work into the sides of the arms to make it less like a star and more like a starfish.
Here are the end results.
Lynzi was delighted and I’m looking forward to hearing what her Mum thought.
Now here we are in 2026 and I’ve had to put in quite a lot of studio time this week to create work for a print exhibition. Another local gallery (The Horsebridge Community Arts Centre in Whitstable) had an open-call for a print exhibition. The only requirement was that pieces had to have some element of hand printing. I wondered if my felt pictures with a printed tree would meet the criteria so had a chat with the organiser. She said ‘yes’ so I decided to enter some. The deal is that you pay per piece for a framed, wall hung item and you can put up to 5 unframed items per wall piece into a browser. The gallery takes 10% commission on sales of the framed pieces (which you’ve also paid to submit) and 35% commission on the unframed, browser pieces (which you haven’t paid to submit). I opted for 2 framed and 10 for the browser.
These were the framed pictures I already had
And two unframed pictures presented with a card back and mount.
So, I just needed to make 8 more unframed pictures this week to fill my quota for the wall and browser. That didn’t seem too unreasonable when I decided to do it, but it has felt a bit less sensible given the time I’ve had available. It’s also quite cold here (for England). My studio is in an old industrial building (it used to be a bottle capping factory for Shepherd Neame, the oldest brewery in the UK). It has very little heating, so I had to decamp to my house part way through the week when my hands just could not cope with any more freezing water.
The unframed pictures have a mount with an aperture of 20 x 20 cm (about 8 x 8 inches) so the felt is about 24 cm square. I thought the best idea was to make 4 pictures in one sheet and cut them apart during the fulling process. By ‘best’ I mean most efficient while still being a size I could handle on my felting table. I drew myself a little sketch to help me decide where to put the silk
Option 1 would mean the nuno felted area was the same in all 4 pictures so it was an easy decision to go for option 2.
I spent quite a long time sifting through my embarrassingly large collection of second hand silk scarves to select the pieces I wanted to use.
I was keen on a grey leopard print scarf with a white background but it had stripes of more and less dense silk running across it. I thought I should just check that the dense section would felt OK so I did a very scrappy little sample. If you’re wondering why I got so little shrinkage, the felted scrap started off considerably bigger than the non-felted one.
It’s not easy to see here – more visible on the finished picture – but the more dense stripes produced a little more ruching.
It all seemed to felt fine so above you can see the first batch part way through the fulling stage.
Below is the layout for the second batch of pictures
I put a stripe of second hand wool (usually tapestry wool) along the top of the silk section. For the brightly coloured marbled scarf I auditioned a few different colours (red, yellow, dark brown, green)
And went with the green
So, here is the first group of 4 pictures with their printed trees
And here’s the second group of 4
I took the photos very hastily today and not in very good light: they are not as grey as some of the images suggest.
I’ve presented them with a back board and white mount and dropped them off at the gallery this afternoon. The deadline for submissions is tomorrow so, that’s pretty good for me. I have marked ‘last minute’ tendencies.
I print the images with a heat press – the kind of thing you might use for printing and image on a t-shirt. As I was heating it up anyway, I pulled together some pieces of felt that were test pieces or offcuts, cut them into small pieces and printed on those too. I will make these into cards.
Well, that’s me for now. Wishing everyone a joyful, healthy and creative 2026.
8.0-8.1) Setting up the Exhibition on Friday night, again a blur of activity
8.2) The new banner for the exhibition that can be reused for future years
8.3-8.5) Let’s join the people who are already looking at the exhibition
8.6) The crowd of people looking at the exhibition is getting bigger.
9.0) Left front grids.
9.1) Wild Weaving By Liane. “maple stems, thistles, anemone, False indigo, pearly everlasting and evening primrose are all native to Ontario. Only the dandelion and Curly Havel are not.”
9.2) Fall Foliage by Marie-France. “Rusted materials collected while hiking in Kanata. Rusted Techniques were learned from Maiwa in Vancouver.”
9.3) Woven Basket by Molly. 100% Canadian Dorset Wool, Embroidery Floss sourced locally, a weathered Branch from the woods.
9.4) Blue Handwoven tapestry (Sorry, cannot read tag)
9.6) Foraged Fairy Baskets, by Liane “All materials were grown and or Gathered locally “ There will be a workshop on making these through the guild.
