Yet more cards

I wanted to make some more cards, and try out a new method! 

These were made after a trip to the beautiful White Peak area of Derbyshire, and are slightly inspired by the distinctive stone walls there. 

I made the felt, which is very fine and delicate in a new (to me) way, suggested in Sheila Smith's book "Embellish, Stitch, Felt"  I laid out a piece of water soluble fabric, and then built up overlapping but very fine layers of merino wool, bits of organza, dyed scrim, sari silk, coloured silk. I then put another piece of water soluble fabric on top to make a sandwich, and pinned it all together to hold it. I then used the embellisher machine to needle felt it all over. 

I then washed away the fabric, lightly squeezing the felt to wet- felt it just a little. 

After drying, I pinned another layer of w-s fabric on top, on which I drew out the design I wanted to free motion machine stitch - wall shapes, clouds, grasses. After completing that, I disolved the w-s fabric away again, and, once dry,  was left with this:

I then cut sections off, on an irregular manner, and teased out the edges a bit with a needle to soften the cut edge. Then I added a few french knots and stuck them onto blank cards. 

The felt is very fine - transparent in places. Here's a closeup:

Update a week later...

After making two cards with this piece, I decided not to cut off more strips for cards, but to mount the rest onto a small canvas. 

I painted the top and bottom of the canvas with acrylic paint mixed with pva glue, and pushed some muslin into the paint mixture to add some texture. The felt was wrapped round the canvas and glued. 

A few felted cards

I like sending hand made cards to friends when I can. It seems more personal, and is almost like sending a mini present. Here are a few quick ones I made recently. 

I little bit of burlap tucked between the sky and the green foreground adds texture and interest. A wisp or two of silk highlights the sky, and I finished with a few french knots. 

The sky is laid horizontally, and the grasses roughly vertically. Merino and a little silk for accents. 

In each case I laid the wool onto a large Clover needle felting mat, and needle felted sufficiently to hold it together, before gently wet felting. I find if I cover the mat, after shrinkage this makes a reasonable size and proportion for an A6 blank card. 

Riotous wild flowers

This was inspired by Karen's vibrant flowers, and also Rosiepink's lovely meadow scenes and their helpful ebook on Creating Felt Artwork. For me it acts as a sort of sampler, to try out some machine and hand embroidery to embellish the flowers. 

I am learning from my mistakes! I think the background should be clearer and less streaky. and another time I would not include such an expanse of empty sky. (I filled it with some silk embroidered clouds, but it's not quite right.) Also the mixture of flower colours is a bit random - all pastels, or all brights might work better. 

I might make it into the front of a cushion. 

Here is a detail:

Miniatures

I am back in Belgium after a wonderful August in SW France.

I am thrilled and excited that a few people have started to follow this blog, and leave comments. I am beginning to realise that there is a whole community of felters around the world, many of whom blog, and we can all share and encourage each other.I've also joined http://feltingforum.com

Penny from Fibrefrolics suggested that I make some brooches based on the seedhead cards I did earlier  , so I did. I made some tiny sunset landscapes - about 4cm x 6cm,  

and then decorated them with machine embroidery, using black and metallic thread. 

I have also discovered that you can draw designs on watersoluble vilene, use that as a guide for free machine stitching,  then just dissolve it away - magic.

I think these are fun, and will sew brooch pins on the back. 

A vase of flowers

I came across this painting by the French artist Odilon Redon (1840-1916) and something about it made me wonder how it might transfer into felt. 

So I lay out a background in blended colours and lightly needlefelted it to hold together. I cut out the vase from a piece of black prefelt and needled that in place. I then "painted" in the flowers and leaves by needling in wisps of coloured wool. I had to blend together colours to get them right. Then I covered the whole thing in gauze and gently wetfelted it between sheets of bubble wrap. 

Now it needs some stitching highlights. 

Et voila!

Now with French knots

I liked the little card so much, I tried it again.

Here is the little piece of felt ... a bit boring...

...to which I added machine embroidery, and tried out some french knots. I had no idea how to do them, and couldn't follow written instructions, but found a little video which made all clear. They are quite addictive!
Do they look more like dandelion seed heads?

There - I'm on a roll - I've made three now.