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April round up.

April round up.

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April is now gone and May will hopefully bring more sun and more flowers.

I started the month with some felt stars. It was a fun little project and might work for a fast free workshop. Maybe at a guild social. You can read about how I made them here

wool and silk felted stars. Green and Yellow

Next was an eyeglasses holder for beside my bed. It was an interesting project with some strange wool. Here it is hanging up beside my bed. I didn’t realise how dusty the bookcase was until I took a picture. Then I had to dust and take it again. The things I do for our followers. LOL

wet felted hanging eye classes case.

 

I taught 2 workshops this month, Nunofelt Scarf and  Felt Birdhouse/Feeder workshop. We had a lot of fun. Here are the ladies with their finished scarves. Sorry, I forgot to get a group shot.

And the finished Birdhouse/feeders.

After teaching I decided to treat myself to a Workshop. I signed up for Helene’s Felt Spiral Workshop. I really enjoyed making my spiral. I learned a lot along the way. It is wonderful to see how different people do things. It would be wonderful if we all lived close enough to get together regularly.

I am full of ideas for more spirals now.

purple spiral movie

I couldn’t get the movie to work so here is a still.

With April finished I have another completed page for my slow stitch collection.  I decided to include a little needle felting this time. I included some flowers but also the solar eclipse we had here, a cloud and rain because we have had a lot of April showers and my purple umbrella to keep me dry. I really do have a purple umbrella. I added the Autism Awareness infinity symbol because it is autism awareness month.  Then I was left with an empty spot at the bottom and I couldn’t figure out what to put there. I did a special days in April search and on the last day of the month, I was reminded of the first day of the month and added the fake glasses nose and moustache for April Fools.

a piece on hand made felt with needle felt and stitched pictures for the month of April

and lastly, because it is spring this last week we have started having lambs.

Lambs and moms in a group pen

And these are my current bottle babies. Sven( thanks to Jan for the name) who no one would claim. He is doing a good imitation of a Valies Black Nose with his black nose and knees.  And Henna whose mother hates her( probably because she is really good at yelling at the top of her lungs for no reason) Once they are both drinking well and down one feeding per day ( they are on 5 times a day right now) they will go live in a lambing pen until they are a little bigger then they can join a group.

 

a sales table showing groups of felted mushrooms.
FANTASTIC FUNGI

FANTASTIC FUNGI

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I don’t know if any of you are fantasy fiction fiends.  Some years ago now I read the first of a trilogy by Alan Dean Foster, called Spell Singer.  It was about a man in the 1960/70s who managed to slip through time/space to a different dimension of our world in which animals wore clothes and talked (including Mudge, the man-sized otter with a foul mouth!)  So why am I mentioning this?  Well part of the story took place in a marshy area inhabited by a lot of very depressed mushrooms and toadstools with faces, which moaned and groaned and exuded misery, which was catching!

My mind immediately trotted down the rabbit hole of needle felting mushrooms – with faces.  Mushrooms and toadstools of different varieties would have different temperaments and expressions.  I thought of the white spotted red capped Fly Agaric; plain red capped Gomphidus Roseus (with a name like that they would definitely look odd); white button mushrooms; brown chestnut mushrooms; large flat horse mushrooms; fairy ring toadstools and, eventually, bracket fungi.

So I was off.

I decided that the bases of the fungi with stalks would represent a piece of turf, probably woodland or scrub.  I had purchased, a few years earlier, some fibres sold for lining hanging flower baskets.  It never got used for that because the bulk of it consisted of sheep’s wool, and I considered that it would be wasted if used for it’s original purpose.  From the look of it, and of the quantity of “foreign matter” caught up in it, it was the sweepings from a mill floor or even a shearing shed.  (I think that this was a good way of using up what would otherwise be wasted.  Unfortunately I don’t think it’s available now.)

All the material was roughly dyed green but luckily so patchy was the dyeing that it was not a flat uniform colour.  The different thicknesses of the fibres, the kemp  and the vegetable matter all seem to have picked up different shades and tints of green.  Just what I needed.

To save on this precious material, I used some scrappy scoured merino bits as a base for the underside of the grassy humps I was making, and then topped them with the basket fibres, and needled the lot together.  I was delighted to find that, even close up, the result did look like a bit of scrubland grass.

In each case my fungi were to have faces and, hopefully, characters.  I thought that as they were all wearing hats/caps, I’d place the faces at the join of the gills and the top of the stalk.  I also decided that, rather than just a single lonely fungus,  I’d make families.

4 felted Gomphidus Roseus mushrooms with bright red caps and daft faces
Gormless Gomphidus Roseus mushrooms
3 Fly Agaric mushrooms. Red caps with white spots and faces with blue eyes
Fly Agaric Mushroom family – Granddad, Mum and Dad with baby
4 felted large flat mushrooms with hairy brown caps and black gills, with faces
Hairy Horse Mushrooms

The horse mushrooms are hairy, not because they were horse mushrooms but because I used some Herdwick fleece for the caps and didn’t know about shaving in those days.

In the end, the button mushrooms and the chestnut mushrooms not actually having any gills on view, I placed their faces on the top of their caps.  I also gave the chestnut mushrooms Fymo eyes – little painted and varnished balls on each end of a piece of wire.

3 large button mushrooms and one small mushroom with bright blue eyes
Buttons family
3 Chestnut Button Mushrooms with surprised blue eyes in the top of their caps with 2 baby buttons
Chestnuts. Looks like the Dad on the left has 2 wives and children – naughty!

The fragile, skinny fairy ring toadstools were to sit together in a circle, as they do, on a larger piece of grass with so much magic erupting from it that it became visible.  This was represented by whisps of iridescent trilobal fibre (of which I have lots.)  There was also magic appearing on the tops of their caps.  These were made from scraps left over from a large piece of white merino felt in which a large quantity of the iridescent trilobal was embedded.  (More about this felt at some time in a future post.)

Ring of tall thin white and iridescent toadstools facing inwards, with iridescent fibres in the centre of the ring
Magic Fairy Ring Toadstools – chatting. What about I wonder?

These were the main families I made, but in the end I did make quite a few solitary mushrooms and toadstools (perhaps that’s why they were so melancholy?)

