Textured art yarn made from locks on a skein winder
A bit of this, a bit of that

A bit of this, a bit of that

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Hello! The writing of this blog post comes to you on a day where I am quite sleep-deprived, so you will have to excuse my possibly being a little off my writing game…

Allow me to start by showing you some art batts I created a little ago. I love art batts in general, there’s so much texture and colours to look at. I do so enjoy the batt-making process as well, looking at all my fibre and deciding what goes where, and how much… Anyone else feel this fascination when creating textured fibre sandwiches?

Speaking of textures, I recently spun an art yarn using some Leicester Longwool locks in their natural formation and I swoon every time I look at that texture…

Textured art yarn made from locks on a skein winder

This will become a weaving of some sorts, I am handing over the yarn to a fellow Edinburgh guild member so he can create some magic. I told him I wasn’t sure whether I was handing him treasure or a lemon (I believe textured weaving is new to him and I also have some plying inconsistencies on this skein), and he replied saying he would think of it as a pomegranate instead. I thought that was quite funny.

It is one heavy skein, as you might attest by the silly photo I took of it on my head.

Eleanor holds a massive skein of art yarn on top of her head

Finally, I also have news on my needle felted raven! The photos aren’t the best, forgive me, but this chap is almost complete. Unfortunately my customer didn’t like his blue eyes (a colour only present when they are young) so I have ordered some new ones to replace these. Once I do that I think he is complete. What do you think, is he finished? Would you change anything? Feedback welcome.

That’s it for today, let me know your thoughts and have a lovely week!

top of landscape sowing sky sea and rocks with cut outs from the oican
Maureen Shared her vacation, which became A Little Needle Felted Landscape

Maureen Shared her vacation, which became A Little Needle Felted Landscape

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I know some of us are very lucky to live near an active guild.  Many fibre arts people don’t have that source of fibre friends and inspiration. One of our guild members was on a road trip. She kindly brought us along vicariously through her posted shots.  Some were of the spots where she had stopped and spun yarn. One of the shots she shared with the guild particularly caught my eye.  It was a good composition, but the tilt of the horizon bothered me.  I could fix that…..

the original photo of Maureen’s Vacation spinning picture “spinning in front to the Arches at Arches Provincial Park”. not the odd tilt of the horizen. 1) Maureen’s Vacation spinning picture “spinning in front to the Arches at Arches Provincial Park”

Tuesday, July 09th: I was at the Kanata Games Club on Tuesday night, Glenn was busy and I had wool, a nametag size piece of green wool, needles, and scissors, now where is my felting mat and the fine Sharpie I thought I had?  Ok give me a minute, I know where the dollar store is, just down the hill from the gaming. It’s a bit too far to go with the walker, but really close by car. I was back with a garden foam kneeling pad and 3 fine sharps (and snacks) by 6:30 pm.

one print out of the photo to use as a template and another few to use as reference. i have croped the picknick table and some of the width mostly trees2) 6:30-ish pm at the Kanata Games Club.

The piece of green I had grabbed was a bit shorter in length than I wanted. It was also not as rectangular as I would have liked. It’s wool, So not a problem!!! I just added more wool fibre to make it the size I needed.  A bit of work with the Clover multie-needle tool and I had a solid felt base the size I wanted.

I am again using the template method of image transfer and a bit of divine editing of the angle of the horizon.

template method; cutting out the sky then using the remaining image to mark the sky, i have flatened the horizen so the picture is now on a slight angle. i did not add reference marks since the image fit over the felt i was working on. that will come back to hont me later.3) Cutting off the sky and then straightening the Horizon.

sky and horizen in, fixing not squaire felt base 4) Straitened the horizon, and squared up the short corner of felt.

cutting the next section of the photo out and then adding the sea5) cutting the next section out and then adding the sea

Cutting out the rock and the next section of ocean.6) Cutting out the rock and the next section of the ocean.

Continuing to cut away a section of the photo, draw in the new edge then felt in the open area7) Continuing to cut away a section of the photo, draw in the new edge then felt in the open area

I am not the fastest of feltres, this is about 3.5 hours.  Glenn has just finished his gaming and it is time for me to pack up and head home. I am pleased with the progress so far.

 

Wednesday, July 10th:

Resumed felting, ……time for a break, I got over-focused on felting.  Where did I put the camera? On drat, I missed a big chunk of time,  I had better stop for a photo break.

