Felt Vessels

Thought I should share some of my most recent work. 

Handfelted vessels that glow at night with LED lights

Gorgeous aren't they. If you want one for yourself, have a look in my esty shop to see what I have listed

Hand Felted Glow Lamps

I realised I haven't shown you these yet.

 I have been making them for a while and they evolve with each batch I make.

Different shapes

And sizes

I love the way  they look light a kind of pottery piece by day.

By night I use LED tealights to add the glow.

Felt Scarves for the cooler days

A couple of recent pieces.

These scarves are made from merino wool, felted into sheer black tissue silk and maybe some silk threads here and there to give the colours lustre. A special little feature at the centre are the little felted beads. Your scarf can be worn so that it looks like a scarf with a matching necklace.  I will have a couple of these in my etsy shop from time to time so pop over and take a look.

Felt, Nuno Felt, Capes and Awards

I could almost start every post with, "Gosh I've been busy..."  but really I have. Here's some pics to prove it. My entries into this years Royal Brisbane Show - EKKA - and the sections they were in.

Felt Garment 

Accessory

Wall Hanging

Nuno Felt 

Then there are all the gossamer shawls I have been making to order.

And this very special full length one

and these are only the nuno-felts.

There are also the shibori silks

Eventually I'll get some of these listed in my Etsy shop.

Oh, and how did I go at the Show?

A Few Of My Favourite Felt Things

Here are a few of the things I have been making lately.

ABOVE: Felt flowers. 

These are bigger than my hand and make beautiful brooches, hair accessories or decor items.

ABOVE: Fairy LED lights.

Pods and Hanging Flowers with LED lights that change colours.

ABOVE: Shawl/Vest

These are a nunofelt item that works like a cross between a shawl and a vest.

They are made from hand dyed tissue silk with hand dyed merino wool felted in like leaves.

I am happy to custom make these to fit and in your choice of colours. Contact me via my etsy shop, 

Beljays Felt n Art

 if you want to know more.

Making a Nunofelt Jacket with Lizzie Houghton

The second workshop I attended at TAFTA's Contextart Forum was a nunofelting workshop with Lizzie Houghton. Lizzie is a phenominal felter (and wonderful woman) from England and very well known internationally, so it was a special experience being able to attend one of her workshops.

Twelve of us gathered in the canteen and gym area of our venue and over the next four days achieved nothing short of a miracle under Lizzie's patient direction.

We began with 5 or so metres of silk. I hand-dyed mine some weeks before.

After cutting out the pieces and laying out the wool and surface decoration we began to see something taking shape.

A bit of prefelting

and drying, not easy with the torrential downpour we experienced for 2 days but the sun did finally come out, and we had the makings of some very interesting fabric.

But when we stitched it up and tried it on, it was hard to believe that we hadn't got something wrong. Lizzie assured us it would be okay.

I wasn't until another day of hard work felting and fulling that we saw the wonderful results of this fascinating technique. Who would have believed the shapeless thing in the picture above could turn into the beautifully fitting jacket below.

A few shawls for cooler nights

I have been a little busy rearranging my life of late and now I have time to do more here. So here are a few of the things I've been up to...

I used some of the inspiration gained from the Sketchbook Project 2012 for this shawl.

The texture of the silk is sumptuous. And I love the way the silk threads have wriggled and wrinkled during the felting process.

These are a few other accessories I've put together.

The strong design on this black red and maroon shawl is also a result of the excercise of putting together my entry to the Sketchbook Project 2012.

You can find the last two items in my Etsy Store but the top shawl is on its way to Sydney for a show.