I have been working slowly on my grove of trees landscape. I finished stitching down all the trunks and foreground fabrics.
So here’s a photo with it all stitched in place. Next up was adding a bunch of branches and I wanted to see how I could do that.
I took a piece of clear plastic and used paint pens on the plastic to look at various color choices. The photo on the left shows white paint pen and the one on the right shows using grey, peach and brown paint pens. The white definitely felt too stark. So I thought I would use a mixture of colors.
I looked through my stash to see what colors I had that might work. I decided to use wool thread as I wanted the branches to not stand out too much. I thought adding “shiny” cotton thread wouldn’t work well.
So I started with grey thread and this photo doesn’t really show the true colors of the thread. I used the grey on the grey trunks in the background.
Then on to adding peach branches to the peach tree trunks. I couched the threads down using the same thread for the couching stitches.
Then I needed to decide if I was going to keep going with light colored threads or add some darker branches. I tried a piece of pink thread by laying it down on the right and then a dark maroon thread in the center. I decided the darker branches would work the best. As the light in this piece is coming from the back right, the lighter branches give that feeling of light shining on them. The foreground branches would be darker with less light shining on them.
So I added a medium value red thread for the three red trees to the right side. Again, all the branches were couched down.
Then I added in the maroon threads for the darker trees on the left side. I also turned the silk that was loose on the top under to the back. I will hand stitch all of the loose silk around the edge down to the back. The piece is now hanging on the design wall. I think I will add some peach “grass” in the foreground just as I have couched down the threads for the branches. But I am letting it sit for a bit so I can see if it needs anything else. What do you think?
My art group has started a new project. We are taking old, unwanted books, deconstructing them and then reconstructing into a new creation. Paula has tons of old books, antique papers, photos and memorabilia that she has shared with us.
She found the perfect book for me. A reference book about trees that came out in 1950. It’s a great start on another tree book.
We had a session on mark making. These are tools I have made in the past for mark making mainly using turkey feathers. They give some random looking marks which was great for our project. We used different tools on different types of paper to create some random and some not so random marks. None of these are finished “works of art”, but will be used in different ways when creating the book.
These first sheets were a start using different tools and getting some lighter, thinner marks and then thicker, heavier marks.
I then started thinking more about trees, branches and leaves. The bottom right is a Japanese newspaper that my friend Louise gave us.
Then I started playing with spraying water on the pages and then adding ink to create pine trees. This is a bit tricky on figuring how much water to spray first and then draw your trunk through the water and watch the ink spread. You can add little dots of ink where you need more branches.
This was my favorite of the trees that I created.
Here’s some leaves with different tools used to create different types of marks and lines.
I have also been putting gesso on a lot of pages so that I can either draw or add painting to the pages.
I chose my color scheme from this deconstructed screen print on paper. The colors will be black, burnt siena and yellow ochre. Perhaps there will be touches of green but I haven’t gotten very far yet. This will be another long term project that will be a slow work in progress. I will update you periodically on how it’s going.
It’s the new year so it seems appropriate that I am starting a new “grove of trees” nuno felt landscape. I am trying to be a bit more abstract so I thought I would start with strips of silk instead of one piece of silk and see what happened.
I had a lovely dyed piece of silk in my stash from my friend Paula. So I tore it into strips and laid it out horizontally. I wanted to emphasize the lighter area at the top as sky.
I laid out some short fiber merino batts with more yellow at the top.
Then I put my strips in place, ready to felt.
Here is the felted result. The ends of the strips didn’t felt in well although the middle portions felted fine. I worked on the ends as much as the middle so I’m not sure of the difference. Oh well. Then I started trying to ‘see’ my landscape. I didn’t take photos but laid some fabrics on top to get started. I didn’t like it. I trimmed the visible wool edges and started looking from different directions.
After reorienting the piece, I “found” my landscape. This direction gave a feel of trees in the background and the sun shining from the right. This was much more exciting to me. Here comes that vertical landscape again.
Here’s a piece of sheer nylon scarf (dark blue) over the bottom portion to show the horizon. Yes, this should work.
I cut and frayed four pieces of the nylon scarf to give a feeling of ground in the tree grove. I will work more on the foreground as I get there. But I need to get some trees defined.