9.7) From Above, by Nicole “A view from above looking down at the Canadian Landscape using materials sourced from multiple Canadian provinces flown over by the artist.”
9.8) Reflections: Morning sky on water by Moira. “This piece stems from my love of dying and weaving with silk and the beautiful colours reflected in Lac Tenpenny in Val-des-Monts, Quebec. This Calm little lake reflects the sky, Sun and Surrounding Forest as the day progresses: it is ever changing”.
9.9) Scarf in Fall Colours, by Bernadette. “Canadian breed Fleece”.
9.10) Summer at King Mountain, by Barbara (description out of focus). This tapestry will be taught as a workshop.
9.11) Maureen’s Vacation 2024, by Jan “guild Member spinning on Canadian guild wheel at Gros Morne Historic Park”
9.12) Crab, By Nicole. This piece is intended to convey the beauty and decay of our Oceans. Using all Canadian-sourced fibres combined with two mass-produced Dollerama Halloween decorations, the crab shows the interplay between our supply lines and sea life.”
9.13) Jellyfish, by Nicole. “Jellyfish Found off the coasts of Canada created with Canadian sourced fibres”.
9.14) Mr. Mer by Jan. “Mr. Mer is a Mer-man or Fish-Person. I started with a YouTube Felt-along (Saraphina Fibrr Arts) for inspiration, but went way off in another direction. I have made a family of Mer-People with family pets. Each is a unique fish. Mr. Mer is based on a Northern Pike, which I saw frequently at my parents’ cottage just outside of Perth, Ontario.” (Mrs. Mer was canoodling with her husband in the project bag, and seems to have snuck into the exhibition. She has Canadian wool and hair from Olive Sparrow and other Canadian suppliers, like her husband. You can see her in the photo at the top of this section.)
10.0) The back of the left grid panels:
10.1) Triangular Shawl, by Francesca and Jean, owned by Ann S. “Front panel woven separately, and the back was created by weaving the warp of one panel as the weft of the second strand by strand. The piece was designed by Francesca Overend, and woven by Jean Down, both of Ottawa. The materials were provided by an Ottawa shop, and is owned by a Canadian.”
10.2) Garden and Field Shawl, by Amanda. “Shawl made with yarn spun from fleeces of various sheep belonging to people I know, and dyed with a variety of plants from the garden or gathered locally. Crochet pattern from a 1970s McCall’s Magazine.”
10.3) Snowflake Scarf, by Kanika. “Quebec Yarn, woven on a Quebec 8 Shaft loom, Canadian Weaver, Glass beads from Canada Bead Supply. The scarf is meant to represent snowflakes, which is very Canadian”
10.4) (upper Right) Shawl, by Ann S. “One of two shawls woven for the wedding of a Canadian by her Canadian Aunt. She had a choice of blue or burgundy and chose the blue. Hence, I kept the burgundy.”
10.5) (On Left) 75th Anniversary Moose Bag (Glenn’s), by Jan. “This is a Canadian Moose, it was made with fibre from a Canadian Supplier.”
10.6) Quilted Jacket, by Maureen. “ Quilted Jacket with Homespun Canadian wool arms and edging.”
10.7) 75th Anniversary Moose Bag Landscape, by Jan. “The theme (of the bag) is a Canadian skein winder (Moose), fibre purchased from a Canadian vendor.”
11.0) Centre Display
11.1) Fireside Blanket, by Karin. “Blanket was woven Double Width, from Canadian wool from a Company, Briggs and Little, 2ply 100% wool. The Red and Orange wool for the warp were hand dyed by Karin Hendriksen. The black for the warp and weft were factory dyed. The colours remind me of sitting wrapped in the blanket by the fireside, reading a book and sipping hot chocolate.”
11.2) Poppies Remember, by Barbara. “Made at one of the guild’s Workshops with Wendo van Esen”
11.3) Lighthouse with Flowers, by Ann. “A lighthouse is iconic from coast to coast, appearing not only on both coasts but on so many lakes between them.”
11.4) Northern Lights, by Ann M. “Northern Lights are an iconic symbol of Canada.”
11.5) Heavy Heart, by Nicole. “Combining fibres from artisans across Canada. The Sculpture brings together the people and places of Canada. And when displayed on a scale as intended, suggests the surprising weight of our collective awareness—the lightest fibres gaining weight and strength when combined.”
