walker piled high with project bags of felting, and stuff to work on the OVWSG library.
The Mer’s Preparing for the 75th Anniversary Exhibition Part 1

The Mer’s Preparing for the 75th Anniversary Exhibition Part 1

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First let me wish everyone a Happy Equinox!!  A day of perfect balance, and tomorrow with the slow waning of the sun, more inspiration to felt something worm and cozy. or look to the fun of Halloween for inspiration during the extending darkness! (if you had asked my cat, both the Solstice and Equinoxes were the Pur-fect excuse to demand tuna juice for breakfast while watching the sun rise. i miss her and her tuna based celebrations.)

There is continuing busyness at the local weavers and spinners (and felters) guild, as we celebrate the guilds 75th anniversary. This time we are getting ready for the Exhibition at the Mississippi valley Textile Museum, running from October to December 2024. The call for submissions went out and the forms were downloaded. Now the hard part what to pick from 35 years of being a member of the guild?

I started as a weaver when I first joined the guild in the late 1980’s. by 1996 I had found a spinning wheel and got distracted. I returned to felting (now mostly dry felting) by 2000. Throughout that time, I also made baskets, intermittently. (I even made a hand made broom!)  This gives quite a few options for what to submit…. Drat! limit of 3 items. Ok that narrows it down a lot.

I was requested to submit Mr Mer as part of the proposal so I will have to send him. But he is only part of the Mer-Family group, I think I should finish the three Mer’s, that are almost done.  Then I can see if I can complete Miss. Mer who is the only one who needs quite a bit of work. OH no!! she is not in the project bag i thought she was in! i bet she is out partying with friends, maybe in the living room?

Let’s see what is left to do, for the three that are where they should be.

Item #1 Mer Family and pets (Miss Mer is not yet done)

Mr. Mer

Mr. Mer needs his Norther Pike spots. I bought silk from Monika at the Olive Sparrow to use for that. It was a small bag of silk hankies in this perfect colour of greenish yellow.   I pulled thin long bits off the silk hankies. Then tacked them down and cut the length with sharp embroidery scissors (technically they should be called felting scissors since they don’t actually do any cutting of embroidery threads). To help reduce the hard edge to the little bars of spots, I layed over thin wisps of the under greens from Mr. Mer’s Fish parts.

The bar-spots are on the fish body and up his lower back. His glutes and part of his hamstrings were not spotted, he would not want to distract from his most fabulous feature, his butt.

MR. Mer shows off his new fisshy spots (the spots were bits of silk hankie)1.1  Mr Mer shows off his new fishy-spots

Close up of tail and wast spots. (Silk Hankie)1.2 Close up of tail and wast spots.

He also got his Necklace, arm ring and beads. You can see he had decided to bring his Quatrefoil (a trident has only 3 points but his has 4).  He seems very pleased with his accessories. (If the weapon seems to violent I could send his Tennis racket and tennis ball?)

 

Shark Boy

Next young Master Mer needs hair and eyes. Shark boy had decided to emulate the drummer from Buck Tick,  Yagami Toll, with his fabulous high Mohawk hair style (Yes you should google that as a hair style option!). After much consideration of the fiber I had selected for him, he picked two bundles of locks also from the Olive sparrow. One with Prussian blues and greys the other with greys blues and browns. Both went extremely well with the colours of his Shark body. He was rather insistent he wanted his Mohawk to be even taller and that it should echo the fin of his hammerhead shark parts.

The locks were wonderfully soft to the touch, which would be wonderful for spinning or long flowing hair.  Unfortunately the options of hair jell or glue rinses, seemed likely not to hold up to any future swimming he might like to do. An under armature and support would be required to give him the amount of impressive uplift requested.

This may be a bit hard to envision so lets take a look at what actually happened.

Grey felted crescent  for base of Mohawk2.1 Grey felted crescent  for base of Mohawk

I started by felting a small crescent to help support all the hair. I had to get the inner curve to match Shark boys’ head.

Checking the crescent with the curvature of the head. 2.2 Checking the crescent with the curvature of the head.

Once I had the curve correct, I would still need more strength. I used a few floral wire pieces to give that extra strength and help adhere the felt crescent to his head. (warning: don’t look at the next picture if you are squeamish of mer surgery!!)

inserting the flora wire through the crescent and into shark boy’s head. (This I a supplemental armature and is not attaching to the full armature.)2.3 inserting the flora wire through the crescent and into shark boy’s head. (This I a supplemental armature and is not attaching to the full armature.)

adding more floral wires to help support the hair2.4 adding more floral wires to help support the hair.

I found the wire stiffness made the insertion through the crescent and then into the head was a  bit challenging. I focused on getting the wire into the head and added extra wool to the crescent. The extra wool locked in the wire through the crescent.  To further help, with hair support and adhesion, I wrapped the wires with wool too.

I should have added a thin web of wool to give a bit more support between the spines. (the spines are steel 20 ga floral wire)2.5 I should have added a thin web of wool to give a bit more support between the spines.  (the spines are steel 20 ga floral wire)

If I have to make a Mohawk again I would use a web of wool between the spines (wrapped wire). If you remember the way I made the Mini Dragons wings you will have an idea of what I should have done.

the locks selected matched his sharky-parts very well2.61 the locks selected matched his sharky-parts very well

Now its time to add the Hair!! Lets look at the reference photo and see what we are going to work form. In case a few of you are not long-time fans of the Japanese rock band Buck Tick, this is Yagami Toll, who has inspired Shark Boy.

Yagami Toll Drummer of Buck Tick with his amazing high Mohawk hair. 2.62 Yagami Toll Drummer of Buck Tick with his amazing high Mohawk hair.

I added locks securing them to the head and base crescent. I supported one side of the hair with the other side. This was a bit more fiddly, then if I had put a web of wool between the spines. Oh well, I blame pain brain for missing that step. The final effect is still quite impressive!

