Last weekend was our Guild Sale and Exhibition. I am Chair(LOL) of the amazing Committee that runs the show. Including the Committee, we had 41 volunteers who made the show go off without a hitch. It was an amazing weekend. We had more visitors than I can remember. This is the first time in many years I have had a booth at the sale. I shared a booth with Carlene and Jan. I did not take many pictures; there just wasn’t time, and Jan will have some amazing pictures to show you.
Here’s a photo of our booth. I was sure I took one from the 2 sides, but they are not on my phone, so I guess I just thought about it. I am sure Jan has some good pictures of it. That’s Calene’s weaving, and on the left, Jan’s needles.
And the packaging I ended up with for the whirlygigs. I folded some cardboard so they would have some space. A clear plastic box would be nicer, but I was out of time.
And a couple of the exhibition. The theme was Blue. You can see my blue bird feeder and Jan whales on top.
I entered the Spiral I made in Helene’s class and my blue nuno poncho that I don’t seem to have a picture of.
So that’s it for now, as I have to get back to baking; we have our 2 Christmas markets the next 2 weekends.
Like a cat (and like most of us here) I have had many previous lives. At one stage I worked in finance, I was never really let loose on customers (possibly a good thing for all our sakes). When not fitting out apartments, I was strictly a numbers gal. This was before computers landed on all our desks. When they did, I found them mouth wateringly fascinating (I guess you are beginning to understand why I was best kept in the back office). The first software I had a chance to get my head around was called Symphony. It was one of the first spreadsheet packages the company bought into. I loved it. It had a great function called “What-If”. It’s still around today although Symphony is long gone.
You might now wonder why I am bringing this up. Well, I was bored recently. So I decided to play and to resurrect my own version of the ‘What-If’ function. In short, I had fun. Honestly I don’t do it enough.
So I just kept asking myself ‘what if’ questions, actioning them and seeing the results. I suppose this is the question we all quietly ask ourselves when we play….
Anyway, back to my playtime. What got me started was the question, what if I just doodle a resist? The only limitations I put on this was that I wanted an opening at the top and the bottom. Here is the result:
The resist I used
Next, it was decision time, the background colour…. What if I used black merino for this? Would it swallow up all my decorations? Would the whole experiment be a waste of time? So what if it was! Chickening out was not an option!
The last big question I wanted to ask was what if I laid all of the decorative elements against the resist and then laid my background? That’s not really rocket science, is it to felt blindly. But it does add to the loss of control over the piece but also provides an interesting element of surprise when the piece is turned the right side around after the resist is removed (and there’s no going back).
So here is the result of my what if experiment. I will take you through each element briefly to give you, I hope a clearer picture of the game. Each decorative element began with the question ‘What if’ so I won’t bore you with constantly repeating this. Let’s get started:
I laid a thick mix of linen and viscose on the widest opening of the vessel.
shiny viscose and no sheen linen
The reaction was quite interesting. The sheen of the viscose disappeared to a great extent so I suspect what I am looking at is more likely the linen element which was a dull red to start with. Both have adhered well and have produced a nice wavy pattern as they felted into the shrinking black fibre.
Viscose with linen fibres – viscose sheen is drowned out by the linen
I laid down some art yarn that I had purchased from someone who was reducing their stash. This was in no way guaranteed to work as I don’t feel that person who sold it to me ever experimented with it. Here is what it looks like on the ball. I have absolutely no idea of its composition but I reckoned it was worth a try.
Art Yarn from a stash someone was selling off
So I meandered it around two sides of the vessel. I actually love the result! It was caught by the black merino and is firmly embedded but not swallowed. A total win!
art yarn
Next I laid down a thick layer of viscose in two different colours; first the red and then a beautiful shade of purple.
red and purple viscose (purple too close in colour to back merino – swallowed in felting)
The purple was laid over and alongside the red. Because I was working in reverse, I expected that the red would dominate the line with the purple acting as an edging when the vessel was turned right side out. I was hoping that where the viscose laid on top of each other, they might decide to mix a bit. This result was surprising as the purple viscose was swallowed up by the black merino. The red adhered beautifully and kept its sheen so it looks quite different to the fibre mix used at the opening (mentioned earlier).
red and purple viscose
Next, I used a piece of lightweight silk chiffon that I dyed some years ago and had been foolishly keeping for a ‘special occasion’. I do have to ask myself why I find it so hard to cut into beautiful fabrics (I have too many of these!).
