After the last less than successful attempt at making a small spiral, I thought I would try some prefelt. Here is the link to the last attempt. Small spiral fail
I have 2 kinds of prefelt. One is thin and almost transparent. The other is thick, and you can peel it into two layers if you want to.
I cut 3 circles from both types of prefelt. I also cut holes in the centres and a slit. You can really see the difference in thickness in this picture of the circles stacked together.
The green is very thin, so I just overlapped the ends of each circle and gave it a few jabs with my felting needle to hold it in place
The white is quite thick, so I split the ends, then cut one side off. I then overlapped the ends and needled them a little so they would stay in place.
I wet them and inserted the resists between the layers.
Then I tubbed them both for 5 min on each side.
5 min on each side seemed to be enough. They were stuck together and feeling more solid. They had shrunk a tiny bit.
I gently rolled them in my hands so they would full. I kept checking them. I didn’t want to turn them into felt balls or snakes.
They both had good shrinkage. I was worried about the hole in the centre getting too big, but they stayed about the same ratio to the outside circle.
They both turned out quite well.
I let them dry flat, and they hang about the same dry as wet. If I weighted them, they would stretch longer, but I like them like this.
My plan had been to add them to a beaded stick keychain like the ones with the sheep.
When I tried to add them to a beeded stick, they wanted to stick in between the beads, making it hard to get a nice spiral. I may try them without the beads, but I am wondering if I got some of just the keychain end part; they might just hang free with maybe a curly lock on the end.
I’ve been reviewing the future direction of my felt work. I’ve decided to stop having so many exhibitions and sales. I will still do some exhibitions but I’d like to focus less on what people might buy and more on the things I’d like to make, irrespective of whether or not they are saleable.
In particular, I’d like to do more complex 3D & sculptural work as I particularly enjoy it. So it was a happy coincidence that Gladys Paulus was offering an online felt sculpture course called SHAPESHIFT.
My very first blog on this site was about a 3D seed pods workshop I took with Gladys Paulus in November 2019. Herfe’s a link if you want to take a look.
I really admire her work and found her an excellent tutor so it was a bit of a no-brainer: I signed up for SHAPESHIFT with a glad heart.
You can find a full description of SHAPESHIFT through the link below. Essentially it is about developing your eye and aptitude for sculptural felting rather than producing a specific ‘thing’. Working from a 25cm flat circular resist, Gladys takes you through play, intuition and discovery, building confidence and a developing a sculptor’s eye.
The course materials are clear and thorough with extensive text and video descriptions. Gladys also gave generous, thoughtful, insightful and encouraging personal feedback, which was invaluable.
So, let me introduce my 10 sculptures.
The materials list suggested working with light coloured wool batts. The only light batts I have in a large quantity are Corriedale (25-29 mic) and Merino (23 mic) both from World of Wool. I started with the Corriedale, which is quite a bright white colour. All the sculptures start off with the same flat circular resist.
1) SEEDHEAD
This was my first sculpture. It’s quite a complicated shape and took me a long time but I was happy with the result. I could do with de-hairing it (I tried a heat gun but didn’t really get on with it).
2) CONTORTION
I lost sight of the overall shape of this one and had to go back and felt it some more. Isn’t felt a wonderful material that it lets you do that! It’s my least favourite shape but I learned a lot from it, which really is the point.
3) WRAP
I called this ‘wrap’ as it feels a bit like a hug. It’s less complicated than the previous two. Although it’s not obvious from these photos, it also tips slightly which gives it a slightly fragile feel.
4) SLIPSTREAM
With ‘Slipstream’ I was specifically working on getting smooth transitions between different planes: some nice sharp edges.
5) RINGS
I may go back and re-work ‘Rings’ to exaggerate the fact that the rings aren’t parallel. At the moment it feels a bit ‘meh’, although I do like the way you can see the light though the hole.
I thought my sculptures so far were tending to look like vessels. I’ve made a lot of vessels in my time so I decided to try to move away from those shapes. At this point I also switched from using the Corriedale to the Merino batt. It’s a more cream colour, felts slightly more quickly and gives a lovely smooth finish.
6) LEAVES
With ‘Leaves’ I worked on making more concave shapes. I particularly like that it looks completely different from the top (picture 2) than from the sides.
7) PLANES
More work on refining planes and angles
8) LEAF OR SHELL?