I used the strip of nuno felted fabric on the left as a guide and placed blue violet silk organza into a tree shape. I have loads more to do as I want to put a lot of applique texture and hand stitching into this piece. But I have the idea going which sometimes is the hardest part. What are you working on in the new year? We would love to see, submit a photo of your work here.
Have you wanted to be a little more experimental in your fiber art practice? Do you want to learn new techniques and add embellishments to felt or other fabric? Why not try an online class all about embellishing felt? Anyone from anywhere in the world can take these courses, no need to show up at a certain time (you can even wear your pajamas) and the classes are 6 weeks long so you have plenty of time to learn a new technique and try out an experimental approach. My online courses are 4 stand alone classes under the title Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques – A Mixed Media Approach. You can take just one or work through all of them. The classes are only $45 US which is a tremendous deal for 4 weeks of video and written PDF’s plus 2 weeks extra time on the class website with full instructor support. Registration is now open and the class begins on January 10, 2025.
The first module is called Nuno Felting with Paper Fabric Lamination. The bark I created above used this technique.
You will learn the technique of Paper Fabric Lamination and then how to use these pieces in nuno felting. As you can see from the examples above, there are many possibilities with this technique. Click here for more information and to register for the class.
The second module is Experimental Screen Printing on Felt.
You will also be able to use these techniques to screen print fabric such as silk to use in nuno felting. These same techniques can also be used on cotton fabric to use in fabric collage or quilting.
The third module in Embellishing Felt with Surface Design Techniques – A Mixed Media Approach is Printing, Stenciling, and Playing with Thickened Dye on Felt.
This one is really fun and experimental. Learn to make stamps, stencils and how to use a variety of objects from around the house to create your own unique surface design on felt. Develop your own style with designs you have created.
The last module in the series is Free Motion Machine Stitching on Felt.
In this course, you will learn the basics of free motion machine stitching and how to use this specifically on felted projects. Does the thought of machine stitching seem a bit scary? If so, you should take this course to get a handle on how to use your sewing machine to create wonderful embellishments on felt paintings or other felted items.
I hope you want to expand your fiber art skills. If so, click on any of the links above to read more about the classes, see the supply lists and to register. I look forward to “seeing” you in class!
And don’t forget, if you are a beginner, our online class Wet Felting for Beginners is always available.
This class teaches you all about wet felting. You’ll learn how to make a piece of felt, how shrinkage works and how to calculate it and the basics of felting, fulling and creating felt from wool fiber. Click here for more information and to sign up.
Anyone who knows me knows I’m not big on Christmas and up until last year I rarely gave, let alone made, Xmas cards. Then Ann reintroduced the holiday card swap and after making Caterina’s “non Christmas” card I found myself sketching comic reindeer and having fun making a whole batch of stitched cards! This year I’ve resurrected the same designs but changed the colour schemes. I enjoy making these and using free motion stitch to attach appliqué fabric shapes on to a card base. Finer detail is then added using felt pens before stitching the coloured base on to a blank card using the machines zig zag stitch.
For Helene’s card I wanted to incorporate some fibre so decided it should be a quirky Santa with a bushy Merino beard. This is how he started out but in my rush to meet our agreed deadline for posting I completely forgot to take any other photos so you’re just going to have to use your imagination to fill in the blanks!!
Let’s just say that when I received my wonderful Christmas Box from Helene with her gorgeous felted card, red bells and those lovely papers I wished I had put more time and thought in to my contribution!!
Anyway, moving on…….There must have been something in the air the day I was making my cards as Mark wondered in to my workroom and asked if he could make one too. This is a man who rarely (and only at a push) sews his own buttons on and who has never ever used a sewing machine in his life. Here he was saying he wanted to sew a card!!! I suggested he draw out a basic shape and we’d take it from there. He drew a snowman (thankfully simple enough) and traced the shapes on to fabric before cutting them out. I have to admit, I was a little apprehensive at the thought of teaching him how to use a sewing machine. Turns out he’s a natural and I was amazed at how well he did, not only that but he looked to be enjoying it, just look at the concentration on his face! He doesn’t know I’m sharing these photos though so, if you’re reading this and you know him, please don’t let on!!
Did I mention I’m not big on Christmas? Once the cards were made and my tree was up and decorated I felt I’d peaked and got the urge to get away from it all! A quick search on Airbnb and I found a beautiful apartment just a twenty minute walk from Valetta so we flew out to Malta on the 14th December for a week.
