Day Two of the Experimental Sculptural Forms…..

June 14, 2016June 15, 2016 / Karen Lane / 7 Comments

Day two of the Experimental Sculptural Forms Workshop with Mandy Nash and we had a few new faces join us. Those of us doing the two days got straight on with our projects while Mandy talked through the process with the newbies.

Getting down to detail.

Room full of ladies at a wet felting workshop in Arnesby Village Hall

A hive of activity!

Several ladies completely finished their fish by the end of the day while I seemed to work flat-out on my vessel but still didn’t quite get done.

A few of the amazing funky fish displaying their colourful gills

It was fabulous how each fish had its own distinct character

Jen’s fish required the kiss of life!

Georgina chose to take her vessel home to finish as she, and Tracy, were keen to use the workshop time to get started on another piece of work which the tutor demonstrated on the Sunday. Mandy hasn’t named this piece but all three of us were excited to see how it was made and it’s something I am intending to have a go at next week.

Mandy Nash demonstrating a particular wet felting technique at her workshop Experimental Sculptural Forms.

Mandy demonstrating how she created the wet felted objects displayed on the table.

After getting it home and giving it a bit more pummelling I was really pleased with how my piece worked out.

Mandy Nash is a wonderful tutor and this has to be one of the most interesting workshops I’ve been on. The venue was good, the company was great and hopefully I will meet up with some of you again at future workshops. Oh, and when you do get your vessel and “un-named thingy’s” finished Georgina & Tracy, send me images and I will post them here!

Experimental Sculptural Forms…..

June 11, 2016June 15, 2016 / Karen Lane / 2 Comments

I’m writing this sitting in my B&B in Stoney Stanton having just eaten a delicious meal in Nemos Bar. I travelled down here last night ahead of a two day workshop with Mandy Nash to make experimental sculptural forms. The workshop is being held in Arnesby, a small village just south of Leicester.

Experimental Sculptural Forms by Mandy Nash

Examples of Mandy’s sculptural work

This morning Mandy began by showing us some of her wonderful wet felted objects, including hats, bags and funky fish, and explaining how the various 3 dimensional shapes were achieved. Several of the bags and vessels had been created using “book resists” and this was the method we were going to be working with. In addition Mandy talked us through the various surface design techniques she uses and demonstrated how we could achieve these effects using Bergschaf wool batts. Most of the ladies chose to make a fish and the following photos show their work in progress.

Georgina and I chose to make a vessel and treat it as a sampler, using the various surface treatments on each of the sides.

Georgina applying resists for surface decoration

This is my three sided vessel taking shape…..

It was full day and a lot of fun but none of us have finished our pieces yet so I will post an update on how things turned out tomorrow.

Simple wet felted choker…..

June 2, 2016June 2, 2016 / Karen Lane / 4 Comments

This morning I’ve been practising ropes, loops and fasteners and made a simple wet felted choker from black and grey Merino.

I made several attempts to tie the grey and black loose ends into a neat knot but it just wouldn’t lay flat. After considering different options I settled for a silver coloured ribbed bead to hold it together.

Wet felted seed pod….

May 29, 2016May 30, 2016 / Karen Lane / 10 Comments

I’ve been experimenting with the book resist method today, using Merino wool tops to wet felt a seed pod.

3D Seed pod, wet felted using Merino wool tops

Merino wool tops wet felted seed pod.

Nuno Felting with Clare Bullock…..

May 22, 2016May 23, 2016 / Karen Lane / 12 Comments

What had looked like being a pretty normal week suddenly took a more interesting turn on Wednesday. I received the Artvango newsletter which mentioned there was a spare place on Clare Bullock’s two day nuno felting workshop, starting the following day. Hmmmm…that would have been nice I thought, as I finished my lunch and set off back to work for the afternoon. Unfortunately Artvango isn’t exactly on my doorstep so it’s not somewhere I get to visit as often as I would like. But two days felting, with Clare, starting tomorrow…..it’s got to be worth the long drive down to Knebworth, and it was!

