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. 

An Easter Project

This year I lead a small women's Lent study group in our village, and we were asked by our Vicar to create a reflective piece on one of the Stations of the Cross, which would be displayed over the Easter weekend. Other groups in the community also contributed. We were given the subject of Tears, thinking of when Jesus met the weeping women of Jerusalem. 

 

I made some cream merino felt, decorated on both sides with vertical trails of silk, and some bamboo. You can see the picture I used as inspiration, which was from a booklet called "One Friday" illustrated by Jenny Hawke. 

I cut out tear drop shaped from this felt. 

Each member of the group took a tear, and embellished it very simply with something significant to them - maybe just a few running stitches. While doing this they thought about what has brought them to tears. 

This tear has thorns stitched to it. 

And this one has some nails. 

The tears were suspended by fine silver threads from branches of curly hazel, representing a tree. They fell towards a "stream" of blue fabric and organza, with pebbles (some felted) and glass stones. In the stream was a text - see below for explanation. This was made with free motion machine stitching in black and silver thread on blue ribbon. 

I sandwiched the ribbon between water soluble fabric while doing the stitching to hold it firmly. 

I felt it was meaningful to involve each woman in our group by pesonalising  the tears in their own way. 

A few more quick cards....

 I used the embellisher machine to make some colourful, rather moody backgrounds, using mainly merino wool, with some silk and a little sparkly fibre.

Using black thread, I machine sketched some seed heads, without trying to be too exact.

I added a few small beads as stars, for just a touch more textural interest.
Then I used the glue gun to stick them on to the cards. 

Bird Box card

 I like making my own cards, and find simple naif designs with scraps of fabric and free motion stitching quite satisfying to make. My daugter has just moved into a new flat, and this is what I've made. 

I used some blackout curtain lining fabric as the background as it is solid enough to stitch on without a hoop. I'm not very good at controlling the stitching, but I say that the imperfections just add to the charm! 

I use a Pilot Frixion pen to draw on the designs, then just use a warm iron to remove the marks. I know there is some debate about whether the marks really disappear, but it is quick and fine for a project like this. 

I am back again...at last

It has been a very long time since I posted anything. We have moved from Belgium to England, to Suffolk, and spent a year working on our old barn. This has included building an extension, and in the roof space of this I have a beautiful room to use as a studio! What a lucky girl I am.

All this space is so intimidating! I have not done much yet - just a  few little pieces of felt, machine embroidered with seedheads, to make into cards. 

What I really need now is a course to follow, to give me some development, techniques, challenges and discipline. If anyone knows of anything in the Suffolk area, or even on-line, please let me know, 

Nuno notepad cover

I made this A5 size notepad cover to use up a piece of experimental felt that I had made! 

It was made with merino wool on organza which has a slightly metallic sheen. I added more pieces of organza, and nepps, trapped behind a thin layer of merino wisps, to add texture. Silk strands were used to give colour and shine. I liked the way adding the extra pieces of organza just under the top layer gave the piece areas of deeper folded texture. I was worried that the nepps (little knobbly balls of wool!) had not felted into the fabric well, and might come loose with handling, so I added a bit of machine stitching on these areas. 

To make the cover, I first made a fabric cover to fit the notepad, then sewed the felt onto this, leaving an extra border of felt around the edges. I then blanket stitched the edges of the  felt. 

Organza experiment

I found some rolls of shiny - almost metallic - synthetic organza in a craft shop and wanted to see this fabric would work for nuno felting. 

I put thin layers of merino wool tops, and a few bits of silk and also trapped some wool nepps and strands of spun wool in between the merino. 

It took a bit of elbow grease - and I did use an electric sanding machine. But the wool did attach itself to the organza and start to felt. Enough for a decorative object, though perhaps not for something subject to much wear. It had an underwater look about it, so I added more organza shapes (some shiny fish and starfish) and some wool and ribbon weeds. I trapped all this under some soluble interfacing, and then machined lots of ripply lines to hold it all. Then rinsed away the interfacing. I was quite pleased with the result. But what I really like is the effect when you hold the piece up to the light. Love the way the nepps show up.  Here it is against a window:

I also experimented with a small piece, throwing it in the tumble drier to felt. Amazingly this felted quickly and much more firmly. The colours reminded me of Monet's waterlilies, so I doodled on a few with the machine.  

Oops funny how you can spot loose threads that need trimming in a photo!

Not sure what I can do with these samples, but I learned a lot and will incorporate organza onto future pieces. 

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: