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Category: Guest Artists

The Great Fish Creation

The Great Fish Creation

Comments 21 comments

The is a guest post by my friend Jan Scott. She is my guilds excellent Librarian, a weaver , spinner and a felter, sewer. She is also my fabulous massage therapist. This is the story of her giant fish cat cave.

This is Miaka Scott-Martin

Jan 1

She has informed us for almost 20 years that she is the center of the universe and we must obey. Now!! So to create a cat cave worthy of such an illustrious being was a bit of a challenge. I could not do a rock no matter how gneiss it was (a type of metamorphic rock with a banded or foliated structure, typically coarse-grained and consisting mainly of feldspar, quartz, and mica. Pronounced Nice) so I spent about a month looking for inspiration finally deciding that I should make her the Cat buss from My Naboure Totoro. Then I made the horrible discovery, someone had already done that!!!

Jan 2

Ok rethink, besides her love of cardboard Vehicles, Sports cars (16th birthday), Dune buggy (17th birthday) and Vespa (18th birthday) what does she really like?

cardboard cars

She can’t have anything she needs to drive herself since by her 19th birthday she was blind. She can’t have anything she needs to drive herself since by her 19th birthday she was blind. Since she fell off the bed we revoked her licence to drive. Humm… Fish have been a strong theme through her life. Usually fish go into her, I wonder if she would go into a fish? What kind would be worthy of her? It would have to be rare, exotic and large (she was the one who insisted her prestige did not fit in a mere cat carrier she wanted a mid-sized dog carrier. She is actually a small part Siamese cat, at least in bone structure if not colouring.) Off to the internet to look at weird fishes that Miaka might like, so the coelacanth project began. A scale of reference for there size!!!

fish collage

Ann should have known something was up when I ordered a lot of wool in our group shopping.

Now for the good stuff: Felting commencing now!!

 

We arrived at Carsonby hall for the workshop. Ann had pre-set up the hall with two 6 foot tables for each of us. Then went around to help each of us create our resist shape. As you know the resist has to be bigger than your finished project because the felt will shrink as it increases cohesion. As befits the center of the universe, I wanted this to be a very big, thick, strong, fish! The resist was almost the length of the table so when the tail was added it just fit diagonally across the 2 6 foot tables.I divided my fibre in half and then divided each pile again from there. I layered out in thin layers working length then width and repeated (many times). This meant I was a bit behind the rest of the class. I had thought about adding the Fins like a book resist but decided it would be faster to add them afterword with needle felting. I had also thot about gills but decided that would have added more time too.So the process was lay out one side apply patient patting and massaging until it started to coalesce and then get help to move that out of the way while I started the second side. Massage side 2, flip wet and position the resist.

Jan 9

Rap edges of side 2 over the resist, position side 1 on top of the resist and side 2, wet, massage, flip. Smooth edges over fish. Reassess. Add more dark to the top (I know I should have added it before the water but it was still only holding together a bit so it was worth the try – and worked!)

Now more massaging, moving from Vibrations to Effleurage and finally starting petrissage! I can’t wait for Tapotement but It will not work if I rush!!! Now it’s time for rolling gently then with more enthusiasm first in one direction then the other; lots of flipping of fish. Jan 10

My Hubby arrived with my camera just in time to help roll the fish some more. It’s good to have help!!!

Jan 11

Because of the scale of my project, I was not looking at the car mats that Ann had suggested. Instead I found the runner that goes in the center of a van, good knobiness, folds for transport and it was under 20.00 ok just under 20.00 but wow did it work well!

I had also brought some massage implements, acupressure balls and a knobby foot roller. Not usually looked at as potential felting tools but they worked really well too. The balls were grate for working the mouth after I had cut the opening to remove the resist. I had brought an IT band foam roller it’s much bigger in diameter than a pool noodle but didn’t get to try it out for felting.

At the end of the day I had a wet fish with the resist removed but not felted enough yet. I didn’t get to do the tapotement or the flinging it on the table!!

SO off to Ann’s later in the week to continue the rolling. Finally resorting to throwing it into her spinner (which it barely fit into) then on to the dryer with the spiky balls thrown in to help shrink it. To help it hold its shape while it dried we stuffed towels into the back end and then a blow up beach ball.