It was while I was making the Horse Mushrooms, which have black gills and therefore black faces, that I started to think about bracket fungi and Welsh male voice choirs.  I can hear you saying “why?”  It was the black faces.  I am half Welsh. My mother’s family come from a South Wales mining valley, Ogmore Vale, and all my Welsh uncles were miners (hence the black faces), and they were all singers.  (I even got to go down a pit on a rare holiday to stay with the family when I was about 7 or 8 – and I cried for the poor ponies down there even though they were well looked after).  Anyway Welsh miners were magic to me, and having been thinking about magic since I made the fairy ring toadstools, I wanted to create a magical tree stump on which to grow a male voice choir of bracket fungi.

The inside of the tree stump was made up of part of a Jacob fleece which had absolutely refused to felt, and subsequently ended up in the cats’ bed – disappearing over time bit by bit into the middle of other needle felted items.  I covered the stump in more of the basket fibres to represent a rotting, moss covered piece of wood. Thanks to the unevenness of the core Jacob I was able to easily create a surface with the ridges and dips usually found on oak trunks.  There were also what looked like various entrances to the hollow centre of the stump.  I lined these with black or dark grey fibres to give them depth and added some mixed brown and iridescent fibres to represent magic escaping from the stump.  In two of these I also added a pair of (Fymo) eyes peering out at the world.

close up of tree trunk showing bracket fungi on left and 2 holes with eyes peering out
All that can be seen of the internal inhabitants

I added a sort of representation of tree age rings on the top of the stump, but also allowed the hole in the middle of it to remain and added a lot more escaping magic fibres.

Close up of felted tree stump showing top - tree rings and "overflowing magic".
Overflowing Magic

I made a lot of bracket fungi, both representing individual singers (baritones and basses – big and bigger ones)

close up of several bracket fungi with faces, large ones to the front, smaller towards the back
The basses and the baritones
close up of one large bracket fungus with face, blue eyes, large nose and open mouth showing toungue
Big Bass himself

And Tenors, since they were smaller, in groups of three.

close up of tree trunk showing 4 bracket fungi each with 3 faces
Some of the tenors

I know I researched a type of bracket fungus and was able to give them black “faces” on the undersides and brown tops with pale margins.  However I cannot remember what they were, nor can I find my reference pictures.  They may have been polypores of some sort.

Having made a batch of the “choir members” I needled them on to the stump, adding faces  with  singing mouths.  I attached the stump to an artist’s canvas board, 20” x 16”, which I had covered with a piece of cotton patchwork fabric, coloured in various greens, to represent the surrounding trees.  Originally I wanted to add a “dead man’s fingers” fungus, which could be conducting the choir, but at that time I had not heard of using an armature and it wouldn’t stand up on its own, so I gave up that idea.

A felted tree stump with bracket fungi with faces on a green background
The finished Tree Stump

My husband thought that the mushrooms would sell like hot cakes, but unfortunately I think I only sold one family.  I ended up giving the rest away, apart from the tree stump which I have retrieved from the attic.  I’d like to hang it on a wall in my workshop – if I can ever find a space large enough for it – if I can I might have another go at the dead man’s fingers.

A card for Christmas!

A card for Christmas!

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This year we all decided to do a Christmas card exchange within the Felting and Fibre Studio group. It is just so lovely to make for another creative! It’s a bit frightening too as I wanted to give it my all. I also thought it might be a nice time to try something new and experiment – no personal pressure at all!  I was so excited to be partnered with Leonor who I know has received her card at this point.

So, I put my thinking cap on.  My first attempt was, and I am being perfectly honest here, an unmitigated disaster and the memory is probably best confined to the bin in which it quickly landed.  So it was time to move on and put the thinking cap back on.

Okay so, by way of background.  I had a poinsettia plant which I managed by some miracle to keep alive for about 5 years.  I will quickly add that this had nothing to do with green fingers, it just liked its position in my sun room with my orchids as companions (again the orchids like the room).  This summer the poinsettia developed a honey fungal disease which is a total disaster if it hits orchids so we had to part ways.  I managed to stem the spread of the disease and the orchids are safe for now.

As a tribute to that most beautiful poinsettia, I thought it could be my focus for the card exchange.  I wanted mixed media so I felted each petal, then I did some free motion embroidery on each one.  I hand sewed it onto a felted backing and added hand dyed stamens to the centre.  It was then mounted on the Christmas card.  It was a little too big for the card so I decided to mount it in a frame before posting it off.  The postal service can be a bit dodgy but I am pleased it worked on this occasion.  From Leonor’s message to me, I think she likes her card and  I have made more since.

Here is a little slide show of the highlights of my process.  Sorry, I forgot to photograph the hand sewing so you will have to use your imagination for that part.  Some of the photos are slightly distorted so apologies for that too.

  • I laid out merino and viscose for the petals
  • Wetting down the petals
  • The rolling stage for the petals
  • I dried the petals on a baking rack
  • I prepared the petals for free motion embroidery. I started with tear away stabiliser but it was proving difficult to get all the bits of paper out of the sewing!
  • I changed across to Solvy for the machine embroidery
  • It only takes a few seconds to dissolve the Solvy
  • Dissolving the solvy
  • Nearly there!
  • The template was actually a circle. The photo is distorted
  • The base, again a circle
  • Here is the finished Poinsettia after I hand sewed it onto the base
  • As the finished flower was a bit too big for the card, I mounted both in a frame.
  • Here’s a close up of the stitching and the stamens which I hand painted

This was a fun make with a bit of learning thrown in for good measure. You might like to make some too. If you do, I would love to see it! Also if you have any questions on the making just pop them in the comments section and I will be glad to answer them!

Wishing you peace, love good health and happiness and, of course lots of creativity over the Festive Season and for 2024!

Helene x

using the same white as the snow to build up area between legs of moose
Xmass Card Exchange! (the moose edition)

Xmass Card Exchange! (the moose edition)

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I have been working on something secretly… but now you can peek!

I seem to be on a moose theme lately and after a few options, I returned to it for my Xmas card exchange. Ann had been talking about her original plans for her piece and I had liked the option of a removable pin on the landscape, so it could be viewed as either a landscape on its own or the broach integrated with the picture.

