Oh dear, you can tell I'm a bit under the weather here.
Last Friday I took the day off work and attended a wet felting class at a friend's house. The teacher, Judith Colvin of Bitterroot Fiber Arts Studio, was visiting from Montana. I had done some wet felting years ago, but it was more on the order of felted soaps, and felted Easter eggs. I had never made anything that required templates and water not neatly contained in a bowl.
I'd always found the idea of water everywhere off-putting, but, in fact it really was not bad at all. I did not bring an apron (don't own one) and I brought a change of clothing, but did not need it.
The purpose of this class was to make a pillow sham but Judith kindly allowed me to make a purse. (I dallied before signing up and the purse class was filled.)
It was a lot of fun! But, wow, after hours of felting, I was feeling it in my lower back. Wet felting is not for sissies. In fact, the reason I gave it up years ago was because it inflamed the tendonitis in my wrist.
The following pictures are from Judith's blog.
Most everyone made a pillow sham, but I made a purse. Judith, our fearless leader, is on the far right.
Felting away...
Originally, I was going to add some embroidery, but now I'm not so sure it's a good idea. I went a little nuts with the pre-felt embellishments. This is what I mean when I say I'm not that artistic. ;)
If Judith visits again next year I just may take her Nuno Scarf class. If you live near Montana, I highly recommend her classes! (She also has an Etsy shop - the link is on her blog.)
Superbowl Sunday
I hope everyone is having a nice weekend and Superbowl Sunday. I have been fighting off a cold and am a bit draggy. I am moving very slowly, but I do have a couple easy projects in the works. I also did a little organizing of my clothes. I now have a shelf of Teagarden T's. I counted 13 of those, but might have missed one or two in the laundry. ;)
Perky, pretty polka dots, Shams! It would be fun to see it accenting your outfits. If you get tired of it as a purse, it would make a cute pillow, too.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Carol! :)
DeleteI've never heard of wet felting!!! But it sounds interesting. Very cute bag.
ReplyDeleteI've mostly done dry felting, a la, needle felting. But wet felting offers more creative options.
DeleteLove it! Jenne (Harlequin) just did a post about an injury she incurred while pulling her felt....who knew that fabrics could be so dangerous!
ReplyDeleteThe whole felting concept still calls out to me....
Thanks for that heads up, Jilly Be! I didn't know Jenne had a blog, but I found it: http://feltworks.wordpress.com/category/blogroll/felt-art/
Deletewet felting sounds too hard! You scared me with the tendonitis stuff :-)
ReplyDeletegreat colors for you!!!
Well, it is hard, but if you have the "right stuff", you can create amazingly wondrous things. :)
DeleteHow can you say you're not very artistic?? I see jelly fish swimming through a beautiful sea of blue, very artistic in deed. You know the best artists create pieces that allow the viewer the ability to interpret whatever it is their eye will see. Great job and a great new purse.
ReplyDeleteIt's fun to explore different forms of fiber art. Your results are beautiful. I've Nuno-felted a scarf recently. It was a fun class.
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful purse! I love the polka dots! I am very intrigued by felting, but for now I think I'll just admire the work of others.
ReplyDeleteGlad you had fun. Will have to show you my felted purse when you visit in May. What I really love is your hat! You look so cute.
ReplyDeleteYour purse is wonderful. I love the embellishment. Jill Sanders was a teacher in my shop but also made this beautiful felted purses. She sold them for > 300.00 a pop, but well worth it with all the work that goes into it. Your hat is so cute also.
ReplyDeleteHow can you say you aren't very artistic? I see jellyfish swimming in a beautiful sea of blue. Great new bag!
ReplyDeleteI love it! So creative, and I think very very artistic :) The polka dots are fun and funky and the colours are so cheerful, they make me smile. This will brighten up any winter-y outfit. And obviously that Teagarden T pattern is really working for you something fabulous too!
ReplyDeleteOh, I hope you are feeling better soon :)
ReplyDeleteI want to try wet felting someday. I have already bought the supplies, well several bags of roving. Super cute purse. All the pillow covers look great too. Each is very different.
ReplyDeleteOkay you do the most interesting projects! I can't ever imagine doing this process but I really like your new purse. And you did not over embellish it at all!
ReplyDeleteI love the lime green polka dots! Very cute and funky!
ReplyDelete