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I was unaware of how important the kiss of life was in felting but Ann did an excellent demonstration! You can see the acupressure balls on the table beside the fish.

This will give you an idea of the shrinkage we achieved.

Jan 14

Now back to home to start working on the fins, there were a lot of fins. After rechecking my photo reference and counting all the fins I started making fins in an extra-large boot tray (it has a lattice pattern so that helped with felting as it restrained the water from escaping. As each Fin was finished it went to the washroom to be thwapped on the sink edge and then hung up to dry on the shower curtain.

jan 15

I have a vary patient husband, at least it not nylons drying from the shower rod!!

Monday of the guild meeting and all the Fins were done! Finally, I was ready to assemble the grate fish. I was dropped off early (before 7:30am) set up the library and then started work on needle felting the fins into place.

needlefelting fins

Unfortunately, I realized as I started the 3rd fin I had the spacing wrong, so detached and started again. Luckily I had only lightly put them in place.

Other than putting on the eyes I had the fish done by the time of the meeting.

Jan 20

It was too big a catch to hide!!!

The Great fish was much admired for show and tell. There was some debate as to whether the recipient of the fish would like it or be able to get into it. (Being blind)

Jan 21

Miaka seemed very pleased with her fish and when shown where the entrance was, went right in. she got comfortable but was leaving her tail hanging out of the fish’s mouth.

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The next day she spent most of the morning curled up between two of the side Finns. Later that afternoon her heath suddenly took a turn for the worse.

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She died peacefully that night. I am very glad she waited until she got to enjoy her fish even if it was just for one day.

Jan 25

Bengala Dyes by Guest Artist Cathy Wycliff

Bengala Dyes by Guest Artist Cathy Wycliff

Comments 15 comments

Our guest artist today is Cathy Wycliff aka Luvswool.
Over the past couple of years, I have been experimenting with different kinds of dyes. I started with Wilton icing gels, playing it safe for my first experience. I moved on to acid dyes, with the encouragement of Forum members, and I was delighted with the bright, beautiful colors.

Then I tried dyeing with natural plants, like madder, logwood, and osage orange. I ended up with some beautiful dyed wool. Marilyn and I brewed an indigo vat last summer, dyeing everything from lace curtains to wool and T-shirts. This summer I experimented with eco-printing and had some success, but a few failures as well.

When I studied Saori weaving in Minneapolis recently, my instructor, Chiaki O’Brien, also introduced me to Bengala dyes.

They are natural dyes made from the soil in Japan. I was excited to try yet another type of dyeing. I had the trial set of three colors–pink, orange and gray. I liked the idea of natural dyes, already prepared in liquid form, and non-toxic with no boiling water and no mordants. Following is my pictorial on two sessions of Bengala dyes.

I dyed some cotton, linen, silk ribbon and a silk scarf to see if there were any difference on how each dyed.

Session 1

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Session 2

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If anyone is interested in using these dyes, they are available for purchase from Saori instructors throughout the world.

In the USA, you will find them here: saoristudiofun.com/bengala-dyes/

Otherwise, you can google “Bengala dyes” and find offerings from other parts of the world, including Japan, where they are made. I know for sure that Australia, Canada and the UK have the dyes available from Saori instructors. The dyes are particularly
useful when dyeing with young children.

Thanks Cathy for sharing your experience with us about these Bengala dyes!

Lambing in Sweden 2015

Lambing in Sweden 2015

Comments 24 comments

Our guest author/artist today is Zara Tuulikki Rooke.  She recently shared the experience of shearing her sheep with a note that Spring will bring new lambs. So, today we share her experience of the birth of new lambs.

Spring has arrived (according to the calendar), which means the lambing season has started. Most sheep become receptive to mating in the autumn, when the length of daylight starts decreasing, and have their lambs in the spring, after almost 5 months of pregnancy (on average 145 days). However, some breeds are less seasonal, and can be manipulated with artificial light to mate at other times of the year. Spring is often late in the north of Sweden, so we waited until mid-December before we released our ram with our ewes. That postponed our lambing until May.

