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My Year in 2011

My Year in 2011

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It’s funny how a year can start off one way, and then take you in a whole different direction as we learn, grow and be inspired.

Needle Felted Santa

My year started out only ever having created needle felted characters, which did create a lot of laughs but I knew I hadn’t yet found my thing.

Needle Felted Character

As I watched  my friends create the most gorgeous wet felted pieces,  I took the plunge and gave it a go. I started out with some wet felted cuffs and a couple of wet felted bags, I really did enjoy the process but  I knew they weren’t right and really lacking something. So I went back to basics and purchased a Fabulous  e-book from RosiePink called  “Creating Felt Art”. The girls put so much information into that e-book it was very easy to follow and I was able to create this piece:

First Wet Felted Hanging

And so another new journey began into Wet Felting, the process of laying out those gorgeous fibres made me wonder why I’d never tried it before!

Laying out Fibres

From there I  purchased an online course with Susan Sorrell to create Fibre Collage incorporating Felt as the main fibre piece. It didn’t take me long to realise that mixed media and embellished felt is exactly where I want to be. I’m learning that you can add so much to a felt piece with simple stitches , beads or anything you feel the need to use!

Fibre Collage

I’m also learning to make textile beads using Tyvek, metallic threads & plastic strips. I am enjoying that thoroughly although I’m still trying not to burn them!

Textile Beads

I entered Zed’s spiral challenge and created my first journal cover using lots of beads and stitches!

Spiral Challenge

I’m  exploring  more mixed media  and this piece was made using paints for the backing board, Felt, Stitch, Beads and a Button:

Mixed Media

And I’m working on an Album Cover right now that has a long way to go yet but I’m really enjoying seeing that come together.

Album Cover

One of the most exciting parts to 2011 was being a little involved with Ruth and her book. That was definitely an eye opener and I know I didn’t do much, but just seeing the amount of work Ruth has put into that book and what was involved was totally awe-inspiring and I’m looking forward to seeing it in print and in my hands.

My absolute Favourite thing to happen was joining forces with  Ann, Ruth & Zed to bring this new site together , to learn, share , be inspired and talk all things felt and fibre to our hearts’ content. It amazes me how we’re oceans apart but working side by side for the love of Felt

Thank you Girls, I’m really looking forward to sharing the next 12 months alongside you all 🙂

A look back at the last year.

A look back at the last year.

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Well time to look back at the year and see what has happened. There was lots of felting  for sale and some teaching along with family, work, farm and farmers’ market. I decide early I wanted to make a nice nuno felt vest for myself. It doesn’t sound very hard thing to do but I never seem to make the time to make things for myself. It took a month to design the resist and find the time to do the felting and I ended up with a not very good-looking vest. As it turns out it was a good thing because it allowed me to become better friends with Linda as she helped me reshape it with her sewing skills. We went on to design jackets for ourselves this summer. I am still working on the jacket, hems on the sleeves and bottom and it needs some form of closure but I haven’t decided what yet.

I managed to try a couple of new shows to sell my work and expand my felting skills with the help from felting friends when we got together for our annual spring fun felting weekend.

One exiting thing that happened was being asked by Ruth to send some felt to her publisher to have its picture taken to be in her new book. So soon I will be able to say I’ve been published. Supporting Ruth while she wrote her book was a real pleasure and an eye opener as to what is involved in getting a book put together.

Starting the new blog and forum with friends from around the world has been fun and hectic as we decided to do this at the busiest time of the year. It really is amazing how the internet has made it possible meet like-minded people, make friends and take on projects with people you may never meet in person and otherwise wouldn’t have met at all. I feel very lucky indeed. Now I need to have a good long think about what I want to get done this coming year.

Happy New Year everyone,

Ann

Year End Reflections

Year End Reflections

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We thought it would be fun to look back on the past year and see what all we have each accomplished in terms of our fiber art. Many times, everyone has a big long list of what they want to felt or make. The list tends to get longer and longer and not everything gets completed. I personally have found if I write out what I’ve done in the past year and what I want to accomplish in the following year, I tend to get more checked off my list. So I’m starting out with what I have done in 2011. Then in January, we’ll write about our plans for 2012. We’d love to hear about your plans too. So leave us a comment or come over to the forum and let us know.

As the year winds down, I have been reflecting on what I have accomplished in the last year. At the first of the year I had decided my word for the year was “choose” and that I wanted to make decisions with intention. I actually did most of the things that I had planned on doing and then did several more “big” things that I had no idea I would choose to do. It was a pretty exciting year. Here’s my round-up of the fiber art related things that I completed in 2011.

  • The Design Focus Friday series of blog posts was completed. I really think that writing about design has helped me think about how to design a piece with a better focus on the principles and elements.
  • Continued exploration into surface design including making my own silk screens, screen printing with oatmeal, torn paper and water-soluble glue, gelatin printing, Eco printing with leaves and fabric painting.
  • I played with encaustic and even though I probably won’t do any more, it was fun.
  • The fabric book page swap came to an end and I fabricated my “tree” book.
  • I did attempt to get my work into another gallery in Missoula and sent entries to two fiber art competitions. None of my work was accepted but that’s OK, at least I tried.
  • Completed two rice paper and watercolor collages in my studio journal.
  • Dyed a variety of scarves and made tons of cat toys to sell in the store.
  • Completed Level I Hand Stitch at the Gail Harker Creative Studies Center.
  • Began Level II Hand and Machine Stitch with Gail which will continue until February 2013.
  • Carded half of a fleece of merino wool (still have the other half to finish).
  • Felted three bird houses for Felt United Day.
  • Felted a Möbius scarf for the “twisted” challenge.
  • Felted and direct dyed a bag for my husband’s new tablet.
  • Made a felt scrap bowl and Christmas tree ornaments with a step by step photo tutorial.
  • Mentored another artist in nuno felting.
  • Wrote the book ‘The Complete Photo Guide to Felting‘ which is being published by Creative Publishing International. This was 6 months out of the year of very hard work. I felted tons of samples and projects for the book but wasn’t able to show anyone any of it. The book is still in the editing process and I still have to work with the editor on making sure everything is in the right place and it says what I meant it to say. The publish date will be August 1, 2012. It will be so exciting to see it completed.
  • One of the most fun things I did this year was to get together with a group of three other felters from all over the world and develop our own virtual studio and forum. I have so enjoyed interacting with my felting friends in creating the website and I look forward to our work together over the coming year.

So, for me working a full-time job, that’s a pretty impressive list. The next time I ‘choose’ to write a book, I think I will have to quit my other job. Writing a book is a full-time job in itself. But there are no plans for another book at this point and the next year and a half, I will be concentrating on my Level II stitch class. I am going to be considering what my word for next year will be and what my other plans will be. Once I’ve decided, I’ll write another post to let you know. What are your plans for the coming year? I’d love to hear what you want to accomplish in the coming year.

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