I dyed this silk some years ago (clamped)
I expected the black to swallow up the silk completely but this didn’t happen (confession: I did give it a light shave to see what would happen). Very pleased with the result here.
Hand dyed nuno
On a rummage, I found some prefelt I made ions ago, it was time to throw this into the mix.
Remnants of thick red merino and viscose used in raised lines
I had made this red prefelt using viscose as a decorative element so I roughed up the back, cut it into strips and laid it down on the resist. I was able to play with these lines when I was fulling it and create a 3 dimensional surface on the vessel. It was fun twisting and turning these as I worked them. The black fibre migrated through and they now remind me of coils for some reason.
red viscose and merino prefelts felted in and then pinched to create ridges
Turning over to the other side, I played with the notion of a felted ‘shibori’ element. I found some prefelt and made the 3D elements stuffing the prefelt and tying it off. I then roughed up the back. I laid some black merino on top of the prefelt (avoiding the balls) so that the ‘shibori’ would protrude from the vessel background. These were then laid face down on the resist. I did not have the same control when felting as I could not get my hands near the bases of the ‘shibori’ That said, it produced interesting results.
Prefelt – shibori effect
My next experiment was to nuno felt some fabric into the vessel but to leave a hole where there was no merino used.
Silk, lace and pencil roving used in window and nuno (purple silk)
I was inspired by something I learned on a course with Jorie Johnson but I used a different process to Jorie’s here. I decided to double up on the fabric to make the hole a little more interesting I used a purple silk behind a very delicate lace which came from an old mantilla someone donated many years ago. Before laying down the fabric I outlined the future hole with pencil roving, then popped the fabric on top. The purple silk extended way beyond the featured hole and it felted in wonderfully. I love the overall effect.
Purple Nuno, and window (black lace and purple silk)
Then I used some very special locks. The donor was a Leicester Longwool sheep aptly named ‘Bright Eyes’. These were sourced from my buddy Leonor who is the creative genius behind Eleanor Shadow (https://eleanorshadow.com/) Be sure to check out her website and all her beautiful hand dyed products. Here are some of the locks I used. The colours are gorgeous!
Eleanor Shadow’s beautiful hand dyed locks
I thought I would add a little of Bright Eyes to the mix to see how it would react to being totally felted into the vessel. The fibre kept its lustre and happily felted in without being swallowed. I do have to add that I would prefer to see these beautiful locks move freely as a statement on a piece rather than being ‘imprisoned’ in this way. Just glad I only used a few!
Bright Eyes locks felted in close-up
Finally, my last experiment involved taking some of the hand dyed silk I had used earlier, I gathered it by hand stitching, I laid it down on the resist so that the hand stitching was uppermost and then added the black merino background. I had no real control as to how this would felt in so I needed to do a bit of pulling to loosen up the fabric once I turned it as the black fibre had come right through all the layers. All a learning experience. Next time I will work with the stitched fabric on top of the fibre as I will be more in control and have less tugging and pulling (and cussing) at the end.
gathered silk then nuno’d
All in all, the play was fun. No methodical approach to sampling here, just good fun. And sure don’t we learn when we are having fun! Here is the final piece:
The Doodle Vessel, one side
The Doodle vessel side 2
Next: the update on workshops taken. Just one this time, flowers with Diana Nagorna. I supersized one of two of the flowers (just for fun of course) Here are the results.
Small daffodil
Giant lily – flower detail
Giant poppy – each petal is bigger than my hand!
Miniature Iris
Giant Iris (looks better standing up!)
Lastly, registration is open for my online course wet felting a spiral. The course will start on 30th October and run through the month of November. You will have access to step by step videos, a downloadable PDF and, of course yours truly here in the virtual classroom. Please feel free to click on the following link to find out more https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/classes/hanging-felted-spiral/ It will be the last spiral session for 2026 and as I plan to do a bit of travelling next year I am not sure of my scheduling for 2027.
