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Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky. Stitching and trimming completed around edge to hold everything in place.
Watercolors in Nuno Felt

Watercolors in Nuno Felt

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I have been continuing with my experiments with trying to create a “watercolor” effect in nuno felt. I decided to take a few of the pieces that were the least successful with the dye/paint application and add more. The first addition of “more” is with sheer fabrics.

Nuno felt landscape created with silk dyed flat on paper and then batched (fiber reactive dye).

This is the piece I decided to start with. It had lost a lot of its color and still looked like a landscape but I felt it could do with “more”.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with addition of torn tulle trees.

I started with adding in some torn tulle trees on the right hand side.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with addition of torn tulle trees and sheer green "hills".

Then I took some sheer green fabric and added it on the left to give a feel of hills in the background. Some of these steps might be hard to see as the fabric is very sheer but it’s the layering that achieves the final effect.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with addition of torn tulle trees and sheer green "hills" with additional green layer.

I then cut off the left edge of the green sheer and added it back into the “hill” area. This gives a bit of value change as you add further layers of sheer.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills" and tulle trees switched to sheer purple/maroon trees.

After looking at the tulle trees as compared to the green sheer on the left, I decided to change the trees. Since the background was mainly yellow, I thought the addition of purple/maroon trees would give a neutralized tree color but still feel there was additional color added. That seemed better so I added in the shadows too. I added a bit of the purple/maroon on the left for a bit of foreground in front of the green hills.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky.

Next up was to try and change the “straight line” over the trees on the right. It felt too abrupt a change in color. So I added a couple of layers of light blue sheer over the trees and then a full piece of blue sheer over the entire piece.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky with added stitching in foreground.

The next step was looking over the piece to see anything else that stood out. I noticed that the green sheer I had on the left needed a little work. It felt too straight along the bottom and there was a weird kind of ‘flag’ in the middle of the hills. So I changed those and then began stitching. It’s hard to see but there is light yellow stitching in the foreground. That wasn’t meant to add a hard line, just to hold the blue fabric down and keep the smaller sheer pieces underneath in place. I did add a broken darker brown horizon line which you can see I have started on the left.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky. Adding stitching in sky.

I continued adding stitch to the horizon line as well as the sky. Again, in the sky, I didn’t want a hard line so I used a very light gray thread, not pure white that might “stick” out too much.

Nuno felted dyed landscape with sheer green "hills", sheer purple/maroon trees and blue sheer for sky. Stitching and trimming completed around edge to hold everything in place.

The final step was to make very small stitches all around the edges of the piece to hold everything in place. I am happy with the result, a bit more color but still an abstract, dreamy effect.

Various green sheer fabric from my stash.
Birch Landscapes Completed

Birch Landscapes Completed

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When I last posted, I was working on two birch landscapes. I had finished stitching the branches on one and was working out what I wanted to do about leaves.

Blue and green felted background with silk paper birch trees and free motion machine stitched branches.

I stitched the branches on the second landscape with free motion machine stitching.

Two landscapes side by side before leaves are added.

These work very well as a pair. I didn’t do anything to emphasize the “lake” or “water” effect of the background. I thought each person could interpret the landscape as they see it.

 

Now for the leaves. The photo on the left shows the sheer green fabric I had in my stash. It’s a combination of polyester organza and silk organza that has been hand dyed. I ended up using the more yellow green silk organza choices.

Felted blue and green background with silk paper birch trees and cut leaves place on branches.

I cut a bunch of leaf shapes. I don’t use a pattern but just cut them out randomly. I have found that they need to be different shapes to look natural so I just start cutting shapes that are vaguely leaf like. In the photos above, I have laid the leaves on top, again very randomly, to see if I have enough coverage. I ended up adding a few more after I started stitching to fill in where needed.

Felted blue and green landscape backgrounds with silk paper birch trees and cut leaves stitched in place.

Here are the landscapes after stitching down the leaves. Now, I am going to work on stitching them to a background fabric and lacing on to boards, so they are ready for framing. What should I name the pieces? Any ideas?

