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Anniversary Cake in English and French with the invitation in between (there was a French version of the invitation too)
OVWSG 75th Anniversary Party and Tapestry Project

OVWSG 75th Anniversary Party and Tapestry Project

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Happy July 4th to those to the south of us.

I apologize, I have been a bit busy lately with Guild work.  Our 75th anniversary party was on June 22nd. My main job was to add 10 years of Photos to the slideshow, which I originally made for our 65th anniversary.  I also volunteered to felt one of the squares in the tapestry project which I had started to tell you about in a previous blog. (https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2024/02/17/square-16-ovwsg-tapestry-project-and-template-transfer-method/)   Another job was Name tags, but I will tell you more about those later.

For the tapestry project idea, I spotted another group online, that had broken an image of Starry Night by Van Gogh into sections, and then each person recreated their square in their own medium. Ann and I searched for an image. Our criteria was:

  • a recognizable image of Canada. (not a new work that is not recognizable when broken up into pieces and then reformed in representational sections.)
  • an image that breaks up into interesting sections. (all or mostly sky, water or a monotone homogeneous colour image will not produce interesting pieces to work on for the participants.)
  • not too cluttered an image that would make it hard to recognize when separated into parts
  • an image available in a high enough resolution we can work with.
  • if a square is not completed we would have to have a backup image to replace the missing spot.

After looking at many images, Ann chose a view of the parliament building, from the back of the building, in the fall.  She cropped and blurred the photo and divided it into 24 squares, with each ending up 6 inches by about 6.25 inches. Ann Printed out each square to the exact size needed and gave each participant their project. Our goal was to make a representation of our square in whatever medium we favoured. A few of us chose felt, but we also had various types of weaving, spinning and knitting. I was hoping for basketry too.

You may remember that Ann gave me the bottom of the Parliamentary Library, well that makes sense, I have been the guild librarian for a long time (I joined at the AGM in 1988 or 1989, where I volunteered to help with the library and was elected librarian. I did warn them about that little spelling problem, but they were unconcerned until I made them a subject catalogue. It was not in English or French but in my native dyslexic. We used it until I finally put the whole collection into a database.) But, back to the square.

I went back and looked at a less blurred image so I could see the buttresses more clearly. As you saw before I chose needle felting, and used the template method to transfer the image to a good felt base. I worked between the two images (Blurry and Less Blurry) to create my Squair.  It looked very messy as I worked on it.

pictuer in felt with reference pictures of bottom of Canadian parlemtal library1) Images I am working from bulldog clipped to coroplast in the background with the image I am felting in the foreground on a thick wool pad.

It got a bit better. I hope you can start to see the architectural buttresses a bit more clearly now.

pictuer in felt with reference pictures of bottom of Canadian parlemtal library2.1) ready to hand in my image. On the Left, the image Ann gave me, in the centre the felted representation, and on the Right the de-blurred and pixelated image.

close up of felt with original image checking size its close2.2) close up of felt with original image checking size it’s close

If you were curious, Here is a shot of the back. I was working on my 1.5” thick wool pad, I think it was the 8”x10” size.

back of the felt image showing the amount of wool push through has occurred2.3) the back of the felt image showing the amount of wool push through has occurred.

I was well-supervised by moose, as I worked on this. He was very supportive and carried the picture, wool pad, references and the fibre for me.

partaly 3D moose is getting a bit scruffy from ware.3) Moose looking a bit scruffy from all his hard work carrying fibre, reference and the felting for the tapestry square project

Ok, we are now caught up to where I handed in the Square.  The next we will see it will be after they have all been assembled and unveiled at the 75th anniversary party.

So let’s go to the party!! Don’t worry I have your invitation and just to tempt you further here is a preview of the 2 of cakes!

Anniversary Cake in English and French with the invitation in between (there was a French version of the invitation too)4) Anniversary Cake in English and French with the invitation in between (there was a French version of the invitation too)

Come in and don’t forget to sign the guest book! If you are a member of the guild, select an odd sheep name tag in the studio and then meet us in the Unitarian’s room.  There are a number of displays, a make-and-take table, demonstrations of weaving, spinning and felting as well as the Cake and punch we should check out! OH and you can buy your own Moose bag, there on the table beside the great wheel, you can’t miss them!

Since we are just inside the door let’s take a quick peek at the make-and-take table, Liane was organizing this. There was; a tapestry loom set up to try, mayonnaise lids drop spindles, small popsicle stick looms to needle weave with, CD weaving looms to make coasters and wet felted acorns to make.

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5.1– 5.3)  Make and take table

This spot was quite busy most of the party and seemed quite enjoyed.

The next table over was a display of work by Grade 10 students (from Lecole Secondarie Catholique Beatrice-Desloges in Orleans) in the School Outreach Program, run by Carmen Deschenes, one of our guild members and Daniel Cote, the school’s art teacher. The guild provided a floor loom and guidance on how to use it. This looks like it may be an ongoing project. The students were interested and each designed a woven project. One wanted to weave a representation of water so wove in wire to allow the wave to hold its shape. These are a few of the pieces that were in their art show on display today.

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 6.1- 6.4)

If we move a bit further around the room Ann Sunahara put together a display of the Bertha Grey Haze workshop on miniature overshot patterns. The 100-inch loom team wove coverlets showing some of the patterns from the workshop, one of which was on display. Alison brought her 4 harness Saori loom and wove one of the patterns. There were also samples from the workshop and the book the workshop was based on, which is in the OVWSG  library.