The weather was changeable but very pleasant with temperatures ranging from 17 to 20 degrees. You could easily spot the tourists in their sandals, shorts and sleeveless tops because even on the warmest days most of the locals wore boots, sweaters, hats and coats!
Malta’s capital Valletta is a fortified city located on a hilly peninsula between two natural harbours. It’s built on a grid system with its narrow, steep streets fanning out from the main thoroughfare, Republic Street, and dropping down to the waters edge. Approximately one kilometre long and pedestrianised Republic Street runs from the City Gate to Fort St Elmo and houses buildings such as the Maltese Parliament, the Courts of Justice, the Royal Opera House, and many more. This is the area to be if you’re looking for lively bars, restaurants and shops but you only need to walk a few steps either side of Republic Street to feel like you’re in a different world!
Ornate balcony windows are a big feature of Maltese architecture and they are everywhere you look in Valetta.
Exploring these narrow streets you can find fabulous boutique hotels serving great coffee and home made pastries, tiny bars with wonderful atmosphere and good beer. I also came across these impressive window displays with outfits constructed from folded paper…..
Another window display that caught my attention was this one in Sliema with skull shaped vodka bottles.
And instore was even better with these bottles of tequila encased in very elaborate beaded heads. Unfortunately my budget didn’t stretch to bringing one of these home!
Back in Valetta I came across a sign for the St Paul Shipwreck Church above a narrow entrance on the equally narrow pedestrianised St Lucia Street. When you see a huge impressive building you have a bit of an idea of what you are going to find inside but when I stepped through this open door I had no idea of the cavernous interior that would open up in front of me! I’ve since read of others who have struggled to find this church so I’m pleased I popped my head through that doorway!
Obviously we didn’t escape Christmas altogether in Malta but it was nice experiencing it in such a scenic setting.
Valetta is the smallest capital city in Europe with a surface area of just 0.55 km² and approx 7,000 inhabitants and the city was recognised as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1980. It’s a beautiful city steeped in history with a wonderful climate and friendly inhabitants with the added bonus that at this time of year there are not too many tourists so it proved to be the perfect getaway.
I’ll leave you with a couple of small wet felted pieces I’ve made since we got back. The first is a little Nuno snake inspired by a free online wet felting tutorial from feltmaker Yaroslava Troynich (also known as Bibabo Puppets) If your not familiar with her work or online classes I recommend taking a look. Hissing Sid makes the perfect pet and now sits on his felted stone on my desk keeping his beady eyes on my every move.
The other make was this very tactile small spiral shell approx 7cm wide and made from 10gms of Bergschaf.
I hope you’ve had a lovely Christmas, however you’ve chosen to spend it, and wishing all of you a Happy New Year and a very creative 2025!
Happy Christmas everyone! At the moment you are probably up to your eyes getting ready for the days of festivities which lie ahead. So, I will give you a few options here. Here is a slideshow of my blog which you can go through in a few minutes if you are stuck for time. Alternatively you can read my narrative or if you have a while to spare why not grab a cuppa, pull up a chair, watch the slideshow and read the narrative!
I covered the resist with orange viscose and two layers of red merino
Then I added silk paper I made. I didn’t like it so I pulled it off when it was at prefelt stage
This is the lid of the furniture polish I used to shape my bells
Here they are after drying. I cut them to size as they were rather long
Here is a view of the inside of one of the bells
I rolled the bottom edge to show the orange viscose
I pinned the soluble paper to the bell and drew my pattern
I cut back the excess paper ones I had stitched the pattern
Then I added the beads
Here they are ready for dunking
The paper dissolved once the water hit it!
Then I crocheted the ‘rope’ I painted the silver bells with some bronze nail varnish
Here they are, ready to go!
A detail of the free motion machine embroidery and beading on the tree
Disaster struck using masking tape on the inside of the card. Back to the drawing board
I stippled the card using a stencil brush and red then gold paint
Inside the card (no masking tape this time!)
A selection of handmade Nepalese paper for Karen to play with
All packed in the box
Here’s the finished card which I glued to the lid of the box
All ready for posting
And finally, here they are, on Karen’s beautiful Christmas tree
I was so delighted when I drew Karen in the Christmas card exchange this year. I was also a bit daunted as I have been going through a bit of a dry patch creatively over the past number of months. I knew I wanted to do something that ‘stood out’ (in other words 3D) but this can be a bit of a challenge when it comes to postal systems.