I started with the same moose image that had been used on the guild anniversary bag.  I scaled it down to 3 smaller sizes to give me options, then printed out the images. I decided on the largest version of the options and cut out the silhouette. I traced the shape onto a piece of white craft “Felt”, ok it is a non-woven fabric but the amount of wool in it is somewhat suspect. It still works as a backing to build the moose on so I continued with it.

silowet of a moose printed page of moose in various sizes to use as a template  1.1 1.2) Moose Silhouette

I again used the Maori short fibre batt in the sand and reddish brown with a T38-333 needle. I put on the audiobook I was listening to and got to work.  ….I was sure I had taken a few shots as I started, but could not find them. So I unfortunately seem to have a shot of the moose part way done. I have the basic structure built, the armature wire has been added down through the head and curled into the neck. (Which was the same way, I had treated the moose antlers on the bag.)

Moose with antler armature  2) Working on a half 3-D image of moose with armature in near side antler

I had used a thicker marker than I wanted to use (I am sure I put the fine one somewhere……safe) so I need to both, solidify the space between the legs and get rid of the residue of the outlines. To do that, I added white wool. I pulled it into little pieces, about .5” long and made sure the fibre direction was very disorganized.  Once the in-between leg spaces were firmly felted I started looking for my good scissors. I had seen videos of the beautiful cat heads being cut from their felt backing before mounting them on another fabric for framing, so I was sure it was possible. I carefully trimmed around the outside of the moose. I used the good embroidery scissors to bevel the edges so the white would not be seen, then added a bit of wool where needed along the edge.

close up showing white between moose legs and snow in landscape3) I used the same white I was using for the snow in the background picture.

Next was sewing on the broach pin, I should have searched more for the white buttonhole thread, but I did find the black which should be strong enough to keep the pin attached. You can find these pins in various configurations at craft stores and online at Aliexpress. I have a bag of various sizes, … which has again wandered off somewhere. (Pre-new Year’s resolution – clean up my studio!!! or stop putting things in “Safe” places.)

bag of broach pins in various colours sizes and latch styles 4) Broach pins, in two styles and many sizes and colours.

checking size of broch pin to moose attaching broach pin with button hole thread pin attached to moose5.1, 5.2, 5.3 Attaching the pin to the moose (not the same as Pin the Tail on the Quadrupedal Large Animal.)

I also added extra white behind the body to make a level surface for the broch pin.

Close up of the antlers vewed from above 6) Close-up of antlers.

Here is an overhead angle showing the back antler is flat while the front antler has an armature wire and is curved. (This is why he got a little travel box and not a bubble mailer). The odd pink thing is my T38-333 needle with a pink elastic which is helping him stand to show off his impressive rack! (of antlers)

Since you can see the foam pad I am using for this project, I should probably talk about it. This is a gift from Ann. Her husband picked it up at his work. Its original purpose was for packing of, I think,  air filtration equipment. It has a plastic-y top layer and a softer foam underneath, so it would both support and cushion the delicate bits it was packed with. The top layer worked well to felt on.

parking foam, made from two types of foam 7) Foam from shipping equipment

It sits comfortably on my lap as I worked.

Next, I put on a new audiobook (Which again derailed my memory to take regular photos as I worked) and moved on to the background the moose could inhabit if it was not out adventuring with his recipient. As I considered what elements to include, I settled on snow, leafless trees/branches, a small pond with cattails, and a dark night sky with moonlight.

For size, Ann said from about 3×5 to postcard size. I started with a piece of good wool felt (from the Black Lamb) and marked out the design on a 3×5 scale but realized the poor Moose would feel squishy in such a small landscape. So I went searching the desk for postcards, I know I had one from Monika at the Olive Sparrow and one from Heidi Feathers. I found Monika’s first so started expanding the landscape to fit it.

postcard from Olive Sparrow checking size of picture to postcard, postcard is bigger and cn be seen extending mostly at the bottom of the fel;t picture 8.1, 8.2) checking image size against the postcard.

To check size, I compared the landscape, with the Olive sparrow postcard. It needs to be a bit wider and taller. I tried a bit of Tugging then added more fiber extending the sides. A good thing felt is forgiving if you want to expand your image.

You have probably read before or heard me in person strongly suggest you try to work to a size that can be economically framed. That means choosing a finished size that will fit a standard matt size. In my earlier days, I spent 13 years as a custom picture framer, mostly archival framing and hand mounting  (I also worked with parchment but I discovered that not everyone is as excited by it as I am. With the help of a friend, I even made some deerskin parchment!)  When I found my postcard from Heidi Feathers I realized that yes, there are different standards of sizes from North America to the rest of the world!!

My solution was to expand the snow and sky so it could be cropped to fit into a standard size frame on either side of the water. The other solution would be to float the felt background in a shadow box which could allow the edges to be visible.

In the 1990’s there was a framing trend called a memory box, it had a front or back hinge on a shadow box frame so that you could change what was on display. It was advertised to show off holiday trip photos and mementoes. I have found a few of them turning up second-hand and have grabbed the ones still in good condition.  You may want to keep an eye out for them too.

background for Moose pin, adding to the top of image 9) First, I extended the top adding height to the sky, trees and moonlight.

adding to the bottom of image 10) Then I added more to the bottom snow and under the pond. There is a bit more to the right of the largest tree.

Moose now has more space to stand and admire the reflection in the pond.

checking spacing for moose on the landscape 11) Checking if the moose fits in his landscape, yes much better!

Now what have I forgotten? Oh! He can’t see the pond or the reflection since he doesn’t have an eye, I can fix that!

adding an eye to the moose so he can see the landscape (trees in back ground, pond and cattails in pond with reflection of moon. 12) Added an eye to Moose and repositioned him in the landscape.

Now that moose is happy in his landscape it’s time to tuck him into a bubble pack and then into a cardboard box, which is covered in tape and brown paper. Then send him on his exciting journey to his new home.

Moose and landscape going into buble wrap bag moose and landscape wraped in buble wrap ready to go into little box to travel!13.1,  13.2) Moose entering his bubble wrap bag for his big trip!

He went off to the local postal station to start his exciting travel adventure.  I am now waiting to hear he has arrived safely.

AH HA!! He has arrived and I can now show you! I hope Marie will let us know if Moose is behaving or if has he run off to World of Wool. (He is closer to Wool Meca than he was in Canada!)

I hope you had fun seeing the mini-Moose and his landscape come together. Next time I promise to take pictures before enjoying an audiobook! I am looking forward to seeing all the cards once they have all arrived.

PS Marie’s Card of Festive Trees has arrived!! Thank you!!