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7.1-7.4) Miniature Overshot Display from the Bertha Grey Haze Workshop

Next was a mysterious covered item, we will come back to that when it’s time for the unveiling, and then the slide show that I had been working on for months. There are now 921 slides! I promise I will not show you all of them!! I tried to select a few I thought you might enjoy.

covered tapestry and slide show8.01) a mysterious item is draped with a handwoven coverlet waiting for its time to be unveiled.

watching the slide show which was running on a loop throughout the party.8.02) watching the slide show which was running on a loop throughout the party.

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 8.03-8.13) a few of the slides from the slide show

If I can pull you away from the slide show now, I was felting in the corner but didn’t get a picture of myself (I have not figured out selfies on my getting ancient Lumix camera). On the other side of me, there was a Great Wheel demo. It was a bit crowded so let’s see if we can sneak in for a peek.

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9.1-9.2) great wheel demo

The Guild was selling moose project bags and showing off some of the door prizes, many from Louet Canada (it’s their 50th anniversary this year!).

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10.1-10.2) moose bags and prizes

If you have your moose bag now, let’s go look at the samples from various workshops the guild has given.

samples from workshops of teh OVWSG11) Some of the Samples from workshops given by the OVWSG.

There are samples of weaving, felting, basketry and Spinning workshops given by the guild on this table. After you have checked them out there are two cakes sitting on the next table.  Jean will do the cutting in a moment, then we can try a piece.

Cake, Cake sliceing and Punch12) Cake and punch at the party

Lets take a look at the demos, there were floor and table looms, fibre prep, spinning and Felting.

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13.1-13.2) lots of interest in the Demos

Ok, we still have a few minutes before the unveiling, so let’s follow one of the tours up to the 100-inch loom room and the classroom! We can also take a quick peek in the studio too.

Studio tour and Name draft of OVWSG name 100 inch tour Classroom tour14.1-14.3) Tours of the Studio, 100 inch loom room and the Classroom.

Excellent! We made it back in time to see the unveiling!

speaches before unvailing tapestry15.1) Quick speeches  then it was time to find out what was under the coverlet

we had a surprise guest, Michael is the curator of the Almonte Textile Museum. He and Carl Stuart do the Unveiling15.2) we had a surprise guest, Michael is the curator of the Almonte Textile Museum. He and Carl Stuart do the Unveiling

close up of tapestry15.3) Close-up of the tapestry

names of who did which square (Text over transparency of tapestry image)15.4) names of who did which square

admiing the tapestry15.5) Admiring the tapestry

There were 24 members, who each made a square, using a technique of their choice. There is; Weaving, Tapestry weaving, Hand spinning, Hand Dyed, Felted and Knit Squares.  The team who did the mounting of the blocks were; Liane Thiry-Smith, Moira White, Paula Smith, Wendy Birkette Willbond, Annie Jackson, and Carlene Paquette. I hope Carlene will be able to tell us more about this part of the project. (ok, I may be the only one who gets excited about mounting and framing.)

The last of the door prizes were drawn and then it was time to wind down the party and put everything away.

drawing the last door prize16) The last of the Door Prizes is drawn

Before you head out, let’s take one last look at the tapestry project.

a closer view of the squares17.1)  a closer view of the squares

I wonder if I can find the image Ann had us working from. Yes! (Thanks Ann) so you can see what we were working towards for each square

this is the image Ann selected so you can see what we were working towards. a blurry vertion of athe back of the Canadian Parlement building in awtum 17.2) this is the image Ann selected so you can see what we were working towards.

 Thank you for joining us for our 75th Anniversary Party, it was a lot of fun and a lot of work. I am looking forward to celebrating the 80th but luckily we have years to recover before we start planning again! If you are in the Ottawa area, in the Fall of 2024, check out the Almonte Textile Museum where the tapestry will be on display. The Anniversary Comity has more planned for this year, I am looking forward to seeing what project we are working on next!

Leafy Seadragon

Leafy Seadragon

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Several of my recent posts have been about the work that was being created by members of the Waltham Textile group for our Making Waves Exhibition. It’s been about six weeks now since that took place so many of our readers will have already seen images, and possibly the video, but if you haven’t, and you’re interested, you can view them on Facebook or Instagram.

Something else I had wanted to make for the show, but didn’t make time for, was a felted Leafy Seadragon. I discovered so many weird and wonderful sea creatures while researching for the exhibition but this species is in a category of its own!!

The ethereal looking Leafy Seadragon has leaf-like appendages that provide camouflage for this delicate creature
Image source: Treehugger.com

Leafy seadragons inhabit rocky reefs, seaweed beds, and seagrass meadows in waters off the coast of South Australia, where they have been adopted as the state’s marine emblem.

These timid creatures grow to between 20 and 30cm in length.  They use their ornate leaf-like appendages as very effective camouflage to blend in with their surroundings, becoming almost invisible to the untrained eye.

Belonging to the same family as seahorses and pipefish, Australian leafy seadragons are generally brown to yellow in body colour, while their spectacular appendages are typically olive-tinted and provide near-perfect camouflage in seaweed. Depending on the age and health of the individual some Leafies can also change their colouration if they need to.