Green nuno felted background with foreground center Indian Paintbrush flowers stitching completed.
Indian Paintbrush Applique on Nuno Felt

Indian Paintbrush Applique on Nuno Felt

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Slow progress is being acheived on my Indian Paintbrush landscape that I have been working on. With my other classwork and out of town visitors, it’s not as far along as I had hoped it would be, but it will get there eventually.

Green nuno felted background with foreground center Indian Paintbrush flowers stitching in progress.

I started on the foreground, larger flowers. The center one needed to be completed first as it had overlaps from the flower on the right. The furthest away petal is stitched down first and then other petals are added over top, working forward as I go.

Here’s the progress of the center flower. I am using a very small needle to avoid fraying the cotton organdy fabric. I also push the needle up along side the petal and then back down into the petal. Hopefully, the fabric doesn’t fray as much this way.

Green nuno felted background with foreground Indian Paintbrush flowers stitched in place.

Here’s the piece after all three foreground flowers were stitched down. I’m still thinking about whether the background flowers need any suggestion of stems. If I do add any, it will be thin thread in a running stitch.

 

Green nuno felted background with foreground Indian Paintbrush flowers painted in centers to achieve deeper values (close up).

After looking at the foreground flowers and comparing them to my original photo, I realized that I needed some darker values in the centers and by the stems to create more depth. I decided to use acrylic paint to achieve this. I dry brushed the paint on carefully in very small amounts at a time as I didn’t want to get too much on. It would be very difficult to remove or cover excess paint.

Green nuno felted background with foreground Indian Paintbrush flowers painted in centers to achieve deeper values.

And here it is so far. I will probably add some other shades of orange into the foreground flowers so they look a bit more realistic. I am also going to add some yellow green to the leaves. Then I think that I might add some suggestions of blue flowers where there are blue blotches in the foreground. Perhaps the common camas? How would you add suggestions of blue flowers? Stitching? Painting? More applique? Something else? I’d love to hear your thoughts.

Nuno felted landscape laid on table in workspace/studio.
Forest Floor Continues

Forest Floor Continues

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In my last post about my forest floor piece, I had gotten to the point of cast shadows from the rocks.

Nuno Felt Background with appliqued felt rocks and sheer fabric cast shadows stitched in place.

When you look at this, what is missing? More shadows. So I needed to add the cast shadows from the trees.

Nuno felted landscape added dark blue sheer fabric for cast shadows from trees.

So I added more blue sheer fabric to cast the shadows from the trees. Suddenly, there’s another glaring ommission (Antje pointed this out in her comment on my last post). The rocks on the left need to have shadows cast on them by the trees. So more dark blue sheer fabric is needed.

Nuno felted landscape added dark blue sheer fabric for cast shadows from trees over rocks.

Ah, that’s better. You can really see the sun shining through the trees now.

Nuno felted landscape, scraps of green felt in foreground auditioning for leaf colors/values.

Next up is leaves. The leaves on the left need to be in the shade, thus darker and more grey blue. The pieces of felt scrap that I originally found was not going to be enough.

Nuno felted landscape laid on table in workspace/studio.

So I searched for more felt and found a neutralized green that should work. Here you can see my messy workspace while I’m working. Other projects that are in process are on the back of the work table.

Nuno felted landscape added cut leaf shapes over foreground area.

Here’s as far as I have gotten. I need to change out the leaves on the upper right as those are too bright in the shade of the tree. I may use some ink or paint to tone them down or I may just cut out more leaves in the neutralized green I used on the left. Then on to the flowers. I will need to find some light grey for the flowers on the left and brighter white for the flowers in the sunshine. Getting close to the finish now!

Dog, Edgar, in shoveled snow paths.

And just for entertainment purposes, here’s my dog Edgar in the big snow we had last week. The snow is almost as tall as he is and he’s decided that he doesn’t need to go wading!