Making sheep

Making sheep

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Last time you saw all the lovely Bluefaced Leicester curls I dyed. It’s here if you missed it. https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2023/11/23/felted-sheep/  The next step was to take them to class for the students to use.

I had 6 lovely ladies. All but one ad not felted before. This is a short class 7:00-9:00 in the evening. so it moves quickly and I didn’t get a lot of pictures. I often forget to take pictures until someone else takes out their phone to snap a few.  the first thing we talk about is the legs. I show them how to go about needle felting them. then I explain how to wet felt them. Then I showed them the snakes I made so they could all have legs without making them. everyone is thrilled. It is a boring and surprisingly time-consuming job even wet felting them.

sorry no pictures of any of that.

First, they have to make the bodies. We are using corriedale wool. It felts up quicker than merino.

 

 

and then onto the heads

And attaching them

 

They added the legs and the ears. Sorry, no pictures of that.

And then they start adding curls. s o this was the end of the class. some finished and some went home with a needle and a handful of curls so they could finish them up later.

and lastly this cute one with a heart on his hip.

Everyone seemed to have a good time and I may have a few new addicts.

September Adventures

September Adventures

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September has been a busy and exciting month in contemporary textile art (specifically felting art) in Ireland so I thought I would feature what I got up to, I will call it my September Adventures.

Weather wise, the month started as we hoped it would continue (it didn’t by the way) with a return to fine warm weather – something we had not seen since last June.  So I took the opportunity to visit our National Botanical Gardens (https://www.botanicgardens.ie/) which are situated on Dublin’s north side.  The gardens (there’s free entry, if you ever visit Dublin, Ireland) opened in 1800 and are an oasis of calm with restored glass houses, magnificent specimens, bee hives and, of course, a tea room.  There’s also a pedestrian access to the historical cemetery next door which I suspect is not seen too often.    Glasnevin Cemetery also houses a genealogical archive for anyone wishing to trace their Irish ancestors (https://www.dctrust.ie/genealogy/home.html).

But, I digress.  Let’s go back to the gardens.  My visit coincided with their annual exhibition ‘Sculpture in Context’.  The exhibits feature artworks in various media including ceramics, wood, metal.  I decided to focus purely on the textile element of the exhibition and to photograph any pieces I came across as I wandered around.  I was aware that some of the members of Feltmakers Ireland had pieces accepted for the exhibition; Clare Merry (http://www.merryland.ie/index.htm) an exceptional artist who quietly creates her pieces was featured.  If you would like to see some of Clare’s work please check out her website, which, she tells me, is not really up to date, or Google her and feast over the images; Fiona Leech (https://www.instagram.com/feltathome/?hl=en) had three beautiful pots which were originally housed in the cactus house.   Annoyingly two of the three pots were stolen within a matter of hours of their arrival and the remaining one was moved to a safer spot in the garden’s gallery.  I thought I would show you the three pots as they were originally grouped together.

Fiona Leech’s three pots (source: Fiona’s Instagram page)

I searched but could not find Leiko Uchiyama’s beautiful work but here is a link to her website if you would like to check her out: https://www.leikofelt.com/my-felt-work/  I found two other exhibits from members of the guild.  Their featured work while not through the medium of felt were equally stunning.  Congratulations Mel Bradley (https://melbradleysilks.ie/)  and Mette Sophie Roche (https://metteroche.com/)

I put together a slideshow of my textile finds in the gardens which I hope you enjoy.

  • Mette Sophie Roche; The vital matter of Fungi
  • Mette Sophie Roche; The vital matter of Fungi (detail)
  • Mette Sophie Roche; The vital matter of Fungi (detail)
  • Fiona Leech; Drought
  • Fiona Leech; Drought (detail)
  • Frances Crowe; Terrain
  • Frances Crowe; Terrain (detail)
  • Frances Crowe; Terrain (detail)
  • Claire Merry; Floral Path
  • Claire Merry; Floral Path
  • Ella Quinn; It’s nothing but a dead fish
  • Niamh O’Connell; Cocoon
  • Mel Bradley; Grasses
  • Mel Bradley; Grasses

We had our first meeting after summer in Feltmakers Ireland and as usual the committee put an incredible amount of preparatory work into making it successful.  It was a busy morning as everyone beavered away felting flowers to create a tapestry as part of the 20th anniversary celebration for the guild.  Much to everyone’s delight, the guild’s founder Elizabeth Bonnar joined us. I thought I would feature Elizabeth here as without her it is doubtful that there would be such a vibrant community of feltmakers today.   Here she is with her granddaughter and with the committee.

Feltmakers Ireland founder Elizabeth Bonnar and her granddaughter
Feltmakers Ireland committee with founder Elizabeth Bonnar (3rd from left)

Here are some photos taken on the day.

  • Feltmakers hard at work
  • Breda and Elizabeth hard at work!
  • Lots of flowers were made that morning by members
  • Suzanne, Breda, Deirdre and Elizabeth catching up

The finished tapestry was revealed at Feltmakers Ireland ‘Bountiful’ juried exhibition which opened on 30th September.

Feltmakers Ireland members: The Floral Tapestry to celebrate 20 years.

The exhibition also saw the launch of the new book “Exploring Irish Wool for Feltmaking”  The book is the product of a collaboration between many members of Feltmakers Ireland guild, sheep farmers, shepherds, shearers and suppliers and not forgetting the various washers and carders who took the raw fleeces, converting them into usable fibres for testing.  I think this approach was quite unique and it will certainly be a worthwhile and useable addition to any textile maker’s reference library.  Understandably it was a huge project so congratulations are due to all, especially Annika (Berglund), Breda (Fay) and Sinead (Doyle) who collated all of the findings into an invaluable resource on Irish wool.  It’s so full of well written practical advice and it was made extra special by the presence of one of our Government Ministers, Pippa Hackett an ardent supporter of the project, who officially launched the book and the exhibition . Here is a quick look at the contents page to give you an idea of the scope of the book:

Exploring Irish Wool Contents page

An added bonus is that feltmakers/wool artists can now make direct contact with numerous artisanal suppliers so there is no excuse for any of us not buying closer to source and of course for anyone overseas who wishes to use Irish wool fibre in their work purchasing from source.