Similar to ‘Leaves’ in that I used some of the same shapes and didn’t want the sculpture to look like a vessel. I also like this one as it looks very different from different angles
9) UPTIGHT
I think with ‘Uptight’ I pushed the limit of how many different ribs and planes I could get across the shape. It was a bit of a tussle to get it as I wanted it, though I’m happy with the result. For a long time it was a horizontal sculpture but near the end it became upright, which contributed to its name.
10) TILT
I knew ‘Tilt’ would be my last sculpture for the course and tried to go with something a little more relaxed. I like that it seems to be balancing. I thought I might make a shape like three pebbles balancing on top of each other but decided they would be too small – I may make something like this using a long oval resist.
It was good to see other participants’ sculptures – they were all so different. For me it really illustrated the enormous flexibility of the medium, and how much the shaping is entirely in our hands
I absolutely loved this course. I learned some new techniques, which I will continue to use, but most of all I reveled in taking time, letting things develop slowly, experimenting and learning as I went along. I have a bit of a felting gap now due to other commitments but I am already thinking about what sculptures to make next.
I’ve always enjoyed wet felting, but this course really re-awakened my excitement in making felt. I woke up in the morning thinking about felting and couldn’t wait to create my next sculpture. That was joyful and a great gift. Gladys is working on a more advanced sculpting course called RESIST! Will I be signing up? What do you think?!
Registration is now open for the four online classes Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques – A Mixed Media Approach. These are all a fun, experimental approach to adding different types of surface design to felt. Any of these approaches will encourage you to create unique felt in your own style. I hope you will join me this summer in learning something new! This is the last time that this set of classes will be offered. If you have been on the fence about taking one of these classes, now is the time to sign up. After this session, these classes will be removed from our list of available online classes.
All classes are online and last a total of 6 weeks with 4 weeks of instruction and 2 more extra weeks of tutor/instructor support. All classes are taught with PDF’s and videos. PDF’s are available for download for future use and videos are available for the 6 week time period. Classes will begin July 17th and cost $45 US each.
Paper fabric lamination is a technique of essentially gluing paper to sheer fabric in a specific design. It is not a new technique and has been used by fiber artists for a long time. When I first learned the technique, I wondered how I would use the result. Many artists use paper fabric lamination and layer the results together with stitching and other methods. When I looked at my samples, I saw sheer fabric with a design and thought “Why not try nuno felting with it?” I tried it, it worked, and I loved the results. It was a way to use my own designs and create a piece of nuno felt that was completely different and in my own style. Click on the link above to register, scroll down the page and fill out the contact form.
Screen printing has long been one of my favorite techniques and I love its quirky look on felt. This class shows you the basics of many different screen printing techniques and you will learn an experimental approach that will allow you to take these ideas and expand them into your own unique style. Click on the link above to register, scroll down the page and fill out the contact form.
How to make a print board
How to make thickened dye
How to transfer your designs
Choosing what designs are appropriate for stencils and stamps
Creating stencils from a variety of supplies
Cutting and burning stencils
Creating stamps from a variety of supplies
Cutting a linoleum type stamp
Burning a stamp from insulation foam
Looking at items around the house with a new eye for use in creating patterned felt
How to play with thickened dye
How to stamp and stencil with thickened dye on to felt
Click on the link above to register, scroll down the page and fill out the contact form.
You will learn the basics of free motion stitching. I will show you the basic techniques and equipment needed as well as give you lots of practice ideas to improve your skills. Next you will learn about machine lace techniques and how to incorporate them into felt making. You will learn to use a hoop in the machine with water soluble fabric. Then learn about thread sketching. We’ll start out with easy designs and then progress to how to use water soluble fabric to transfer a design and free hand thread sketching. Lastly, you will learn about experimentation and moving forward with your newly found free motion machine skills. I will show you how to add stitch to a felt painting as well as other ideas in how to use your sewing machine to enhance felt. Click on the link above to register, scroll down the page and fill out the contact form.
Don’t miss your chance to take one of these online classes about surface design!
Are you a beginner and have just found this site? If so, learn how to wet felt and get started on your felting journey. Our Wet Felting for Beginners Course is always available. Click on the link above to register, scroll down the page and fill out the contact form.
This post will be about a few different projects that I am into: as they are all small and easy projects, maybe you will get inspired to try out your own version of them as well.