Continuing to cut out a section, then use sharpie to denote the edge, then add wool. replacing the remaining picture to check angles.8.1-8.2) Continuing to cut out a section, then use a sharpie to denote the edge, then add wool.

Laying over the un-felted space with the remains of the reference photo, to see how the image is coming along. You can also see that I have stuck the wool mat in a heavy freezer zip-lock bag. It has not entirely kept the fiber from transferring but the migration has been reduced drastically. This is the third name tag/ picture I have been working with the green base wool on this wool pad. I have been using the same side of the pad but now have rotated the plastic bag. I should last till the end of this picture then I will likely change it for another freezer bag. If you are curious let me know and we can investigate this further, looking into ways to reduce wool transfer to your work surface.

9) My Reference image is now on the computer, note zip lock baggie with all pieces that have been cut out so far.9) My Reference image is now on the computer, note the zip lock baggie with all the pieces that have been cut out so far. it’s above the Right corner of the felting.

I now have my reference image up on the computer, as I am working while waiting for Marie, from Texas, to start Wooly Wednesday on YouTube. You can see the parts of the image I have already cut off in a zip lock baggie so I can refer to them if I need to. (such as the area at the top left where I still need to add a tree in front of the water I have already felted.

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 10.1-10.2) This felting experience was enhanced by the nibbling of blackberries,  just make sure your fingers are clean before getting back to the wool. note the Sharpie it’s double ended (Fine and Extra fine tip)

I am now adding the outline for the right arm. In addition, note the double-ended sharpie (Fine/Extra Fine), and the heavy zip lock bag over my wool felting mat is reducing the amount of wool wanting to transfer into the pad. Blackberries are also very inspirational but don’t let them change the colour of your fingers and then your wool.

the arm is in11) Arm is in

adding shorts12) adding shorts

this is about at 10.5 hours13) This is about 10.5 hours

I still have a lot of detail work to do adding all the flowers a bit more edge defining and tree extensions. But I am quite pleased so far. Time for bed.

 

Thursday;  Finished writing my blog post for the 14th and started writing this one. Ok, I am as slow at writing, as I am at felting. (I did wind up writing about Ann’s Name tag before getting back to finish this one.)

 

Monday, July 15h: I brought the little landscape in to get Ann’s opinion. She said it looked like Maureen’s hair was curly I will try to fix that. I also consulted on the sheep name tag I was making for her.

picture in zip lock bagie, held on to shelf by a magnaet.14) Waiting for a consultation with Ann and I was working on her sheep name tag

I worked a little bit on Wednesday and got the tree in the top left corner blocked in. as you will see when I got back to work at the social. I like to be able to put a piece down and think about what I want to do next, decide on my options and then look at it again with fresh eyes and Reassess.

 

Monday, July 22nd:

By this point, it’s getting down to details and finishing touches. You can’t tell but in person, the straw yellow is not as embedded and solid as it looks in the photo.

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15.1-15.2) Assessing the progress I have made so far.

I have added a bit of a suggestion of wildflowers and fussed with the green undertones but something is not yet right.

Helping your brain to not just look, but see what it’s looking at can be challenging.

When you are working and get to the point you are unsure, it may be that your eye and your brain are arguing.

The eye says “this is what I am looking at” and the brain says “I know what a tree looks like! I don’t have to look at another tree” There are a few ways to help the brain pay attention and actually see what it is looking at. Here are a few I learned while painting but can be applied to felting too (which is painting with wool).

  • Use a mirror to look at your felt image. By reversing the image, it gives a fresh perspective and often you can see a proportion or angle that is not quite right.
  • Photography (camera, cell phone, iPad); look at the felt image as a digital image. You often will spot something off in the photo you did not notice in the work. You can also digitize the image you are working from. It lets you scroll in close to part of the painting to see details,
    • see the image in black and white or
    • oversaturate the image with colour to see hidden colours.
  • rotate your image and reference until it’s upside down (inverted). It becomes easier to see negative space and spatial relationships when the image is not looked at in the usual way.
  • Set your work and image look at it sitting vertically (on an easel or propped up against something so you are not looking down at it) Step back and look at the work.
  • Take a break, go do something else. Come back with “Fresh eyes”.

16) ways to help your brain see what you are looking at 16) ways to help your brain see what you are looking at

Remember that it’s your image, it doesn’t have to be exactly the same unless you want it to be. You can be the god of your landscape and move a tree, make a shrub shorter or fuller or remove it. Do you feel the image needs more sky? Then add it. As long as the image makes sense  (no double points of light sources unless you are on an alien planet with 2 suns) it will be believable. You are unlikely to hang the photo reference beside your finished piece, so move a tree if it offends you. If you are working on a portrait, you have to be a bit more accurate. Then use the above suggestions to help get as close as you can to the original.

