Resht Applique Complete

Resht Applique Complete

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Last week I showed you the beginnings of an applique sample. I guess I wasn’t the only one that had never heard of Resht work. Always good to learn something new, isn’t it?

So I started with chain stitching the central flower parts down. I didn’t follow the example exactly but it is similar to the inspiration photo. I had drawn the stitch lines on the background out in advance but didn’t adhere to the drawing exactly. This actually stitches pretty quickly as the chain stitch is easy and stitching through handmade felt is wonderful. I’m not sure why I’m surprised each time I stitch a lot on a piece of felt. It is so nice to hand stitch. I have a tendency to be a bit minimalist so I might have stopped here but the sample was pretty heavily stitched so I decided I would add more.

So on to what I’m calling the drop shadow stitching. I added the dark blue violet chain stitch using a Sulky #12 machine thread. It worked great. Slightly lighter weight than the perle cotton #12. I was really surprised at the impact the dark thread made. Again, I shouldn’t have been surprised because it did need some darker values in the composition. I also added a regular blanket stitch around the leaves with a red violet thread. This pulled the red violet from the central flower out into more of the background.

Then I decided that I needed some yellow orange in the flower. So I added just a little bit of that and decided it was complete. I actually could keep adding more stitching but I didn’t want to overdo it.

I will definitely be cropping off the edges so here’s how it will look cropped. And I thought you’d like to see the surface from a side view. It was a fun piece to try and again reminded me why I like to stitch on felt.

 

 

 

Meeting the challenge & fibre fellowship

Meeting the challenge & fibre fellowship

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Our first quarter challenge is to create a piece of jewellery. Unlike some, I do like jewellery and have an eclectic taste from traditional to contemporary….sadly I can’t encash any and make my fortune!!!  These days, I no longer have the need to wear jewellery on a daily basis, so I rarely buy anything; if I do, it has to meet my criteria – does it fit my taste, and pocket, and will I enjoy wearing it many times – however last November I saw a brooch cum necklace and allowed myself a birthday treat.

I have enjoyed wearing this necklace and had an ‘ah ha’ moment – an extension of something I have been undertaking for a while – to explain….

Necklace by Connie Rose Design that has been my inspiration

Way back when, I went to our local annual sheep fair and, wanting some grey wool fibres, bought a beautifully coloured fleece ranging from pale silver/dark grey with cream/fawn tips – a Coloured Ryeland. At this point I didn’t have the knowledge I have now (I can hear your cries from here!) but learnt very quickly that this wool is ‘extremely’ hard to wet felt. So over the years I have been using bits of the fleece for various projects, mostly as core wool; the fibres are very course and springy but needlefelt well.

Needing a small portable ‘fiddle’ project for much time spent in waiting rooms, I have been making embroidered felt beads and ‘acorns’ etc for nearly 2 years. I won’t re-invent the wheel, describing the process of embroidering the beads, as Rosiepink has a great tutorial – https://rosiepink.typepad.co.uk/rosiepink/2019/04/how-to-do-simple-embroidery-on-felt-beads.html

I’ve been twisting then needlefelting the Ryeland locks to make a ball then adding Merino wool etc as a top layer (this uses fewer expensive fibres – I’m frugal by nature!) before wet felting several balls/beads at a time – the more the better which I roll under a metal tray.

Some of the many felt balls/acorns awaiting embroidery – definitely a conversation starter in waiting rooms or conferences.

Then the ‘ah ha’ moment came and I repeated the process but as a flat disc. Deciding how thick and the diameter of the core before adding the top layer, has been one of experimentation, but I final got there.

The top layer of wool I have been needle-felting to the core (to ensure firm attachment), before adding any decoration, then wet felting as normal.

Once dry I have had the perfect ‘fiddle’ project, ideal for chilling in front of the TV. I digress here but….when I was about 12, a teacher walking from the back of the class forward, unexpectedly stopped adjacent to me and asked me a question. I replied with the right answer. She never stopped me doodling designs on paper ever again! The decades have definitely elapsed, but I still need to keep my fingers busy!

Work in progress

The delight of embroidering onto felt is that it is easy to hide the thread tails (great for a neatnik) and anything goes so to speak….such as utilising some of my many beads, and threads.