I’m working on more pieces to take to the galleries. I sold a few more of the smaller landscapes I had made that fit into 5″ x 7″ frames.
I use whatever bits I have of wool in my stash and I usually hand card the skies to get a mixture that looks natural. I have stitched the details before and I did do this on a couple of the pieces adding grasses and flowers. The other two I decided to add some trees with needle felting. I then stitched the small felt pieces on to a 5″ x 7″ matte board. I forgot to take any photos after framing but I put them in simple black frames.
On this set, I used a light blue-grey matte board and all the details are needle felted.
Here’s what the birch trees looked like after being wet felted. I used cut strips of white prefelt for the trunks.
Then here they are after adding the needle felted details. It’s fun working in this smaller size as the process isn’t too time consuming and it gives a less expensive alternative for customers who can’t afford my bigger pieces.
First of all a recap of my recent activities to give you a background to my most recent piece.
I have been very taken with preparing and then attending my local Art Trail in the first 2 weeks of September: if you remember, my last post was about how I prepared a few new felted items for it, because I wanted to bring a mix of new and old things.
My small corner. I actually did not bring a lot of items, as I could always get more from home if needed and I did not want to get a very crowded look.
A closer look at the table. You may be able to spot some of the items I was working on the last time that I wrote a post.
Here is a closer look at the left hand side.
I have to say, this event is the most fun one among the various exhibitions and events that I participate in with my local art group, the Ealing Art Group: we meet tons of people, and our families and friends are encouraged to pass through. We set up demonstrations of our art in the little yards in front of the hall (weather permitting), to pass the time and to call passers-by inside (some of us tried also to improvise a little dance routine to catch the attention of people going by, but we felt that it was a bit too much in the end..). And we chat a lot among ourselves, as it is the only time in the year when we actually pass hours together in the same room (the other exhibitions are manned or womaned on a rota as a group, whereas each of us has to take care of their own stand in this one).
I had an interesting time demonstrating wet felting while battling the wind and chatting to visitors: you can see it in my please-take-that-shoot-quickly-before-it-all-flies-away smile! I like to think that at least I caught many children’s hearts by giving away wisps of pink and green wool all during my demos!
This year we had a brilliant attendance on the first weekend, weirdly not matched by proportionally higher sales, and usual good attendance on the second weekend: we think that it was because other non-related events were going on in the area during the first weekend, so more people were out and about.
While I was in the middle of this, plenty of new ideas for felting and mixed media pieces were coming to my mind of course: I do not know about you, but that is what happens to me whenever I have no time and I can chat with other creative people and see what they make.
One of the ideas that I thought that I could start on without much fuss was a new wet felted piece about flowers. I need to explain that the artist exhibiting her watercolour pieces right in front of me in the room, and a good friend, is very fond of representational abstract artwork of bright flowers, and I was inspired to make a bright and colourful small piece. What I really set up to make in the end, though, was something quite different.
First of all, I considered that I had bought two canvases 65 x 90 cm (25.6 x 35.5 inches) that I had never used yet, so that a bigger artwork was in order. And, most of all, the base prefelt that I prepared for my artwork was in pewter, as I did not have enough wool of a brighter colour and also, to be totally candid, when I actually got to it, I did not feel like a brighter colour for my base.
So, you just have to take my word for it, my initial idea was of a jolly and quick little flowery piece, but good intentions did not last the first five minutes of actually setting up to make something for real, as it so often happens to me.
I put my chosen canvas on the working table to understand the approximate size of my base felt and started to lay the wool out, from the setting up of the edges to the filling of the area inside them with two layers of Merino wool. In hindsight I maybe should have gone for my usual 3 layers for the base, but as I was laying out the wool to cover the whole area I had started panicking that the project was too big for the time that I had, and so I was trying to cut times where I felt that I could. That resulted in a coverage that was not as good as I wanted for it, also because in the following steps I ended up deciding to not cover all the base with other colours so as to provide another layer on top of it, as I often do instead.