Now, it would be nice if one could calculate the exact date for lambing, but nothing is ever that simple. The 145 days is an average plus/minus 3 days, and you never quite know when (or if) the ram actually mated with the ewes, as they are in estrus for 24 to 72 hours, every (again on average) 17 days. So when it is getting close, you need to look for tell-tale signs. Some are quite obvious, such as the swelling bellies (which look especially large when they are lying down). The base of the tail will also feel very loose (as if the tail had been dislocated), and when the belly drops, the area between the ewe´s hips and ribcage becomes concave. Suddenly the ewes look underfed, which mine are not. And the day before lambing, my ewes had conspicuously enlarged udders, showing that milk production had started.

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I thought that Citronella (on the photos above) would be the first to lamb. She was huge and we watched her closely (and frequently) for two weeks. But then suddenly, Lisen developed a huge udder overnight, and the next morning my eldest daughter found her with a lamb by her side. After watching and waiting about 30 min, the kids had to leave for school/preschool (they were a bit late that day, but we phoned ahead to explain why). I then decided to just quickly run back to the house to fetch a cup of coffee. And sure enough, when I got back less than 5 min later, Lisen had just had a second lamb.

 

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A few days later, we found Citronella in the barn with two new-born lambs. Luckily, the kids did not have to go to School/preschool that day, and could sit on a bale of straw (dressed in boots, nightclothes and a jacket) and watch the new-borns as long as they liked. It is such a relief when all goes well, and all the mothering instincts are in place. As a sheep-owner, you need to be prepared to intervene if there are any complications during lambing. We have opted for easy-lambing, traditional breeds, with smaller lambs (compared to meat breeds), and we do not give our ewes extra feed before mating (which can increase the number of lambs). Ewes only have two teats, and if a ewe has more than two lambs you usually end up having to bottle-feed the additional lambs. So far, all I have had to do after lambing is check for milk – and admire the lambs. I also weigh the lambs after birth and the next day, to ensure that they are gaining weight.

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Last to lamb was Brittis. She looked so much smaller than the others, so we thought we would have to wait at least another week. But, suddenly, she also developed pronounced udders, and the next morning she was not very interested in her portion of pellets. Hmm… a sure tell-tale sign! Now this lambing I was determined not to miss! So, I climbed up on a bale of straw and waited, as Brittis moved around and pawed the straw-bed. It is a sort of nesting-behaviour before lambing – although a bit annoying when I had just laid out a fresh layer of straw for her. Now she was digging up the older layers of dirtier straw. She laid down, stood up, moved around, laid down again, breathed heavily and stood up again. Over and over. And yes, I do remember how uncomfortable I was just before I had my kids… After an hour, I just had to run back to the house to get a cup of coffee. After another hour, I fetched another cup of coffee and an unfinished crochet project I had laying around. I ended up spending five hours on that bale of straw. But it is quite a pleasant way to spend time – as long as you have coffee and a piece of craft to work on. Finally, she went into labour, and I actually got to see the whole lambing. It really is amazing to see how quickly these newly born lambs scrabble to their feet and start suckling, during the constant licking and low, encouraging, grunting noises from the caring mother.

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Here is a short video of the first few minutes of the newborns life.

https://www.dropbox.com/s/tvzwkr8mzd8vw9d/Video%202015-05-23%2002%2027%2047.mov?oref=e&n=93043268

A general rule is to keep the mother and her lamb/lambs in a small lambing pen for as many days as the number of lambs, plus one day extra. This gives them time to bond properly before they are released with the rest of the flock. Suddenly our little flock has more than doubled in number and there seems to be little black lambs running and jumping around everywhere. It will still be a while before we can let them out to graze (spring is very late this year), but they have access to an outdoor enclosure. And they sleep in the barn at night, which is much safer with a lot of foxes, and occasionally other larger predators around.
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And I just cannot resist also showing you some photos of the first chicken that hatched here this spring. There is something very beautiful about a pair of small child’s hand carefully cradling a newly hatched chicken. The same goes for small arms hugging a lamb.

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Thanks Zara for sharing this wonderful experience with us.

 

One Artist’s Journey into Fiber

One Artist’s Journey into Fiber

Comments 20 comments

Our guest artist today is Jill Chadek with Merino and Mulberry in Two Rivers, Wisconsin.  She is also our banner sponsor for May on the Felt and Fiber Studio Forum.

