felt experiments

I have been  working, working, working in the studio recently, and will fill you in on all the details but in an effort to get back into the swing
of things here, a few playful pictures of one of today’s projects:

Using different breeds of sheeps wool in balls and layers to create this awesome surface texure. Felt upholstery? Carpets? Art? Overdyed? So many possibilities. This illuminates in a most interesting way also.  This is one of a series of trials I am working on, expanding my repetoire of surface design elements in felt.  I didn’t expect the mounds to stay quite so pronounced. 
This has East Friesian wool on the inside, and Blue Faced Leicester wool on the outside. Just a small sample for now….
But I’m looking forward to more… I’m quite taken by their perfect round and fluffy forms!

I’ll be right back (at least in the next day or two!)!

Warm wishes,

Fiona

2017-08-02T16:58:18+00:00

5 Comments

  1. Fiona December 6, 2011 at 8:09 pm

    OH- and Heather- BTW- I LOVE that loft…everything in it! Those colours! My dream home looks a bit different but all the wooly bits- Yum! 🙂

  2. Fiona December 6, 2011 at 8:08 pm

    Heather- Thanks so much! Oh my gosh… so maybe not so original! I rememeber this article. But was so not thinking of this when I made this piece. Darn! I was thinking of using this idea for an interior design line for next year…I'll have to play with it and see how it becomes my own!
    So what I did was roll balls of coarse wool that does not felt easily- the East freisan in this case, and then loosely wrapped them in the BFL. Laid out a flat base of BFL, placed the balls, then another layer of BFL laid as a sheet..then felted…Mostly by hand, rubbing, epcially at first. I was able to roll it as the ball fit in between each other when rolled. So the balls don't felt completely becasue of the wool type, but are totally felted into the piece. Now it's a new challenge- how do I make this into something unique! It makes an awesomne lampshade! Love F

  3. Fiona December 6, 2011 at 8:00 pm

    Hi Aleta- Thanks so much!
    oh, I know! I would love to make a rug like this to stomp with my own toes! I imagine something quite stylish, with the mounds placed randomly and more to one end and then in masses…I wonder if I'll ever get around to making it?!

  4. Hinterland Mama December 6, 2011 at 10:16 am

    Oh WOW! You are really a talented, inspirational (and super busy) lady.
    I saw your photos and thought immediately of tiny toes trying to stomp down those balls.

  5. Heather Woollove December 6, 2011 at 9:29 am

    Oh, Fiona–I LOVE this!! I've been wanting to figure out how to do this ever since I saw the NY Times slideshow "A Loft Filled With Felt"
    http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/05/12/garden/20100513-rugs-slideshow-9.html
    (Check out the rug near the tub and the piece above the kitchen sink with more geometric embossed forms.)
    I'd be curious to know how you managed this. It's fabulous!!
    XXO-