I am participating to an Art Trail in my area, it is a big event in our neck of woods: it is my second time and I think that I have a better feel for what I need to prepare for it. That is, small usable felt things, that can be added to what I have left from last year, that I can easily bring to our venue by public transport (I do not have a car, I live in Greater London, UK and using public transport is a sensible choice to avoid traffic and steep charges) and that I can sell for a reasonable price. As it is not a Fine Art Only event, but more of a festival celebrating the creativity of all the people living in our Borough, any craft is encouraged and stalls can also sport a mixture of fine art and craft as mine will be.
Last year I sold a few of my wet felted earrings, so this year I spent a bit of time in making a few more but with needle felting: it was very quick, I enjoyed the needle felting practice, and I feel that I can keep to a low price for them.
Here are the pairs that I have made so far (the flowers on the top rows and the blue hearts) with the ones that I have left from last year:
They were really a breeze to make, while I was stewarding for my last group exhibition.
I also wanted to bring the blue loop scarf and the yellow lightweight scarf that were shown in previous posts, as loop scarves were admired last year (though I did not sell them very well, but who knows, maybe this year I will) and I will add to them this new lightweight scarf that I made with the recycled banana yarn used as yarn for decoration:
I loved the salmon colour and itched to use it.
It was pretty awkward to pair a very small amount of wool with the chunky yarn, it was really an experiment. I thought that maybe the yarn could give the wool a little bit more structure, but I am wary that the yarn will actually be a weak point of stress for the wool, and pull the wool apart quicker. Anyway, it was more work than I expected, as the wool was so thin that the yarn was not well felt in in places, so I had to needle felt the yarn in after drying it, and then cut all the hairy wool sticking out from the places that I had needle felted. I will maybe not do it in the same way another time: I could either go for a thicker wool layout or maybe sandwich the yarn in between two lightweight layers of wool.
I also am trying out an idea that I have seen from a British artist and crafter on Instagram, Maxine Smith @tillyteadance. She makes those lovely bookmarks in her very colourful style with a mix of wetfelting and machine stitching, with hand embroidered or needle felted details. You can have a glimpse at the process in her posts: she seems to make a full rectangle of wet felted and machine stitched background, then cuts all the bookmarks from that single rectangles with a rotary cutter, adds some details and finishes each bookmark by stitching all the edges.
I thought that I could try my hand at it, and see if it makes the bookmark making more time effective for commercial purposes. And, to be honest, it seemed like fun. My brother had this game when we were little: a lot of scenes on paper strips that you could combine to make an always different composition that told an always changing story. Here, I was picturing something like that, but made of felt.
Of course, I do not have a sewing machine, so my stitching was going to be very limited. I am also much less of a figurative artist than Maxine Smith is, and much less of a cheerful disposition. Here is what I made, with merino wool and a few scraps of a pale blue scarf (possibly silk, I do not know, it was a charity shop find):
Here are my background rectangles cut from the original sheet.
Then I had to make each one meaningful with some stitching (as less as possible) and have them tell a different story each. I also was keen on keeping them as abstract as possible, because I love that opening up of possible meanings.
Here are the stitched bookmarks as of now:
This is the most peaceful, maybe: just two little boats with shiny sails floating on a limitless sea..
This is the most disquieting of the four, but it just came out this way, and who knows, maybe someone out there would like a bird (pigeon? bird of prey?no idea) for their bookmark. My husband says that the bird shape is an alien life form under an alien sun: well, who knows, it could be.
This was meant to be an abstract landscape at night, so I stitched a moon in shiny DMC Diamant thread.
This is lonesome or purposeful and dreamy, depending on what you feel it represents.
I have to hand stitch all the edges now, but I need to go and buy some good thread in the right colour at my local shop. I would like it to be pale blue or something like that, and I do not have embroidery thread in that colour.
An issue that I have with them is that they are not stiff. The ones that Maxine Smith shows are properly stiff: I think that part of it is due to the extensive machine stitching, part to the fact that, on second watching, I noticed that she made thicker felt to begin with. I have no idea if she puts some stiff backing or if she uses a PVA glue bath to increase stiffness. Now, I am thinking about what I can do to increase my bookmark stiffness without spending too much time on them. My friends say that they are fine as thickness goes, and I believe a bulkier bookmark is not super easy to use inside a book, so I am not inclined to add felt to them on their back. I maybe will try with the PVA glue bath. Some of my friends also do not see why they should be stiffer, so there you go, I could leave them as they are, and simply display them on a paper backing with a couple of temporary stitches to keep them upright. What do you think?
I have made a couple more small abstract landscapes in unusual colours, similar to those that I have shown in my last post, and I have not added stitched details to them, yet:
This one has more sky and less ground, and I placed a round piece of silk rods up there on the right to make the sun.
This one is slightly more square and has more ground/sea/whatever than sky. Or I can always turn it upside down.
Which details would you think for them? I am very undecided.
Another thing that I am preparing is my contribution to the fundraiser for the charity Ealing Food Bank in this edition of the Art Trail. Last year, the artists from the Art Trail were encouraged to donate a small piece on the theme “Home” to be exhibited at a special venue and sold for a homeless charity: it went very well, so this year we are doing it again, for a different charity. The theme this year is “Food for Thought”, of course, but the requirements for entry are the same: it must be a square piece 20cm by 20 cm (about 7.8 inches), and they are going to give us the canvas, if needed.
They are going to provide us the canvas later on, but I have the advantage that I can complete my piece with no canvas at all, and then just stitch my work on the canvas when I will have it.
I started with the idea of a still life with fruits and vegetables on it: I do not know, I think about still lifes a lot these days (see my last post). I was not feeling like making it in wet felt, I do not know, it did not feel like the right thing, I wanted more of a sculptural piece and I went for needle felting.
Firstly, I prepared a wet felted background with some “wool for felting” that I had as a gift from a friend: I have no idea which kind of wool that is, so I seldom use it, but for this it seemed perfect, as it is very natural (I do not think that it is dyed) and in different gradation of natural whites and browns.
This is the background that I felted.
Then, I decided that I needed a real life reference, so I got out some peppers, an apple and a small bowl. I experimented with adding some green vegetables like cucumber or lettuce, but it was not working well, too big maybe. I wanted some green grapes to drape over the peppers and apple, but I had none in the fridge, so I just simulated it with a small vessel that has long curly locks hanging from it.
Yes, I know, it is nothing like green grapes. And sorry about the background chaos of cushions.
Well, then I started making the shapes in core wool, thinking that I was going to cover them with dyed Merino afterwards.
Let’s start from the pepper, as I like the pepper.
Going on with the shapes, I wanted to better visualise how they were going to fit with each other, so I placed them on the background and then loosely needle felted them one to the other.
White pepper on background.
Pepper and the apple.
Pepper, apple and hint of second pepper in the background.
Making grapes while thinking “What a brilliant idea, so fast to make!” or something like, if you get my irony and already know the nice words.
The grapes were a bit more time consuming, but when I saw the whole together I started thinking that I liked the whole as it was, white and almost ghostly. I feel that it is clear what the shapes are, even without colour, when seen in person. The photos get a bit confusing, to be honest.
I admit that it is unusual, as still life, a bit ghostly maybe, but that was the point of still lifes, to play with the concept of life and death by hinting at them. It is better in person than in photos, though, as the sculptural quality of the piece does not show well on camera.
So, in the end, I needle felted it all to the background and I will call it something like “I miss you”, because it made me think about a friend who recently passed away: she was a keen grower of vegetables in her allotment, and also still lifes are supposed to hint about life and death, and she passed away way too young, way too early, a typical theme for still lifes.
Another friend gave me the idea of felting coasters: it is maybe weird, but I am not one of the tons of people using coasters, so I had never really thought about making some, but it is actually quite fast and fun to make them, and it probably makes a lot of commercial sense (we will see if they sell well..).
Here are two sets of four coasters that I made recently:
I went for bright cheerful colours this time.
I will go on making a few more pieces for the Art Trail event, there is still time until September, and I hope to finish the ones that need a bit of working on, but this is it for now: I hope that you like what I have made so far.
I want to make some small spirals that will work on the stick-type keychain/bag charm things I have. I did them with some sheep I had last year.
I have a T-shirt that says; Hold on, Let Me Overthink This. And this is where I am starting with this project. I took Helen’s Spiral course last year, and it was amazing. If you have a chance, you should take it. I want to scale this down to end up about a 3-inch drop on the spiral. So I am starting by thinking this is going to be really hard to do, so naturally it is.
I started by making an underlay spiral to use as a template and resist.
The spiral was small, as I said, so I had to cut my fibre as it was far too long for one of the layers. Can you hear the spinners screaming NOOOO in the background? LOL Also, I was being supervised by Jan’s Llama
After much fiddling, it was sturdy enough to be removed from the resist. I worked on it more, but the layout was not good, and there were thin spots and narrow spots.