 

 

Finished Nuno Felt Landscape with Birch Trees and Snow on Blue and White Background Surrounded by White Matte
Holiday Card Exchange for Carlene

Holiday Card Exchange for Carlene

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We decided this year to do a “card” exchange amongst our members. Ann M. drew the partner names and I got Carlene’s name. I decided that since Carlene likes to weave, that I wanted to include some needle  weaving on her card.

Blue and white nuno felt background

I wanted a wintery feeling so I chose this piece of nuno felt cut to 4″ x 6″. I can already see birch trees in the background so my go to trees this year were an easy decision for the design.

Nuno felt background with "base" for first birch tree stitched in place

I used a stitch technique that is usually used in cut and drawn thread embroidery. Since my background was felt, I couldn’t cut the surface to get my base threads so I stitched them on the felt base. It’s a very simple stitch as you just take the thread and move over and under each time filling in the “woven bar”.

Nuno felt background with first needle woven tree in place on right hand side.

Here’s the first one completed. I used white perle cotton in different weights for all the trees. If you look closely, you can see that on this first tree, I was catching the wool fibers that were coming through on the silk surface of the nuno felt. I was a bit concerned with this but then when I looked again, the wool just adds in the “spots” on a birch tree.

Nuno felt background with yarn used for planning tree placement.

I used some yarn to work out the tree placement before I went any further. I cut a piece of nuno felt to cover the bases of the background trees which I would stitch down after completing all the trees.

Then to continue on with the weaving. This isn’t a hard stitch but it’s a bit time consuming. I was able to hold the thread away from the surface to prevent catching the wool fibers but it really wasn’t necessary. Now I needed to add in the “spots” on the trees. Nuno felt background with birch trees, added brown ink for "spots" on trees and foreground hill of cut nuno felt.

I could have stitched them on but I decided to use dark brown ink. You can see I cut down the foreground nuno piece a bit and then I stitched that in place.

Nuno Felt Landscape with Needle Woven Trees and French Knot Snow

Now to add some snow. I stitched random French knots over the trees and background.

Finished Nuno Felt Landscape with Birch Trees and Snow on Blue and White Background Surrounded by White Matte

And here it is matted as a “card”. I made it as a small frameable artwork instead of a card. I sent it off to Carlene in Canada and she received it quickly. I’m always hesitant about the mail service these days, but all was well! Happy Holidays Carlene!

 

Nuno Felt Landscape with Summer Birch Trees on Green Matte Ready to Frame.
Thick with Green

Thick with Green

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I have been busy trying to get pieces ready to go to the framers and I also needed to create my tree piece for the 3rd Quarter challenge, summer trees. Here’s the piece I created called Thick with Green. I am sorry about the quality of most of these photos. Somehow, many are blurry but at least the final few photos came out OK, my apologies.

Sketchbook Page with Painted Birch Trees in Summer

I was thinking about a thicket of birch trees from a distance with green leaves. The sketchbook page above was created in one of my art and design classes. I used this as inspiration.

For the background, I used a piece of nuno felt. The silk is on the back this time. I had some white yarn that I decided to couch down to make distant tree trunks.

Then being inspired by the leaves Ann M. used on her summer tree, I decided to try some variegated green cheesecloth. I tore it into pieces and stretched it to give a more organic feel. Then I hand stitched it in place. The stitching disappears into the cheesecloth.

Nuno Felt Green and Blue Background with Birch Tree Trunks.

Then I added more tree trunks. This time I twisted two pieces of the yarn together and couched them in place.

Nuno Felt Green and Blue Background with Birch Tree Trunks and Stitched Pieces of Cheesecloth for Leaves.

More cheesecloth was stitched down on top of these tree trunks. Now what to do with the ground? I feel like I am always saying that about my landscapes. I never seem to plan the ground very well in advance. I don’t do much needle felting but I decided in this case, it would work the best. I felt like stitching would be too detailed since this was supposed to be a more distant landscape.

Nuno Felt Green and Blue Background with Birch Tree Trunks and Stitched Pieces of Cheesecloth for Leaves, Grass Needle Felted at Base of Trees.

Here’s the grass added with a variety of green roving and needle felted in place.

Nuno Felt Landscape with Summer Birch Trees on Green Matte Ready to Frame.