That is how I started:
The size for this new piece was almost at the limits of what I can make on my table when it is closed.I tend to layout my base layers not very carefully, as it is supposed to just be a support base to the actual piece. This was my first layer.
After laying out the base and lightly wetting and soaping it, I started laying out the colours for the background from the darkest greens and greys to the lightest (light lime green, yellow and light greys and white):
I tend to have light coming from the upper right hand in my pieces, it just works this way for me in most cases. It is also true that the table that I work on has light coming from the right naturally anyway, so maybe that is one reason.
I wanted a good contrasting area, so I went for pretty dark hues in my background, but that meant that the whole piece was already fast moving from a jolly uncomplicated colour riot to something more meditative and sober. I also realised that I wanted to not completely cover the pewter, as I was more and more reminded of my recent tondi pieces: it is just not possible to go completely away from your memories, I find.
I laid out my flowers in colours that were very bright and close to each other (two reds, a salmon, an orange and a yellow) and I added touches of darker shades to build their depth a bit, without going for realistic description. I wanted some white flowers to make the composition pop, and I went for some in white Merino wool with a center of natural yellow eri silk fiber, and some in white eri silk fiber with a few touches of bright blue mulberry silk fiber, for the shiny effect of silk that is reminiscent of oil paint shine.
I also realised that I needed some kind of vase or holding shape for my bunch of flowers, but I did not like the idea of a too solid shape when my flowers were just quick brush strokes of colours, so to speak. I went for just the outline of a vase in dark green, that could be variously interpreted and avoids weighting down the composition.
Here is what it looked like before the wetting, it seemed to me well full and with a background on the darker side, because the base in pewter was already wet at this point:
My composition before the wetting: the wool always looks more when it is still dry.
Then, I wetted and soaped the whole, and rubbed it gently under the netting. A bit of rubbing by sander followed, and I went on to the rolling very quickly. I do not need to roll it very much for my purposes, but I added a bit of additional rubbing against the bubblewrap in this case.
Ready for a bit of sander rubbing.And here we go with the rolling, after some rehydration with an Italian favourite soda drink called Cedrata.
After drying it, that is what it looks like:
This is before the ironing and to test the size of the finished felt on the canvas: it fits nicely as I wanted (I like my canvas to be seen all around the edges).
Because of the rubbing against the bubblewrap, it ended up with the piece developing a bit of movement around the edges, so that I had to iron it a bit to flatten it again after the drying.
I feel that it looks a lot less full than what I wanted, and I am pretty divided about it: do I work on it more or do I call it done? What I am thinking is that this piece would be closer to my idea if I added stitched fabrics in colours similar to the flowers to full up the areas in and around the flowers. I can not really explain well the idea that I have in mind, but I am thinking floating pieces of fabric here, very lightweight and not realistic. I also am very into textural pieces more than flat pieces, so I miss that textural element in this piece, though I understand that it is not what everybody looks for in an artwork, but I am really drawn to textures and 3D elements.
I have asked opinions about it to some of my artist friends during our breaks from the Art Trail work: mostly, they feel that the piece is fine as is, while some agree that I could work on it a bit more. I feel that they do not see in their mind what I could do with it and the right fabrics, because none of them are as familiar with textiles, but it may be that they genuinely do not feel that it will benefit from additions, with some of them mentioning the need to avoid overcrowding the composition.
So, what are my textile friends thinking about it? I can always try something and then unstitch it if I see that it is not going anywhere, but time is at a premium right now in my life, and I have so many UFOs in my pile already!
Let me know your thoughts on it, please.
In the meantime, I will take a bit of rest and relax:
Repeat with our sweet Pumpkin: “Good nap, everyone!”
A few weeks ago I travelled down to Arnesby in Leicestershire to take part in the Feltmakers Region 8 annual Summer School. The name is a bit misleading as this isn’t a “tutored” gathering but more of a two day Play Day doing whatever takes your fancy. It’s just great to have the luxury of two whole days of uninterrupted felting and for me this would be my first felting project since March so I was particularly keen to make the most of it.