Ok now its time to add eyes so he can see how handsome he looks! I used some of the blue grey from his shark body for his eyes and added a bit of dark brown as eyeliner. I made him a necklace of Moss Agate, 2mm, and a shell.  (aliexpress)

Parts for Shells and stone neckllace2.71 Parts for Shells and stone necklace

Sharkboy showing off his new hair, eyes and shell necklace2.72 Sharkboy showing off his new hair, eyes and shell necklace

Shark-boy Side View2.8 Shark-boy Side View

3/4th view  Shark-boy2.91 3/4th view  Shark-boy

back view of Shark-boy2.92 back view of Shark-boy

 

I think Sharkboy is going to be an even bigger flirt than his father!!

Thinking of Mr. Mer, I should show you how his wife is coming along, but this post is already longer than i expected. why dont i show you how fabulous Mrs. Mer Looks with her new spots and hair in the next post!! untill next time have fun and keep felting!

Felt Vessel Workshop

Felt Vessel Workshop

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I had my first workshop of the fall season last weekend. It was a fun one, Vessels. I like vessels because they do not have to fit anyone when they are done. They can go completely sideways from the original idea and still turn out great.

I had 5 lovely ladies for the day. They had a great time( or seemed to at least) and I had fun too. I love to see people marvelling at the magic of felting and go from very sceptical to amazed at what they have made.

In this class, they all started with the same round resist. Everyone always asks about size. In this case a good sized dinner plate. Very technical.

On to the pictures

Laying out the wool. I like to teach laying out 2 sides without wetting and then go back to do the wetting and wrapping. I don’t know that there is any great difference but I don’t like laying out wool on a wet resist of wet wool.

here they are wrapping one side of the wool around the resist. For those whose layouts grew a lot, we feather the wool towards the middle so it will be more even. You can see the second side waiting to be placed on top, wet down and then wrapped around.

Next, were the embellishments. This part is fun for them and me. I love to see how diverse the ideas are. I usually bring wool, handspun yarn, silk tops, throwsters waist, trilobal nylon, sari silk waist, silk hankies and locks for people to use. I seem to be missing one pot.

Then, of course, there is all the rubbing and rolling. This is the point where I usually gabb on about wool and felt, the eganomics of making felt and sheep….. and anything else that helps pass the time so there are fewer complaints about how long they have to rub or roll. It is a boring sort of thing to do, I usually listen to an audiobook.

We talked about different ways to cut open your felt to get different types of pots and how shaping can change them. one lady said she wanted a pot more like a fruit bowl shape. I suggested turning her pot into two bowls by cutting across the middle. She decided not to but it inspired 3 others to cut their pots at 1/8, 1/4 and 1/3 to get 2 pots as a set.

 

I am missing one there Not sure how that happened. Here are some pictures students sent me of the pots dry

 

Tips for taking photos of your fibre artwork Part 2 of 3: See the light!

Tips for taking photos of your fibre artwork Part 2 of 3: See the light!

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This is a guest post by Dani D. Her information is at the bottom of the post.

Hi again! Way back in February, I started a series of guest posts with tips for taking photos of your artwork. We talked about composition and telling the story, with basic tips about taking digital photographs of your textile art. It took a little longer than I expected, but I’m here to continue the series today with a key element – perhaps THE key element – in taking successful photographs. Let’s talk about light.

Light has many characteristics: the direction from which it comes, its intensity, whether it is harsh or diffuse, and its temperature will all affect how your subject looks in the photo. In this post, we’ll look at how to use available light to make flattering photos, and a few DIY hacks you can use to play with light in your photography. You’ll see that for these example photos, I’ve used samples from my summer project, weaving on rocks. It’s been fun experimenting with it.

Lighting conditions can affect colour, shadow and which details the eye is drawn to

Collage of photos with wrapped rocks.
Lighting conditions can affect colour, shadow and which details the eye is drawn to.

 

Learn to evaluate the light by noticing whether it is harsh or diffuse. Harsh light occurs when the photo subject is directly in front of the light source, like when you point a bare bulb at something or place it in direct sunlight. It makes deep, dark shadows and can wash out colour. Diffuse light happens in the shade, or near a bright window but out of the direct sun. Diffuse light is often more flattering because the contrast – the difference between the brightest and darkest parts of the photo – is reduced. Diffuse light often makes for richer, more saturated colour.

What is ambient light?

In this post, I talk a lot about ambient light. Ambient light is the light that’s already in the room, whether from electric room lights, or a window, or outside. You don’t need any fancy equipment to take well-lit photographs, as long as you learn to read and manipulate the existing light. Play with lots of different light sources to see how they affect your photo: use a lamp, move closer to the window, or move outside.

Before we talk about how to use the light, we must first ensure that there is enough light. If your light is too dim, you risk a blurry photo. Your camera / smartphone will keep the shutter open until it decides enough light has hit the sensor, but if you move even a tiny bit while the shutter is open, you will have movement blur in your photo. Or, your smartphone will try to compensate for the lack of light by raising the ISO, and a byproduct of this is a photo with a lot of noise or grain (see photos below). Ideally, always aim for the most crisp, well-lit photo you can make with no blur and no noise.

Blurry photo of wrapped rock on wooden background.
If there isn’t enough light, you may introduce blur with even the tiniest movement of your camera.

Tip #1: if you’re having trouble finding enough light indoors, try finding a spot to take your photo outside, in the shade or on a cloudy day. Or move right beside a window out of direct sunlight. The difference in ambient light indoors and outdoors is huge, though we often don’t notice it because our eyes have a much larger dynamic range than most cameras do. Photos taken outside in the shade or on a cloudy day usually have even, diffuse light. However, you may prefer the brightness of direct sunlight. Just make your choices thoughtfully.

Three wrapped rocks on wooden planks.
Photo taken in direct sunlight. Notice the harsh shadows and contrasts.
Three wrapped rocks on wooden planks.
Photo taken in open shade. Light and shadows are more even and diffuse, and also much cooler/more blue in light temperature.

When composing a photo, try varying how and where the light falls on your subject to see how it changes the story. What do you want people to notice in your photo? Harsh, contrasty light will emphasize texture and shape, where more even and diffuse light will emphasize colour and subtle designs.

Light and shadow

With light comes shadow. Shadow is good: it grounds your subject, gives it texture and helps you tell your story. However, deep contrasty shadows can be a distraction, especially when they flare out behind your subject on a plain background. To minimize harsh shadows, try to diffuse your light. You diffuse light by scattering the photons, making them approach your subject from many angles instead of just the most direct one. I’ve used everything from a piece of opaque shower curtain or sheer curtain to simply putting my hand in between a bare bulb and a subject to diffuse the light and reduce harsh shadows.