Then I found I already had some green fabric that would work for the “matte”. I stitched the nuno landscape down and laced it around card. This piece ended up to be 8″ x 12″ and it’s ready to frame. Now to take all the pieces to be framed and then send them off to the gallery. Check, another task off my list.

Nuno felt background with birch tree silk paper trunks, nylon organza background leaves and single silk organza leaves stitched in place.
Large Autumn Landscape Continued

Large Autumn Landscape Continued

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Nuno felt background with birch tree silk paper trunks stitched in place in background.

I have managed to get some stitching completed on my large autumn landscape. The background birch trees were hand stitched down first. I want to do background leafiness before I add the larger birch in the foreground.

To add the distant leafiness, I looked through my stash for fabric that would work. The photo on the left shows painted nylon organza. The photo on the right is dyed silk habotai.

Nuno felt background with birch tree silk paper trunks and nylon organza background leaves stitched in place.

It’s a little hard to see but I have added the nylon organza at the top. First, I used a wood burning tool to burn out areas of the organza to give it a leafy appearance.

Nuno felt background with close up of nylon organza background leaves.

Here you can see the effect better in the close up photo. I hand stitched all the pieces down with very small stitches to hold it in place.

Nuno felt background with birch tree silk paper trunks, nylon organza background leaves and single silk organza leaves stitched in place.

Next I added some single cut leaves from silk organza. I had these left over from The First Leaf. 

The next step is to stitch down the foreground birch trunk and add foreground leaves. At that point, I will decide how many leaves might be on the ground. I don’t want to make it exactly like the smaller piece. What would you suggest adding to the foreground at the base of the large birch?

Silk paper birch trees laid out on netting and plastic after being covered with acrylic medium.
Making Silk Paper and Beginning a New Landscape

Making Silk Paper and Beginning a New Landscape

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Having sold one of my larger pieces in the gallery, I had a request for a new large nuno felted landscape similar to The First Leaf. So if you are reading along and think that you are having deja vu, it is because this piece will be very similar, just a larger size. The new piece will be 19″ x 33″ and will use the same nuno background used in The First Leaf which is only 14″ x 18.5″. The first step was to make silk paper for the birch tree trunks. I had a little bit left in my stash but it was not big enough or long enough.

Silk paper birch trees laid out on netting and plastic with layers of white silk fiber and black accents.

Making silk paper is simple. You lay out silk fiber on to nylon netting, cover with another piece of nylon netting, wet down the silk and then paint on some type of acrylic medium. You are supposed to use fabric medium but I didn’t have any so I just used acrylic medium that I had. The photo above shows a portion of the layout of the white silk with black bits added on top. The nylon netting came in a roll so I could make a giant long piece of silk paper for my big birch tree.

Silk paper birch trees laid out on plastic with layers of white silk fiber and black accents and sandwiched between netting.

I made two lengths of silk paper. Here you can see one side laid out sandwiched between the nylon netting. The left side still needs black added. I actually think that the left side is not silk but perhaps viscose or other man made silk alternative. It didn’t feel exactly like silk but it was white and worked just as well as the real silk. I use up what I have before I buy more supplies, so other options of fiber will work for making paper.

Silk paper birch trees laid out on netting and plastic after being covered with acrylic medium.

Next you wet down the silk fiber sandwiched between the netting with soapy water. The soap helps to break the surface tension and allows the silk to accept the water more easily. You can spray it down or sponge it on, whichever works best for you. Once the silk is completely wet and there are no thicker, white spots left (air), then brush on acrylic medium mixed half and half with water. Flip the net and silk sandwich over and add acrylic medium to the other side too. Make sure the silk is thoroughly saturated with medium. Then peel off the top layer of netting and leave the silk paper to dry. You can hang it up to dry but take note that the water/acrylic medium will drip off and get on the floor if you hang it inside. I left mine flat to dry and it took a full day to dry.

Nuno felt background with birch tree silk paper trunks laid out.