The leaf-like structures are not used for swimming. They move very slowly using their pectoral and dorsal fins which are so delicate they are almost transparent.

Image source: @animalfactfiles


So I thought I’d have a go at making a Leafie this month and I’m hoping there will be space for me to display her as part of my submission to “Water“ – the 2024 Lincs Textiles Exhibition in Lincoln Cathedral at the end of August. Our work will be on show in the Chapter House at the Cathedral so if you are in the vicinity it would be lovely to see you there!
I know these creatures are normally pictured horizontally but for aesthetic purposes I’m using artistic lisence and hanging mine vertically! So, would it be wet felted and stuffed or needle felted? I liked the idea of wet felting the body but decided against it as I didn’t think it would provide enough support for the appendages.

Photograph of wire armature for a 3 dimensional Leafy Seadragon

Best to start with a 1.2mm galvanised wire armature and needle felt the body…..but what was I thinking when I switched to 0.5mm aluminium wire for the appendages? I was thinking I could form the leaf shapes using that wire and fill them in with painted lutradur……what I wasn’t thinking was that they would twist and bend and drive me nuts all the time I was needle felting the body! That wire was making the whole thing too fragile and too difficult to work with so it had to go!

It was replaced with 0.6mmgalvanised wire which, being retro fitted, would now require careful poking and anchoring to ensure they all stayed put! This also meant the leaf/seaweed shapes would need a rethink. They wouldn’t be outlined with wire, as I’d originally intended, because the replacement wire was far too stiff for that. But at least it was easier to work on now!

I began adding detail and colour to the head. When I was happy with that I moved on to wet felting several boney spikes to attach in rows along the back, front and sides and then needle felted colour to the body.

Next the new wires that will hold the foliage were wrapped with fibre and I made flat felt to cut up for the leaves.

This is where I’m at right now. There’s more foliage to add and the de-fuzzing to do so I’ll include a photo of the finished dragon in my next post. In the meantime I just have to share some inspiring Leafie sculptures I came across online.

I was blown away by the beautiful design and detail in these first two which are the work of artist Ellen Jewett Ellen says “Each sculpture is constructed using an additive technique, layered from inside to out by an accumulation of innumerable tiny components.  Many of these components are microcosmic representations of plants, animals and objects.  Some are beautiful, some are grotesque and some are fantastical.  The singularity of each sculpture is the sum total of its small narrative structures.”

In addition to her life as a professional artist Ellen operates a small scale animal refuge with the help of her partner on their Vancouver Island farm.

Image source: ellenjewettsculpture.com
Image source: ellenjewettsculpture.com

I also like this one made by Australian artist Dean Fox using recycled copper and brass on natural rock…… “I am much inspired by the beautiful environment of Kangaroo Island in South Australia where I live. The beaches and bush alike are a constant source of ideas and materials. During my working life in the building and metalwork industry I learnt the many skills I now employ in my creative work. I work in metal, copper and brass and may incorporate found objects and natural timber into my work.”

Image source: deanfoxsculptor.com

Mine is still very much a WIP but in my head I’m already working on a more abstract version for Leafie number two which may or may not involve fibre.

 

Eleanor Shadow vending booth at Tangled Galashiels 2024. There's a table in the middle with fibre and yarns in wire cubes, plus one yarn rack on either side and a large basket on the ground
Becoming an in-person vendor again after 7 years

Becoming an in-person vendor again after 7 years

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For those who read this blog but aren’t familiar with what I do, I sell fibre and hand dyed yarns under the brand Eleanor Shadow. For a while, I was happy simply doing my thing of selling online only, until I moved to Edinburgh and started receiving emails via my site from people asking to come to my shop and buy in person.

I can’t allow customers to come into my studio for contractual and insurance reasons and so had to turn people down, which made me really sad. I hate disappointing fellow fibre lovers! This turned out to be a great thing because it lit a fire in me to start vending again in person. Enter Tangled Galashiels, a new fibre festival that two lovely ladies named Naomi and Samira decided to create near the Scottish Borders.

I had been to Tangled last year for their debut and had a lovely time, accidentally buying two fleeces in the process. When I found out they were taking applications for this year, I decided to apply.

 

Instagram post by Tangled Galashiels where I am seen with three friends at the door, just having bought two fleeces and smiling broadly
From left to right: my friends Si, Liz, me and Lisa. Just look at our smiles!

 

Having not done any in-person vending in years, I was slightly apprehensive about the whole endeavour. My friend Liz was super supportive and offered to help me out in any way possible, which included the most important step in this whole thing: transportation. I can’t sell if I can’t get there with my wares, right?

Well, my application was unsuccessful! I was obviously sad, but also very relieved; this meant I wouldn’t have to do any prep and overthink things. I was off the hook for potentially feeling stressed for 6 months as I got ready for the occasion! Life went on.

Six weeks before the event, I receive an email from Samira – one of the vendors had to cancel, would I like to take their place? Panic. Mode. ON! What to do? If I was already convinced I’d be stressed having to get ready 6 months ahead of time, how would I feel with having only 6 weeks? They gave me a few days to decide, so obviously I agonised over it, asking my friends what they thought, asked Liz if the offer of help still stood, asked my husband if he was willing to put up with a frazzled wife and fibre in the flat everywhere (ok, more than usual)… Everyone was super supportive, so I had no excuse to say no.