To touch something soft and silky awakens our earliest emotions!
The pleasure of the touch of silk started my exploration of silk painting. A few
years later I was introduced to felting, that magical process of transforming
dampened clumps of wool fibers into cloth! Then, when I discovered that I
could incorporate the two, working the fibers to lock into the silk I was hooked!

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Through time, that magical process of felting has inspired and allowed me to
express my passion for color, pattern and texture. Felting, allows me to “paint”
with fibers to create personal accessories such as scarves, shawls, vest, hats
and handbags.

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Prior to felting I had dabbled in many mediums but none have held my
attention and interest like felting has. I love working with my hands, the tactile
experience of painting with the fine and silky fibers. It still makes me catch my
breath when I wet the fibers down and the wool gets all loose feeling. I have to
remind myself that soon the fibers will start to migrate and tangle and the
magic of creating a fabric will happen right in my hands!

G6 Cloud Dreams20121020_6941If you are new to felting, have patience and have fun! It will be frustrating at
times! There are as many different ways to create felt as there are felters, and
you will find that everyone swears their way is best! So many variables are at
play: the type of fibers, water hardness and temperature, soap, pressure,
thickness, and added embellishments, just to name a few. No wonder no simple
equation will work! It is only through exploration and experience that you will
learn the “feel” of the fibers at the different stages. So have fun and play!

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Though I consciously have a design in mind when I start a project, my
unconscious, and the fibers influence my hands and the final outcome, which is
usually fabulous!

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I enjoy that even after all of my years as a felting artist there is still something
new to learn and to explore. Right now I am loving creating hats! I do not use
any hat forms but instead let each hat tell me what shape it would like to be. I
love that while making a fashion statement they are also keeping it’s wearer
cozy warm! I am truly grateful for the joy that I experience in the creation of
each item and trust that wonderful emotions are also awakened in the wearer.
Please feel free to browse my website www.merinoandmulberry.com. It is my hope
that my creations will inspire you to stretch and grow as a felting artist. Also on
my website you can view a video of me using the E-Z Roller Felting Machine of
which I am the international representative. This machine has allowed me to
continue felting when I was experiencing terrible vertigo and more recently
when I had shoulder and neck problems. It removes the 1 negative of felting –
the physical chore of rolling your project, therefore allowing you to focus on the
fun, creative aspect of this beautiful medium. If you would like to learn more,
just contact me!

Thanks for sharing your artist journey with us Jill!

Learning to Use a Drum Carder to Make Batts

Learning to Use a Drum Carder to Make Batts

Comments 20 comments

Our guest artist today is Cathy Wycliff aka Luvswool.

After several months of taking a hiatus from felting–due to a work project and family health issues–I was starving to get back into it.

Fortunately, Marilyn suggested a lesson in carding batts. I don’t own a carder and my experience with blending fibers has been minimal, that is, using my dog brushes to blend a few bits of wool roving. Last Friday, Marilyn came over with two carders: a Louet Junior with a very coarse cloth (40 tpi?), and a standard Brother with fine (120 tpi) cloth.

I felt more comfortable beginning with the Louet, and grabbed some neutrals to begin the carding process. I used these fibers with no particular plan for my first batt: Mystery fiber chunks and fibers, possibly some Finn hand-spun; hand-dyed vintage yarn (early 80s); small amount of Domestic 56s and Navajo churro–all in various neutral shades, mostly gray.

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Then it was time to move on to the Brother for some finer carding. This time I went for color: Indigo-dyed Domestic 56s, dark blue Merino, hand-dyed mulberry silk, white Tencel, green mystery fiber, possibly Corriedale. The machine was a bit more sensitive, and so the fibers needed to be fed more carefully onto the drum.

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I tried the Brother once again, using slightly different fibers and colors: Hand-dyed Indigo Domestic 56s, dark blue Merino, white Tencel, unknown white fiber (possibly cotton), and Milk protein. Marilyn suggested we make two passes through with the fibers.

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Some things that surprised me about the carding experience: it took a lot of time and was more difficult than I imagined; the fibers don’t necessarily cooperate, in that bits get caught on the smaller drum; and finally, it’s probably a good idea to have a plan of what you want to make with the batts before you begin. This was an experience I really enjoyed and I have made a couple more batts with the Louet coarse carder, which Marilyn generously has loaned me. The neutrals below were passed through three times.

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More mystery fibers in green and yellow.

 

Thanks Cathy for sharing your first experience with carding batts.  Do you still have carder envy?  Personally, I am happy to have the carders.  They have come in handy more than once.  I love making batts just for fun.  I don’t always have a use for them and often give them away.  Its always a creative learning experience!

 

 

 

 

Felt So Good, Author Q&A, Review and Give Away

Felt So Good, Author Q&A, Review and Give Away

Comments 18 comments

We were contacted about reviewing this book and doing a give away. I thought our readers would appreciate a chance to win this new book Felt So Good by Tone Rørseth, published by Sellers Publishing, Inc in September. Tone is a well known for her design both in jewelry and accessories as well as being a photo stylist for interior design magazines.

Tone Rorseth
Tone Rørseth

Felting 3, 2, 1
Q-3 Three types of fibre you can’t live without?

Three types of fiber I can’t live without: I like the very soft merino wool. A contrast to that one is the natural wool coming straight from the sheep. I also use the 3 mm thick Nepal wool.

Q-2 Two tools you use all the time?

Two tools I use all the time: My different felting needles. I use very thin, medium and thick needles for different types of work/art. I also use soap and water for wet felting!

Q-1 One fibre art technique you love the most? 

Favorite technique: I love the needle technique the most, to me it´s a little similar to painting and drawing.

Felt So Good Cover

Now to Tone’s new book that just came out in September. Here’s what the publisher has to say about the book:

“Felt So Good is all about wool. A wonderfully versatile material, wool is a simple and satisfying fiber to work with, and that makes these projects very accessible for crafters of all levels.

Norwegian designer Tone Rørseth has put together a delightful collection of projects for clothing, accessories, and items for the home. She guides the reader through the different types of wool felt to buy and shows how to upcycle all of your slightly worn, slightly damaged, or out-of-style wool sweaters into fabulous new items for your wardrobe and your home. Readers learn how to choose, cut, restitch, felt, and embellish old sweater fabric, transforming it into beautiful handbags, mittens, scarves, hats, skirts, jewelry, soft toys, pillows, and more!

Rørseth’s designs are whimsical and fun, and most can be made in an evening or a weekend. She has even included a section dedicated to holiday decorations, such as garlands, tree ornaments, and table decor.”

Felt So Good Acorn Wreath

Felt So Good is 144 page long paperback book that is project based. There is one page about materials and techniques with a paragraph about needle felting, wet felting and “felting” (fulling) wool clothing in the washing machine. This book isn’t going to teach you how to felt but it is great for those of you who like to upcycle wool clothing and sweaters. There are many cute projects including accessories, wearables, home decor and holiday ideas.

The book is laid out with lots of photos of finished projects and basic written instructions. There are patterns at the end of the book for any of the more complex projects. There are not any step by step photos and the book assumes you know basic embroidery stitches and how to use a sewing machine.

Felt So Good Sleeves

And now for the give away. I have one copy of the book from the publishers to give away to our readers. So that anyone can be eligible to win the book, I will be shipping it to you instead of from the publisher. If you would like a chance to win, please leave a comment below and I will need to have your e-mail address so I can contact you if you win. The deadline for making a comment is October 22, 2014 and I will announce the winner of Felt So Good on October 23, 2014.

Felt So Good Woven Containers

If you’d like to check out the blog tour for this book, here’s the schedule:

10-16 Blacksheep’s Bit of the Web
10-17 I Hook Design
10-21 Funk and Weber Designs
10-22 Pittsburgh Knit & Crochet Festival
10-23 The Funky Felter
10-24 KarenWhooley.com
10-27 Poetry in Yarn
10-28 Funk and Weber Designs
10-29 Moogly
10-30 Monkey Mayhem
10-31 Mama O Knits/CraftLit
A Weekend of Felting in Quebec

A Weekend of Felting in Quebec

Comments 19 comments

Our guest artist/author is Cathy Wycliff sharing her experience of
felting at Meech Lake, Quebec, with Fiona Duthie, October 3-5, 2014.

When I heard about the opportunity to felt with Fiona amidst the Fall splendor of Quebec province, I did not hesitate to sign up for this class! There were eight female students and Fiona, and the weekend was informative, fun and felt-a-licious! Not too many photos taken, and no long walks as previously imagined, simply because we were too busy felting.