It is available to purchase from the following link and I understand will also be available in eBook format shortly:  https://feltmakersireland.com/exploring-irish-wool-for-feltmaking/

I hope you have enjoyed my September adventures.   It has been an exciting month.  Once again I would like to thank Feltmakers Ireland and their hard working committee who work tirelessly to maintain this vibrant community – it makes such a difference that, as textile artists, we can gather together and create regularly. I take my hat off to Elizabeth Bonnar and her decision to found Feltmakers Ireland twenty years ago; the catalyst for lifelong friendships, masterclasses, collaborations, exhibitions, networks and travel.

To complete September’s birthday celebrations, I thought I would produce a slideshow of the Bountiful exhibition which is running for the month of October in Phoenix Park, Dublin Ireland.  I took photos on the day so I apologise where the light may be shining on the artwork.  There are over 30 pieces of art and it will give you an indication of where Ireland’s vibrant felting community is at in its journey.  I hope you enjoy it!

  • Annika Berglund: Variations on a Green Theme II
  • Astrid Tomrop-Hofman: Positive Vibes
  • Deirdre Crofts: A good Day’s Catch
  • Clare Brophy: Share the Bounty!
  • Helene Dooley: Visualizing the beauty of the Sunflower Field
  • Mel Bradley: Flame Silk Velvet Devoré Nuno Felted Wrap
  • Aisling Hassett: Seeds to Life
  • Fiona Leech: Fading Memories
  • Karena Ryan: Saol Fluirseach (Abundant Life translated from Irish)
  • Eithna O’Dea: Plenty of Fish
  • Juliane Gorman: Emerging
  • Claire Merry: Danu, Celtic Mother Goddess
  • Maria McGarry: Conference Call
  • Breda Fay: Torthuil (Bountiful in Irish language)
  • Sharon Wells: Kerry 1
  • Joanne Foley: The Gathering
  • Sandra Chase: Seed Burst
  • Adrienne Dempsy: Where Wild Things Grow
  • Annika Berglund: Variations on a Green Theme 1
  • Astrid Tomrop-Hofman: Life is Funky!
  • Sharon Wells: Stay Awhile
  • Mel Bradley: ‘Royal’ Silk Velvet Devoré Nuno Felted Wrap
  • Caoimhe Tuthill: Nature’s Bounty
  • Neasa Ryan: Scattery Island
  • Valerie O’Ceallaigh: Bountiful Love
  • Neasa Ryan: Suaimhneas (detail)
  • Caitriona Nolan: Particles
  • Beibhinn Delaney: Faith in the future
  • Sandra Reynolds: Summer’s End
  • Helena McGuinness: Inspired by Traditional Arran Patterns
Pink and grey synthetic fabrics, layered free motion stitched and heat distressed.
Melting & Felting

Melting & Felting

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As much as I enjoy felting and working with natural fibres I also love mixed media work and getting creative with heat manipulative, man made fabrics. It’s all the more enjoyable when you ask at the start of a class if anyone hasn’t worked with a heat tool or a soldering iron and you see the hands go up. You just know there are going to be some “ooohs and ahhhs” and huge smiles coming from excited students once they get melting their fabrics!
Last week I was invited to teach a group at Stainfield Village Hall, just a half hour from home. The groups organiser, Clare, had attended my Layer, Stitch & Burn workshop a few months previous in Sleaford and had so much fun creating this sea shell inspired piece she asked me to repeat the class with her group.

This technique was developed by the Canadian mixed media textile artist Susan Lenz.  It involves layering synthetic fabrics on a background of acrylic felt before adding free motion stitch using cotton, viscose or rayon threads. The last stage involves  “melting” the background fabric with a heat gun to create a lace like effect as seen in Susan’s In Box and Stained Glass Series 

Susan Lenz creates colourful mixed media textile art using heat manipulative fabric.

You would imagine all acrylic felt would melt and therefore be suitable for this process but I’ve discovered the hard way that’s not the case! If you’re going to try this technique I would suggest testing your background felt before stitching as some simply discolours and singes rather than melting! Having been caught out once I now order a sample before purchasing by the metre. My latest supply came from Empress Mills and melts a treat!
In the workshop, although everyone is given the option of working with simple geometric shapes, I like to encourage students to think outside the box (pun intended!) and create a piece that’s unique to them. In the past I’ve had ladies using fossils, gum nuts leaves and all sorts of other motifs as their starting point for a design as you can see from these three examples…..

Working with a more organic design is also great for those who haven’t done free motion before, or maybe are not as confident with it, as your stitching doesn’t have to be precise. In fact a “sketchy” approach, similar to the leaf design, looks great!

At Stainfield not everyone got finished on the day but I’ve been told that, at the groups meeting this week, not only did they finish off what they had started with me but most of the ladies also began working on a second piece! The size we worked to was approximately 23cm square so it fits the square IKEA box frame. 

Another heat manipulative workshop I teach is the Lutradur Leaves. This Wednesday evening I loaded the car and drove up to East Ayton near Scarborough, a really beautiful part of the country, ahead of Wednesdays class for Anita Cassidy and the Textile Experimental Group. I knew we were going to get on like a house on fire when I heard the name of the group!
The village hall was very light, airy and spacious, perfect for this type of class.
The group were encouraged to bring some leaves to use as inspiration and I supplied sketches for those that wanted them. Everyone worked with a medium weight 70gsm Lutradur and once again the ladies produced some fabulous work which sits nicely with their current theme of “decay”.

Between my last post and classes starting up again after the Summer I’ve done a bit of dressmaking, or “top” making to be precise. I’ve got a very simple linen, sleeveless, dart-less, top that I really like and I decided to clone it, adding darts to make it more fitted. Not having made anything with darts before I figured YouTube would be a good move….and it was!

I tried the pattern out with a very cheap floral fabric from Boyes. I think it’s viscose, it’s not silky but it shifted constantly while I was working with it so I’m amazed it turned out wearable!
The “palm tree” fabric is 100% cotton and was so easy to use, it’s definitely the better of the two. 

The following week I had to create a wet felted shoulder bag to promote a forthcoming workshop. In the past I’ve sometimes deliberately used colours that I’m not that keen on to ensure I keep a piece as a sample and not be tempted to use the item myself! This time I did the opposite and carded Dream and Granite Corriedale slivers from World of Wool’s Hefty Hues range to make a bag that won’t be living in a box until the workshop in the new year!

