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 Baby Booties

Now that the heat of an Australian summer seems to have passed, and the madness of the silly season has been laid to rest for another year, I have a little time to show you what I have been working on of late.
I now run workshops in my studio, so if you live on or near to the Sunshine Coast, Noosa, Queensland, Australia, keep an eye on my facebook page for forthcoming events.

I have also been working on these.
My little felted baby booties
In natural wool

and coloured hues

and curly whirly pixie toes

These are all listed in my etsy shop 



Of course if you are like me, you will want a pair too. So do not despair, adult sizes coming soon.

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?

Felt Challenges

So I have set quite a few challenges for myself over the last few months. None of them have to do with being more frequent here unfortunately.

The first challenge was a little nuno felt bolero with little ruffles on the front.

The piece incorporates some beautiful silk that I dyed using shibori techniques. The main challenge, apart from designing the pattern of the bolero, was to keep the edges of the silk at the front from felting into the rest of the item. It is these free strips that have created the ruffles.

I was really pleased with the result and entered it into the Queensland Royal Show, known as the Ekka. I was awarded a first prize in felt garments for it.

My second major challenge had been creating a number of felted 2D wall hangings for an art exhibition in Sydney. I had to draw on my long background in painting and combine it with my technical knowledge of felting to make four works (3 here).

 

 

I have to say that they looked pretty good up on the walls of the gallery. They were in good company with paintings, sculptures, quilts and tapestries by other wonderful artists.

Nuno Felting Kits: Make your own scarf

I have been busy with a few projects of late.

The first has been cleaning up downstairs to make a studio where I can teach felting and fabric dyeing workshops. I'm nearly there, but still need to do a bit more work.

In the meantime I have put together  a great little kit for people who want to try their hand at nuno felting.

 

 

 

 

The kits include all the fabric wool and embellishments as well as detailed instructions with lots of pictures. You need to get some bubble wrap and painters plastic dropsheets, and a few other easily acquired bits and pieces, and you are on your way.

I have started with kits using cotton gauze as the base fabric. This is a really good fabric for beginners because the weave is very open and this makes it easier to felt into.

The step by step instructions lead you through the process from laying down your bubble wrap, to different ways to lay out your wool and embellish it with silk threads, to rolling and fulling, to rinsing the finished item out and drying it.

There are lots of ways you can choose to decorate your scarf. A few examples here give you some ideas

 

 

 

Wear your creation with pride and when someone asks where you got it, you can say "I made it".

These are available through my etsy shop, BeljaysFeltnArt  or click on the etsy pictures on the right.