All in all, a sad looking spiral.
Next, I made some prefelt to try.
I tried to stretch and shape it around the resist. I already knew this was not going to work well. Wet felted prefelt does not have the stretch of commercial needle felted prefelt. But I kept going anyway.
This one is better, but although it’s hard to see, the middle of the spiral is very lumpy.
Here they are flat side by side. You can see the pumpy parts of the pink better here.
Oh well, it was fun trying. My friend Hether decided they were just what she needed for her bike.
I took a Class in Medieval spinning with a distaff last Thursday. I originally signed up for the class before the COVID-19 lockdown. So I have been waiting a while to do this class. This was a 2-hour evening class. We were learning 2 things at once. How to spin in hand and how to use a distaff. Our teacher Judy said it’s like patting your head and rubbing your tummy at the same time.
First, we got some distaffs to dress. This means we had to tie the fiberbatts to a stick. Judy had a couple of nice wooden ones, but mostly we had forked branches she had taken the bark off.
Judy brought several spindles with different whorls. The whorl is the disk that adds weight, so the spindle spins better. The whorls are removable. Once you have some yarn built up on your spindle, you can remove the whorl.
First, we practised twirling the spindle with the leader. You have to make a half hitch on the end of the spindle and then twirl it.
Judy showing us how to twirl our spindle
Lucie is seeing if it is easier standing up.
Then we practised the drafting and the twirling at the same time. milking cow motion on the right and twirling on the right. This is the patting your head and rubbing your tummy part. The only thing we had to bring to class was a belt to stick the distaff in. I do not own a belt, so I got some bailer twine and braided myself a belt for the night. You can see this great fashion piece below.
Then we started spinning. It’s hard to know where to look, at the hand that’s trying to twirl correctly or at the hand trying to draft the fibre down from the distaff.
Here I am winding on. The idea is to make a football (rugby ball) shaped cob on the spindle.
Here’s a close-up of twirling and short suspension. You can let it drop a bit on the last twerl before winding on. Usually, you need to keep it in-hand so you can twirl it again.
Here is what I managed to make by the end of the class. It’s lumpy and thick and thin just like the yarn I made when I first started spinning. I was just starting to wind off when I remembered to take a picture. I haven’t decided if I will ply it or not. First, I have to find my spindles. I’ve seen them recently in their little case. Of course, I couldn’t find them before the class. I will find them again when I am looking for something else. I hope I will be smart enough to grab them and not think I will remember where they are.
This post is from guest author and our multi-talented felting friend, Sarah Ritchie, please check out her website to see all the incredible things she does (it’s not all felting!): https://www.sarah-ritchie.com/
Earlier this year, I had the privilege of being part of Deeply Felt (and the stories carried within) – a group exhibition by Auckland Felters, a Creative Fibre community of contemporary felters from across the Auckland region. The exhibition was held at Nathan Homestead Pukepuke in Manurewa, Auckland.
This exhibition was spearheaded by Teri Berry, whose vision and leadership brought the group together to present a cohesive and thoughtful body of work. Auckland Felters is a diverse group, and what makes this group so special is the breadth of practice within it. While we are united by wool fibre as a medium, the way each maker approaches it is entirely individual.
That diversity was evident throughout the exhibition. Works ranged from finely detailed fibre paintings and wall hangings, to sculptural forms and wearable works, each reflecting the interests, techniques, and creative voices of the felters involved. There was no single style or narrative, but rather a celebration of process, patience, and the tactile nature of fibre. It was also a privilege to bring fibre to the attention of the public as an artform – more than just a functional material or a craft.
As needle or wet felters and fibre artists, we all understand the time it takes to bring a piece into being. The process itself becomes embedded in the finished work. That sense of time and touch was present throughout the gallery, inviting visitors to slow down and engage with what had been deeply felt and carefully made.
This was the second exhibition held by Auckland Felters and it felt like a natural progression for the group. There was a sense of growing confidence – both individually and collectively – and an excitement in sharing felted works as art.
Held in Remembrance
Alongside the exhibition sat a special art installation titled Held in Remembrance.
The original idea came from Clare Hocking, who envisioned a collective work of handmade felted poppies to mark ANZAC Day. What began as a simple concept quickly grew into something much larger.