Pale grey, square shaped wet felted shoulder bag with cut out surface decoration revealing dark blue fibres beneath.
I’ll finish with a quick update on the Making Waves fish. Jane has made this fun Pink Punk fish complete with studs, chain and wire specs…..

Mixed media Pink Punk fish. Wet felted Merino fibres with studs, chain and wire spectacles.
…..and Pip has almost finished her Scorpion fish. I’m told there’s just a bit of needle felting detail to add. Producing work like this it’s easy to forget that neither of these ladies have been felting for long. 

Wet felted Scorpion fish in shades of brown and blue

I haven’t managed to get to the Waltham meetings for quite a while so I’m looking forward to catching up next month and seeing what else the members have been up to.

The Bull

The Bull

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We have three public houses in Sturminster Newton (at one time there were 11 in our small market town!) and The Bull Tavern is one of the oldest. The building consists mainly of a 3 roomed 17th Century cottage with an attic room, built of old timber infilled with wattle and daub. Some additions were made in the 18th Century. Records show that the cottage was definitely an alehouse by the late 1700s. Apparently there was a slaughter house at the rear and a Pound where straying animals were kept until collected – upon payment of a fee of 1 shilling (which must have been a fortune when you consider that a married man’s weekly wages at the Town’s Workhouse were all of 9 shillings and a single man’s only 6). Part of the C18th additions was a stable block (which eventually became a skittle alley and later part of the restaurant of the pub). It is rumoured that the horses stabled there were used to help get carriages and carts up the adjoining steep hill leading to Sturminster Common and the small community of Broad Oak.

The building, known to Thomas Hardy (one of our famous inhabitants) as The Old Bull Inn,  is shown on the earliest known map of the area dated 1783, as being part of the Pitt-Rivers Estate.  You can learn more about the Pitt-Rivers family here: https://www.dorsetlife.co.uk/2012/04/sturminster-newton-and-the-pitt-rivers-family

About 18 months ago, after our then favourite landlords moved from the White Horse Inn in Hinton St Mary, the pub was closed for refurbishment. Hinton is a village about 1.25 miles away, where the Pitt-Rivers manor house is situated.  We used to walk there 3 times a week – our exercise with benefits – but since the benefits had disappeared we decided to patronise The Bull – for our exercise of course.  The only trouble with that was that it’s uphill on the way home whereas it was down hill from the White Horse.

During that time we had come to enjoy the chats with Marianne and Lance, the Bull’s managers.  Lance being the very good chef, and Marianne “Front of House”.  Early in January 2021, they announced that on Christmas Day they had got engaged.

One of my felt paintings – commissioned by a mutual friend –  had been given to the White Horse landlords as a wedding present a few years ago, and Graham, my husband, suggested that I do something similar as a wedding present for Lance and Marianne.

Felt picture of sepia tint image of old public house
My interpretation of an early image of The White Horse, Hinton St Mary

Although The Bull itself is a very interesting building, I wondered if I should do a picture of an actual bull for them. No date had been set for the wedding at that time, but I thought I should at least start collecting reference pictures, both of the pub itself, including some of their Pub sign and of some animals. I thought about breeds that might have been around in the 16th Century – White Park Cattle and black Gloucesters; and also looked at Herefords since that was the breed on the Pub sign.

image of Bull Tavern sign with hereford bull above image of the public house
The Bull Tavern and it’s sign

image of black bull with winners rosettes and image of large white bull
Gloucester and Park White Bulls

image of hereford bull head, image of bull grazing, image of bull in field
3 Hereford Bulls. I eventually picked the one at top left.

In the end I decided on a Hereford bull. After a lot of thought and manipulation of pictures, and also starting on a background field for the bull to stand in, I still could not come up with a layout that I was happy with. One idea was to surround the image of the bull with cameo pictures of nearby local landmarks – the water mill and the mediaeval bridge – with perhaps an image of the pub itself as well.

Then, just after Christmas 2022, Marianne said that they had set the date for the wedding – 10th June 2023.  Now I had to get my ideas together and get on with it.  The picture would need to be simplified if I was going to get it done and framed in time.

It was about then that my picture of the horse on the hillside in Devon was finished and it occurred to me that I could use a similar method of producing a figure with more depth.

image of felted horse on background of trees and stream
Detail from my Glorious Devon picture showing the horse added to the finished landscape.

  I finally decided upon a cameo type picture of the bull’s head and shoulders and I would use the background which I had made back at the beginning of this saga.  I would paint (with wool) the shoulders and neck and outline of the head on to a piece of flat wet felted core fibres.  With a separate face and ears, and a further separate set of horns and the nose on another piece.  I would cut all of the pieces from the backing when these were substantially finished.  I would fix the torso and neck onto the original background and layer on the face and ears, horns and nose, then I would do the final titivating and framing.  I made a start and here are the initial progress pictures:

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As I said earlier, it was intended that this picture would be a wedding present for Lance and Marianne, but at the beginning of April this year, they told us that, because of various unforeseen difficulties arising out of successive pandemic lockdowns (which included them catching Covid between lockdowns so having to shut the pub again)  they had decided to give up the tenancy of the pub.  They had obtained a job, with accommodation, managing a Touring Caravan Park in Cornwall.  Marianne was leaving almost immediately and Lance would stay on for a couple of weeks, with his last trading day on the 19th April.  So the picture was going to have to be a leaving present.

That caused a bit of a panic at home as you can imagine, so I had to get my head down and finish it NOW!  These were the final steps;

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I managed to finish the picture and, with Graham’s help, I mounted it in a deep box frame in time to hand it over to Lance on the 19th, when we went in for a final lunchtime meal.

So here’s the completed and framed picture – my entry for the 2023 Third Quarter Challenge – Something Special About Our Town.

image of felted bull head and torso on a field and sky landscape in wooden box frame
Finished and framed.

Making Waves Update

Making Waves Update

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In my last post I mentioned a few of the projects I was working on with the “Making Waves” theme, along with other members of the Waltham Windmill Textile Group. I’d begun work on a 50cm x 90cm felted wallhanging inspired by the markings on large stone slabs on the beach at Seahouses in Northumberland.