The country cottage where we stayed was just outside of the Galatin National Forest, a beautiful area just twenty minutes from Ottawa. In the first photo, you may see a small boathouse in the background, which was just by the side of Meech Lake. It was a bit chilly for a swim, and besides, we were too busy felting!

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I took a minute the first afternoon to shoot these photos, and I was playing around with capturing the hanging bird chimes on top of the tree.

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A quick photo of the planter, and then onto felting.

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We learned how to make two different projects:  a nuno tunic (choice of white or black) and  a lampshade (varied sizes and wool choices).

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The lampshade is not totally finished.  It needs to be ironed and steamed, then a final shaping. It was made to be a pendulum light, hanging from the ceiling. For blog purposes only, the lampshade is sitting atop one of the posters on my 4-poster bed.

With 8 different women felting, you would think there would be some uniformity in what we chose to make, but I can tell you that each project was different, and each was amazingly beautiful and well-crafted. There were white tunics and black tunics, tall lampshades and wide lampshades. Embellishments were as varied as the attendees.

Most of our meals were at the cottage and we all pitched in to make it work. Some cooked, some loaded dishes and others provided scintillating conversation over mugs of coffee and tea (and at times, glasses of wine). One lovely lady who did not stay at the cottage brought fresh croissants and scones one morning. We and several local ladies celebrated Felt United on Oct. 4th at the cottage by making a very large piece of “Peace” felt.

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On the last eve, some of us took Fiona out to dinner at a marvelous nearby fish restaurant. If you ever have an opportunity to take a class from Fiona Duthie, I highly recommend her–not only as an instructor par excellence–but as a wonderful human being.

The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair, August 1-3, 2014

The Midwest Fiber and Folk Art Fair, August 1-3, 2014

Comments 19 comments

by Guest Artist/Author Cathy Wycliff (Luvswool)

We, Marilyn (Pandagirl) and I (Luvswool),  had never attended a “fiber fair,” so there were expectations and then the reality of the Fair.  We had planned for many months to attend the annual Fair and met there early Friday morning with great anticipation. The advance program showed photos of sheep, fiber, workshops, art exhibits, bags of fleece, etc., and the Fair delivered all of that except for the sheep. One of the organizers explained to me that August is too hot for sheep, and I guess that makes sense. So, the only live animals were a lonely llama and a couple of angora rabbits. Still, it was an enjoyable experience.

The Fair has been held for 8 years in Grayslake, IL, a far northwestern town in the extended Chicago metro area, and it’s a Fair that celebrates the work of many hands. We saw spinners, felters, and knitters demonstrating their crafts, and there were many workshops offered during the 3-day fair. There were a couple of folk singers and a few food vendors outdoors, but everything else was contained in an air-conditioned building. The majority of the indoor vendors were geared towards knitters, with many beautiful displays of hand-dyed, hand-spun yarns and goods. Neither Marilyn nor I are knitters, so we headed first for a walk around to scope out the lot.

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First stop was the Art Exhibit, which displayed fine fiber art–among them, my own display of five fiber wall-hangings. There were other fiber wall hangings, sculptures and “vintage” handbags (crafted from vintage patterns but otherwise entirely new).

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Cathy Wycliff’s Exhibit

(Cathy had a very prominent display!  It was the first thing to see on our way in.  Very exciting! — Marilyn)

Next up were the vendors, which included some crazy rag rugs, lots of beautiful yarn and bags of alpaca fleece. There were also felted hats  and you’ll notice I didn’t snap pics of the roving, since I was busy buying it. Marilyn and I purchased some fibers we have not previously felted with–including Navajo churro, 100% Organic Polwarth, white Falkland and I bought some black Blue Faced Leicester with silk. Since there was so much yarn, I did pick up some white wool boucle for embellishment, as well as silk hankies, which I have never used.

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As we neared the end, we were able to view the judging of alpaca and llama fleece. Two judges followed a quality control checklist and had to concur on all points.

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Then it was goodbye to Princess Athena, the lonely llama,  and our day at the Fair came to an end. We would love to attend another fair, but next time would like to see sheep–sheep-shearing, sheep-judging, sheep fleeces, border collies herding sheep, etc.  Maybe there’s a trip to New Zealand in our future!