I cut out my nuno felt background to size and played around with cutting the silk paper trees to different sizes to achieve some depth in the piece. These are the approximate layout that I came up with. Next on to stitching!

 

Completed Nuno Felt Landscape Blue/White Background with Appliqued Birch Trees, Free Motion Stitched Branches and Hand Stitched Red Twig Dogwood Bushes.
Winter Birch Landscape Completed

Winter Birch Landscape Completed

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I have finally completed my winter birch landscape that I have been slowly working on. You can see the prior posts here if you missed them.  I had about determined to skip adding any extra snow in the foreground but then I decided I should try a sample of needle felting the snow.

Nuno Felted Background with Stitched Red Twig Dogwood and Needle Felted Snow Under Dogwood

And, surprise, surprise, it worked better than I thought it would. So I added a bit of snow and then needed to figure out the distant red twig dogwood bushes. (You can see the snow in the final photo.)

Sample of red twig dogwoods drawn with marker on to nuno felt background.

First I tried using a marker on my sample to see if I could get away with something easy. The thinner marker made a very light line and the heavier marker was too heavy. Plus, using a marker on nuno felt gives a very uneven line. On to the next idea.

Sample of needle felted wool thread compared to stitched wool thread.

Next, I tried needling the wool thread into the sample background. It didn’t feel like there was much difference between the stitched bushes in the foreground compared to the needled line on the top left.

I decided I would try a cotton machine thread (30 weight). The stem stitched sample on the left shows two different colors. The redder color is straight off the spool but I wanted the thread to be a bit darker and variegated. So I colored the thread by hand with a black marker. The photo on the right shows the thread before it was darkened (left side) and the thread on the right side of the photo has been darkened with a black permanent marker. It worked perfectly although it’s a little messy on the fingers.

Completed Nuno Felt Landscape Blue/White Background with Appliqued Birch Trees, Free Motion Stitched Branches and Hand Stitched Red Twig Dogwood Bushes.

So here’s the finished landscape. I used the machine thread for the distant red twig dogwoods and you can see the small amounts of snow that I added. I’m happy with it but I will put it on the design wall to look at to make sure it’s finished. Then I will need to choose a “matte” fabric and get it ready for framing. I’m thinking of calling the piece “Winter Color”. Or I could stick with “Winter Birch”. Which do you prefer?

 

Blue and white nuno felted background with tulle background trees (layers of tulle) and cut silk paper birch trees in foreground.
First Quarter Challenge – Winter Birch

First Quarter Challenge – Winter Birch

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I’m always up for getting two things done with one piece. So I decided to create a winter themed tree picture that I could prepare to take to the gallery which has sold three of my pieces. (Yay!)

Blue and white nuno felt to be used as landscape background.

I found a piece of nuno felt in my pile of felted stuff that seemed perfect for a wintry background. Since I had just finished framing The First Leaf, I immediately thought of birch trees again since the years challenge is to create the same trees in different seasons. So birch trees it is.

Blue and white nuno felt background with cut silk paper birch trees.

I cut the birch trees from my remaining silk paper and got the placement how I wanted it. I need to make more silk paper for my spring and summer birch trees. But this seemed a little ho hum. The plan is to add branches with free motion machining but I still thought it needed more. The left background felt like perhaps there were some pine/evergreens in the distance. Perhaps I could enhance that?

Blue and white nuno felted background with tulle background trees (layers of tulle) and cut silk paper birch trees in foreground.

So I added some layers of tulle in vague tree shapes on that side. But it wasn’t enough contrast and the tree shapes were getting lost. What to do?

Blue and white nuno felted background with tulle pine tree shapes on the left and birch trees cut from silk paper on the right.

Here’s the start of the next idea. Burn the tulle into tree shapes with a wood burning tool. This is just one of the colors of tulle I am planning on using. I will still be layering the tulle but hopefully, this will give a bit more emphasis to the shapes of the trees in the background without overwhelming the foreground trees. Once I have the evergreens worked out, then it’s on to some stitching.

Have you created something that works for our 1st quarter or year’s challenge? If so, we’d love to see it. You can upload your photos here.