Tip #2: turn off your smartphone’s flash. The flash on your phone and the one permanently attached to even the most high-end cameras, is usually harsh and flat. It’s the difference between applying paint with a brush (using ambient light) and using a bucket to throw paint on a canvas (using the onboard flash).

Wrapped rock on white background.
Photo taken with iPhone flash – note the distracting dark shadow.
Wrapped rock on white background.
Photo taken near an open window with diffuse natural light – shadows are present but don’t compete with the subject for attention.

In an earlier post, Jan talked about setting up a lightbox. A lightbox will isolate your product or item against a white background while bathing it in diffuse light, and they’re ideal for smaller projects but not very practical for larger ones. However, you can apply the same principles by bouncing the light onto your subject instead of lighting it directly. Bounced light is also diffuse. You can bounce light onto a subject by aiming the harsh light to a light-reflective surface. You just need to tinker with the angles a bit to get it right. A piece of white typing paper or cardstock will work, and you can line one side with aluminum foil for a different effect. I have a four-in-one photography reflector that has a gold side (harshest light bounce), a silver side (moderate light bounce), an opaque white side (gentle light bounce) and a scrim (used to filter instead of bounce light). Play with different materials to see how they change the way the light hits your subject.

Light box with wrapped stones.
A slightly sloppy pull-back of a half-lightbox made of white corrugated cardboard and my ring light.

Tip #3: if you do want to invest a few dollars in a tool to improve your lighting, I really like those selfie ring lights that you can see in the lightbox photo above. The light is even and diffuse, and they usually have a range of both intensity and colour temperature. They’re also great for lighting how-to videos. Try to get your light as close to the subject as possible while still being out of the frame of your photo, as the closer the light is to the subject, the more diffuse and flattering the light.

So far in this series, we’ve talked about composition and light. They are by far the two most important principles in making attractive, effective photographs. Master these and you will elevate your photography to the next level. If you’d like to delve into a slightly more technical aspect of photography and lighting, my next and last post will be about colour temperature and white balance. Watch this space!

Dani Donders is a photographer, textile explorer, tarot reader, rock and sea glass collector, workshop leader, and Curious Crone. She lives in Ottawa, Canada.

 

An orange and yellow rhombus shaped rock with a white and black slanting mark from the upper edge towards the centre, on a background of pine cones, grass, dirt and grey rocks.
Rock inspiration! (sadly, I am not speaking about music.)

Rock inspiration! (sadly, I am not speaking about music.)

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This time I would like you to follow me on a journey of discovery of the inspiring abstract beauty of..rocks! Well, I know, rocks are often deemed quite boring in a dumb-as-dirt kind of way, but, please, bear with me, and I hope that you will come to see their weird artistic side by the end of my post.

I have a geologist dad who has always been commenting on different rocks and sedimentary formations that we could observe during our yearly holidays to the mountains. We were very lucky to have a great variety of different types to observe, apparently, as we used to live not that far from both Italian Alps and Dolomites ranges, so plenty to pick from.

In particular, Dolomia, the unique type of limestone that mainly forms the Dolomites mountains, is a beautiful white or pale grey rock that can hold fossils and lends itself to the most lovely effects at sunset: the mountains become all soft pink in a very romantic fashion. Dolomites have rightly been included in the World Heritage List for their unique beauty in 2009 (link here).

A landscape at sunset: a small ancient church on a grassy hill on the foreground on the left and in the center background mountains that are pink with the rays of the setting sun
It does not really convey the full pinkish beauty of a sunset on the Dolomites mountain range, but that is only the photographer’s fault (e.g. mine). The ancient little church on the left is the old San Bartolomeo’s church, its foundation dating to Medieval times.

Not that I have been that interested in rocks from a geological point of view, I must admit: just picking a few shiny or interesting pebbles here and there, like all kids do, that kind of stuff. My dad always tried to smuggle some pound-weighting rare pitchblende, fossil or whatever into his backpack by the end of the holiday, while mum used to complain about more rocks in the house: it was that kind of family thing.

Since I took on a new interest in art, though, I have been quite fascinated by the look of some of the rocks that I keep finding around now when I go on holiday with my own family: my husband and kids are complaining about my lugging around pebbles and rocks galore, when they are not picking up some for themselves (and who is the one hoarding rocks now, eh?). We have become that sort of family, eh eh. I pick my pieces wherever we go, but especially on the beach (usually in Norfolk, UK, where there is a huge variety of pieces and fossils, too) or in the mountains (usually in Cadore, Italy).

Because of space issues in our small flat, I now try to stick to photographing the interesting pieces, unless they are so small to be viable for transportation. And sometimes I like a composition of a few rocks together: that would be hard to take home!

I also sometimes really love brick or rock walls that I find around, and stop there observing them and thinking about how to reproduce the same combination of visually pleasing colours and shapes in felt: I know that there are many felters and fibre artists who study walls and bricks to add realism to their landscapes, so I am not the only one stopping in front of ordinary walls for half an hour and photographing them!

So, let’s have a look at some of the amazing hard stuff that I saw, and I hope that you will be inspired too!

Rocks that may inspire abstract composition:

Two white and grey rocks dotted with black circular mold formations, on a background of moss and grass, and darker rocks.
Polka dots anyone? An alien language in alien dot script? Very probable.
A rock with darker and lighter grey areas on a background of fresh and dry leaves and grass.
A sober grey on grey effect: I like the fact that it is almost like white clouds mounting up on a background of pewter stormy sky..maybe it’s only me.
A light grey rock with two greenish-orange horizontal curvy lines, on a background of dark grey rocks.
Waves? Notice the orange accents and the depth of the upper line, that is actually a dent or step on the surface. I quite like the orange detail on the very bottom right.
A very light grey rock with a smattering of black and dark grey mold formations in the center upper part.
I just liked the pattern of mold or lichens on this one, how they are variously intense: could I get a similar varied pattern with wool on an artwork?
An orange and yellow stained rock with one white and one black slanting line from the upper edge towards the center, and a wedged chip on the upper right. The background is of pine cones, light grey rocks , dirt and grass.
This is my star: how perfect is that? look at those varied and bright colours, look at the white and black paired slanting lines, look at its general rhombus shape! That’s an abstract painting in nature.
A light grey rock with faint ochre crags and fracture lines on a background of dirt, rocks and grass.
Well, this is more about cracks and fissures, and it has many: is it possibly about something rupturing? or, if you see it from another point of view, connecting lines? it does remind me of leaves and such. I wonder in how many ways you could remake it in felt.
A light grey and white rock with some green moss on a background of dirt, rocks, pine cones, moss and grass.
Two tones. It reminds me of a landscape where there is some kind of land mass at the bottom (the bigger whitish shape) and a bird of prey (think red kite or some such) soaring up there in the sky (the whitish line on the grey background), and maybe the moss could be small clouds?
An ochre and yellow rock with grey-green parts on a background of dirt and rocks and sticks.
This one has wonderful colours and reminds me of some of the backgrounds of Ruth’s artworks, with those potential different depths to build upon: I am sure that Ruth would be able to get a whole world of possibilities from a felt with those features.
A burnt stained grey rock with deep fissures on a background of other similar rocks and dirt.
I was intrigued by the mysterious deep fissures in this one, surely due to cold weather action on smaller previous cracks: how do you manage those with felt? There must be a lot of different paths to reproduce this in felt.
Moss and lichens of three different greens on a big grey rock.
I can see a lichen and moss face in here: maybe a troll who is trapped in the rock during the daylight hours? It seems sleeping.
Two rocks, a smaller white one with a black surface covered in white dots, a bigger seashell colored triangle shaped one, on a background of dirt and smaller rocks.
The rectangle, black and white, and the seashell- colored triangle, the former all dotted and the latter all scratched and with horizontal steps at the bottom. Mh, I do not know, one could do something with them.
A grey blotched rock on a background of sticks, dirt, and pine needles.
Plenty of blotches with a smattering of tiny black lichens dots: the fast pace of those blobs seemed kind of interesting, especially with the addition of the tiny black dots.
A grey rock with white and black lichen shapes on a pine needles background.
This one also is a study in lichen distribution: depending on how you rotate it, you may have a darkening effect toward the upper part or a lightening effect. I would like to observe the distribution of splotches to achieve the same natural effect on a painting, whether it is to darken its mood or lighten it.
A light grey rock with ocher and burnt yellow stains on a dirt and rocks background.
Another one that reminds me of some of the home-dying with natural dyes. I am sure that you can achieve a similar effect on felt in other ways, to use as background, I just have not tried yet, lol.
A grey rock with bright yellow green lichens in a rough square shape.
Bizarre lichens growth, it’s as if someone had come and painted a lime square shape, then elements have weathered it. I can see how this combination of light grey background and lime foreground shapes is bound to be eye-catching in an artwork or felt wearable.
Grey and brown rock in a spider web pattern with a red blotch.
It seems a spider web with a rust blotch from the centre: I wonder at its meaning..
A grey rock with lots of fissures and cracks slanting right. In the background dirt, rocks and grass.
This is pretty sharp-cut, but also organic at the same time: I like the combination, because I usually struggle with sharp-cut lines in a more organic context, and this rock has much to teach me about natural shapes. It also seems a Cubist abstract face to me..

Rocks with a sculptural element:

A very bumpy rock in grey and sienna and brown on a background of dirt, rocks and grass.
This bumpiness seems pretty interesting to make in sculptural felt, especially trying to balance the different colours.
A pinkish very craggy rock on a background of rocks, dirt and sticks.
I like the cragginess of this rock: all those fissures seem very intriguing to make in felt, a bit like a modern ceramic piece, I think about an organic sculpture.
A light tan bumpy rock with a vertical faded red paint mark and black lichen splotches.
This light tan rock seems also quite an interesting bumpy and craggy shape, with an added vertical red line from faded paint and a smattering of black lichen. I see a bigger shape on the right hugging (protecting?) a smaller shape on the left..
A pinkish bumpy and deeply fissured rock on a greenish grey rock.
This smaller pinkish rock that I placed on a bigger greenish grey one was lovely and my main problem was which side of it to photograph, as all of them were very interesting. It has deep fissures, bumps, lines and cracks, and a white inclusion that makes a curved line all around it. I am sure that one could make something visually catching with it in felt, some sculptural organic shape.

A collection of beach abstracts:

A hand holding a white and grey pebble with an orange hole on the left side and an orange curved line on the centre.
This beach pebble has an imaginative curved smudge in bright orange and an orange hole on a side: does it seem almost a fish to you? (the hole being the open mouth)
A white pebble with three parallel yellow and orange smears on a background of dark grey pebbles.
Three orange and yellow marks on a white oval: this must mean something deep.
A hand holding a black pebble with with chalk inclusions. A beach on the background.
Black and ivory abstract, with mysterious shapes.
A hand holding a greenish grey pebble with brown and red inclusions. A beach in the background.
This one reminds me of natural-dyed textiles.
A hand holding a round greenish grey pebble with reddish inclusions. On the background a sandy beach.
This pebble is like a new planet with weird gas clouds in its atmosphere: maybe a series of artworks on alien fantasy planets? surely all space fans would be happy.
A hand holding a white rock with three horizontal rust marks of increasing size. In the background a beach.
I liked how those very bold rust marks increase in size (or decrease, depending on how you look at it).
A hand holding a white pebble with concentric circle marks in dark grey and orange. In the background a beach.
Concentric circles, anyone? I really like how the darker grey fades going towards the central orange circle, giving it an interesting almost 3D effect.
A white oval pebble with a dark grey inclusion on a background of conglomerate rocks.
Modern abstract art has given us many artists exploring alphabet-like and ideogram-like marks on canvas, here we have nature answering with its mysterious marks on pebble.
A hand holding a round pebble in dark grey, pewter, rust and white.
A fashionable brooch? A pendant? A miniature abstract landscape in just a few colours, with its frame and everything? who is going to make something of this inspirational pebble on felt first?
A grey pebble with white and light yellow chalk circular inclusions on a conglomerate surface.
This grey pebble with chalk inclusions seems a good inspiration for an organic sculpture, with those white circular grooves and some yellow accents.
A white chalk pebble with a grey and yellow inclusion in the middle, on a background of small multicolored pebbles.
Two sides, two faces? A river? I do not know, but I wish a bit more depth and value changes in it, if I were to make it in felt, I think.
A hand holding a black pebble with holes and white and light yellow inclusions. A beach is in the background.
Only three colours but a lot of visual impact.
A hand is holding a whitish rock with dark grey and black holes and light rust stains. In the background a rocky beach.
And this is about holes and depressions and raised areas: plenty to think about sculpturally.