After replying positively to Samira and questioning my sanity, I got to work. I ordered more yarn and fibre, planned my dyeing schedule and colourways, prepped my marketing and watched videos on festival vending for booth ideas. If this sounds like a well organised me, trust me, this was done with a lot of sighing, swearing and wanting to dig a hole and disappear.

After six weeks, I was ready! Things just slotted into place: the stuff I had just about fit Liz’s car, my husband was my trusty sidekick, my ideas for the booth worked out almost exactly as I had envisioned, and I still had time to do last-minute adjustments on the first day.

Eleanor Shadow vendor booth at Tangled Galashiels 2024. Leonor is standing in front of it, smiling, waiting for the festival to start

Luckily I didn’t have time to feel nervous, I just went into meeting-and-greeting mode, talked to people and was grateful when they bought something from me. Some of the things I thought would fly off the shelves weren’t too popular, and some I didn’t think would garner much attention sold out!

Most of all though, I was so happy to hear people say nice things about my fibre. Being a one-woman band hidden in my studio means I don’t often get feedback on my work, so having fibre-loving strangers telling me they loved my sense of colour or my yarn bases was just soul-lifting.

The event was only two days, perfect for me to get my feet wet and not get too overstimulated. By the end I was exhausted but oh so happy! I loved the whole experience and couldn’t have asked for lovelier people to have met, talked, or sold to.

Now I’m looking into refresher driving lessons (I’ve never driven in the UK and am unaccustomed to driving on the left) and car rentals. I might just start applying left, right and centre to all the fibre festivals!

Tell me all about your experience at yarn festivals, be it as a vendor or buyer – I’d love to hear it! Thanks for reading.

Making lots of felt pictures

Making lots of felt pictures

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In my last post I was talking (among other things) about a 6-week residency I have in a local Michelin-starred restaurant that starts on 2 April.  Here’s a link in case you missed it or want a reminder.

https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2024/01/12/pictures-and-plant-pots/

In this blog I’m offering a quick look at the pictures I’ve made (or am part-way through making) since then. I don’t have the space (or time!) to describe the making processes in a lot of detail but do ask questions in the comments section if you want to know more about something.

The restaurant owners suggested I’d need about 40 pictures to fill the 3+ rooms.  I don’t have a lot of spare pictures kicking about – my felt picture making is usually fairly hand-to-mouth – so I really have my work cut out to make enough new work to fill the restaurant walls.

At the time of my last blog, I’d made 1 large and 3 smaller pictures.  I then did a series of 4 slightly impressionistic ‘estuary water’ smaller pieces.  I live on the north Kent coast of SE England and although it looks like ‘sea’, the stretch of water at the bottom of my road is technically the Thames estuary.

Top left to bottom right: Spring, Summer, Autumn & Winter

Spring is lightly pre-felted cobweb felts in blue and white laid on a pewter-coloured layer of wool that has a green layer underneath it.

For Summer I made some prefelts which I cut into shapes to try to give the impression of the shifting colours of calm water.

Dry layout for ‘Summer’; a combination of merino prefelt and tops

Autumn is altogether more turbulent with a lot of pewter-colour in the water.  The estuary is often quite murky-looking. I’ve used either or angora or wool locks for the small wave crests.

And winter, like spring, is white and blue cobweb prefelt on a pewter background, but this time with more of the pewter showing and with pewter for both base layers, no green.

While rummaging through my extensive fibre collection, I came across a lovely hank of hand-dyed wool and silk fibres that I’d bought while on holiday in the USA.  I decided to use this for a larger water picture.

Large sea pattern 2: final picture waiting to be framed, the layout and the fibre. The colour representation isn’t very good – the colours in the finished picture are warmer than they look in the photo.

I thought it was time to have a go at a larger bird picture.  I’ve previously featured lapwings in a felt picture and thought I’d like to have another go at those.  Lapwings are beautiful birds with iridescent feathers that appear to change colour depending on the light.  I’d seen a large flock of them at a nearby nature reserve at Oare Marshes. Sorry the quality of these photos is poor, and you can’t see the birds’ colours, but I wanted to show you the lapwings I saw and what their environment looks like.

I started off with some nuno prefelt for lapwing 1 to try to capture that iridescence.  These are mostly silk but the black is velvet devore, which I thought might work for the neck feathers.  I laid out a bird-shape in white then cut the coloured prefelt to make wing feathers.  While I was on a roll, I made another 2 lapwings, testing out different ways of trying to capture the birds’ colours.

Left to right: the layouts for lapwing 1, prefelt for lapwing 1, lapwing 3 and lapwing 2.

Here are the wet-felted bodies that I will needle felt into 2 backgrounds as I add the features: eyes, beaks and legs.

Top to bottom: lapwings 1, 3 and 2.

Oare Marshes is a fantastic place to see birds – with a great variety of migratory, overwintering and breeding wetland birds. However, as you can see in my photos, it’s not a conventionally ‘pretty’ place. I want to locate the birds properly so there’s a challenge in making a picture that is appealing while also being representative of the nature reserve.

This is the background for the solo lapwing (lapwing 2!).  I’ve used 2 different sections of recycled silk scarves for the land section and merino wool for the water – with a few strips of one of the scarves to look like pebble and mud outcrops. Next comes the lapwing which will be needle felted into place and have its features added.

