New Felt

I am back to my studio after numerous weeks of finishing up odds and ends, as well as moving to a new apartment. I discovered this picture during a workshop held at PRO Chemical & Dye two weeks ago. One of the students, Liz Anderson, brought it for a source of inspiration to dye fabrics. Well, I saw it and immediately asked if I could make a copy of it, to use as inspiration in my work in felt. I absolutely love the compostion and glorious colors!

I was very lucky to have had all of these fibers in my stash. I gathered a variety of merino wool, dyed cheesecloth, china silk and silk chiffon to create my felt.

Here is my interpreation of the lichens laid out on bubble wrap, ready to felt. I used cheesecloth dyed orange with MX dyes, silk chiffon dyed in greys with WashFast Acid dyes, and china silk dyed in a chartreuse with MX dyes.

Here is the finished piece of felt. I decided to add a little bit of an organic shape to it, which I think works well. Now it is time to start hand stitching the lichens and rock texture. I am going to use the Sorbello Stitch, featured in one of Jan Beaney's monographs, for the lichens. I am also going to try using a variety of silk and wool threads and yarns to create that texture of lichens that I love so much. I will be posting my progress on this, as the weeks go by.

Northeast Feltmakers Guild Exhibition

Well, it's been a while since I last posted, however I have been busy. I entered two of my new felt pieces in the Northeast Feltmakers Guild Exhibition, held at ArtWorks! in New Beford, MA. We had our opening reception on Saturday, July 25th. A good turnout exposed our viewers to the world of felt, both 2D and 3D.
Click Here for the details of the show. The show will be up till August 29th, so if you are in the Fall River/New Bedford/Providence area, please stop by to see the exhibition.

Forest Floor - detail

I have finally finished handstitching my felt piece titled "Forest Floor" I love the subtle mark and surface it creates on the felt. In prepration for this being hung in the faculty exhibition at NEWS this July, I have ordered a custom frame that will be a deep maroon shadow box, with a warm rust piece of linen that I dyed to be applied on the mounting board. I'll post a picture of the final piece, when ready.

Lichens and Moss

Lichens Moss, originally uploaded by minstrel spinner.

Here's the second of my felt pieces that uses my hand-dyed merino wool and dyed cheesecloth, which is laminated to the felt surface, during felting. I have added some hand stitching in the background to give it a rough, pebbly texture. To complete the piece, I will be doing some more hand stitching and loop embroidery to create some mossy areas.

"Forest Floor" - in progress

Forest Floor, originally uploaded by minstrel spinner.

Here is one of my newest felt pieces, titled "Forest Floor". I dyed the merino roving in numerous Fall colors, using WashFast Acid Dyes. Then I laminated some silk organza that I dyed with MX dyes, in leaf shapes. I love the mark that handstitiching gives and there is nothing better to stitch on but felt! I've added the stems on each leaf, with plans to stitch skeletion like leaf shapes in the background, for more depth and to complete the composition.