I really hope that some of my rocks and pebbles have talked to you and will drive a rock-inspired abstract artwork movement! Lol.

 

 

Active Meditation: Weaving a Couple of Shawls

Active Meditation: Weaving a Couple of Shawls

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Three years ago when I started my current job I bonded with two other ladies who had just started at the company as well.  The three of us shared many of the same interests and were a great team.  We all work from home but managed to meet up in the office or go out to lunch once in a while.  And we tried to support each other.

Recently our company had a layoff and one of our happy little Dream Team was let go.  It was a complete surprise.  I was upset.  To deal with my churning emotions I decided to pull out some yarn and make a shawl for my friend who was downsized.  This is the pile of yarn I started with.

Selection of blue and white yarns
Selection of blue and white yarns

Luckily I already had a black warp on the loom so I started winding some bobbins and then sat down to weave.  As I began to play with the colours and textures I started feeling better.  Calmer.  Happier.  More balanced.

In two sessions I wove the shawl.  Then I removed the piece laid it out for a look.  (I had woven 96″ on the loom.  After I took it off the piece measured 16.75″ x 91.5″)  Next I twisted the fringe and  sewed on a label.

Our little band of sisters had arranged to get together for lunch.  So I decided that I should make a second shawl for my other co-worker.  I went back to my stash, dug out some new yarns and set to work.  This time around I opted for oranges and rusts.  I also redid the threading of the warp to make the weaving wider.

Again, I spent a couple of solid sessions at the loom weaving.  I chose a clasped weft technique and also added in snippets of this bulky orange handspun to add texture and contrast.  With clasped weft you bring the shuttle through the open shed, pickup the second yarn and then bring the shuttle back through the same shed.  You can adjust where the two yarns interlock.  It is a fun technique to use.

Again, I did two solid sessions of weaving.  (I had woven 81.5″ on the loom.  After I took it off the piece measured 20″ x 72.5″) When I  laid it out to have a look at it I was very pleased with the colours and textures.  Next was twisting the fringe and sewing on my label.  The final step was washing both shawls to wet finish the fabric.  When fabric is wet finished the weave tightens up and the yarn blooms.  This can result in further shrinkage.  (I will admit that I don’t know how much shrinkage there was as I forgot to remeasure them before giving them away.) After washing the fabric was hung up to dry.

Our Friday lunch date arrived and the three of us had a lovely time hanging out together.  The ladies were thrilled with their new shawls.  And I have to tell you that creating these works and then gifting them was a real blessing for me.  The act of being creative and making something for my friends helped me to process the emotions associated with the layoff.  If you have read this far, I hope that the next time you are unsettled you consider digging out something and being creative.  It really does help.

Marta with her shawl
Marta with her shawl

 

Ruth with her shawl
Ruth with her shawl

 

Marta, Carlene and Ruth hanging out
Marta, Carlene and Ruth hanging out
curved wall of mettle and glass, of Ottawa city hall gallery. the class panels are horizontal bands of clare and frosted glass, the clear giving hints of the exhibit inside.
Egils Rozenbergs Tapestry Exhibition (Ottawa, 2024)

Egils Rozenbergs Tapestry Exhibition (Ottawa, 2024)

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As I write this, I am just back from the private tour of the EGILS ROZENBERGS’ (Latvia) – Signs of the Time exhibition, arranged for the Ottawa Valley Weavers and Spinners guild. His work is monumental, and striking.  it is well worth the trip down to the New City Hall on Elgin St. (there is a parking Garage underneath the building. Use the Elgin Street entrance. As with much of Ottawa at the moment, there is construction and road work near the other entrance.) for those who find it a bit of a drive, let’s take a peek at the exhibit while it’s here! (Although you may want to come back for a second viewing when you have more time!)

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1.1-1.3) City Hall Art Gallery – peeking through the windows and looking at the tapestries

The exhibit’s public Opening and artist tour is on Thursday, August 29, 5:30 to 7:30 pm the Tour begins at 6 pm. The exhibition runs from August 29 to November 24, 2024, at the City Hall Art Gallery (110 Laurier Avenue West, Ottawa, ON, Canada, Ontario)

The new City hall is actually an old building, the old teacher’s college (Normal School), built in 1875 and the expansion of a new wing in 1990. Besides city offices, there is civic space, including multiple gallery spaces.  We are heading to the gallery behind the grand piano in the atrium.

I arrived about half an hour early so have time to check out some of the architecture of Ottawa city hall.

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2.1-2.5) Looking around the atrium of City Hall before the gallery opened.

I wandered back to find 2 people waiting for the talk but didn’t recognize them. They were the Tapestry Artist himself and his Canadian weaver friend, who would help him as a translator. Moments later, the Latvian Ambassador and his assistant arrived!

The artist is on the Left and the Ambassador of Latvia is on the right. both are standing in front of the City Hall Art Gallery3.1) weighting for the Gallery to open for the talk. The artist is on the Left and the Ambassador of Latvia is on the right.

The rest of the tour group arrived, as well as the gallery manager and we all went into the gallery.

We had a good turnout for a mid-day, mid-week time. Besides the local guild members, there are a few people you might not recognize; The Latvian Ambassador and his assistant, the Gallery manager, the Artist and his friend, and a fellow weaver who was also his translator (he did a fabulous talk in English). You might also spot Michel, Director of the Mississippi Valley Textile Museum!

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Exhibition Egils Rozenbergs' tapestrie book and 4.1-4.2) Stepping into the gallery you are greeted by the monumental tapestries, which were striking, even more so in person. / The show catalogue, the book on Egils Rozenbergs ($40.00) and the visitor book.