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Bye! Thanks for stopping by.
Felted Pictures Serving as Illustrations for a Book by Nada Vukadinovič

Felted Pictures Serving as Illustrations for a Book by Nada Vukadinovič

Comments 15 comments

Our guest artist/author today is Nada Vukadinovič (Halay) who has some exciting news about felting in the book publishing world.

The other day I visited a local exhibition in Mozirje, Slovenia, where a local felter, Spela Oresnik, displayed about 20 felted canvases. All had been made for a particular purpose, i.e. to serve as illustrations for the book entitled Gori doli sem in tja (Up and Down and Everywhere) written by Marta Oresnik. I found this approach very interesting. Usually a painter is engaged to make illustrations for a book but in this case a felter was invited to use wool to depict the scenes from the stories. She used local wool from the Solčava breed, which is a rather coarse wool, mainly used for making slippers, hats, bags, etc.

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The book is an interesting collection of old anecdotes and folk stories which were passed from generation to generation, written in a dialect spoken in this region, e.g. someone meeting a devil, or death, dwarfs, Solcava in fire, witches everywhere, blueberry and strawberry etc . She used wet felting technique to do the background using local wool and needle felted 3D figures which were attached to the base. Only the coloured fibres were bought.

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The collection of old stories was made as part of a national project. Here I need to mention that Slovenia is very small country in Central Europe with population of only 2 million people and a lot of effort is being put into preserving the language and culture. The size of Slovenia compares to the size of New Jersey, however, there are seven main dialects spoken and 49 sub-dialects. The dialect which is spoken in Solcava is spoken only by 500 people. This means that on a walking distance of one and a half hour one comes across another dialect.

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The book has been published and includes a CD so you can listen to it in different dialects. You can learn more about the book here: http://www.mohorjeva.org/oresnik-marta/gori-doli-sem-in-tja  There is a felted picture on the front page. The publisher was Mohorjeva družba (2013).

The Solčava felters to whom Špela Oresnik belongs, are organised in a local felters union, but I think I’ll leave it here for now and describe the felting scene in Slovenia in another post.

Thank you Nada for bringing this exciting new venue in book publishing to our attention.

What exciting things have you seen in the felting world lately?

 

 

First Quarter Challenge 2014 – Lyn’s Entry

First Quarter Challenge 2014 – Lyn’s Entry

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Our Guest Post today for the First Quarter Studio Challenge, is from Lyn.

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I’ve enjoyed this challenge and I’ve learnt a little about one of America’s most influential artists. Some of Jackson Pollock’s art is interesting, yet some pieces remind me of kitchen counter tops – for example, ‘Lavender Mist’:

lavender-mistI wanted to find a Jackson painting to inspire me so I hit ‘Google images’ and quickly found one I liked.
It was headed ‘Abstract art by Jackson Pollock, oil painting on canvas’.
Enthusiastically I chose my colour palette:

Jackson Pollock merino wool paletteAt this point, I would like to have shown you the painting that was my inspiration, but (blushing ever so slightly) I can’t.
I have since discovered that it’s really a ‘Pollock-style’ painting that’s mass produced in Asia.

So, moving swiftly on, here is my Pollock-style felt picture – finished size is 18″ x 15″.

felt in the style of Jackson PollockI made a base of two layers of white merino topped with one layer of rusty-red.  I started the fourth layer by making a border all around with the same red, then working inwards with ever decreasing ovals, I put down dusty orange,  gold, yellow then white in the middle.  The fifth layer was a repeat of the fourth.  On top I placed strips of blue, rusty-red and slate in a representation of broad brush strokes then drizzled some strands of silk tops along some of them.  Finally, I dotted on wool nepps to represent drips of paint.

After ten minutes of agitating the wool fibres, I folded the edges under because I wanted the finished piece to have quite straight edges, as a painting on a canvas would.  They were looking good and straight during the felting but they warped during the fulling because of the uneven layers.

Happy though I was with finished piece, I decided to cut it up with a rotary cutter and re-arrange the slices.  I stuck the slices to a board, took a photo, then added a border to make it look like a painting.

framed felt in the style of Jackson Pollock - mk iiNow, where did I put the phone number for the Tate Modern……