These embroidered discs still need a brooch back attaching to them, then they will be perfect for a pendant necklace, wearing as a brooch or pinning to a scarf etc. I’m now hunting for suitable cords to complete the necklaces for stock.

My fiddle project had a recent trip to Scotland where I met with a fellow Felting and Fiber Studio (I must not say FFS!!!) author Leonor.

Realising that she had moved to within 25 miles of our family destination I made tentative contact. I was delighted with her invite to visit that followed. What I thought would be maybe 2 hours of chatting turned into intense conversation and howls of laughter….that was just us….our menfolk were having an equally absorbing time with art as their topic….5 hours just evaporated as did the generation gap, only further commitments parted us all.

So much fun and laughter!

The sharing of ideas and knowledge underpins the FFS (sorry Leonor!) fellowship and promotes friendship across the miles. We definitely will be closing those miles again in the near future, in the meantime we are making do with emails.

BTW I can confirm that the final layout, from Leonor’s post – https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2020/02/06/studio-space-final-layout/ – was not!

It had evolved again and is a wonderful light filled space of which I’m very envious.

Have you met the first quarter challenge yet? If so please share your work with us on the forum.

Needle Felted Landscape Workshop Feb. 2020 Part 1

Needle Felted Landscape Workshop Feb. 2020 Part 1

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On the last day in February, I ran the Needle Felted landscape workshop for the Ottawa guild. We had six students sign up but one had to stay home to attend a first time mom who was expecting twins. The impending mom, being a sheep, was not as forthcoming in accurately indicating her due date and did not actually go into labour during the workshop but I am sure she would have them if he had joined his wife and left the sheep alone.

I brought a good amount of my fibre stash (I have been collecting fibre focusing on the landscape workshop and the sheep workshop). By the time Glenn got the car loaded, I had a full car of fibre and supplies to the point I could not see out the back window! Ok, it’s a  Kia Soul so not a huge car but that was a lot of wool!

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1)    This is the foyer at Hartwood house. The studio is on the other side, through the double doors that Glenn is moving my stuff towards.

I had intended to get a picture of the room once I got it set up but I got distracted by one of the students arriving early and then I forgot. I had set out all the items the students were getting with their workshop.

Which included

  • 23 pages of notes plus an appendix of photo options,
  • the foam kneeling pad that is made of a pool noodle like foam,
  • 4 types of felt, (for a name tag, a large piece of good wool felt half of which was to be used for the project, a cheaper lower percentage wool felt and an acrylic felt to compare to).
  • different Needles, (including a finer spiral)
  • Permanent markers,
  • a test tube with a lid to keep the needles,
  • elastics,
  • pins,
  • hard ruler (not a tape measure),
  • paper to make a template for the mat,
  • 3 sizes of finger protectors (wooden)
  • Wooden frame with mat and glass
  • Fine particulate mask (no one wants to get wool lung!)

 

I had also brought Sock yarn to make their names and Lots of wool to select colours from!

To borrow I had extra scissors and a 7 needle holders tool with a guard (it’s the fake clover tool from somewhere in China).

I had them start with making a name tag allowing them a chance to try out the needles and work on eye-hand coordination. They wrote their name in yarn on a piece of felt from an accidentally felted duvet. Only one bandaid was needed so the practice was helpful.

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2-3) Nametags – note the bags of wool in the background of the second photo

Next, they were on to choosing a picture from the ones I had pulled or three had brought one of their own.  Two of my adventurous students had painted before and the other one had done a number of other types of felting so I felt they might be up to a bit more challenging subjects.

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4) Using the phone to see details of the image and checking the pictures as they progress.

I had asked the students to bring a camera, an eye pad or a phone with a good camera function so they could check their work as they progressed. One had her Lama picture on her phone and could zoom in and look at details which was also an excellent use of technology. The phone works similarly to looking at your drawing in a mirror. It allows you to see proportions and negative space more clearly.

Transferring the chosen image to the felt

I discussed the lightbox or window method of tracing. This works well on thin light coloured felt or pre-felt but not as well on thicker or darker felts. If you are using a window, it works best on sunny days (sunny days can be scarce in winter). This transfer method was used in the workshops I have attended.

