Wet Felting at Withern…..

January 27, 2018 / Karen Lane / 24 Comments

I’ve discovered an unexpected benefit of running local workshops……I’m discovering villages in Lincolnshire that I didn’t know existed! Today I was at Withern Village Hall, deep in the Lincolnshire Wolds for the first time ever, with seven ladies from the local textile and art groups.

The workshop was to be an introduction to Felting so we began by laying out our Merino fibres and fancy yarns and then wet felting our backgrounds.

After lunch we did some needle felting, adding detail to the work, and then the ladies chose to either machine or hand embroider to further embellish their pictures. I love the tiny bees on Kay’s picture!

There is still a little work left to do before all of the pieces are finished but I’m sure you will agree they are all looking great! Thanks for inviting me to Withern, and for being such an enthusiastic group! It was a very enjoyable day and I hope to see some of you again soon.

Textural Necklace…..

January 22, 2018 / Karen Lane / 9 Comments

This is my latest “Ullapool/Ardmair” inspired piece. I wanted this textural necklace to capture the atmospheric beauty of the monochromatic grey days and the grey pebble beaches, punctuated by the yellow/green of the seaweed and the lichen on the rocks.

The necklace is made from grey, taupe and white Merino with just a hint of yellow added. It was embellished with Colonial knots made using Madeira metallic threads.

Wet Felted Wall Hanging…..

January 16, 2018January 16, 2018 / Karen Lane / 16 Comments

A quick post to show how Alison and Yvonne have got on with making their beautiful versions of my Yellow Poppies wet felted wall hanging today.

Alison was quite at home with the free machine stitching while for Yvonne it was her first attempt and she admitted that she had got on far better than she thought she would. Just the mention of free machining sends some folk into a state of panic but with a few basic pointers I find most people overcome the dread and start to enjoy it.

Both pieces are looking lovely but there is still some work to be done so I will post an update once the ladies have finished their pieces.

Sculptural Green Merino Scarf…..

January 9, 2018January 9, 2018 / Karen Lane / 12 Comments

Green Merino scarf

This sculptural green Merino scarf was Commissioned by a lovely lady I met last October at The Big Textile Show. Kate bought one of my green wet felted clutch bags and decided she would like a scarf/collar to go with it…..I can’t wait to see how it looks on her!

Detail of green Merino scarf

Child’s Elf Hat…..

January 7, 2018January 7, 2018 / Karen Lane / 14 Comments

A few months ago I came across a tutorial on making a Child’s Elf Hat. It was written in Russian but the photographs were self-explanatory and I’ve had it in mind to make one ever since seeing it, and here it is. If ever I get inspired by someone else’s work I will always credit them with a mention but unfortunately, at the time, I didn’t make a note of this persons website and I haven’t been able to find it since! If you happen to know where I might have seen this please let me know so I can add a credit.

In the tutorial the hat was made in a solid colour using a yellow or orange Merino. I wanted a mottled effect so decided to make the hat in white and colour it afterwards.

Normally you would colour wool using acid dyes but for this hat I experimented with a combination of Inktense and acrylic paint, both of which are colourfast once they have dried. I found that when the acrylic paint is sufficiently watered down it will not clog the wool and it retains its soft handle. The only area where I painted it on thickly was at the base of the top “tail”…..I wanted this to be stiffened and the paint certainly did the trick! The Inktense didn’t seem to affect the handle of the wool at all.

The two leaves and stalk were made from green Merino and copper coloured Tussah silk and stitched in place. I’ve started adding Colonial knots……I love Colonial knots so there could be a lot more of these added before I consider the hat finished!

Wet Felted Pendants…..

January 6, 2018January 6, 2018 / Karen Lane / 10 Comments

During a (rare) tidy up in my studio last month I came across some sample pieces of coloured acrylic paper with wonderful textures.

Acrylic Papers

The reason I had hung on to them in the first place is because they are so beautiful, but I couldn’t see the point in putting them back in the drawer if I didn’t have a use for them……so I needed to find one! The result is this collection of wet felted, hand embroidered pendants with acrylic inserts.

Wet Felted Pendants

I’ve also been making solid necklaces and chunky bangles, again incorporating the acrylic papers.

Necklace and Bangle with acrylic paper inclusions

I’m a big fan of recycling, rather than throwing, and I’m now on a mission to find more things I can use as inclusions in my felting.

Time To Catch Up…..

January 5, 2018January 5, 2018 / Karen Lane / 2 Comments

December went by in a bit of blur, as I’m sure it did for lots of folk, but with the festivities now over and life back to normal I’ve time to catch up and record whats been happening creatively over the past month.

December got off to a festive start with seven ladies taking part in my Felted Fairy Workshop at the Alford Craft Studio. We began by wet felting the head, arms and body.

Once these were dry Boucle yarn was added for hair and this was dressed with a seed bead tiara.

Finally the fairies were given a needle felted bouquet to hold. They all worked out beautifully and one of the ladies has since been in touch to say she went on to make another six for friends to put on their Christmas Trees!

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The second week in December saw me holding a textile workshop in Langton by Spilsby for members of The Spirit of Sutterby group. The group consists of approx 70 Members (if I remember right!) and has formed with the goal to explore the village of Sutterby, research its past, record its present and help with its future.

This was a great opportunity for me to get involved in a local collaborative project and hopefully my workshop provided some inspiration and guidance to help move the textile side of their project forward.

The group was keen to try out techniques they hadn’t used before and had fun with the heat tool and soldering iron, distressing polyester fabrics, Lutradur and Tyvek as well as painting and layering their fabrics.

It was a busy day and although no one got their piece finished I was assured they had a great time and were taking away lots of new ideas. I’m looking forward to seeing how these translate to the Textile Landscape they will produce for the Sutterby project.

Workshop in Heighington…..

October 20, 2017October 21, 2017 / Karen Lane / 3 Comments

Today I joined a small group of ladies for a wet felting workshop in the Thomas Garrett Rooms in Heighington near Lincoln. The ladies meet once a month for felting and they were all keen to learn how to make Merino collars. The group all had specific ideas of how they wanted their collar to look and everyone was thrilled with how their work turned out.

It was a lovely day and thanks go out to Joan and Janet for inviting me over. I shall look forward to seeing some of you for felting in Belchford on the second Wednesday in December.

Autumn Sunset Landscape…..

October 12, 2017 / Karen Lane / 8 Comments

Earlier this month I found some small Nuno samples which I decided to stitch into and frame. The first was this blue, green and yellow sample……

And after trimming down and stitching…..

Nuno Landscape

The second was this pink, orange and brown sample…..

And after a little stitching…..

Autumn Sunset Landscape

Flower Meadow…..

October 8, 2017October 8, 2017 / Karen Lane / 4 Comments

I had a great time yesterday with the Waltham Textile Group ladies who meet once a month at Waltham, on the outskirts of Grimsby. It’s a lovely friendly group and workshops here are always a pleasure to do. I was invited over this time to run a wet felting workshop with the aim of producing a flower meadow type picture. One or two of the ladies had previously done a little wet or needle felting but for the majority this would be their first experience of felting. I had intended that we work small and simple to get the pieces almost, if not completely, finished before we went home………no chance!! These ladies know what they want to do and they are all very experienced when it comes to sewing so they decided to concentrate on the felting and the majority of the sewing will get finished at home.

By the end of the session there was some wonderful felt created, I am hoping to get back over to their November meeting when I can photograph the finished work and post an update. In the meantime here are photos from the workshop…..