And here is the final picture

Lapwing, Oare Marshes

For the other two lapwings I decide to focus on the water rather than the land.  Here’s the finished picture, with the lapwings needle felted into place.

I really love watching the birds that visit or live along the coast here.  Oystercatchers are very distinctive black and white birds with bright orange eyes and beaks. This is the layout of a coastal background for an oystercatcher. The foreground is made from cut-up prefelt pieces that I’ve made, including some recycled silk fabric; the background is a piece of a beautiful charity shop silk scarf, and I used mostly kid mohair for the wave foam, with a few wool locks.

Here’s the oystercatcher’s body, needle felted into place, then given its eye, beak and legs. The beak is some orange felt I’ve made previously and the legs are recycled tapestry wool. I like how the kid mohair has a wiggly texture.

With an eye on getting the picture numbers up, I branched out a bit and decided to make some smaller monochrome pictures using a commercial merino and silk prefelt with a recycled wool scarf for the foreground.  I then printed tree silhouettes onto them.

Once I’d pretty much used up the wool fabric, I tried out some pieces of monochrome silk. This is work in progress as I haven’t yet printed trees onto the other pieces.  These aren’t my usual style but it’s good to mix things up a bit and they are comparatively quick to make. I may not put all of these into the restaurant but it’s good to have some options.

In the interest of continuing to mix things up, I then made a larger sea pattern, trying to capture the light and reflections that dance across the water.

And then, most recently, another big bird picture, this time of a curlew.  Curlews are the largest European wading birds. They have long, curved beaks and very patterned feathers. Like oystercatchers, curlews can often be seen within a very short walk of my home. The best time to spot them, and lots of other birds, is as the tide starts to go out. They feed along the line of the retreating water. They have a very distinctive call and you can often hear them before seeing them.  Unlike oystercatchers, curlews’ (and lapwings’) UK conservation status is ‘red’, which means they are either globally threatened, have a long historical UK population decline or there’s been at least a 50% decline in the UK breeding population over the last 25 years.

Here’s the final curlew picture: cut up prefelt for the pebbles; blue cobweb prefelt over a pewter background for the water; the bird wet felted separately then needle felted into place and given an eye, beak and legs. The beak is made from short lengths of variegated wool yarn and the legs from tapestry wool. The yarn, tapestry wool and silk fabric in the pebbles were all bought in charity shops. I really like the idea of recycling whenever I can, and it’s great that the charities benefit as well.

In the last couple of days I’ve been making 3D oyster and mussel shells.  I haven’t decided exactly how I will use these yet, some kind of pictures.

Today I made a light background for one of the mussel shells. It’s still damp in this photo. I think the sea foam area will become lighter as it dries.

I’m still a long way from 40 pictures, although I did have a few already made before I started this picture-making marathon.  Now I’ve more or less cleared my diary and I’ve got the rest of March to make more pictures, and to frame them all. I wonder what I’ll do with my spare time?!

I’d be really interested to know what you think so please do leave comments if you have them.

Working on my Tapestry Piece

Working on my Tapestry Piece

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The guild I belong to is 75 years old this year. One thing we are doing to celebrate is a group tapestry. We have a picture of our Parlement Buildings in the autumn, divided it into 24 pieces and 24 members are doing one square each, in whatever technique they would like. The picture is heavily pixelated to blur it and make it easy for people to use different techniques.

They are due March 4 2024. I thought I better get started. I am the one organising it so I shouldn’t be late with my piece. I should credit Jan Scott here, it was her idea. I also have to credit her with great cunning as I am not sure how I ended up being the organiser.

Anyway, this is the square I have. It is off to the side of the picture. Because I have put off doing it, I was wondering why I didn’t pick just sky or trees for myself.

pixelated picture of sky and leaves

I had to go look to figure out what the dark piece sticking up was. I thought it might be a statue but seemed too tall.  It is a pointed crenelation on the west block of the parliament. The building is hidden by trees and the angle of the shot. The pixelation and then enlarging added a white pixel where there shouldn’t be one.

I wanted to wet felt and nuno felt a piece so I started with some prefelt. A thicker piece of white with orange-yellow for the sky and green for the trees to start, then added some fibres

felt background with some loose fibres on top.

I realised this was going to end up too big so I moved everything in, then added the silk for foliage. I want them to have texture. I had to root through 3 large bins and a small bin to get all the colours I wanted. I do not know why no matter how much fabric you have it’s never the colour you need. I wet the background first and I wet the silk before putting it down. Wet silk stays where and how you put it.

 

wet felt background and wet silk scrunched up on top

This is what it looked like when I quit for dinner and the next morning dry. Everything looks so much darker when it’s wet.

wet and nuno felt progress.   wet and nuno felt progression, dry

 

The next morning I rinsed the soap out with hot water and started some hard fulling to get it shrunk to the right size.

felt rolled up in plastic, ready to full

ready for cutting

finished felt ready to cut

And finally the cutting. You can sort of see how much it shrank. The whole piece started out the same size as the red mat. the cut pic is 6.6 inches (16.75 cm) long and 6  inches (15.24 cm) high.

felt tapestry piece cut to size

and the picture and the piece side by side. You can see one section of double layer silk didn’t stick down so I will fix that with a needle. I need to add in the crenellation as well with a needle.

