Felt Still Life

Here is a little sneak preview of things I have ready for the Noosa Open Studios event. This is an event where artists and artisans around the coast here in Noosa, open their studios to the public for the weeekend. Mine will be open from Fri 24 Aug to Sun 26 Aug. 

This piece, Spiral with Pods, is on exhibition at Wallace House Noosaville. The show is a supporting event to the open studios.

This elements form part of my still life series. I will have some of my Glow Lamps available and some new 2D pieces as well.

If you are in the Noosa shire in Queensland, Australia, between 16th and 26th Aug, google the Noosa Open Studios for all the information on where and when studios are open.

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.

Ruana Shawl - hand-dyed, hand-spun, hand-woven

Here is a little follow on from my last post.

I made a second shawl length using the same gradient dyed wool as the first. I had a project in mind... a ruana shawl. And here it is

It has a beautiful soft drape

And on the centre panel at the back I experimented with an overshot design using pick-up sticks. That took a very long time to do but I like the result

I entered it in the Sydney Royal Arts and Crafts Show and was awarded a Highly Commended for it. Not bad for someone who has only been weaving for 6 months.

Dyed, Spun and Woven

I've been getting back into spinning over the last year. Trouble is I am not very fast at knitting or crochet. Then someone lent me a small rigid heddle loom. I was hooked from the first piece.
So this is a little visual storyline on how it all happens...

I start by dyeing the fibre. In this instance I have chosen a merino roving and some mulberry silk tops. They start out white but after I have chosen and applied the colourway it looks like this.

Next I card and blend the merino and silk together into gradients of colour.

I then spin the singles

Which look like this when wound on a ball winder ready to ply

I take one ball and using the thread from the centre and the thread from the outside, ply them together. This is the pink to purple gradient plied

And this is both balls plied, skeined and washed

They are then woven into a grey warp. I have used a dark grey 2ply merino for the warp. And viola! I have a lovely pure wool, hand dyed, hand spun, hand woven shawl.

I still have a bit of finishing to do but I am excited by this process.

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.

New Felted Scarves and Coats

Here are a few nuno felted pieces I have been working on lately.
The first three are images of a long, gossamer coat. It hangs to the hips at the front then sweeps to just above the ankles at the back. The upper layer is like an extended collar/cape. Very floaty when worn. Very hard to get a good picture of this one.

 This second piece is a nuno felt scarf which incorporates layers of silk which I have dyed using shibori methods, hand dyed cotton gauze and border leicester curls, also hand dyed. All felted together with merino wool.

 Both the coat and the fringed scarf are going into an exhibition. The following nuno felt shibori scarves are listed in my etsy shop. They too are light, soft, gossamer pieces.

I have nuno felted the centre with soft superfine merino. Then stitched and gathered this section into folds and dyed it. When the stitches are removed, the folds remain creating this wonderful concertina pattern. Each gossamer scarf can be worn in a number of very different ways.