Having recently bought myself a drum carder I carded a variety of left over bits of fibre, mainly blues, greens, yellows and neutrals, to make my background and laid them out with off cuts of hand dyed silk fabric, scrim and large nepps. On the left is how it looked after felting and on the right is where it’s at right now. I’ve added synthetic sheers, machine wrapped cords, hand and free motion stitch and in some areas I’ve heavily machine stitched to push them back and encourage the adjacent areas to stand out. The original bottom left section wasn’t working with those silk circles so they were pulled off and replaced with some stiffened, rust dyed fabric circles, recycled from another piece of work. I’m calling it Going With The Flow because a) it’s inspired by a trip to the beach b) it has flowing lines and c) like most of my work its design wasn’t preplanned. It’s evolving as I work on it, adding bits in and taking bits off until it feels right. It’s got a way to go yet before I can call it done.

One of the other challenges within the Making Waves theme is to make a 3D fish and my immediate thought was to create what many would regard as an ugly fish but which I prefer to think of as a fish with shedloads of character……..one that would get noticed amongst a group of pretty fish!

Anglerfish
Tasseled Scorpionfish
Oyster Toadfish

Having typed  “ugly fish” into Google I lost many hours over the next few weeks looking at images and some incredible videos of life deep in the depths of the oceans. Each new search revealed yet another fascinating species of fish, some quite honestly didn’t look real while some, like the Tasseled Scorpionfish were strangely beautiful. One of the weirdest I discovered has to be the Red Lipped Batfish. If ever there was proof we descended from the oceans this red lipped, whiskered fish that “walks” on its specially adapted fins has to be it! 

Red Lipped Batfish

Last month the Waltham group had a day making felted fish, some are finished, others are still work in progress.

Lucy made a wonderful wet felted Puffer Fish adding recycled plastics, including pipette tips, wine bottle netting and glass beads with recycling symbols underneath, to highlight the plight of our oceans.

Sue is very new to wet felting but she’s taken to it like a fish to water (couldn’t resist!) and has made “Angry Fish”. I think he looks more sulky than angry but he’s terrific!

Barbara’s felted fish is still work in progress but looking great, as is her sketch book and fabric fish purse!

Originally I had intended to wet felt my ugly fish but, after all those hours of studying them and getting excited about what I was going to make, for some reason when I took out my carded Corriedale fibres I found myself felting a cartoon version of an Angelfish…….I didn’t see that coming! Her name is TroutPout and she’s approximately 33cm x 36cm excluding her fins.

I’ve been enjoying teaching 3D Seed Pod workshops recently using wire wrapped with Tyvek fabric so decided to make my Anglerfish from wire rather than fibre. It was only when I’d got the 60cm x 33cm framework made that I sat back and realised I’d gone past the stage where I had meant to start adding my fabric! Time for plan B…..maybe I could use wire mesh to give it “body”?

I looked for some online but hesitated as I wasn’t sure how flexible or suitable the mesh would be. Having put the fish to one side, a few days later I joined the Lincolnshire Textile group and at my first meeting I was offered a piece of silver coloured Sinamay. Sinamay is one of the most popular hat-making foundations. It’s woven from the processed stalks of the abaca tree, a type of banana native to the Philippines. I couldn’t believe my luck……..being silver coloured this off cut looked like wire mesh but wasn’t and if I sprayed it lightly with water I could easily shape it to fit and stitch it with aluminium wire to my framework. So this is how far I’ve got. I’m going to add a few more wire spirals and do something more interesting with the eyes. He should have menacing teeth but I might not go that far!

Wire frame Anglerfish

Another feature of next years Making Waves exhibition will be an Octopus’s Garden so once the fish are done it’s straight on to making lots of coral and a few Octopus. I’m loving this theme and could quite happily continue with it way beyond our event next year…….it has to be the most interesting and enjoyable we’ve had so far!

row of bags of needles and refernce books for workshop on table
Needle Felted “THING” first time running this workshop

Needle Felted “THING” first time running this workshop

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The local Ottawa Guild had been optimistic in the latter part of 2022 and started to reschedule workshops, unbeknownst to us the evil covid was friends with 2 influenzas and invited them to drop by too. So we wound up with students and instructors out sick by the end of November into December. This was also the month my new workshop had been booked. I had offered to teach a chickadee or a tiny dragon but had been requested to make a Thing since Elizabeth, the workshop coordinator and I had not been able to decide on a definite thing. This is the description that was listed for the workshop.

“Description:  Jan is paralyzed with too many possibilities for an item to use to teach needle felted sculpture, thus we announce a workshop in needle felted THING creation.  Jan will probably decide more or less what the THING will be before the workshop but it will be a surprise for students.  You will create your THING using three dimensional needle felting. By the end of the workshop, students will have the skills needed to go home and make a THING of their own choosing.  Previous felting experience is helpful but not necessary. Good eye hand coordination is very helpful (those needles are sharp).”

As soon as it was scheduled, I started to work on organizing a brand new workshop. I quickly figured out this scope is a bit broad, so making a small basket protecting thing would help. I had admired an amigurumi mix-and-match monster making book.  “Edward’s Crochet Imaginarium: Flip the pages to make over a million mix-and-match monsters” by Kerry Lord.  Using the simple shapes from crochet to inspire the students, should give absolute beginners an achievable target and those who have felted before the opportunity to try four different wire gauge hands or wings and a tail.

The notes covered wire and needle gauges, fibre, fibre preparations (carded vs Combed it can make a difference), then wrapping. I had gone through and followed a couple of my projects and showed how I had made and built the armature, as well as a few wire augmentations I have had to do over the years. Most of that last section is actually in the blog posts! I finished off the notes with a list of books they may want to investigate and three online sources of videos.

If the various flues and covid were not enough of a challenge we had our first big winter store about to hit. I think most of the worst went south of us. I wonder, what the states could have done to offend the weather? After some debate with Elizabeth it was decided that since the forecast was to have the storm ending by Saturday morning, we would see how the roads looked closer to the workshop.  The snow had momentarily stopped and the workshop was declared a go.  I had collected the supplies together and then pulled the bags of fibre to go from the basement. Glenn hauled and loaded it all into the car. He and our new neighbour also cleared out the end of the driveway and we made a brake for the Guild Studio on the other side of Ottawa.