With any luck by my next post, I should have it done.

And to lift everyone’s spirits and as proof spring will come here are early (sneaky ram) lambs born just a few days ago on a lovely warm and sunny day. they are not great pictures but the moms were sure I was a secret axe murderer or perhaps a wolf in people clothing and the lambs pick up on that and no one will give you a decent pose. and then add a very scary phone camera and there really is no hope. Good thing they are cute anyway.

2 black lambs with their mom 1 black lamb and 1 white lamb with their mom

 

Detail of the Turner watercolour
Going to the museum to get the creative juices flowing

Going to the museum to get the creative juices flowing

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Are you subscribed to your nearest city’s event newsletter? If you’re not and crave more cultural things to do, it’s a must. I recently got on board with Forever Edinburgh to be in the know about interesting things happening, and was happy to know about a Turner exhibition going on at the Royal Scottish Academy.

Every month of January since 1901, the famous Turner watercolours bequeathed by Henry Vaughan are put on display to be admired by everyone for free, as per his request. The idea is for people to enjoy something beautiful in a month short in daylight – this also serving the purpose of protecting the light-sensitive artwork.

An overall view of the room where the Turner watercolours were displayed

It always warms my heart to know these events are popular, especially when they’ve been happening for more than a century. The room had a constant flow of people coming to admire the artwork.

My favourite part was that wood cabinet in the middle of the room, where pigments and other accoutrements were shown.

Showcase of antique watercolour pigments and travel box.

Here is what the exhibit label says:

“Watercolour paint box, including Reeves point cakes and lumps of gum arabic [sic], late 19th century.

This box belonged to Elizabeth Jane Peckover (1859-1930), an amateur watercolour painter. It is part of the archive of her son, the Surrealist artist Roland Penrose (1900-1984).

Glass Muller

This tool was used to grind colour pigment down to a fine powder. This would then be combined with water-soluble gum to make paint.”

I’m such a sucker for this type of thing – I love the idea that someone actually used these objects to create art. I like the idea that objects retain the memory of whomever used them, and that through them you might sense their personality.

 

Unfortunately, it wasn’t easy to photograph the watercolours, since they’re all protected behind reflective glass. Here are a couple of images nonetheless.

Detail

Before moving to the UK, I genuinely thought Turner’s impressive golden landscape hues were completely made up. You see, Mediterranean light is just so much whiter that it never occurred to me that these lovely colours actually existed in Nature. Now it’s one of my favourite things about British winters.

Another Turner watercolour with stunning golden hues

Lastly, did you know Turner learned watercolour by copying other artists? This was a most common way to improve back then, and this master was no exception. The watercolour below feels so different from what we’ve grown used to seeing from Turner that it still feels weird for me to consider it a genuine er, “Turner copy.”

A monochromatic Turner watercolour of a wooden shack on the seashore

I hope you enjoyed coming with me on this little watercolour tour and that it might have gotten your creative juices flowing! Let me know about recent artistic outings of yours in the comment section, or whether you have any recommendations for me in Edinburgh. Thanks for reading.

The Wool Revolution

The Wool Revolution

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As avid wool enthusiasts (including a few shepherds) most of us are all too well aware that the cost of shearing a flock of sheep is rarely ever covered by the sale of the fleece. In fact the financial return on many fleeces is so poor, I know many farmers end up composting what should be a valuable and eco-friendly product.

Woven and felted wall hangings

Part of the problem is that many of these under-valued fleeces are typically at the coarser end of the spectrum, shorn from sheep bred for the meat industry. In some cases the situation is further compounded by farmers deliberately selecting sheep with coarser wools for their breeding program because their logic dictates, coarser wool = a heavier fleece per sheep and since wool is sold by weight, a heavier fleece = more $$$.

If, like me you make mostly wearables from wool, you probably see the fault in that logic, I know I value the lower micron wools far more, cheerfully paying a premium for them because they are less “scratchy”. However, this doesn’t mean there isn’t a place for the coarser wools too and as felt-makers and spinners perhaps we should not be so quick to dismiss them….

These coarser wools, also known as “strong wool”, have traditionally been used for various industrial applications that require padding that is fire resistant, for home insulation products, even the pads that piano hammers rest on.

In previous decades, one of the largest buyers of strong wools used to be the carpet industry, unfortunately the move towards synthetic carpets has seen the use of strong wools for carpets go into a steep decline. Currently there is a drive in New Zealand to support rural schools to replace their flooring with wool carpets, rather than the imported nylon carpet tiles the government wants them to use.

Large felted wall hanging

I fist met Liz Mitchell MNZM when she joined the Auckland Fun Felters (AFF), just a month or two after I did. Already a wool enthusiast, she was on a mission to discover new ways to use this fabulous, natural material and her enthusiastic interest quickly evolved into a dedicated promotion of strong wool.

Felt illuminated

Liz has had a very interesting textile career, as a fashion designer, with her own label, she was primarily focussed on hand-made couture and in 2005 was awarded the New Zealand Order of Merit for services to the fashion industry and to this day she is one of the best known names in New Zealand fashion.