I have put my piece aside, so I can think about it and see the image with fresh eyes before I finish the fine details. So I have switched to work on another little project for Ann. (which you  have seen; https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2024/07/24/name-tag-sneaky/ .) Next time i will show you what i find and how i fix it. Have fun and keep felting!!

 

Making a cover for a teapot handle and July’s page is done.

Making a cover for a teapot handle and July’s page is done.

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I have a teapot I really like, it has good balance and is easy to pour from.  I like it, except that it has a metal handle that gets hot resting on the teapot.

I decided to make a cover for the handle. I did it for another teapot years ago. Here is the link to it https://feltingandfiberstudio.com/2016/07/18/a-busy-week-2/

 

I made 4 thin layers. 2 thicker ones would have been good for this small project but I can’t layout thicker without really working on it. I got a nice firm felt at 50% shrinkage.

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Once it was the right size, I rolled it into a tube to dry. The silk pops  so nicely once it is dry

Rolled up to dry
Dry tube ready to go

The only thing left is to sew it onto the teapot. I used some thick, black cotton thread and whip stitched it on

And here it is.

The funny thing in the lid handle is part of the original messy background I couldn’t get rid of. I made a cup of tea right after finishing and it worked perfectly, no more burnt fingers.

The other thing I finished today is my July Page of slow stitch on felt. No hidden meanings this month, just some random designs.

 

 

 

Close up of green nuno felt background with foreground stems stitched in place and orange petals completely stitched for center flower.
Progress on Indian Paintbrush Landscape

Progress on Indian Paintbrush Landscape

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I have been slowly stitching down the applique flower pieces for my Indian Paintbrush landscape piece. You can see prior steps here.

Drawn design on tracing paper with cut applique pieces next to nuno felt background with distant flowers laid in place.

I started by laying out the background flower applique pieces for distant flowers. I still haven’t decided if there is more stitching needed for stems and leaves. I’m waiting until I have the foreground flowers in place. I don’t want to add too much detail to the background.

Green nuno felt background with orange flower petals stitched in place with random straight stitches.

I used very simple straight stitching to adhere these small flowers. I purposely made the stitches longer than the fabric as Indian Paintbrush have a frayed edge. I tried to make the stitches random sizes and directions.

Green nuno felt background with foreground stems stitched in place and two orange petals stitched for center flower.

Next up was to add the center flower. I went ahead and added the two stems on the right side to make sure I had the flowers in the right place. All of the placement of applique pieces was done by eye. I didn’t try to mark where they were to go as the markings usually tend to stay when I don’t want them to. I appliqued the cotton organdy applique pieces in place with small stitches, a very fine needle, and one strand of cotton floss.

Green nuno felt background with foreground stems stitched in place and four orange petals stitched for center flower.

Then it was a matter of continuing to add pieces and stitching them in place. I listen to podcasts while I’m doing hand stitching as it is definitely “slow stitch”.

Green nuno felt background with foreground stems stitched in place and orange petals completely stitched for center flower.

The center flower is now completely stitched down.

Close up of green nuno felt background with foreground stems stitched in place and orange petals completely stitched for center flower.

Here’s a closer view of the flower and the stitching. It’s possible that I could add more detailed stitching over the top of the foreground flowers but I haven’t decided yet. I should have made a sample so I could try out some different ideas but I forgot and I don’t think I have any more green silk for a sample piece. That’s what I get for not planning enough!

Recent Shopping

Recent Shopping

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I have a confession to make…. I love to shop for craft supplies and love a bargain.  This had lead to some more items being added to my stash in the past few weeks.

Recently our guild had a destash sale that was combined with our Monday guild social.  Of course I found a few treasures to adopt.  The top right bag is wool roving dyed by one of the ladies in our guild.  The other bags are all silks.  (The bottom right is 200g of silk.  The small baggies are batts of carded sari silk.  And the white bag at top left is silk lapp.)  There will be many hours of fun from this pile of fibre.  I may even try to dye that white silk.