I knew I wanted to make something to display at a Coastal themed exhibition I’m taking part in September but hadn’t exactly planned what that was going to look like. So I dug out my tin of shells and chose a spiral one, covered in barnacles, to take with me as inspiration.
My initial thought was to create a vessel with a tiny opening in the base to remove the resist through. After working out the size I wanted my vessel to be I drew and cut out my resist, elongating the bottom section of the shell to give this more emphasis and more height.
By the time I’d finished my first coffee I’d changed my mind about what I was doing and decided the shape I’d drawn would lend itself nicely to being a lidded vessel. Its just as well I hadn’t got any fibre laid down yet!
The main body of the shell got laid out first and put to one side while I made the nuno prefelt to cut the craters from which would represent the barnacles.
I did wonder if that narrow base was going to prove a bad idea and whether I had the weight distribution right but by that point I was too invested so just had carry on and hope I could make it work!
This could have gone so wrong so it was a big relief to see it standing!
The finished vessel stands approx 45cm tall and is 25cm at its widest point.
After our first day of felting the friend I was staying with offered to drive three of us to Cosby, a village close by that stages an enormous themed yarn bomb. This years theme was “Round the World in 80 Displays”. The event happens every two years and the exhibits are in place for three weeks so we were lucky to catch the final evening before the displays were taken down. I can’t begin to describe the scale of this project! I’ve a friend who’s heavily involved so I’ve known of it for several years but it’s the first time I’ve visited and it surpassed all expectations!
The two leading lights behind this mega yarn bomb are Mel Charnock and Natalie Smith. These fun loving creatives have a passion for colour, textiles, jumble sales and people plus experience of TV & film costume styling, community events, visual merchandising, teaching better mental health & crafts for adults, not to mention a brief stint sewing gussets knickers! All of which led them to founding Gather Create Grow CIC, a local not for profit community group focused on connection and bringing people together, reducing isolation and improving wellbeing with creative community projects.
From very young school children to the very senior residents in the village everyone is encouraged to get involved. Each display area had its own information board telling the viewer a little about who had made what. The exhibits are spread far and wide around Cosby but there is a map available if you want to ensure you see the lot! There was lots we didn’t get to see but I hope you can get a feel for the event with these photos…..
The evening was topped off with a cuddle from this very friendly, and thoughtfully placed, Polar Bear before we headed off to the local chippy.
If you are wondering what happens to the exhibits at the end of the show they are taken down, dismantled, washed, repaired and packed away ready to be reborn again in two years time. Some will re-emerge looking much as they did this year, but in a different setting, while others will have a complete makeover and become something new. If you happen to be in the Leicestershire area when the next Yarn Bomb is on I can recommend you make a detour to Cosby and experience this wonderful event close up for yourself, you wont be disappointed!
Years ago, when the kids were small, I became a collector of recipe books. I didn’t particularly want to cook out of any of these, I simply loved reading the books and marvelling at the beauty of the process and the presentation of the meals.
More recently I have found that I have started collecting felting courses. I have been rather busy over the past few years – not sure where the time has gone – but last May, I decided that I had best do a stock take of the courses I have signed up for and not done. I discovered that I have at least 20 in my list. These courses either have indefinite access or I have been able to purchase and download the videos so there has never been an urgency in completing them. That said, I don’t want these to fall into the same category as the cookery books – lovely to look at but I wouldn’t like to do them.
Over the years, I have signed up for different Felting Camps offered by Corinna Nitschmann. Each year around April, Corinna invites a number of felting tutors to join her in her studio. The tutors record their respective workshops and then deliver the workshops on a specified date during the camp. Students can opt to work ‘live’ on the day, working with the pre-recorded videos with the tutor available to answer any questions they might have; they have access to these videos for a number of months, if they prefer to work at their own pace. Alternatively a student can pay a little extra and download the videos so that they are there indefinitely. This is the option I choose but I still enjoy being present during the live sessions as the sessions are always upbeat and great fun. Corinna herself is an amazing tutor and has a great sense of humour. There are lots of other activities taking place (besides the workshops) during the felting camp. Here is the link, if you would like to find out more about these https://cornitfelt.com/. I have 3 years of felting camp courses downloaded, that accounts for 15 courses. Then I purchased some courses that I found attractive from individual tutors and need to take. But for the summer months, I decided to focus on some of the felting camp courses. I thought I might share some of the results with you.