A series of large wet-felted vessels

In recent years Liz has expanded her repertoire to include working with architects and interior designers to use strong wools, still in their natural colours, for a mixture of wall hangings, rugs and soft furnishings. Her diversification from haute couture to interior design is beautifully documented in her current exhibition, “This Raw Material” on show at the Corban Estate Arts Centre in West Auckland.

This exhibition is open until 9 December 2023 and is well worth a visit, I particularly enjoyed the interactive room where you are encouraged to touch, feel, sit on and even smell the pieces. When was the last time you went an art exhibition where they encouraged you to sniff the exhibits?!! 🙂

Biker jacket and hot pants – Agate wool Jacquard

We were all very proud to hear Liz has secured a grant to set up a “Wool and Natural Fibres Textile Hub” in Auckland, which will serve as a hub for wool research, education and creative exploration. An endeavour I am very keen to support. She has also set up a Wool Revolution PledgeMe to raise funds to support the new Hub.

Winter White Wedding Dress – NZ wool felt
Detail on Wedding Dress
Getting ready for the sale

Getting ready for the sale

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So this week is the week before the sale I posted a few days ago. Jan, Carleen, Bernadette and I are all very involved in the planning and running of the sale. We are running around getting the organising done and trying to get our stuff ready too. Bernadett has a booth with another friend, she has to fill. The other 3 of us are in the co-op booth. It’s a booth for guild members who don’t have enough stuff to get a whole booth to themselves.

I have 3 things to put in the booth. Felted soap.

I have bags of sari silk in several colours

And lastly some spinning kits. I have only 6 of those the wooden wheels I use for them were back-ordered.

So now I am down to making signs and making sure I haven’t forgotten to do something critical to the sale. The weather has turned cold so that should help people start thinking about buying Christmas presents. Fingers crossed for a great sale for everyone.

 

September Adventures

September Adventures

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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
a long view of the statues of the Queen's Beasts outside a large greenhouse/conservatory at Kew Gardens, London UK
Local Heraldry

Local Heraldry

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Ever since I had visited Kew Gardens as a child and seen the statues of the Queen’s Beasts lined up outside the great Palm House, I have been fascinated with heraldic animals and heraldry generally.  [https://www.kew.org/read-and-watch/the-queens-beasts]

When we moved to Sturminster Newton, every day I came home over the mediaeval bridge I saw the Town’s Coat of Arms.  We have a large (about 10ft high) coloured display of these Arms marking the entrance to the town.

In 2007, when I’d reached the age of 60 and reduced my working days to just 3 days a week, I was looking for something to keep me occupied.  By that time, I had met our Town Crier, who when not Crying worked in a local store.  Kevin Knapp was a popular figure, regularly opening events and leading processions in the town.  He had also won numerous Crying competitions.

2 images of Kevin Knapp. On left he's leading the Town's 2008 Remembrance Parade. On Right he is posing in front of the Sturminster Newton Mill
Town Crier Kevin Knap – Left: Leading the Town’s 2008 Remembrance Parade. Right displaying his costume in front of Sturminster Newton Mill

Having inspected Kevin’s Crying uniform, I realised that he had lots of different badges, most relating to awards he had won but also the County Arms, but not the Town’s.  I thought that this could be a project to keep me busy, having consulted Kevin who said he’d be pleased if I could make a badge of the Arms for him.

After a visit to the Town Council offices, where I had discovered that the original Letters Patent – the deed granting the right to use the Arms – were held, I asked the Council formally for permission to photograph the Deed and to make the badge for Kevin. Once I had received permission, I went, with my husband, to the Offices and we photographed the Deed. That wasn’t easy as the Deed was housed in a purpose made, glazed, cabinet which hung on the wall in the Council Chamber. Eventually we managed to get a reasonably clear picture without too many reflections on the glass.

Image shows hand written Deed - Letters Patent - with images of the granted Arms and Badge painted on it
The original Letters Patent showing the Arms granted top left and the Bull’s Head badge bottom centre. The other Arms shown are those of the three Heralds who made the Grant.

The Letters Patent, couched in the archaic style of the Norman French which characterised early English deeds (though thankfully not totally in that actual language) was dated 1st September 1961. It evidenced that three English Kings of Arms – Garter Principal King of Arms,  Clarenceux King of Arms and Norroy & Ulster King of Arms. authorised by the Duke of Norfolk – Earl Marshal and Hereditary Marshal of England – granted to the then Sturminster Rural District Council “such Armorial Assigns and in the same Patent such Device or Badge as may be proper to be borne and used by the Sturminster Rural District Council and by its successors constituting each for the time being the local authority for such place and district on Seals or otherwise according to the Laws of Arms” (note the lack of punctuation – typical of legal documents in this country even today); hence the right of Sturminster Newton Town Council to use the Arms and also the Bull’s Head Badge. The Badge’s primary use would be to mark the Council’s property (including, some 800 odd years ago, it’s serfs, servants and men at arms!)