Wool roving and sari silk from the guild destash
Wool roving and sari silk from the guild destash

I also went to Value Village and found a couple of items to adopt.  The prefelt fabric was intriguing.  It may be for upholstery or sewing.  But it seemed like it had possibilities and so got put in my cart.  The bags of yarn were a nice bargain.  The top bag is Lion Brand Scarfie that I plan to weave with.  The bottom bags are random fizz accent yarns that will also find their way into my weaving projects.

I was browsing Ravelry and spotted someone selling a copy of this book about plain weave.  The title is Plain Weave (60 Patterns for Mastering the Basic Technique) by Tina Ignell.  I had never heard of this book and I was intrigued.  My Saori looms have 2 harnesses and so I do a lot of plain weave.  I ended up buying a copy of this book from Amazon and it arrived very quickly.  I haven’t had a chance to really dive into the book yet.  But at first glance it is a beautiful book with a nice clean layout.

Last weekend we went to London Ontario to visit our families.  We carved out a bit of time (in between visits) for me to pop into a local yarn store called London Yarns.  Of course I found a few more treasures that wanted to come home with me.  All the balls of yarn were on sale and only the 2 skeins in the photo were regular priced yarns.  I think I did all right.

18 balls of yarn
Sale yarns from London Yarns (in London Ontario)

My CH60 Saori loom is currently empty.  Once I put a new warp put on it, I am sure that some of these new yarns will be finding their way onto the loom.  New materials provide so many possibilities and spark creative thinking.  I think that is why I love shopping for supplies.

 

finished rag weave material
About that ‘groove’ …

About that ‘groove’ …

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In April I talked about getting my groove back and trying something new.  Groove, rut, six of one, half dozen of the other, right?  Not really.  I had the opportunity to purchase a large quantity of pre-cut jersey rags from the Guild.  Bright yellow was perfect for a summer project and perfect to get me moving again.

The project is all done.

The final weigh-in is 2.5 kilos or 5 pounds.  Right now it needs to rest for a few days.  The plan is to do some minor repairs because there are always small repairs and then decide what to do with the material.

finished rag weave material

Some of the repairs are very small, just need a clip,

Some need a bit more of a reweaving and inspection.

And some really came as a surprise.  I must have been asleep at the switch with this one, but it’s totally fixable and I’ll take care of it.

Once I had used up all the rag I was left with too much warp thread for me to comfortably cut the threads and I was sure there was more to be made from this fibre. Weavers are known for being economical (aka cheap).  The work needed in warping a loom is significant and I hate wasting the time and the fiber.

So I found a bobbin of deep blue cotton and gave it a try. And I liked it, so now the warp is used not just for rags, but for cotton as well.

simple twill weave for cotton cushion cover

The final product is enough to make a great cushion cover or bag, or table drape, or maybe a project bag.  Lots of potential for this fabric. It’s surprisingly thick just as it sits without finishing.  So once it’s been washed it will be even fluffier and more dense.

finished cotton twill for cushion cover    Hem stitched finished edge on woven cushion cover

I did try hem stitching the edge and found it is not my strong suit.  But I’ll keep practising and someday I’ll be happy with the final result.

For now, everything is resting; me included.  The fibres need to come back into their original shape and that takes a bit of time.  I need to do the repairs and inspection of the final product and tie off all loose ends before it goes into the laundry.  Then I’ll see where I go after that.

I may want to leave the huge 7-meter piece for a display our guild is having this fall at a museum, but I’ll talk to our curator about that first. So many decisions, and so much fun for the next project.   Thinking of doing a linen table runner, never tackled one of those.

 

sheep name tag with no name yet
Name Tag: Sneaky

Name Tag: Sneaky

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Someone mentioned that her name tag was really old and missing. I can’t seem to narrow down what I want to do, so let me look at replacing the missing tag for Ann. Now I hope I can finish it before she finds her old name tag!

Hum, what might Ann like? Sheep!  Ok, off to Google Image to see if I can find an interesting sheep. What kind of sheep might she like? The Sheep Ann has are mostly mixed with Rideau Arcott (developed at the Animal Research Centre, Ottawa, Canada), but I have heard her say she likes black sheep. Ok, let’s look for “black sheep”, “Sheep in barn door”, and  “sheep and wall”.

There was a profile photo of a Black Icelandic-looking sheep, which was very striking.

profile of Icelandic looking sheep with horn and nondescript background.4 seep in barn doorway, i sheep in old wooden doorway sheep in white painted doorway1.1) Icelandic sheep in profile. 1.2) sheep in barns

 It did not have as interesting background as I would have liked. Ann likes purples so maybe I could do a sort of purple sunset? After looking through many sheep, I narrowed it down to about 6 options but came back to the black Icelandic in profile.