I also mentioned the grid method to scale a drawing while transferring it to your work surface. It is a lot slower but can produce an extremely good underdrawing. I suggested they check out their notes for other methods like the projector, Lucy and camera obscura.

I wanted to give them another option if they did not like to draw freehand or using a lightbox.  I explained the template method of transferring an image, which requires scaling your image by photocopier or by computer and printer to make your image the size you would like to work with. Make a border on your felt, the outside size of your picture. Then divide your picture into basic tonal areas again working from the background to the foreground. It can be handy to put your image in Microsoft word then adjust the image with “Artistic Effects” look at “cut out” to give tonal blocking. While you are in Microsoft, you can check under “colour saturation” to see what hidden colours are in your image.

This is the point that you move trees or tilt hills to suit your wants. You are God of your landscape! If you want to have a tree lose or gain a bit of weight, you can decree it!

 

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5) Freehand drawing and the use of a paper mat

One student went with the freehand method. She referred to her phone to get the detail in her picture. I had a number of different colours of permanent markers.  We were using permanent markers since I have used quilting makers in a workshop I had taken that did not stay on the felt but appeared as a blue smear on my arm from finger to elbow as I worked on my piece. (The options of various colours of permanent markers are nice since they stay where you put them and they will be hidden under the fibre you are adding.)

I had them make a paper mat the size of their picture, 5×7. This lets them check to see if their picture was getting bigger or smaller as they worked. Checking your image with your paper mat will save you money by ensuring that your image will fit in your mat and frame when it is done.

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6) Template method of transfer and using the phone to check the progress

Continued in part 2 scheduled  for March 15th 2020 (lots more pictures to come in part 2!!)

Rock Wall Picture Part 2

Rock Wall Picture Part 2

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I had a whole day of no work and no grandchildren last week so I got my picture done. Although this is a good thing, I discovered all those little people’s interruptions are actually good. I rather overdid it with the needling and have aggravated my tendonitis again. I need a better needling pad. the one I have is quite dense. It’s good for travelling as it’s light and it does last well but it is too dense to be poking into all day. I know not to poke way into the foam but when you’re doing a picture you always seem to go into it a little.  I got several suggestions for alternatives. Jan had a nicer kneeling pad that I will look for not so dense but still lightweight. upholstery foam is popular and a new one to me was rice in a cloth bag. I may try this for home. I think it would be heavy to carry around. What do you use?

On to the picture.

When I put the rock shapes in I wasn’t very happy that the stuck up a lot from the wall so I wet felted it again. It looked much better, more subtle.

Before wet felting

After wet felting

 

After wet felting-close

Next for the wall was some moss and some shadows

 

Adding moss

Next was some shadow to the bottom of the rocks and to the gate.

Adding shadows -close

I added some sheep, I know you are all so surprised. I added the trees to the place markers and some vegetation to the foreground.

 

Sheep trees and vegetation

That looks ok but it is kind of bare on the top left and the vegetation is a little boring so I added some more trees, another sheep( you can’t have enough sheep) and some french knots for flowers on the vegetation.

Finished

Vegetation close

Vegetation close 2

I hope to get a better picture of the finished piece. The camera really doesn’t like the fuzzy white. the piece is 7 inches by 9 inches. It should have been 8 x 10 but when I refelted it I shrank more. it hadn’t originally been very felted because it’s a picture and didn’t need to be. Oh well, I will get a frame and Jan will help me cut a mat to the right size.

Resht Applique Sample

Resht Applique Sample

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I am taking a two year course from the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center, Advanced Studies in Experimental Stitch.

Part of my homework for the second session is looking up different forms of applique and doing a few samples of different applique techniques. One of the suggestions on our list was Resht work. Having never heard of this one, I decided to see what it entailed. I found several wonderful examples and learned that it was a Persian technique that used mainly chain stitch to attach cut felt pieces to a background, sometimes felt and sometimes wool cloth. That sounded like a perfect reason to make some felt and give this technique a try.

I printed out one of the examples that I had found. This one was on 1860-1960 One Hundred Years of Fashion and Accessories. I picked out some short fiber merino batt in similar colors to create my background and the pieces that I would cut and applique.

Here’s the felt pieces I created. I didn’t worry much about the edges as I was going to cut them anyways. I did want fairly thin felt as it gets a bit thick to stitch when layered. I did great with this except for the yellow orange piece. It was a bit thick.