Image of a Bull's Head within a ring with "sun's rays" around the outside, all in Gold with black outline
The Bull’s Head Badge painted on the Letters Patent

The actual words of the Letters Patent describing exactly what was granted are: “Vert [green] a Saltire [diagonal cross on a shield] Wavy Argent [silver] between in pale [one above the other] two Crosses Moline [having jagged ends] and in fess [horizontally] two Garbs [sheaves of corn] Or [gold] And for the Crest [device sitting on a helmet] Out of a Coronet composed of four Ears of Wheat and four sprigs of Oak fructed [with fruits] set upon a Rim Or [gold] a Mount Sable [black] thereon an Heraldic Panther statant [standing on all 4 feet] guardant [shown full face] proper [lifelike colours(!)] Mantled [with cloth on helmet] Vert [green] Doubled Argent [on the reverse silver/white]” and the “Device or Badge”: “Within an Annulet [hollow roundel] Reyonnée [with sun’s rays] Or [gold] a Bull’s head caboshed [without a neck] Gold”. The Arms and the Badge were also drawn on the Deed for further reference.

Having got all this information from the Deed I started to prepare a working drawing indicating what stitches, yarns and cords I would be using.

A drawing of the Coat of Arms in outline with lists of goldwork stitches and indications of where these are to be placed
Working Drawing – you may be able to decipher my scrawl of what I was intending to do at that stage.

In doing so, I realised that the Heraldic Panther was a very odd creature: it appeared to have orange flames coming out of its ears and mouth and it was spotted – red, blue and green spots!

drawing of heraldic Panther, yellow body & face, with large blue red and green spots on the body and flames coming from ears and mouth
The Heraldic Panther painted on the Letters Patent

So I headed to the library to see if they had any reference books which might throw some light on this.  Luckily there were several in the catalogue, but none at our local branch, so I would have to wait for one to arrive.  When It did I was able to find that the flames were a mistake made by the artists painting the arms on early Letters Patent.  In the book there is a reference to the Garter King of Arms writing in the early 17th century regarding the Heraldic Panther: “this beast … is admired of all other beasts for the beauty of his skyn being spotted of variable colours; and beloved … for the sweetness of his breath that streameth forth of his nostrils and ears like smoke, wch our paynters mistaking corruptly do make fire.” Further reading indicated that the origin of the panther was likely to have been a cheetah, hence the (guessed at coloured) spots.  You will note that I was down another rabbit hole!

Well our panther was shown on the Arms as having flames coming from his ears and mouth, so that’s how I’d got to depict him.  It was also then that I realised that the Arms as granted were not exactly the same as the Arms currently used by the Council.

You will see that in the current version of the arms, the Bull’s Head Badge appears five times on the mantle, which has been altered to enable the badges to fit. (The mantle represents the cloth which the Crusaders wore over their helmets to ward off the rays of the sun)

Apparently the then Sturminster R.D.C. decided to use it to decorate the actual Arms instead of to mark it’s property (and/or servants!)

After some manipulation of the photograph of the Deed I managed to get a reasonably clear image of the Arms and could make a tracing to use to transfer the design to the background I had prepared

During the time that I’d been waiting for the book, I contemplated the fact that the actual badge would be very much smaller than the original tracing and I’d be lucky to be able to carry out all the various stitches I’d originally envisaged, and I wondered if I might make some of the badge in felt.  I needed to make a “sketch”.  Using a piece of old blanket as a base, I transferred the design and filled in some of it in needle felt.  I thought that this would work.

image of partial needle felted coat of arms
The partially needle felted “sketch” of the Arms

It would certainly make life a bit easier as I was not very experienced in gold work and doubted that I could do a good enough job in the smaller scale. As it was I managed to lose the “jagged” ends of the two gold crosses and the Saltire was not really “wavy”. It was supposed to be a nod to the river Stour, which divides Sturminster from Newton (which despite it’s name is in general the older part of the town).

In the end I felted the Helm, with the gold Rim and the Panther. I also padded the sheaves of corn. Here’s a progress picture and another with felting needle which will give you an idea of the actual size of the whole thing.

Once I was reasonably happy with the shape of the helm, I painted it with artists’ gesso and then (when it was dry) sanded it as smooth as I could get it.  Then I painted it with some of my husband’s metallic enamel paint to represent steel. (Can you imagine what a squire’s life must have been like sanding and polishing a suit of armour and weapons made of steel to get rid of and keep it free of rust? – no stainless in those days.)

It did take some time to complete the badge – some 4 years in fact although I wasn’t actually working on it all the time.

Image of finished Coat of Arms with full coloured green satin stitch, silver and gold work.
The finished Badge

Oh I nearly forgot – the motto “Quis Metuit?” means Who’s Affeared?  It is apparently used by many local authorities – I’m not sure why though and, for once, the question defeated Mr Google.

The Town Council, in the form of it’s Leader, formally presented the badge to Kevin on 30th November 2011.

Image of three people - Left Charles Fraser, the Author and Kevin Knapp, he being presented with the completed badge.
L – R: Charles Fraser, Town Council Leader; Me; Kevin Knap at the presentation of the Badge. The picture above my head shows Sturminster Newton Station as it was in the days of the Somerset and Dorset Joint Railway.

Kevin decided that rather than attach the badge to his coat, he would affix it to the back of the roll containing his Cry so that it would be visible when he was reading from it.

Sadly Kevin died on 9th October 2018.  His wife donated his costumes (which she herself had made) to the town’s Museum.  I’m not sure what happened to the Badge though as the Museum doesn’t have it.  The position of Town Crier remains vacant.  If you are interested, I’ve found an obituary for Kevin published by the Bournemouth Echo.  https://www.bournemouthecho.co.uk/news/16998263.kevin-knapp-died-earlier-month/