Egils Rozenbergs is an internationally known weaver. He gave an overview of his education and then a bit about the focus of his work. He told us how he started as a painter, then he switched from painting to the new department of Textiles, with a focus on large tapestries for exhibitions. Since his scholastic training,  he has worked as a Textile artist. He was selected to weave a tapestry for Queen Margrethe II of Denmark as a present from Latvia. He has also had 2 of his designs picked by the French Goblin Tapestry Studio.

He had selected tapestries representing some of his older series of work as well as his latest series. This new selection marks a shift in his source material (the type of “yarn” fibres he uses). His early work used Wool/ Linen and Copper, moving to Wool/Linen and Polyester, and now shifting to Polyester, Polypropylene, Nylon, and Acrylic.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries with the tour listening to the artist Egils Rozenbergs in front of one of his new tapestries5.1-5.2)He said his opening remarks and overview of the exhibition in front of his newest tapestries (his Transfiguration series), then answered some of our questions. / his translator friend, on the far left, is also a weaver.

We asked him quite a few technical questions; details about his loom, his warps and even weaving techniques.

He had a large horizontal loom similar to our 100-inch loom but only uses 2 shafts. (I was able to find the full picture that was used in the show promotional material, showing the loom he uses here: https://th.bing.com/th/id/OIP.hk0UBNJtxNtcQhIuT3o3vwHaE8?w=302&h=202&c=7&r=0&o=5&dpr=1.3&pid=1.7 )

There were questions next about if he was using a flying shuttle to compensate for the wide weaving width (that needed a bit of translation). No, he is using a manual shuttle and a tapestry technique for the pattern weft. Occasionally he had a friend weave with him, like we do for the 100-inch loom. I was wondering about what EPI he had set the warp. He could tell us how many warps in 20 centimeters which Ann S. quickly did the math and told us that it converted to 5EPI. That led to a follow-up about the visual difference between the wool ground and the new work with VHS and cassette tape (he had an ingenious way of adding twist as he wound balls for his weft! But I should not give away his secret, you will have to ask him when the exhibit travels closer to you.)  the PPI was greater in the newer weaving one of which was woven in plain weave where you can see both the warp and weft. The other tapestries were all weft-faced. One of the tapestries had a gradient in the ground, we found out he is using multiple strands of yarn, in different colours. He is switching out and in colours, as he weaves.  There was a question if he used a cartoon under his warp. He said he makes detailed drawings about 12×15 inches of his designs then graphs the design directly to the warp, making marks (drawing) on it.  He mentioned he sometimes frames and sells his preliminary drawings, as well as the tapestries.

He took us around the exhibit telling us about pieces he had selected.  These are made mainly of wool, Linen and Copper. He had been able to find coated copper (so it would not tarnish, he pointed at a tapestry from 2004 which was still shiny copper). I tried to remember everything he was saying and take shots to show you and the guild members who could not attend today.

In the area to the Left of the entrance, there were representatives of 3 of his series themes. The first represented the signs found in the Latvian beach sands near his home. This series was called Signs in the Sand which he has returned to over many years. The work on the Left was Morning Light 2004 Wool Linen and Copper, and on the Right, Sparkling Sea, 2016  Wool Linen and Copper.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries close up6.1 -6.3) Close-up of sparkling sea (R) from the Signs in the Sand series the copper seemed to move and shimmer like light on sand in clear ripples of water.

I was very impressed with both pieces (even if they are invoking water).

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries close up Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries clsoe up6.4 -6.5) Close up of  the left

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries7.1) this tapestry was from a series called Scars.  I don’t seem to have the proper title.  It had a lovely graphic rhythm. I think some of the symbols or marks were from ancient graves.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries close up7.2)   this was a close up. you can see the multi strands of the pattern weft, and how he is changing strands within the group as he weaves. The background is a solid blue.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries7.3) The other tapestry from this series was at the entrance to the exhibit. Signs of the Time, from the Series Scars, 2020. Wool, Linen and Polyester.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries8.1)  This tapestry represented the series of Mexican masks it was very striking too. The copper grabbed the light and reflected it back, making it hard to get a truly representational shot. This also gives you a good idea of the size of the tapestry and a suggestion of the size of the loom.

There were two tapestries from the Paris series, one was Rhythms of Paris 2012,  Wool, Linen and Copper. On a blue background, suggestions of the Eiffel Tower.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries9.2)  The second piece was based on shadows on the ground in a park in Paris. (the top of a metal gate)

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries10.1) This one is from a series of frames that support haystacks. I found it particularly mesmerizing.

Egils Rozenbergs is showing his book in front of one of his tapestries10.2)  At this point the Gallery manager reminded us that there was a book available of his work (it will go very nicely in the Biography section of the Guild library, once the guild pays for it.)

We wound up back in the main section with his newest series. It is based on the changing technology and Transfiguration. Are you seeing circuit boards?

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries close up11.1-11.2) This one had a plain woven background so you can see the warp showing through. Two Suns, from the series Transfiguration 2016 Wool Linen and Polyester.

Egils Rozenbergs' New tapestries12) these 3 are also part of the Transfiguration series. Notice the background on these 3,  old tapes that were joined together and twisted to create the ground weft.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries13.1-13.3 ) This is a close up of the tapestry on the far Left in the last photo it was called the Old Lady who walked along the sea from Transfiguration 2017 Polyester, polypropylene and Nylon.

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries14.1-14.2) Nothing is like it was Before from the series Transfiguration 2017,  Polyester, Poly polypropylene, Nylon  and Acrylic

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries14.3  (on the left) This piece was hung further away from the wall so you could look behind it

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries14.4) behind the back of the tapestry

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries 15.1-15.2 Transformation Series the end of the tour

Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries exhibition Egils Rozenbergs' tapestries electronic sign outside city hall gallery15.3-15.4)  A couple of last shots of the gallery space

Egils Rozxenbergs’ presentation and explanation of his work were inspiring. I want to go out and felt a landscape a really big one! His repurposing of tape to weft was very effective and the coated copper got me wondering where I put my bobbin of fine cotton….  I hope if this exhibit travels somewhere near you (or you are visiting Ottawa before it closes) that you will grasp the opportunity and go see it.

 

 

 

Shepherdess and sheep coming along.

