TEACHING AT SOBA

Eight students signed up for the 'Seascape"class at SOBA last week, however, sadly two were sick and had to cancel. It's that time of year.  The six that attended were so delightful and it was great fun. We had a nice break for wine and chocolate mid-afternoon When I was doing some preparation, I began thinking about how painters use palettes to select colors.  I had a brainwave and it worked like a charm!  I decided to use my drum carder to blend wool and silk fibers  in much the same way!  So we had 'clouds' of ranges of whites and grey as well as sunset colors for the sky; blues -  a cloud of each light and dark for the ocean and sandy and green tones for the land,

There were all sorts of tones blended together which made it just like a painters palette and students were able to select just what they wanted for their fiber 'paintings.'  Their results were really so interesting and every one unique.

Here's hoping that this is the first of more to come as I very much want to form a felters club - where we meet from time to time and create all sorts of felted things learning new techniques along the way. 

SAMPLE UPSIZED

 INCREASING THE SIZE OF THE SAMPLE

Regarding my previous post of the seascape, I decided it was a bit small so I pondered how to increase the size - the best solution seemed to be to use a larger piece of prefelt with some of the same color palette for the surrounds.  I needle felted it on but it was a bit too garish for me and distracted from the focus piece so I turned to my diaphanous Margilan silk and machine needle felted over the wool before machine stitching. It not only increased the size, but added another level of interest.  The last step was to hand-stitch the sample onto the new piece and then using double sided tape to attach to a canvas making it easy to hang on the wall.  Much more pleased with it now!  Experiments like this only serve to increase your technique.  Lesson here:  don't be afraid to try new things!

  

ALL STITCHED UP SEASCAPE

FOR SOBA 

DETAIL AND STITCHING ADDED

For some time, I've wanted to teach a felting workshop at SOBA (Society of Bluffton Artists) and to gather some students interested in forging forward to learn how much fun and addictive wet felting is.  It really is just like painting, but with wool.  The properties of wool require a bit of knowledge about the techniques as well as a bit of patience, but the results are so worth it.  Touches of needle felting and stitching and sometimes beading really enhace the work.

I promised myself to do a better job with keeping my bog updated; it really does serve as a record looking back and photographs allow you to see your work in another dimension.  

I'm hoping enough sign up to make the class a 'go.'  

If you look at my previous post, you will see that I added another bit of detail - more sun shining through as well as stitching as well as a bit of margilan silk at the shoreline.  I really love how the lace peaks through at the bottom.  

PRACTICE GIVES IDEAS

CREATING A WOOL & SILK PALETTE

New for 2025, I started working on a new seascape - this is just the beginning.  I still have to add the detail and stitching which really enhances felting.

Something that I found through practice that really helps a wool and silk palette is to use my lovely Louette drumcarder to blend fiber.  I run colors that I think will be used for a particular piece without blending them too much; usually warms, cools and greens.  This way, I can select colors for the sky as well as the other components just like a painter would.

As you can see, colors are incorporated to a point that when these batts are unrolled, particular colors can be selected and blended further if needed.  These are what were used for the above picture with the addition of some lace and some wool nepps.

NEW POSTS FOR NEW YEAR

I'm attempting to remedy updating my blog as it serves as a good record to look back on.  Natalie Drummond's invitation to join "Fiber Art Blogs" really gave me a push.  

It's tough to know where to begin writing this in 2025 since I've worked on many things since my last post in 2024. I love working on a variety of things related to textiles, and since I'm retired, I enjoy going with the flow. One thing that makes posting a bit easier is that my iPad automatically posts pictures to the 'gallery' on OneDrive.  These are only a few.

I love love dyeing wool and silk especially.  I had nuno felted the small blue scarf for a special purpose but although I liked the shape, to me it was rather 'blah' so I dyed it with Landscape Wild Raspberry and added some kid locks that I dyed at the same time and now I'm in love with it!

This mix of yarn and ribbon were dyed in my turkey roaster all together using acid dyes - such fun doing this as everything turns out variegated and just a bit different.  Then I had to do something with it to show to full advantage so I knit this neck fancy and added some ribbon and ribbon flower.

LANTERNS

One of the things I spent quite a bit of time doing was figuring out how to create sturdy lanterns from a lightweight Nuno felt with margilan silk and kid curl inclusions.

The other was a piece of Joomchi that was made a few months ago.  I found it tricky to know exactly how to present these so that they were sturdy and would maintain their shape after a while.

First I purchased LED lights but they didn't work the way I wanted them to, so then I found strings of fairy lights with 200 lights in each string complete with remotes.  The next issue was how to mount them inside so that they stayed put without using glue and were not all clumped together at the bottom.  My husband to the rescue!  He had an unused accordion vent that he cut to size for each and wound the lights around them before I inserted them inside.  It worked.

The next issue was how to secure the remote, since, if in a gallery they may be moved around a bit and get lost.  I put the remotes in a small organza bag and attached them inside at the top to a small piece of double-sided tape. 

CAT IN A HAT

For Christmas, one of our granddaughters visited so I knitted her a hat and then I decided to knit a matching one for her cat!  I added some locks hanging down the back to look like hair.  I don't think she loves it! lolol!!!

COTTAGES

I've been felting cottages since early 2003 - I love creating peaceful green scenes with hills sometimes a stream and featuring a wee cottage.   I can spend hours adding details with stitching and/or beads.  I wasn't so sure how well they would do in the May River Gallery since our town of Bluffton, SC, is surrounded by marshes and rivers, and art reflecting those is very popular; however, happily, the first one I placed ended up selling within a week!   It is hard to tell from here but it was quite large before being matted and framed (unfortunately the framed picture has too many reflections) but I was really pleased with how it turned out!

I had a small frame so I decided to make another and again it sold!  I see more cottages in my future - so much fun and I love creating them!

STILL PLAYING WITH COLOR EVERY DAY!

Ahhh retirement - no set schedule to adhere to, but I have been busy.  I have a fun dye studio outside and when it's too hot to be out there, I'm in my studio playing and experimenting.  

There is so much to post to keep track of the past months.  First of all I had been working on a wall hanging for a special friend that I finally finished - she was really pleased with how it turned out and that made me happy!  It is quite large and it is named 'As above, so below' and if you look closely there is a little school of beaded fish following another wee school of smaller fish!  There is a beaded/sequined sky with the moon and a swirly ocean.

Besides felting, my new passion is ice dyeing, and what fun it is!  You never know what you will get when you open it up - it all depends on how you fold the fabric and that is the trick - there are so many options.  It is very much like botanical printing with each project being a surprise!  After the initial trial, I decided I loved the serendipity and wanted more!  I set out to learn about different folds and their results.  I'm interested in dyeing mainly scarves at this point and folding and ironing a long and wide wrap takes quite a bit of time but so far the results have been worth it.  Out of the many I've dyed, there is only one that I can truly say isn't quite up to par so guess what?  It was a learning experience and will be a do-over with color remover which is quite effective.

As you can see, they are all quite different depending on how they are folded or tied before dyeing.  The one on the left was one of the first that got my interest tweaked and one of the easiest to fold.  For the center one I used rubber bands and the dye traveled differently to each side creating two different patterns for the same wrap.

It is a perfect process when it is too hot to work outside in the summer heat as I do most of the work indoors before soaking in the soda ash and then placing it on the screen used and then I add the ice.  The colors I plan to use have been determined ahead of time so then it just takes a few minutes for this step and then the piece is left until the next day before it is rinsed and washed.