A call-out was made through our personal networks, social media channels and Facebook felting groups, inviting contributions from the wider felting community. The response was immediate and generous. 287 poppies were sent in by more than 50 felters from across Aotearoa New Zealand and around the world. Each poppy was handmade and unique, and many were accompanied by messages of personal connection with the men, women and animals who served.
What arrived was not just a collection of objects, but a gathering of individual acts of making. Different techniques, fibres, and interpretations came together, unified by a shared intention of remembrance, and a remarkable generosity of time, resources, and care.
I had the privilege of leading the installation, with the support of Clare Hocking, Teri Berry, and Jaq Spirrett. Jaq also created the felted barbed wire that formed a central element of the work, adding both visual structure and symbolic weight.
Constructing the installation was not without its challenges. Covering 3.6m wide and 2m tall, each poppy was attached to clear nylon thread and suspended between two battens. The felted barbed wire added a strong narrative to the artwork. Every poppy could be seen. Every maker’s contribution held its place within the whole.
The installation was created as a fundraising initiative for the RNZRSA (Royal New Zealand Returned and Services’ Association), supporting the health and wellbeing of New Zealand’s veterans of military service and their families. All qualifying donations will receive one of the poppies from the installation as a thank-you gift.
Apart from its fundraising purpose, what stands out most to me is the sense of international connection and camaraderie the project created. Felting can often be solitary, yet Held in Remembrance brought together a wide and generous community of makers – many of whom we have never met in person, yet are now connected across distance through a shared act of making.
The Open Day that wasn’t
We had originally planned to hold our exhibition Open Day on ANZAC Day itself, bringing together the Deeply Felt exhibition, Held in Remembrance fundraiser installation, a fibre market, and a workshop. However, we were advised (at short notice) that Auckland Council-run galleries would be closed that day, and the event could not go ahead (though, fortunately, the workshop ran as planned in an alternate location). This was immensely disappointing to everyone involved.
Clare and Beth demonstrating the art and magic of felt-making
And yet, in some ways, it felt fitting. ANZAC Day is, at its heart, a day of pause and reflection. While we had hoped to gather, the quiet absence of that event served as a reminder of the deeper purpose behind both the exhibition and the installation.
The finished poppy paintings – it’s hard to believe none of the participants had tried wet felting before!
What remains is the work itself – the hours of making, the shared effort, and the connections formed along the way. For Auckland Felters, Deeply Felt was more than an exhibition. It was a continuation of a collective journey, and a reflection of what can happen when individual makers come together with a shared intent.
In my last post I mentioned several pieces I was working on and some events that were coming up and I thought I’d use this post to update you on how those went.
I’d made several superfine Merino pendant samples in preparation for a wet felted workshop I had been asked to run for IFA Region 8 in Arnesby, Leicestershire. I had tried to cover options for all abilities from a very simple design that didn’t require a resist, through to a complex design requiring multiple resists. As it turned out all of the samples proved useful because between them my 10 students chose to make one of each of those designs. I was too busy on the day to remember to take progress photos (sorry) and nobody got fully finished before we left but these are some of the images Ive received since…..
One of the ladies, Leah, enjoyed making hers so much she’s gone on to make two more in a style very much of her own which I love!
Another project I’d been working on was Passage of Time, a wet felted Wallhanging inspired by a huge sandstone slab, for the IFA’s online exhibition “Time” which launched in March. You can see the exhibition here. I’d rushed to get this done to meet the deadline. It wasn’t as colourful as I’d intended and I knew it was far from finished! This was how you saw it last…..
After submitting it I continued to embroider and decorate adding colonial knots, free motion stitched mussel shells, machine wrapped cords and embroidered barnacles. As well as needing more surface texture I felt it should be larger and more irregular in shape so wet felted and embellished a second piece to hang adjacent to it. It’s now approximately 1m x 50cm and I’m much happier with how it finished up…..
The exhibition at Harding House in Lincoln went better than any of us could have imagined! Five months of planning and two days of setting up with my friend Jo resulted in an event that we were all very proud to be a part of. Fourteen out of the eighteen participating members travelled from various parts of the midlands to attend the launch party on Saturday 14th March.
We tried to cover as many different techniques as possible with our exhibits and included an “Education Station” with info boards, “touch” samples and the new promotional material advertising the International Feltmakers Association. We also ensured there was an artist in residence every day for the two weeks, either wet felting or needle felting. This meant visitors not only got to see felt being made but they had a point of contact if they wanted to learn more about the art they were seeing, about the IFA, or about Feltmaking in general.