My first venture was called “Wet Felting Jewellery Basics” by Judit Haulik. It was part of the 2025 felting camp. This is a well paced course and the videos are divided nicely into sections so that it is possible to complete a task and walk away from it for a while. Students work with very small pieces of felt and Judit herself acknowledges that it can be a bit fiddly but, to be honest, I found that once I got into the groove, going small was not a challenge. I loved the repetitive nature of the design too and I can see possibilities for upsizing the process which Judit is teaching. My main learning on the course was how to integrate very fine chain into the overall design. I chose a very light chain for this process and I reckon that I will use a more robust one next time. That said I am very pleased that I rose to the challenge of the very fine chain as, after this, I feel the bigger size will be a dawdle. Here is the piece I made. I didn’t investigate further as I wanted to move on to another course. That said, I have ideas on where I can take my learning. I have done some quick sketches before they go out of my mind!
Full view of the necklace. Holes felted with sequinned material
Top section of the necklace with sequinned fabric in the centre
Base of the necklace with sequinned fabric showing in the hole
My next workshop came from the 2026 Felting Camp. It was one of the courses that originally attracted me to this year’s camp. The introduction to “Stool Covers” by Bea Nemeth was very joyous and depicted a variety of different shapes and sizes of stools which could be worked on. Bea also presented different possibilities for fibres which could be used in the design. We worked our design on prefelt and then if we wished we could adorn the stool cover with locks. Bea was fun and a little mischievous and at one stage headed to a dye pot with one of her samples. It was fun to see all this in real time at the session. As for the result ….. beautiful! I didn’t have a stool to work off so I headed out to our local Ikea. I made a variegated colour strong merino prefelt and I used my own geometric pattern for my design. I had some Bergschaf left over from making boots a number of years ago so I used this for the background. The resist was huge and I don’t know if you ever have that moment when you feel that a piece will never shrink down sufficiently (I had that on the stool) but it didn’t disappoint and, finally, with lots of patience, shaping and using tools it fit perfectly. I love the result and it acts as a reminder that patience works wonders when I am trying to fit to size.
full view of the stool – blue base is bergschaff
pattern on stool made with merino prefelt
Next up, it was a bit of a return to a comfort zone for me, fine art felt. I checked out Jorie Johnson’s ‘Fine Art “Small Works”’ Jorie studied textile design both in the USA,where she is originally from, and in Finland. She moved to Japan in 1987 and has been based there ever since. If you would like to find out more about Jorie you can visit her website at https://joirae.com/biography/. There was something very special about Jorie’s approach to the workshop – it kind of gave me permission to play with my design while being mindful of her teaching. While students had the freedom to use any style resist of their choosing, I decided to use the one Jorie presented, principally because it had some really challenging angles and shapes included. I also favoured roving over prefelt when I was laying out my background. I got a bit carried away with the design (Jorie recommended leaving more space between each element), but this was playtime and experimentation was the key for me here. Here is the result. Again, there was lots of learning on what can work and it is a great reference for future pieces.
sculpture with resist to show shrinkage (resist design by tutor)
front view of the sculpture
Nuno felted ‘window’
closeup of raised area and nuno felted pattern
closeup of textures and nuno
detail of some of the locks and textures
closeup of the linen section
Second side of the sculpture featuring a variety of textures
That’s all I have for now. I know there are 17 more courses to go, but at least I have made a start. If you like, I can keep you updated on my progress, but the danger is that I am likely to disappear down the odd rabbit hole (I can already see two opening up). Like Alice in Wonderland, there is a possibility that I might meet (or transform into) the Mad Hatter although I wouldn’t mind having some of White Rabbit’s energy (perhaps it would help me get through the classes quicker) because at the moment in this (what appears to be at time of writing) never ending heat wave, my character is more akin to the Dormouse, constantly ready to roll over for another sleep!
Is there anyone out there in the same boat with lots of outstanding courses? Please tell me so that I know I am not alone.