11.6) The guild group project, the Parliament Buildings, in various fibre arts techniques. 
11.7) Polar Pixies, by Paula. “This piece was made in Canada from Canadian wool processed to roving at a Canadian mill. The yarn was handspun and knitted by a Canadian, too!”
11.8) Summer Table Runner, by Karin. “The summer colours of this table runner, woven with Canadian made Orlec from Leclerc, was influenced by the colours of my perennial garden.”
12.0) The Right Front grids, 
12.1) Remembrance, by Carlene. “The red and black design reminds me of both poppies (remembrance Day) and the Red Dress Project, which seeks to remember the Indigenous Women who have gone missing.”
12.2) (On Right) Canadian Muskox, by Jan. “The Canadian Muskox is a source of one of the most expensive fibres on the planet. We have Canadian Muskox in both the eastern and western Arctic. I made this for the Canadian 150th anniversary art show. Using Canadian alpaca for the top coat.”
12.3) OVWSG Sheep to Shawl 2025, by the sheep to shawl team 2025. “Vibrant, glow-in-the-dark shawl produced for the Almonte Fibre Fest Sheep to Shawl Competition by October (Toby) Anderson, Jay Perry, Heather Farrar, and Olivia” (I think this was the first sheep to shawl for all participants; this shawl won Second place!)
12.4) Diamond Jubilee by Ann S. “This piece is a diamond made of 22 columns and 22 rows of twill weaves, creating 284 diamonds to commemorate the 75th anniversary of the OVWSG.”
12.5) Aurora Borealis Skeins, by Bernadette. “Fibre sourced from a Canadian hand dyer.”
12.6) (Left) Zita’s Yarn, by Wendy. Made from a blend of our dog’s fur, locally raised border lester sheep’s wool and Cotswold hand-dyed by Bernadette Quaide, this skein of yarn was inspired by the Guild’s Summer Fibre Poker Challenge.
12.7) Scarf by Marianne Heggtveit, owned by Ann.S. “The Weaver, Marianne Heggtveit, is a proud Canadian of Austrian ancestry. She is also proud that Tencel-which is derived from wood pulp, was developed in Austria.”
12.8) Aubergine, by Carlene. “I wove this piece between June 30 and July 7th 2024, and it was part of my Celebration of Canada Day Holiday time. This piece is a study of the colour purple with many shades and textures incorporated into the work.”
12.9) (Framed on Right) On the Prowl, by Marie-France. “I live in the Countryside, and foxes are regular daily visitors all year round. This artwork is based on a photograph I took on my property in Val-due-Monte, QC. I love the 4 seasons in Canada, but Autumn is the one that inspires me the most.”
12.10) Magical Moose Mittens, by Judy. “These Mittens are made from local Shetland wool that I bought raw and then washed and carded. The white is from a sheep called Amber from Karberry Farm. The brown started out as off white fleece from Steve Welch. I dyed it with black walnut hulls that I collected in my neighbourhood. Then spun the wool into yarn and knit the mittens using my own pattern.”
13.0) Back of Right Grids.
13.1) We Stand on Guard for Thee, by Carlene. “This piece celebrates the Ceremonial Guard and their bear Skin hats. I created this Piece in 2017 for our Guild art show.”
13.2) Reflections: Evening sky on water by Moira. “This piece stems from my love of dying and weaving with silk and the beautiful colours reflected in Lac Tenpenny in Val-des-Monts, Quebec. This Calm little lake reflects the colours of the sky, Sun and Surrounding Forest in an ever changing tableau. This scarf highlights the colours as the water ripples in the lake and the sun begins to sink below the horizon“
13.3) Walnut Smudge Sweater, by Carlene. “Handspun and naturally dyed”
13.4) Tied On, by Joan. “Made from Silk ribbon bought at a (quintessentially) Canadian yard sale”
13.5) Basket of tea towels
13.6) Scarf with beads, by Kanika. (I did not see a description.)
13.7) Socks, by Maureen. “ Hand-Spun and knitted from Canadian sourced wool.”
13.8) 2 vests and shirts, and a tapestry of foxes with fluffy tails.
13.9) Summer and Winter, by Deborah. “Designed and woven by the submitter, handspun yarn spun by my daughter. Inspired by the guild’s Summer Fibre Poker Challenge.”
14.0) Wendy was the head of the Exhibition team and did a fabulous job.