We had a steady footfall throughout the fortnight we were there and it was wonderful to get to meet and speak to so many interested visitors, the feedback received was fantastic!
Earlier this month I travelled over to Risley in Derbyshire to spend the day with Material Girls and the talented, and very entertaining, textile artist known as Mr Finch. Finch creates enormous 3D fabric sculptures of animals, birds, insects, fungi and other fantastical creatures such as this owl and an onion complete with arms, legs and clogs!
He also brought along this Badger and I have to say that the photos really don’t do justice to these fantastic sculptures. To touch them they are rock hard and incredibly weighty, it’s hard to believe that they are stuffed with polyester stuffing! It was fascinating to see close up how he’d made the joints and details such as the paws and fingers.
Finch provided lots of laughs and kept the ladies entertained throughout the day as we learnt his tips for designing templates and creating fabric sculptures. If I’m completely honest I was disappointed that we were hand stitching and not using machines during this class so I’m looking forward to creating another hare very soon using cotton fabric and my machine, putting in to practise some of the useful tips and ideas I picked up from Mr Finch. I think you can see from the photos how much fun we had!
After seeing Helene use some prefelt ribbon, I decided to give it a try too. I am thinking of differential shrinkage to get the shape of a shell. I thought it might work well with a spider conch shell to make the ridges.
I got my ribbon from the Olive Sparrow in Toronto. She doesn’t have it on her Etsy, but if you contact her, she has it. You can, of course, make prefelt and cut strips. But this is a fast and easy way to get going.
I made a 2-part resist so there would be an overlap on one side.
I made the inside pink, then added strips of the prefelt ribbon.
I added some blue for the outside. Sorry for the really bad picture.
Then of course the was lots of rubbing. I am using a rubbing tool from Moose Hill. It has a nice weight, not too heavy like others I have tried. I like to start gently. It does have a nice, wide handle, so it’s easy to hold and press down when that is what you want. Jan used my phone to take many of these pictures for me. She took about a dozen of this one, complaining that I was not smiling. Seems I do not smile when I am working.
Once it had shrunk a little, I cut out the resist and removed the non-spined side of the extra resist. If I left it, I think there would have been too much to curl inside for the middle of the shell. Then of course, fulling and shaping.
It wasn’t long into the fulling when I knew I had not used enough prefelt to get the differential shrinkage I wanted. I suppose I should have known better. But often that’s the way. You need to be reminded of what you already know.
Still, it didn’t turn out so bad
When I got home, I fulled the ridges in some and then clipped it all into shape to dry. As you can see, this made the base of the folded part pointy, and that remained after I took the clips off and let it spread out.
I wet just that part and fulled it back to round in a very short time. I had been anticipating a fight with it. I had tried to shrink this part more before clipping it with no success. This just reminded me of how, sometimes, it is easy to get more shrinkage after it has rested or dried and is rewet. I have no idea why that works, but it does.
After it was dry again, I was not happy with how the top with the points wanted to curl around instead of standing out, so I put a couple of invisible stitches at each end to hold it in position.
And finished. I like the finished shell, even if it didn’t go the way I planned.
I may give it another try over the summer, but as spring slowly arrives here( we had a little snow again the other day), I find I have lots of ideas and more energy to do things. I have things to make for the guild sale in the fall.
My wonderful local arts centre (The Horsebridge Community Arts Centre in Whitstable) has an art bank. People donate all sorts of lovely (and sometimes slightly odd) materials. Anyone can visit the art bank room, select things they’d like, then pay what they can.
I often have joint exhibitions in the arts centre’s galleries and do some volunteering for them too (mostly bar work). They work very hard to raise funds to keep the centre going and supporting the community. I live nearby so frequently pop into the art bank to see what’s there, and I sometimes walk away with a little challenge for myself. I’m going to talk today about felt testing two materials that are new to me: silk carrier rods and fine metal mesh.
A few months ago, I was unable to resist some beautifully dyed silk carrier rods. I enjoyed separating and sorting them; they reminded me of fish.
They got bagged up and filed in the ‘to do sometime’ section of my brain.
