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Category: sculptural felt

Vessel and Pod

Vessel and Pod

Comments 22 comments

I don’t think I’ve ever used a flat resist for a vessel like this before. The idea was to make it as an example of using resists to take to the felting class at the well-being centre, but before I’d even finished the layout, I knew it’d be too much for us to do in a couple of hours. I used lots of the Gotland locks from Zara, and decided to work inside out, so I laid these on the resist first. I used a couple of layers of Gotland fleece, then some cheaper ‘Scottish Grey’ I’d bought from wollknoll.  Between the Gotland and Scottish fleece I added some more Gotland locks around the top. There is a bit of a ridge inside, but I thought it turned out really well:
OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe other side:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAHere’s a couple of close ups of the locks around the top:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI used lots of different ones:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAA closer look at the bottom, the locks felted in really nicely but still kept lots of character:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWhen we did use resists at the well being centre, they didn’t quite turn out as planned. Because I had ‘vessels’ in mind and got out all the natural wools, I wasn’t thinking properly, so I cut a resist for a glasses case based on using Merino like I usually do, so when thick layers of English 56s, Finnish and Corriedale were used, it barely shrunk and turned into a small sturdy bag! I was running out of time, so only did 3 layers on my bird pod, so it ended up shrinking a lot more widthways and became very tall and narrow! One of the members in the group liked it though so hopefully the blue tits in her garden do, too 🙂

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Needle felting class and Lambs

Needle felting class and Lambs

Comments 16 comments

Recently I taught a needle felting class were we made little sheep.

Making Bodiesfelting bodies

Adding Legsadding legs

And Earsadding ears

Then its time to give the sheep some wool. These are hand dyed Blue Faced Leicester curls. They are small tight  curls perfect for small work.

adding curls purple sheep adding curls blue sheep green sheep with red heart brown sheep

brown sheep 1 blue sheeep and snowman

All very cute in the end and a snowman for company.

And this morning we had 2 new real lambs arrive. twin lambs 2015 It’s not a great picture but they were very new and not interested in posing for a good shot.

 

 

4th Quarter Challenge – Land Art

4th Quarter Challenge – Land Art

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I didn’t think I’d ever find time to do the 4th Quarter Challenge. When I chose Land Art, I thought it had a really good scope for some interesting felt sculptures. I really liked the work of artists using twigs and branches, whether they were abstract, patterns, designed by colour, or like Tom Hare’s work in willow, sculptures of plants, leaves, seeds, or even a sliced apple. I really liked this lotus seed head: http://www.tomhare.net/files/cache/6241679806767b541ec85e7977677c16_f44.jpg

I had a vague idea of what I wanted to do and how I wanted to do it. Something sculptural based on the things I’d seen with holes and stems and curves. I even thought I might do a series. Well, time was running out and I hadn’t started, and I was thinking about what I could do to take part that wouldn’t take as much time. For a few weeks I’ve had a piece of felt with a balloon inside, hanging in my living room doorway, it was the result of me thinking I’d try felting a winter woolly hat, and it ended up looking more like the start of a balaclava or fetish mask! So, I thought I’d improvise and use that. It wasn’t far off the shape I’d pictured, and though I would have preferred to work with wet felt not fulled, I thought it was worth a try. So, I started cutting, wetting and shaping, and I was happy to see it was starting to look interesting! I rinsed it and put another balloon in to keep it’s shape while it dried. I thought it looked really good, it was nice and firm and kept its shape without the balloon. I attached some string to get a photo, and this is what I saw when it spun around:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAA ribcage! My fancy felt sculpture was meant to look plant-like, but it looked like a carcass! I took the string off and put it on the table, but it sunk a bit and that didn’t look less dead either!:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAI reshaped it, the way it was meant to be, and that looked much better! I know it doesn’t look like any plant or seed in particular, I wasn’t copying anything, I just had a vague idea of shape, lines and holes:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERADifferent angle:

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIt does look much better hung up, less flat and more round. While I was messing around taking photos, I stood it upside down and squashed it, and that looked really interesting!:

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