While searching through one of my fibre presses I came across a deep small box that I had used to transfer a porcelain bowl home from my holiday in NZ earlier in the year. We won’t even talk about how my weird creative mind works but seeing the box instantly brought to mind bells so, decision made, I got to work on them.
First I made my resist. I intended making two bells. I covered the resist in an orange viscose fibre and then laid two layers of red merino on top. I added a hanging loop to each bell and some silk paper to each bell which I later pulled off as I didn’t like it. Once prefelted I cut through the resist to make two shapes and then started working on shrinking and shaping. Next, I searched for a suitable bell shape which I could use for the next stage. That’s where the beeswax came in! The lid is shaped like an old fashioned beehive which is an ideal shape to work with. Lots of rubbing and shaping ensued (and I will admit a bit of cutting as the shapes were too long), until I ended up with bell shapes I was happy with. Then I rolled the bases so that the orange showed on the outside.
I decided I wanted a simple embroidered design on each bell. I drew my tiny design on water soluble paper and added my stitches and a few beads to each bell. Then I dissolved the paper and reshaped the bell on the top of my little beehive! Once dry, I got to work on the ‘rope’ and the bell. My little jingle bells were silver and I had been searching, to no avail for gold ones which I thought would look better. Then I thought of using some nail varnish on the outside of the bells. Worked a treat! I then took some cotton embroidery thread and made the ‘rope’ which I attached to the body of the bell and to the inside of the little ‘jingle’. Then I threaded ribbon through the loop at the top of each bell so that Karen could hang them up. They fitted nicely into the box but I felt there was something missing. So I added a few little squares of Nepalese paper which I thought Karen might like to experiment with. Some of these are quite a lot heavier than the usual ones which are used in felting but I have managed to felt them into pieces. I thought she might have fun trying them out.
Next to the card. My cards were the same size as the box so I thought it might be fun to attach it to the box when it was ready. I opted for a monochrome effect to start with; I prefelted a tree which was made from black merino and margillan silk. Then I laid the tree onto a white merino background and felted the lot together. Once fulled, I cut it to size. Then it was decorating time which I did on my sewing machine using free motion embroidery. I added some beads too.
Time to address the card! I stippled the outside of the card with a stencil brush using red and then gold paint. Then I decided to do the same on the inside but got too creative and used masking tape so I could control the area where I was adding the colour. Once happy, I went to remove the masking tape. Disaster! It took away a goodly portion of the card too. I was not a happy bunny! On to the second attempt with the card (without masking tape this time), I was more successful. All done and ready for the post.
Karen has received her card today and I got mine from her yesterday. I love my card. Karen has gone to such detail with it I am going to treasure it. Like Lindsay’s card from a previous swap, it will be putting in an annual appearance at Christmas time.
I love the concept of the card swap. It keeps my felting friends close in my heart, especially at this time of year. Thank you to Ann who organised it and us.
Wishing everyone a merry Christmas and a happy, healthy and peaceful 2025!
The last time I showed you my Indian Paintbrush piece, I was undecided about the way the stems were ending so abruptly on the background. So I left it for awhile before making a decision on what to do.
The first thing I decided to do was add some stems to the blue flowers. I didn’t want the stems to be too visible so I chose a thread that was close to the background color. You can click on the photos to see them enlarged.
It’s probably hard to see here but I did think that the stems helped the piece feel “more grounded”. But the stems of the main flowers still looked like they are not integrating with the background. So I decided to add paint to cover the end up a bit. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo with just the paint over the bottoms of the stems and over the lower third of the piece.
I added more blue flowers with stems over the base of the larger flower stems and the stems are looking better. I have decided it’s finished and now need to find a background fabric so I can finish it and get it ready for framing. This one is named “Painting the Landscape”.
I started this book in October of 2022. I have been adding things slowly and painting pages when I had leftover paint from other projects. I had thought I would sketch on the blank pages covered with a mix of plaster and matte medium but they were too rough and difficult to sketch on. I haven’t shown you the book since last year and I decided to “finish” it up because we are starting on a new book project that will be made differently and I didn’t want to try to keep working on this one. I will be able to add things into the book if I like but it at least has color on all the pages and some with more ‘design’ than others. I had to cover a couple of pages that were not in the main color scheme. Somehow I got off track and added red which I shouldn’t have done. The book is mainly browns, blues and greens. The red/pink that resulted from painting a couple of the plaster pages was just not doing it for me. That’s what happens when you aren’t really thinking about what you’re doing!