A couple of weeks ago, their time had come. If you’re not familiar with silk carrier rods, they’re a waste product of silk production. When silk is removed from silk cocoons, it is reeled onto a machine. Some of the silk thread and gum gets caught on the winding rods and has to be cut away. They resultant silk carrier ‘rods’ are quite thick and stiff with sericin gum. You can peel each one into layers. You can also stretch them length-ways to thin them out, but they don’t have any appreciable movement across the width of the rod. I suppose it’s because that’s the direction the individual silk threads lie and silk thread is strong.
I checked the internet for felting with silk carrier rods and although there were some images, it wasn’t clear to me how thin the rods that had successfully been felted were. I’d peeled mine as much as I was able but I didn’t want to stretch them out too far along the length as I wanted to keep as much of the shine and colour of the silk as possible.
I’d like to felt a school of fish shooting up through the ocean so decided I’d better make a small test picture to see how the carrier rods felted.
I selected a lovely red / yellow / green rod layer and trimmed it slightly to create a fish shape.
Here it is with a non-trimmed layer for comparison
I laid out 2 layers of merino to look sort of ‘watery’, placed the trimmed shape more or less in the middle and popped on a small eye using tiny bits of wet & rolled dark grey and white wool.
The felting went pretty well, though I started to worry that they eye wouldn’t attach so gave it a few stabs with a felting needle before I started the fulling.
Here it is after felting, still wet, with the other piece of silk for comparison.
You can see it has shrunk a lot along the length but only a small amount across the width, which is what I’d expected
And here it is dry.
So, what did I learn from my sample?
I’d soaked the silk briefly in water before I used it to see if it was dye-fast. It was. I also thought the water might soften it a bit, though I don’t actually know if this made any difference as I didn’t try felting with an un-soaked piece (good job I’m not a scientist).
I deliberately only pulled it out a little lengthways so I was running the risk of it not felting in well. I also didn’t trap the silk with fine wool fibres: the idea was to try it and adapt if necessary for a future picture. The fish is fairly secure – I couldn’t easily pull it off – but I’d say it’s not fully integrated in the felt. There’s some movement if you rub it, especially in the central body section. It feels like it’s partially sitting on the surface. The tail is the most integrated part; I probably pulled that bit out the furthest.
It’s probably OK for a picture but I wouldn’t want to subject it to a lot of wear and tear. Ideally it should be felted in more firmly.
Things to consider for a future picture.
Soak for longer
Stretch out more
Add some fine strands of wool to trap it across the fish
Scuff up the under-side slightly
Put some light clouds of wool in similar colours to fish behind it (poss in addition to scuffing up the back)
Trap it with wool strands round the edges
I may not do all of these but would probably do some and almost certainly stretch it out more.
I’m also not keen on the eye: it’s a bit cartoonish & feels like it should be slightly higher up on its head. Maybe next time I will bead the eye on at the end, or use grey wool instead of white. I’m not sure if I will ever make the school of fish, but I’m satisfied that the sample did its job.
My second test piece is a very small one. I recently saw in the art bank some tubes of fine metal mesh and, as I often do, wondered if I could felt them.
The mesh is in different coloured tubular strips: I think they are intended for jewellery making. You could put some beads inside the mesh tubes and place other, perhaps smaller, beads between them, on the outside of the mesh.
I like the idea of having the mesh on the outside of some felt, perhaps to make a seed head. You can see the mesh can be stretched out.
Again, a sample seemed like a good idea. I made it quite small, just to see if and how it felted. I didn’t want to waste too much.
I cut a small square each of merino prefelt and metal mesh, approximately 6 x 6 cm (or 2.36 inches)
Although it doesn’t look like it in this photo, the mesh is light blue.
And here it is when felted & dry.
Conclusions? It felted very securely: the metal mesh is well embedded into the felt. I managed to get 1/3 shrinkage. I tried for a while but it just wouldn’t shrink more. Perhaps I need a larger sample to test this. The mesh didn’t give the felt as much additional structure as I’d expected. It does fold into a slight crease and it bends a little to hold a curve. Again, I think I’d need a bigger sample to test these properly. On the other hand, it looks pretty and is quite sparkly. Perhaps even a bit like fish scales?
For now I’m parking this experiment too. One day I’ll think of a really good use for it.
I do wander around thinking about what would happen if I tried to felt different materials. It’s always pleasing to have a go and make a little sample. It doesn’t always behave as I expect – which is exactly the point of a sample – but the results get stored away in my imagination for the next time I need exactly that effect.
Let me know in the comments if you’ve tried felting with a new or unusual material and what happened.