Ann had mentioned that she found the nametag pieces I had cut were too big. So I should stiffen the background and then reduce the size.  To firm up the odd green felt I added more white wool (Corriedale). When I cut the nametag down, you can see the path of the needle, as it pushes the white fibre into the green felt.

wool base with white wool added then cut in half showing insertion of white wool into the green felt. 2) Showing the wool being pushed through the felt

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3.1) adding more white wool to hide the cut (front View) 3.2) Adding a bit more wool to heal the cut edge (Back view).

two sizes of sheep image compared ageist size of name tag4) Now to decide the scale of the image, to the size of the tag.

As usual, I am working from the background towards the front. In this image, there are only 2 plains, the background and the sheep! Again, I am using the template technique, which you have seen me use before.

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5.1-5.2) Starting to add a background. background blocked in.

background blocked in, used sharpie to outline face (and shadow under chin)6) Background sort of blocked in, using a sharpie to outline the face and position the eye,  let’s see if can make a sheep

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7.1-7.3) Adding the sheep starting with the head, and horn and then adding the body.

Not sure about the shadow under the chin, but let’s block in the horn, and come back to the shadow. As i worked i kept asking Ann for her input. She didn’t seem to suspect i was making this for her.

As you have likely noticed, I often have issues with keeping 2D flat….. so I am making an ear…..a sheep needs an ear!

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8.1) making a black ear 8.2) ear attached

Oh drat,  good ear-age makes the horn look flat…. Got to fix that. I need to add more wool to create a more substantial horn to go with the ear. And the head is getting lost in the body…. Lest sift it lighter.

3D ear and horn9)  Now we have a 3-D ear and Horn that looks better.

I added a magnet to the back so she didn’t need to have a safety pin or sew-on pin.

adding magnet disk behind small pice of comertal wool10)  Adding a magnet by sewing a small pocket of commercial felt to the tag.  The second magnet is in the background.

I went back, added a bit more detail, and got rid of the shadow that had been under his chin.  now he might be looking back towards you, rather than ahead.

changed the sheep body to a lighter colour11) that looks better, no chin shadow, lighter coat

OH NO! Ann Found her old name tag but said it was looking a bit ratty and needed to make another one!! I need to felt faster!!!  she has seen what I am working on but doesn’t seem to have guessed I am trying to make a name tag for her!

Ann's old name tag 12) Ann’s old name tag had been found

I could not find a yarn that worked. But Ann offered a bit of her handspun yarn. Now What font?  “Ann” in Harrington font might work, it has a nice Art Neuvoue feel.

"Ann" in Harrington Font13) Ann in Harrington font which feels very Art Neuvoue

It’s hard to fit letters when the tag is smaller but let’s see if I can fit all of them. I had a few guild members wander over to see what I was felting but had my hand over part of the name. Maybe I am going with Jan with 2 N’s? Good thing we share letters!!

added Name "Ann"14) Ann’s Name tag done!

I hope I have not spoiled her fun by making her own name tag.

Ann trying out her new name tag15) She did seem to be surprised. I hope she will like it.

I was trying to complete this before Ann found her lost, older name tag, and felted much faster than I usually do.  I usually pause, and debate options as I am working. I can already see a few tweaks I would like to do. I wonder if I can borrow it, for a quick touch-up?

Up Date 07/22/2024:

Ann’s name tag, before getting back to work.16) Ann’s name tag, before getting back to work.

I borrowed Ann’s Name tag when she arrived at the guild social and got back to work.

First I edged part of Ann’s letters in white, to help subtly pop the name. I checked in with Ann again and she wanted me to change the angle on the “A” crossbar. I can do that!

“A” crossbar re-angled at Left baser and added white edging shadow.17) “A” crossbar re-angled at Left baser and added white edging shadow.

Now,  I need to add a bit more 3d-ness to face, and add a bit more shadowing on the horn.

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18.1) – edging on letters added, nest to build up forehead, bridge of nose and nose. 18.2) adding dimension to forehead, losing ear, will fix that shortly.  18.3) – ear fixed head showing more depth.  18.4) added fiber to forehead, front edge of the sheep face and nose. then added a bit of dark to the horn as well as make it a bit firmer. I also straitened the horizon.

There that looks a bit better! Time to check with Ann,

Ann inspecting updated name tag 19.1) She Likes It!!!