Next I worked out a simpler design in the size that I needed. The final piece will be 7″ x 7″.

I traced the main design on tissue paper and cut out that as patterns to cut the felt. Originally, I thought I would overlap the pieces. But once I had them cut, I decided that would be too thick. I didn’t make any pattern for the yellow orange leaves. I just cut those free hand.

Here are the pieces all cut out and pinned on to the background. Now I needed some threads for the chain stitching.

Here are some of the hand dyed thread choices. Now on to chain stitching. I will show you the results in my next post.

3D wet felting experiments (part two)

3D wet felting experiments (part two)

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In my last blog spot I showed how I made a sprouting seed pod as part of a group of 3D wet felted objects I’m calling ‘Lifecycles’ that I am submitting to an open exhibition.  You can see that blog here if you missed it or want a reminder https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2020/01/13/3d-wet-felting-experiments-part-one/.

The second piece is a fallen tree branch with fungus and lichen. My ideas is that as one thing dies (the branch) it gives life to others (fungi etc). This will tie in with the sprouting seed pod (a new tree) and maybe I’ll add a couple of other things too, yet to be decided.

Wondering where to start with the texture I take myself off to the local park to look at different types of bark.

I am particularly taken with these very ridged examples and wonder how I’d go about creating that texture in wet felt.  I happen to have some off-cuts from the seed pod on my work table – a piece of fabric, probably linen, I found in a charity shop and felted –  so I decide to see what it looks like if I lay those under some new felt.  Keen to do things properly (and not waste time) I make a sample.

I am still experimenting with using wool batts from different breeds of sheep (rather than merino tops) so put together natural brown and grey Shetland and Finnish wools plus a little dyed green Perendale including a couple of bits of prefelt. You can just see the ridges when felted but I want more so try cutting into the surface. I really like that effect.

Sample of recycled scarf felted to become lichen

I try out some pieces of a (charity shop) hand dyed silk scarf for lichen and like those too so decide to get on with making the log.

I make a sheet of nuno felt using the recycled fabric which I cut into uneven strips.

Using a large rectangular resist I lay out 3 layers of wool on each side, wet it down, and add the felted linen strips on one side in what I hope is a bark-ish pattern. 

I cover these with two more layers of mixed brown and grey wool then add the surface decoration including prefelted discs for fungus and some marbles under the largest green section.

Surface of side one laid out

I would normally lay out the whole thing before starting to felt but there is a lot going on by now that I don’t want to disturb by flipping it over so I start working the first side to try to get it stable before finishing the second side layout.

On the second side I add yarn, locks, nepps, slubs, silk noil, nuno prefelt, pieces from a striped charity shop silk scarf….I am really starting to enjoy this. It’s a good job there isn’t a kitchen sink nearby as I might throw that in too. I’m thinking that as the log will be lying down, this will be the under side so it doesn’t matter if I don’t like everything. I could even cut bits out.

It takes quite a long time to rub and full this woolly smorgasbord, working hard into all the grooves. As I finish working it I decide it looks better standing up and so the log becomes a tree stump. 

Final tree stump from the front

In the end I decide not to cut into the surface as there is plenty of texture and I also leave the marbles in as I like the green knobbly bits (visible in top picture). 

What next? I’ve been mulling over how the pieces will be displayed together and decide to make a flat piece of ‘woodland floor’ felt for them to stand on.  I start with a piece of mixed leafy-coloured prefelt.

I cut the prefelt into rough leaf shapes and lay them on some layers of brown wool.  I can’t resist adding a little bit of 3D so felt some thick green rope to look like new shoots emerging from the ground. 

Finally I make an autumn leaf to highlight the annual cycle of a tree’s dying and renewal. 

Here’s the final piece.  Have I captured the idea of life cycles?