Car is being loaded to go to the workshop with fiber and suplys, snow covered car, tree and drive way. the driveway is getting quite icy. Grey Kia hatchback still dusted with snow, with hatch back open showing it is Full of bags of fiber. snow covered branches above car hang low from the weight of the clinging snow. Inside my Gray kea soul. there are bags of fiber and suply filling the back of the car blocking direct vision out the back and getting quite close to the inside of the roof. 1-3 it’s impressive how much wool you can stuff in a Kia Soul!

The side streets were not the greatest, but the highway was fine and the parking lot had been cleared!!!

the snow covered and slippery walkway in front of Heartwood house (the Building the guild is in) snow covers the ground and is clinging to the trees, the front corner of my car is visible on the left of the pictures. Front Gallery just outside the Guild studio, 7 large bags of wool on one side and boxes and bags of suplys on the other side of the hall way. in the distance my walker also carying boxes. the gallary has tropical plants along the windoe and artwork (prints) on the walls. 4-5 Arriving at the Guild and dropping off the stuff

He carried in the bags of wool, the box of armature things and the couple boxes of supplies. Then went and found the missing tables.

4 large plastic folding tables and a smaller white one hold fiber and boxes of suplys for workshop within the OVWSG studio6 Tables found and now I can set up!

He set them up in a C or U pattern so I could sit in a rolling chair in the center and help any student without a lot of standing and bending over.

18 pages of notes, a colourfull foam nealing pad (originaly for gardening), a pice of pool noodle, 3 sizes of small wooden dowls, leather Finger cots, wooden single needle holder all sitting on grey folding table 7  18 pages of Notes, Foam kneeling pad, A piece of pool noodle, 2 sizes of dowels, finger cots, wooden single needle holder. Still to add will be the needles.

I had also had a few needles for them to see what difference a gauge will make. T32,T36,T38,Crown40,Revese40 and 42. all needles are in zip lock bags and in little pieces of pool noodle foam. 8 I also had a few needles for them to see what difference a gauge will make.

a book on comparitive anatomy and one on Anagarumi monsters both listed in the text below picture9 the books just past the needles

You may have spotted I brought a few possibly useful Books; Comparative Anatomy (Animals Vs. Human)  Cyclopedia Anatomicae: More than 1,500 Illustrations of the Human and Animal Figure for the Artist by Gyorgy Feher. I also had a book on Anagarumi to give the students some ideas.  Edward’s Crochet Imaginarium: Flip the pages to make over a million mix-and-match monsters by Kerry Lord. (Kerry Lord also has a book on crocheting sheep! Toft Sheep – 18 Crochet Sheep Patterns (uses UK terms))

a couple of my sculptural felting books. both books are listed in the text below the picture.10 a couple of my sculptural books.

Armature/Sculpture books I brought to show the students; A Masterclass in Needle Felting Dogs by Cindy-Lou Thompson, Needle Felted Kittens: How to Create Cute and Lifelike Cats from Wool by Hinali.

There are now quite a few good books on sculptural felting with or without an armature. I had a list of 14 that they may want to keep an eye out for.

plastic haloween skeliton of a dragon standing on pacagease of smartie candys (candiy coated chocholet)11   I also brought sustenance and plastic inspiration

The Ottawa guild has always wanted to have small class sizes to insure good student-teacher ratios. Most workshops have a maximum of six students. With the first snow dump of the year and 2 types of flu plus covid, I was a bit worried that it may not run. In the end, we had one student driving over an hour to Ottawa and made it safely but one was sick and another with a sick child. So we ran with four students.  Three went for Anagarumi-based Things and one went with a Kraken/Octopus combo. They were a bit bigger than I had envisioned but they all still had their armatures in time to have lunch.

4 images of hands working on bending wire to make there armatures12  Armatures are underway

We had two Things with four arms and a tail, one with two arms a tail and wings, and the octopus creature used pipe cleaners (ok now there called Chanel stems since there are not a lot of pipes to clean anymore) to see how that would help with wrapping later.

After a lunch break, they started to wrap the fibre around their armatures.

wool aplication starts, 3 of the scupltures has the first bit of wool added. 13 wool wrapping begins

I brought a couple of types of fibre preparations. This would let them see the difference between carded (which makes a woollen yarn)  and combed (which makes a Worsted yarn). I am going to talk about this more in a future post.

This thing was being helpful by holding fiber for its creator, even when that was not as helpful as it sounds.14 This thing was being helpful by holding fibre for its creator, even when that was not as helpful as it sounds.

this thing is developing fabulous wings.15 this thing is developing fabulous wings.

Unlike my last octopus this one has 8 arms! The pipe cleaners were found easy to wrap over.16 Unlike my last octopus this one has 8 arms! The pipe cleaners were found easy to wrap over.

A little way into wrapping, the students all realized it takes a bit of time to wrap, so instead of rushing and risking lots of punctured fingers, they decided they would like to add a second half to the workshop and focus on surface work. I did spend part of the time they were wrapping to show them a couple of options for adding fluffy furry surfaces.

two of this things arms were added to increase its head.17 two of these things arms were added to increase its head.

This one still has all four of his arms and is now standing on his own.18 This one still has all four of his arms and is now standing on his own.

By 4 pm we had good shapes developed and no major bloodletting due to rushing.

the octopus is starting to emerge. 2 legs are wrapped in white Top (Combed) and the rest are wrapped in Roving (Carded) wool.19 the octopus is starting to emerge

the thing with 4 arms has now received a head20  the thing with 4 arms has now received a head

the winged thing has temporary eyes and looks like he is looking forward to getting wings.21 the winged thing has temporary eyes and looks like he is looking forward to getting wings.

The class while not quite finished seems to have had fun to this point.  We will get a bit of time scheduled for part two to finish the outer layers in the new year. It’s always hard to estimate on time for a new workshop and the pace the students will progress at. Not pushing for speed, I think is the way to go for this one. Needle felting yourself is not conducive to creating more needle felters!

I hope you will get to take some time over the holidays to do a bit of needle felting. If you are at a loss for what to make you may want to peruse the Anagarumi Monsters for a bit of mix and match inspiration! Happy Hanukkah, Mary Christmas, Happy Solstice and Happy Holidays from the Mer Family, the Scott-Martin Family and the rest of my felted menagerie.

PS is it just my dyslexic brain or is this date really cool 12-22-2022 (if only we had 20 or 22 months it would be perfect! OK, the last few years have felt like years containing more than 12 months) but I hope you can enjoy such a fabulously numbered day! See you Next Year!!