Ann inspects 3D sheep head19.2)  Much more 3D!

I hope Ann and her sheep will be happy and she can use it at socials, Demos and workshops!

Now that I have made a name tag for  Glenn and one for Ann do I have a better idea of one for me or will I pick on someone else next?

 

Working on my new blending board.

Working on my new blending board.

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I finally bought a blending board. I have wanted one for a while and was hoping for a second-hand one. One finally showed up, Yay! Patience pays off, well, it’s more being frugal(cheap) than being patient. I wanted one because rolags are my preferred preparation for spinning. I took it to the guild one day, along with a big bag of fibre some sari silk and some sparkle.

I started with some purply blue and lilac purple. I added some pink and purple sari silk. I think it’s called royal robes. I think I added some sparkle but not much. Here it is on the blending board. I added more of the blue-purple on top before rolling it off.

purple and pink fibres on a blending board

Here is what the rolag looks like

And here it is spun up as a single. I will wind it off and ply it.

Next was some red with yellow sari silk blend and some pink sparkle

This is the rolag

Next is some dark blue-green. It’s one of my favourites. I have some dye in this colour called mallard green. I don’t think that’s what World of Wool calls it though. I forgot to take a picture of it until I had taken one rolag off. I get 3 from the board per colourway. I was enjoying myself, hence forgetting to take a picture. It looks like I added some yellow and a different green. I am not sure I haven’t spun it yet.

At this point, I was having too much fun and I forgot to take any more pictures until the end. Here are the rolags all together

The light blue and the light purple are pretty close to being opposites. I just switched the base colours.

You saw the blue/purple and light purple above but I have also done the light blue light purple one. I am not very fussy about it when plyed. Partly, I think it is because “baby” shades are not colours I like much. This mix looks muddy to me.  I was trying to go outside my usual colours.

I am currently working on the opposite one. I like it well enough in the single, it is much less even on the colour split so I think it will be nicer when plyed.

I don’t know if I will do the red or green next. First I have to finish this one and do the plying.

 

Green nuno felt with applique cutouts in place to create Indian Paintbrush largest foreground flower.
Indian Paintbrush Applique Process

Indian Paintbrush Applique Process

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I have started working on the green nuno felt that I showed you several weeks ago.

Nuno felted green silk with highlights of orange.

Here’s where I left off and you will see that I eventually turn this piece so that the orange bits were at the top instead of the bottom.

Fabric and photos laid out on work surface before beginning applique process.

I looked through my stash to see what fabric I had that would work with my inspiration photos of Indian Paintbrush. I have tons of photos that I have taken of wildflowers so I printed out some that were closer and some that were farther away.

Green nuno felt beside tracing paper and scaling photos of Indian Paintbrush flowers on copy machine.

Next, I needed to scale the foreground flowers up a bit. I do that on my copy machine and then use the photos to trace the design on to tracing paper.

Light box with photo of Indian Paintbrush and tracing paper on top. Partially drawn design with pencil.

I use my light box to trace the design on to the tracing paper.

Green nuno felt beside tracing paper with Indian Paintbrush flowers designs drawn in pencil.

Here’s the design beside the background nuno felt. I have turned it around so the orange is towards the top and further in the background to represent more flowers.

The next step is to copy the designs on to freezer paper. I picked out which petals I wanted to be a darker orange and transferred the petal shapes on to freezer paper. I decided to leave the edges of the fabric raw when I appliqued them down since Indian Paintbrush have ragged edges. Therefore, if there’s fraying, it’s not a big deal.

Then I cut out the flower shapes, some in darker orange and some in lighter orange. The fabric is all hand dyed so it has color changes throughout and looks more natural for flowers. I then peeled off the freezer paper to see what the flower would look like on the background. At some point, I decided to leave the freezer paper in place as it was preventing too much fraying before I started stitching the pieces down.

Green nuno felt covered by tracing paper and applique cutouts in place to create Indian Paintbrush flowers.

Here are all the pieces in place over the tracing paper which is laid on top of the nuno felt. I haven’t decided if I need to add anything else or not. I think I will stitch the small flowers down on the background and then lay out all the foreground flowers and decide if it needs other flowers or grass or… More to come!

Detail of Young Fuchsia by Kiki Peruzzi. An abstract woman dressed in red is holding a green leaf, on grey background.
Felting books. The Gormenghast series.

Felting books. The Gormenghast series.