Shepherdess and sheep coming along.

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The deadline is getting close and I need to get done. As Jan will tell you soon it was Fiberfest weekend in Almonte. a small town close to where we live. I was on the demo team for Sunday. So I planned to work on the shepherdess and sheep as my demo project. First I had to get the shepherdess some clothes. Not too hard you think or at least I thought.

 

I forgot to take starting pictures but here is the shirt and skirt ready for final fulling.

felt shirt and skirt ready for fulling

 

 

And this is the shrinkage after fullingfelt shirt on resist showing shrinkage felt skirt on resist showing shrinkage

The skirt was fine but the shirt was way too stiff. so I made another using a lot less wool and felted it along with the cloak.

For the cloak, I decided to use some prefelt I had. I cut the first side a little bigger than the resist then folded it around and basted it into place. This seemed like the best idea to keep everything in place.

grey prefelt stitched together at the seam

And here it is shrunk

cloak on resist showing shrinkage.

I liked it and it fit well except for the hood. I didn’t like it at all.  I thought for the hood I wanted, it would be best to do it separately. do more cutting and sewing. and shirt number 4. I don’t remember what was wrong with shirt 2 but shirt 3 would have been good if I hadn’t cut the neck too big.

And finally, all the parts of the clothing are dry and ready to move on to the next steps.

For the next post, I hope to have the shepherdess all done and a colourful flock of sheep for her to tend.

Sunset on Little Bitterroot Lake at Kiwanis Lodge.
Annual Art Retreat

Annual Art Retreat

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I went to our annual art retreat over Labor Day weekend (Aug. 30 – Sep. 1) at the Kiwanis Lodge at Little Bitterroot Lake near Marion, MT (USA). Luckily my husband is a Kiwanian so we are able to use this lodge once a year. I got there a bit early and while waiting for the others to join me, I took a few photos and gave Edgar a swimming lesson.

Kiwanis Lodge at Little Bitterroot Lake

This is the lodge, this side faces the lake. The weather was perfect, sunny and warm, no smoke (August is usually fire season around here) but cold enough at night to need a fire in the fireplace.

View of Little Bitterroot Lake looking from shore with boat dock towards the lake and mountains in the distance.

Here’s a view of the lake. Even on a holiday weekend, the lake wasn’t busy and we even saw 8 loons swimming about. Edgar, my dog, has short legs and a very dense body. He’s not overweight but weighs fourty pounds. When he has tried to swim in the past, he had a really hard time keeping his head above water. He just sinks. So we bought him a life jacket and I took it with us to the lake. (Edgar got to go to the retreat for the first time because hubby was going to Missoula for a UM football game.)

A mixed breed dog (Edgar) wearing a life jacket and swimming in the lake with a branch in his mouth.

After a few tries, he got the hang of it and was eager to have me throw the stick so he could swim out to get it. Needless to say, Edgar had a good weekend.

Two buckets with indigo vats and one bucket with clamped fabric soaking in water.

Our main art activity this weekend was indigo dyeing. Both Paula and Louise set up an indigo pot on Friday and then we dyed various fabric, clothing etc. on Saturday. Here you can see the two indigo pots and some clamped fabric soaking in water in the pink bucket.

Louise (on left) and Paula (on right) working with indigo vats.

Louise (left) is putting her first piece of fabric into the dye vat and Paula (right) is getting rid of the “bloom” on the top of her indigo pot before dyeing. I have personally never made an indigo pot but they used the directions that are available on Dharma Trading Co.

Louise (left) holding soaked fabric about to be put into indigo pot and Sally (right) looking on.

Here Louise (left) is explaining to Sally (right) about how to use the indigo pot and getting her fabric ready to put in the vat.

Indigo dyed fabrics laying out on plastic. One piece just taken out of vat, it is green before oxidation will turn it to blue.

The coolest thing about indigo, in my opinion, is that it comes out of the dye pot green and then when it hits the air and oxidizes, it turns blue. The longer you leave the fabric in the dye bath, the more blue it will end up.

Here are a few pieces drying on the grass. The one on the right was rust dyed first and then put into the indigo.

Paula brought some clamps and different shapes of wood, which once clamped on the fabric, resist the indigo. You can see the results of some of those in the right hand photo.

Sunset on Little Bitterroot Lake at Kiwanis Lodge.

It was a wonderful weekend and we enjoyed some gorgeous sunsets while sitting out on the porch.

For those of you who wish they belonged to an art group (felting group or whatever), my suggestion is to start your own group. If you meet someone who might be interested, ask them to join a group. All the people in your group don’t have to be felt makers. You can learn so much from creative people who enjoy other media. So don’t be shy, just ask others that you know or meet and start up a group of your own. That’s what I did and now more than ten years later, we are still going strong.

The Mother of Invention

The Mother of Invention

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There’s a proverb I like: “necessity is the mother of invention”. Apparently it started with Plato. I’m going to test it today in two ways. Firstly, I’ve had a lot of sales and exhibitions recently and I haven’t made much new work. I’m writing this while stewarding an exhibition. So, as my blog is due and I’ve nothing new to show you (necessity), I’m drawing on some work I did earlier in the year and reflecting on that (invention). Secondly, it was actually the need to create a lot of pictures quickly (necessity) that led me down the different style of pictures (invention) that I’m going to talk about.

As I’ve covered in previous blogs, I had a large exhibition to fill in April/May this year so had a big push from January to March to make lots of new pictures. As all wet felters will know, wet felting is not a quick process and there’s no mileage in trying to hurry it. So, as well as making my usual style of pictures, I had a think about the quickest felt pictures I could make while not skimping on the quality of the felting. Quicker pictures would also allow me to offer them at a slightly lower price than my other work.

Nuno felting (which is including fabric in felt) with patterned fabric is a quick way of creating colour and pattern as it bypasses complicated and time-consuming wool layout. And now that I can print onto felt (again covered in a previous blog) that’s a comparatively quick way of introducing images. 

This was my first picture. 