Final “Lifecycles” piece

And yes, Lifecycles has now been accepted into the exhibition so will be on display at Beach Creative in Herne Bay from 20 March to 2 April as part of the 3 gallery exhibition ‘Map’. If you’re in the Whitstable, Faversham, Herne Bay area do pop along to the Fishslab, Creek Creative and/or Beach Creative Galleries and check out how other people have responded to the Map challenge (dates vary slightly). I know some of my friends have fabulous work in the exhibitions so I think they will be hugely varied and interesting shows

Snowed in and preparing for needle felted Landscape workshop

Snowed in and preparing for needle felted Landscape workshop

Comments 11 comments

This week I have been reviewing and putting a bit of polish on my notes for Saturdays workshop. I will be teaching needle felted landscape again. I have 6 students singed up, which is a full class, and have just sent out the instruction note about where to park and what room the workshop is in. I also sent them some landscapes to look at and hopefully they can choose one to create on Saturday.

Since I don’t know the levels of the students I pulled a selected, some that would be easier to do and some that would be more challenging.  I also reminded them that they are now God of their landscape and if a trees position offends their WA, they can move or remove it.

I reread my notes and upgraded a few areas.

I had found a colour wheel that was a visual way of suggesting what combination of colours make up the component parts of the colour wheel. I have not seen this representation before and found it visually intriguing.

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At the end of my notes I had added some tips on blending and working on a felted picture.  I will be showing them how I hand blend small amounts to get the colour I want and how I layer small wisps to build up layers towards the colour I finally want to achieve. This gives more depth and luminosity to my pictures.

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Blending colours

I tend to hand blend small batches of colour as I go.

If you need a larger amount of a single colour the dog brushes or hand combs can be helpful

******NB do not use colour that is over-blended especially for your top layers. Nature is not made of flat colour. It is always affected by light. It will look more realistic whether it’s a tree or a fox or a sheep if you leave your colours slightly unmixed.

I have found that using fiber from bats is a bit easier to hand blend and to needle felt than from roving or top. This doesn’t mean I don’t use roving or top if I find the rite colours but I do tend to watch for bats of partly mixed colours in shades of greens, browns, and blues particularly.

I have found a couple of venders at Twist and Almonte fiber festival selling packages of fiber (wool) in a range of colours. (I have had good results from wool from venders like Fibre Craft, the Olive Sparrow and Wellington Fiber.) This makes blending the colour you need easier if you have warm and cool versions of the basic colours on hand. Keep an eye out for packages with shades of red to orange, pink to violet, greens, blues, browns and shades of gray are also vary helpful in blending.

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I have also found random died locks can be fun to work with too. (Adele’s Locks of Love and other venders have these.)

Tips on Blending and felting;

  • – As you work compare the colour you blend with the original image
  • Take Digital pictures of your work regularly checking the image on the camera or on your I-pad. It is similar to looking in a mere and will give a better indication of how your work is progressing
  • Remember to look at the negative spaces to check your proportions. But it is your landscape if you want a tree to gain or lose a bit of weight that up to you.
  • Working with your picture and landscape upside down will sometimes make your brain focus more on the image. Working this way will often give you an easier time with the perspective and negative spaces.

 

My notes this time were 23 pages plus 10 pages of images for the students to work from.  It looks like tomorrow will be another snow day so I will finish printing out the notes and try to figure out why the landscape option keep printing out blank pages.

Next week I will let you know how the workshop goes and will hopefully have a few nice pictures for you. I hope if you are having a snowed-in-winter-day you will have a chance to pull out some wool and make something fun!

Nuno Felt Scarf Class

Nuno Felt Scarf Class

Comments 11 comments

This is a quick( I lost a day so I am late) post about the class I taught on Saturday. I taught it at the Ottawa Valley Weavers’ and Spinners’ Guild. Mostly it is just a lot of pictures of the layout and then after felting.  I hear that’s what social media is supposed to be these days lots of pictures and very little reading so I hope you like it.

These are the layouts. A very creative bunch and I think everyone used silk hankies to have a go at making flowers.

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I think everyone really enjoyed themselves. It was more work than some thought it would be but that is normal for a felting class. In the end, I think they liked the result.

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I used the batch resize feature of my photo program for the first time and it worked out really well. If I had had more time I probably would have done som more precise cropping but when your in a hurry you just have to hold your breath and push the yes butten.

First Quarter Jewelry Challenge

First Quarter Jewelry Challenge

Comments 14 comments

Lyn and Annie’s First Quarter Jewelry Challenge has been in the back of my mind while I have been busy with other things. I had thought I would use cut pieces of printed or screen printed felt (still using stuff up) and machine stitch them together to form a necklace. I originally thought that I would use many pieces and essentially just stitch them together into a big circle.