Clare began by talking us through the process and showing us examples of her nuno felting using various different fabrics i.e. silk, gauze, muslin, Indian cotton, etc. The following three photos are examples of Clare’s beautiful nuno work.

Then it was our turn. Each sample was created with one layer of Merino wool tops and various scraps of lightweight fabric. With Clare on hand to ensure we didn’t skint on the rubbing, we rubbed, rubbed, and then rubbed some more…..then time for a coffee and then back to rubbing……

In the next photo you can see nine different scraps of scarves in the early stage of felting.

And the finished sample which I was really pleased with.

My green and blue sample worked pretty well too and I can see this possibly becoming a base for a landscape piece.

Another of my samples which I will add stitching to at some point…..

…..and a close up.

Before the workshop Clare had prepared some rust printed fabrics which she cut up and shared with us. The following photo shows how my rust sample, made from four pieces of different fabrics, worked out.

And another close up shot showing the textures.

Clare is a very good tutor and full of fun. We learnt a lot and laughed a lot during the workshop, and I’m sure I can speak for the other ladies when I say that everyone came away really happy with what they had achieved.

Wet Felted Jewellery…..

May 3, 2016May 4, 2016 / Karen Lane / 6 Comments

A couple of days ago I discovered a wonderful American felt artist by the name of Lisa Klakulak. Her work is incredible and you can see her website here. After seeing her wonderful wet felted jewellery I was inspired to have a go at making something for myself. My first attempt was a bangle made from grey and yellow Merino wool tops. I was disappointed with how it turned out, bulky and crude looking, so stripped it apart and started again.

The second time round I free machined the felt using grey and copper coloured metallic thread and replaced the yellow felt ball with a silver metal button. I used the second strip of grey/lemon felt, again with the metallic stitching and metal button, to make a matching asymmetrical necklace. This time I’m happy with the result!

Jewellery created from wet felted Merino wool tops

Wet felted Merino jewellery

Merino Purses…..

May 2, 2016 / Karen Lane / 12 Comments

It’s a wet Bank Holiday in Lincolnshire and to cap it off I am full of cold so doing a bit of felting in between the hot drinks and sniffles! These Merino purses, made with a resist, are an ideal size for glasses cases and a good way to use up oddments of fibres which I seem to have a lot of. I’ve embellished them with tiny bits of silk, sari waste and more Merino and finished off with a button closure.

Merino Wool Purses, ideal for use as a glasses case.

Will PVA stiffen felt…..

April 6, 2016April 6, 2016 / Karen Lane / 10 Comments

I’ve just made an experimental piece as I wanted to answer a friend’s question which was “will PVA stiffen felt”? I created a very quick wet felted bowl using a single layer of grey Norwegian wool which was lightly felted and then soaked in a 50/50 solution of PVA and water. It was placed over an upturned glass bowl until it dried out. It isn’t rock hard but certainly stiff enough to give it some body. I can’t say that I particularly like it as a finished piece, so it will probably get washed out and recycled, but the PVA did its job so my friend got their answer and I’ve learnt something for future use.

Wet felted Norwegian wool bowl

Wet Felted Octopus…..

March 31, 2016April 1, 2016 / Karen Lane / 10 Comments

The wet felted octopus is finished and there’s just enough of the afternoon left to get outside with the dog and enjoy the weather.

The body and tentacles are joined and work started on the eyes

The body had been felted so hard I broke 5 needles working on him this afternoon!

Five broken needles later…….

All washed up……..if only we lived at the coast!

Which way to the sea?

Octopod update…..

March 29, 2016April 1, 2016 / Karen Lane / 4 Comments

The octopod is on its way to becoming a fully fledged octopus once I get his body dried out and somehow attach it to the tentacles. Looking at images of these creatures I’ve got some work to do making bulging eyes before I attempt the joining of the two parts. I’ve photographed him on the resist I used for the body to show the amount of shrinkage involved. Having spent longer than usual on the felting and fulling its resulted in the thickest, toughest piece of felt I have made so far.