I am not going to explain each page but you will notice the piece of blue glass and a small rock on the left hand page. I am using these as weights to hold the page open. The problem with this style of binding is that the book doesn’t open out flat unless you hold the pages. So you will see the page weights throughout. You can click on the photos to see them in more detail. Please feel free to ask about specific pages or techniques used.
The page on the left is one that I covered that was too red. These are small samples of ink that we made from natural ingredients.
Loads of tree bark interpretations 😉
More sampling of ink.
I made an error here. Do you see it?
The bark paper is from a napkin.
And for those of you who have forgotten or never saw the cover, here it is. On my monitor, the book cover photo is not showing correctly. If yours is also weirdly stretched, please click on the photo to see the book cover.
If you search on the terms “tree specimen book” in the right hand sidebar, you can see all the other posts about this book where I have given more explanation about it.
I hope you can see this as the silver part that you measure your width of quilting lines is hard to see in the photo. It’s to the left of the foot. All you have to do is keep that silver piece in line with the prior row of stitching and then you will have even spacing between your quilting lines. It worked just fine. But it seemed to take forever. This is one of the reasons that I never care for straight sewing, seams or sewing clothing. I much prefer free motion stitching as it keeps my mind engaged. When I do straight stitching like this, my mind tends to wander which isn’t a good thing when machine sewing. But I managed to get the entire piece quilted without any huge errors.
Next up, I figured out how wide the pockets needed to be. I folded up the bottom edge and stitched along the quilting lines to make the pocket seams. I was a bit worried about the thickness but the sewing machine tackled it with no problems.
So here’s my finished BarBQ tool roll all tied up and ready to go in the camper. As Ann B. pointed out in my last post, this qualifies for the 1st Quarter Challenge. Better late than never!
As textile folk, many of you are familiar with the New Zealand company Ashford Wheels and Looms. In fact some may own an Ashford product as they also sell hand carders, drum carders and many other tools and accessories.
They sell all around the world.
Me, I am the proud owner of a set of their hand carders and a drum carder, they are invaluable tools when it comes to my felt making.
Here’s a question: what have Lego and Ashford Wheels and Looms got in common? I will tell you at the end of the post.
Back to my story. You probably have experienced one of those rare moments in life where the planets aligned – a real ‘right place right time’ moment. This happened to me earlier this year. Last February, we did a once in a lifetime trip to New Zealand. At this stage I can’t tell you how many time zones we traversed but, travelling from Ireland, but were a long time in the air and we covered over 18,000km. I loved every minute of the trip and we factored in time to spend at the Ashford store in Ashburton on the South Island. So for anyone who has or is thinking about purchasing anything from the store, here’s some photos and a story that might fill in the blanks on your lovely pieces.
I was so excited when our hire car pulled into the car park. I jumped out and started talking to the first person I met. By sheer stroke of luck I was talking to the company’s owner Richard Ashford. My second bit of luck was that he and his lovely wife Elizabeth were about to lead a factory tour for an American group. He introduced me to the group (which I thought was very courteous of him) and off we all headed into the factory. The couple’s charisma and energy shone through during the tour. They were both about to retire from the family business making way for a new generation of Ashford’s to take over the business which has been on the go for over 90 years. I wish them both a happy and healthy retirement and I want to thank them both for making the morning I spent in their company so warm and memorable.
So if you are the proud owner of one of the 900,000 Ashford products which have been made so far in Ashburton, give us a shout and let us know what treasured item you own. If you are thinking of buying, the slide shows may well whet your appetite. Enjoy this rare view inside the factory.
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Stockists are all over the globe.
My next stop was a wander around the store. Think kid in a sweet shop in this regard. The only issues that held me back were the fact that there’s only so much that would fit into the suitcase and the realisation that I can buy from one of many stockists in Europe – happy days! Here’s a sneak peak of the interior of the shop:
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I hope you enjoyed these special holiday photos. Please feel free to reach out and tell us what Ashford pieces you own (or what is on your wish list)
Answer: both are highly successful companies who started out making wooden toys.