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.
In my recent art and design class, I painted a series of tree spirit portraits. In researching tree spirits, I found many photos of young women with ‘beautiful’ faces. I thought that if a tree had a spirit, it would be the same age as a tree, which can live for hundreds of years. I decided to base my tree spirits on the beauty of older women, with wrinkles, grey hair and wisdom shining through. Once these were painted, I decided to create tree spirits in felt and stitch. I will be continuing with this series as I found stitching and creating portraits a challenge.
I printed a copy of the original artwork and found a piece of deconstructed screen printed fabric that worked for the background. The fabric was silk organdy and I nuno felted it to a dark green wool. Then I taped a piece of water soluble fabric to the artwork and traced it on the light box.
I pinned the traced outlines of the face and the pinecone down to the nuno felt. Then I used a dark green to stitch the face outline and a dark brown to stitch the pinecone. It’s not shown here but I used a white thread to stitch the outline of the hair. The tree on the left hand side was developed free hand as there was already dark green in the background fabric that reminded me of the shapes of the tree branches. Once the outlines were stitched, I dissolved the water soluble fabric and let the piece dry.
Then on to stitching. This will probably seem like an exercise/game of find the differences as some of the photos seem very much alike. I used 1-2 strands of cotton floss and stitched in a distorted cross stitch. Unlike regular cross stitch, this is a very loose form of cross stitch where the stitches do cross but they are different lengths and directions to fill the space. It is a fairly easy way to shade for darks and lights without doing precise stitching such as long and short stitch. I started with the eyes. I have found when stitching a portrait before, that I stitch the “important” areas first. If I don’t like the eyes, I can either re-do them or start over without wasting loads of time on the rest of the face.
I continued using various shades of green and developing the face and then on to the hair. It was a really interesting process as it seemed like I would add more dark into an area and then find that I needed to add more dark to other areas. There are many layers of stitched threads and hours of work in the final piece.
As you can see, I didn’t take many photos of the tree development or of the pinecone stitching. But I continued with the distorted cross stitch for these areas too. The pine needles were done with stem stitch.
I changed the hair multiple times. I had added stem stitch curls but those seemed to stand out too much. I went back in and stitched over that with a variety of shades of lighter green to make the hair look more natural. I also worked on deepening the wrinkles around the eyes and mouth.
I probably could have kept working on this piece but decided to stop.
Once I was satisfied with the face, I needed a background fabric. I had linen that had been screen printed at the same time as the silk organdy. I tried an overlay of blue green silk but ended up choosing the linen for a background. The nuno felt was stitched to the linen background and laced over a matte board. The final piece is 10″ x 10″. I was planning on framing it but couldn’t find the correct size frame for it. I ended up covering a 10″ x 10″ canvas with green felt and stitching the edges of the fabric matte to the canvas. Sorry that I don’t have a photo so that you can see the edge of the canvas and how that looked.
The piece is named the Essence of Nature and will be in an exhibition in May at 4 Ravens Gallery in Missoula, Montana.
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.
I am still working on the “watercolor landscape” samples that I created. This one is nuno felted paper that has had watercolor applied after the felting process. It needs a bit more, doesn’t it?
I scanned the piece on my printer so I had the exact size of the piece printed out. I then drew a tree over the landscape in pencil. Instead of trying to transfer the design of the tree on to the piece, I decided to just mark where the edges of the trunk were on the top and bottom.
I didn’t get any photos of the stitching process as I stitched it mainly while traveling. I had found a variety of grey yarn that I couched down with a dark grey cotton machine thread. I tried to give an impression of depth of the tree with the values of grey. I followed my sketch but “edited” out some of the smaller branches.
Here’s a couple of close ups of the stitching.
The next step was to find a piece of background (matte) fabric. I stitched the felt piece on to this hand dyed grey background that I already had in my stash. Luckily, it was a blue grey tone that matched the watercolors. The piece was then stretched and laced around matte board. Then it’s ready for a frame.
Here it is in the frame and ready to go to the gallery. This piece in the frame is 8″ x 10″ and I have decided to name it “Solitude”.