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Or maybe I should say “Felting something inspired by books“: that is what I would like to talk about with you today, although the other one also gives me a few ideas, now that I think about it. Maybe we could launch a year-long challenge on “Felting a book” or, better probably, “Textiling a book” to keep it completely inclusive, but then I guess Ruth would be already done with her Book of Edgar (here is a link where you can see it at the end of the post) and Ann with her Year Journal of felted pages (this is her last page).

Oh well, let’s go back to books as inspiration.

I usually do not get inspired by books for visual art, because, I don’t know, they often seem two different realms, unless the book is actually about embroidery or textile art or art in general. But I tend to read a lot. I mean a LOT, that is my main hobby and I manage to squeeze reading into most chores as well, to make the most of boring time such as washing up or ironing. I am a Humanities type through and through, and that is where I come from in terms of education as well. This whole part is to explain why I got to felt a whole series of textile works on a book that I was reading, as my experience of the book (or rather five books all linked together!) in question was so immersive, reading it by day and night for weeks.

First of all, the novels are massive and are called The Gormenghast series, by Mervyn Peake, or simply Gormenghast for its friends.  (Here is the link to the wikipedia link.) It is actually a long fantasy trilogy, to which a fourth book was added after the author’s death, and it is such a sprawling, flooding and never-ending series that one would not know where to start to talk about its plot and characters.

Great part of it is set in the place giving the name to the series, which is Castle Gormenghast, a maze of a place, more resembling an endless palace-city than a castle as its name states.

The series is a bewildering succession of unlovable characters, full of foibles and quirks, and quite often motivated by less-than-honourable drives, acting in loads of ways up to and including murder in some bizarre fashion (“eaten by owls” rather comes to mind as one of the most bizarre). I could not find a single character that was appealing to me, to tell you the truth, I just could not like any of them. I get it that it has its own fans and quite a following, but I am not one of them.

So, why did I start felting works on its characters or scenes from it? did I just waste my time reading it?

Well, it is maybe the first time that I find a novel that really I can’t stand at all, but that impresses such vivid imagines in my mind’s eye: Gormenghast is all about flamboyant and often weird visual descriptions, its author himself was a visual artist and illustrator, his work was all imbued with visual imagery that just pops out of the page in his writing. I could just see all of those in my head, and could not help feeling that I had to create something to get rid of them. Have you ever had the same feeling over an artwork, that it just needs to be done so you can go on to something else?

So, I got to work as soon as possible and with a vengeance (so to speak), trying to complete the first one, and then all the others that came after it while I was going on reading the rest of the series to the end. Don’t ask why I kept reading it, although I did not like it..I guess in part it was also because I kept thinking “Oh, this would make a good felt artwork, actually! And this one..I wonder how to create this visually in felt..”

My first one was about Barquentine, a priest-like figure, stomping around with his red official rags, wooden leg and a very bad character, imposing the never-ending rituals and rules of Gormenghast to everybody. He ends up dead, in a bad way, as a lot of the characters. Oh well, I did not like him anyway.

I started by preparing a grey base layer, lightly prefelted, on which to work, and a prefelt of reds for Barquentine’s dress and greys for the Castle background.

On a table covered in a white towel and bubblewrap, a grey prefelt already wetted and soaped and a small rectangular mound of red and grey fibers ready for pre-felting
The base for the background is lightly pre-felted, and the wool for the dress is ready for pre-felting.

I wanted the Castle to be a very present background in my work, as Barquentine is all about the Castle, its eternal presence defying time and rot, its inevitability in the lives of the Castle’s ruling family, the Groans, and their subjects. So, I decided to set a background that I imagined as the grim stony Castle’s Banquet Hall or any of the grim stony corridors around the Castle, of which there were kilometers I suppose, or some such.

I used a mix of merino dyed and undyed wool fiber and Corriedale, and rectangular or square shapes cut from the lightly prefelted merino wool made previously and other prefelt from my stash, all in tones of grey with a few accents of reddish-brown and pewter. Perspective did not interest me in this, as those bigger-than-life characters tend to pop out of the background anyway, if I am making sense. The central strip of reddish-brown prefelt could be the Banquet Hall table seen at a distance, maybe, or maybe something else, you choose.

Background in wool fiber and pre-felt for the artwork Barquentine by Kiki Peruzzi
The background for Barquentine laid out but not wetted yet.