So I started cutting out some pieces from my chosen felt. The green is green on both sides but the red is only printed on one side. These are both from old wool blankets that have been dyed, printed or screen printed.

I started laying out some of the pieces and decided to create a focal point and have the rest of the necklace be a chain or some other form of attachment.

Now I had to decide how I would keep the pieces all aligned while stitching. I decided to pin the pieces to heavy paper, stitch them and then pull the paper off. As you can see the backs of the red felt is pretty ugly so I decided I would use two layers of red with grey sides facing in.

Next up was choosing the thread I wanted to use and machine stitching them all together. I used a Sulky #12 thread as it is more heavy weight and should be more sturdy. The first round of stitching went well with no major issues.

So I left really long tails to use as the rest of the necklace or for attachment to a regular chain. Then I tore the paper off the felt. I had to use tweezers to remove some of the tiny bits of paper that were stuck but so far, the process was working. The photo on the right shows the necklace stitched but the backs of the red pieces were still grey. If they got flipped over while wearing, it wouldn’t be a pretty sight. So I thought I would just machine stitch another piece of red felt to the backs.

Bad idea. The two pieces together were way too thick. I had difficulty maneuvering them while stitching and the thread kept breaking. If I was to make another one, I would hand stitch the backs on. That would have looked better and been much easier.

So here’s how it looks if it was worn. I don’t wear jewelry much, meaning hardly ever, so this probably isn’t something that I will wear. But it was fun working out how to make it and I do like the look of it. Thanks for the challenge, Lyn and Annie.

Have you made any fiber based jewelry? We’d love to see your contributions to the challenge this quarter. Just post them over on the forum.

 

 

Needle Felted Animals

Needle Felted Animals

Comments 19 comments

Since I started running workshops in 2017 I’ve often been asked if I will teach needle felted animals, maybe how to make a hare or a fox, etc. and my answer was always the same….. “sorry no, but I can put you in touch with someone who will”. There are so many terrific needle felters out there and, not only that, I didn’t really fancy spending hours stabbing fibres when I could be wet felting.

That changed when I got an email last November from a guy who wanted to buy his wife a needle felting workshop as a Christmas present. It was time to change tack so I agreed to run the class and immediately went out and bought various grades of wire and pipe cleaners and started hand carding fibres to make my first hare.

I didn’t concern myself too much with realism or body part proportions! Harriet went through several stages, at one point looking like an otter, at another like a kangaroo, before blossoming into a hare.

By the time she was finished I was hooked!! Two more hares followed in quick succession, the last one being this simplified version to use as a one day workshop for anyone who hasn’t needle felted before.

Happy with the hares I turned my thoughts to making a squirrel. If you google “anatomy of a (whatever)” you will find lots of diagrams and images of skeletons which can be used to get the correct proportions and shaping for your animal armatures. I used one as a reference for making my red squirrel armature as I wanted this one to be as lifelike as possible. It’s also useful to save photos, taken from all angles, of whatever animal you are making and refer to them constantly. I know a lot of felters use glass eyes for their animals but I decided to stick with felting mine as I think you can achieve more character that way.

Each animal is made with Cheviot fibres for the core and then cladded with carded Bergschaf or Corriedale. I was very pleased with how this one turned out.

I recently made a frog and this turned out to be my favourite piece. He seemed to take the longest but you can place him in all sorts of different poses and I just love him! Again, a quick search on the internet produced a diagram that was used to get the proportions and create the armature.

I changed my mind about the colour scheme part way through so he ended up with pink feet and a green body which just looked wrong! I couldn’t face starting again with the feet so I simply dipped his toes in Inktense paint and cured his problem!

So as you can see, this reluctant needle felter has really got the bug! I’ve done my first two classes and I’ve four more lined up, which I’m really looking forward to. The Christmas present of a hare workshop was well received and that particular lady, Jo, has since been back and made a red squirrel and her daughter in law made the lovely mouse…..pretty impressive for first attempts!

Jo’s Hare

Jo’s Squirrel

Janes Mouse

My only problem now is deciding what to needle felt next!