Square wet felted picture with patterned grey fabric on the lower half, two blown trees towards the top left on a white background with wisps of grey cloud in the white sky
“Monochrome Tree #1”

The fabric was a lovely fine wool scarf that I had bought (as always) in a charity shop. I have the solid beech frames made for me in batches in advance so I knew what size I was aiming for. I used a commercial prefelt of merino wool and silk  – again trying to minimise the layout time and it’s also lovely to work with. There are plenty of legitimate, free-to-use images on the internet. Sourcing, scaling, printing and transferring them to felt is quite time consuming, especially as I only planned on using each tree once for this first set of pictures, but I’m sure I will come back to them.

Monochrome Tree #2
Two square wet felted pictures similar to the previous one but without the clouds and with a dark line at the top of the fabric
Monochrome Tree #3

For the next (and subsequent) ones I decided to make them slightly smaller than the frames, leaving a small border around the felt. I added a line of recycled tapestry wool at the top of the fabric, just because I liked the look of it, and decided against patterning the sky. 

I then fished out some black and white silk scarves from my charity shop finds and used those instead of the wool scarf. 

Square wet felted picture similar to the previous ones but with a crow shape in the top left hand side of the tree. Swirly grey and white fabric
Monochrome Tree #4 with crow
square wet felted picture similar to the previous ones but with patchy lined fabric
Monochrome Tree #5

I added a crow silhouette in the tree on the left picture. A bit fiddly but I liked it.

Square wet felted picture similar to the previous ones, using the same fabric as #4 but with two trees instead of one
Monochrome Tree #6 Two Trees
Square wet felted picture similar to the previous ones but with a flowery patterned black and white fabric
Monochrome Tree #7

My next experiment was to switch from black and white to coloured silk, tapestry wool and trees.  

Square wet felted picture similar to the previous ones but with yellow and green patterned fabric and a green tree.
Green Tree #1
square wet felted picture similar to the previous picture but with a different shape of tree
Green Tree #2

When I was printing on Green Tree #1 I accidentally pressed a fold in the corner. It came out with a hot iron but I didn’t remember to photograph it again afterwards.

After I’d made these two, it occurred to me that I could double the width of the wool and fabric to make two pictures at the same time, cutting them apart before printing on the trees.  Why hadn’t I thought of that sooner? Super-speedy. 

Continuing with the limited colour palate, I chose a silk scarf that was red / orange with some colour fade across the scarf. 

rectangular wet felted fabric with orange / red silk felted in, covering just over the bottom half of the fabric. There's a variegated line of red/orange wool yarn felted across the join between the silk and the white wool background.
After felting and before printing

When the felting was finished I wasn’t sure I liked how much the white fibres showed through the red / orange silk. The previous fabrics had either been partly white or were light coloured so the movement of the white wool and silk fibres through the fabric had been less visible. 

As I contemplated this, I decided that I liked the long rectangular shape for a change.  I happened to have some frames that were more or less the same shape and proportions….and so “Red Trees” became a double-width landscape with two trees. 

Rectangular wet felted picture as in the previous image but with two orange/red trees printed in the top left of the felt with the bottom of each trunk touching the yarn line as if growing from there
“Red Trees”

That wasn’t where I thought I was heading but it’s fun to take an unexpected turn,

I have now sold more than half of these pictures, and I’d say they’ve sold slightly better than other work. I’m a little ambivalent about this. I like the new pictures but I don’t feel as much for them as my usual bird, beach and/or water pictures. I suppose that shouldn’t matter. They have definitely attracted a slightly different audience. When I get back into the studio I will be making some more. Not because of their speed as I’m not now under the same pressure, but because people seem to like them and I’ve enjoyed trying something new.  I think I will stick to the monochrome fabrics but try out some different colours. Having a group of different strong colours like the red and green might make a good display. 

And so, it seems, on this occasion, that necessity was indeed the mother of invention. I made a new line of work and I have a blog to post! 

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

Necessity is the Mother of Invention

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One of my best customers for my 3D-printed felting tools, a fellow felt teacher in the US, asked if I could make a smaller version of the wand tool for making jewellery. I had previously investigated making the wand longer and narrower towards the tip but the tips kept breaking, I don’t make a lot of jewellery or small items so the idea was abandoned.

I mentioned the request to Mr TB who suggested a couple of possible solutions for the fragile tips. He printed 2 of them for me and I have been testing them this week. I may be biased but think they are pretty good, I have been using them quite aggressively and they are still in tact and working as I had hoped.

For the tests I decided to make set of felted rings. Normally I use a bundle of pencils held together with an elastic band but this maker pen with a tapered barrel came to hand first. Pencils / pens are ideal because you can alter the size of your ring by adding more pencils to the bundle, then remove them one by one as the felt fulls and the ring shrinks down.

Wrapping wool around the pen before adding soapy water and gently rubbing
Once the felt was starting to shrink I transferred the ring to the tool and fulled the inside of the ring
This is how much the ring shrank, the inside of the ring was wide enough to stretch around the widest part of the pen at the start
Looking for more pens to make a larger ring I came across this beaker instead…

I made a small felted ball to finish the set and make a pendant, which layout do you like best?

The fulling tool just needs a couple of minor tweaks and a name (any ideas?), another round of testing and it will be ready to join the others.

Apologies for the poor quality of these photos, they were taken in my current studio (the garage) and the light in there is awful. The new studio is coming along well though. Another month and the floor will be tiled, the kitchenette and shelving installed and all my fluff moved from the garage to its new home 🙂

The rest of the reno is progressing too, our new kitchen is half installed, the bathrooms and deck are nearly finished and this week the builders are putting in a retaining wall.

The house and garden 2 years ago
The house and garden this week – spot the difference?
The studio with new deck

In between painting and moving garden plants I have not had much time for felting so have been getting my “fix” through teaching…

A private, beginners bag class…

These ladies know how to felt in style – home made G&Ts! 🙂

Mosaic felting at the Auckland Creative Fibre retreat…

I also had the pleasure of teaching a felted pod class in collaboration with Deaf Aotearoa last month but I’m afraid I forgot to take any photos. This was a wonderful experience and I have no hesitation in recommending teaching this way if you get the opportunity, most of the participants could lip read but we also had a sign language interpreter with us. The hardest part for me, was trying not to talk while demonstrating, I am so used to explaining what I am doing with my hands I had to keep checking myself to explain first, so everyone could watch the interpreter and then demonstrate with the wool.

I’d better get back to painting…. happy felting!