Finally, I assembled Barquentine’s body shape and rags dress on the background. I choose to make Barquentine’s body in black, not because the character is actually described as so, but because he dies in a fire and I felt that a symbolic character such as him should have an abstract streamlined body. I wanted to have his claw-like hand kind of pointing at something wrong or other, and I wanted him to go away from us towards the Castle in his wobbling gait, underlining his wooden leg with a few strands of shiny red eri silk fiber (his wooden leg is very central to him).

I decided to partly shape and partly shred the red prefelt, adding touches of red and grey wool as needed for the rags, and I scattered some brilliant red napps on it as well.

On a table with a white towel and bubblewrap there is a felt artwork in progress at the assembling stage, with a grey background and a black abstract shape resembling a man with a red dress.
Assembling Barquentine’s body and dress on the background.

Some of the napps did not felt in properly in the end, but enough stayed put that it was fine by me.

Detail of Barquentine's red dress with red napps on red and grey wool
Barquentine’s dress with the remaining napps: they were enough to make the rags more brilliantly red.

 

A brick wall with grey and reddish bricks.
Some kind of colour reference for the background of Barquentine.
A detail of background with grey and reddish shapes in the felted artwork Barquentine by Kiki Peruzzi
Background detail for “Barquentine”.

I quite liked how this came out after wetting, soaping, rubbing and lightly rolling:

Wet Felted artwork Barquentine by Kiki Peruzzi. There is an abstract shape of a man in the foreground on grey background.
My finished “Barquentine”.

 

Detail of Barquentine's black claw-like hand in artwork by Kiki Peruzzi
Detail of Barquentine’s hand in black wool.

 

Detail of Barquentine's wooden leg in black wool and red eri silk.
Barquentine’s wooden leg tumping tumping tumping around, looking for faults.

I eventually went on to wet felt six other Gormenghast themed abstract artworks, all of them quite small: they are 7 in all, of which 5 are on characters and 2 are about meaningful scenes of the series.

Wet felted abstract artwork Young Fuchsia by Kiki Peruzzi. There is a human shape in the foreground resembling a woman with black hair and a red dress, on a grey background.
“Young Fuchsia” was one of the best characters in the series, especially when young, interested in nature and imaginative, impulsive as her red dress.
Wet felted artwork Countess Gertrude by Kiki Peruzzi. There is a black dressed woman shape, with long red hair piled up on her head, filling up most of the space, on a grey and green background.
Bigger than life “Countess Gertrude” with her towering hair hiding birds (yes) and her enormous black dress (I used a scrap of silk scarf).
Wet felted artwork Steerpike by Kiki Peruzzi. An abstract human shape with very white face, big eyes and red hands, in grey clothes, on a grey background.
Hateful and hating “Steerpike” a murderous fellow who comes to a bad end, but not before having killed a few and taken horrible injuries to his hands.
Wet felted artwork Nanni Slagg by Kiki Peruzzi. There is the shape of the head of a person on the bottom half and a big hat shape in the center of the artwork on a grey and brown background.
“Nannie Slagg” , overfond of her enormous hat with the green glass grapes (I used green sari silk for them, and a mix of Alpaca Camel Merino and Mulberry silk for the hat), and useless otherwise. She is likely going to fetch a wet nurse for the newborn Groan heir.
Wet felted artwork In the Oak Forest by Kiki Peruzzi. A white human shape is on the right in front of a green and brown background resembling a thick forest.
“In the Oak Forest” the young protagonist glimpses The Thing in a faithful occasion: this meeting will drive him to leave Gormenghast, eventually. The oppressive closeness of the ancient oaks and the ethereal ghostly appearance of The Thing (in undyed rose fiber) are what this episode is all about.
Wet felted artwork Tenth Birthday by Kiki Peruzzi. It is a nocturnal scene with a white moon on a very dark background. There are four shapes, a sheep a lion a wolf and a horse with a pink hat.
“Tenth Birthday” is about a momentous occasion in the protagonist’s life, when an elaborate ritual is carried out at Gormenghast to mark his coming into his full powers as Count of Gormenghast. It involved a weird theatrical performance by animal shapes on stilts over a lake in the night. Eri silk for the moon, and tussah silk for the lion’s purple mane (don’t ask, it was never explained).

I could not wait to finish them and go on to other things, although at the same time I would not want to not have made them at all, I felt that I needed to create them and I hope that anyone who has read Gormenghast will understand and see something true in them.

Has it ever happened to you something similar, not liking a book but being driven to creating artwork on it? Please, share your experiences in the comments, and thanks for reading!