Fiber Artistry

I am applying for an artist grant and also wanted to use up my stash of the "gift" fibers you get when ordering from shops online.  they often include a sample of their roving or batts as a thank you for the order but they are usually too small to do a whole piece with.  

So I created a "vest of many colors" and a sample collar scarf for the application.  I so believe this is my year!  I am creating a video for the application but decided to upload the pics here as well.

I dont think I have shown this yet so decided to do it now.  Felting is one of the oldest ways to make clothes and creates seamless clothes.  Modern felters have it much easier since we now have tools like a sander to help us in this labor intensive process.


My Instagram: Searean Moon is me

This first picture shows one side of the front vest.  I have laid it out first sideways then the second layer is long ways.  I do this to create a long look. To felt you need the fibers to cross each other at different angles.  The way you lay down the wool is super important as it defines the whole creation.  If you are careful and mindful of how you lay it down it will show in the quality of the finished piece.  I plan to do a video about this soon, showing my pieces when I first tried felting to now.   The white piece it is lying on is the "resist" made of the carpet underlay you can buy in rolls.  

I realized I had forgotten to get a picture of how I do it.  I take a merino roving and split it into half so what you see here is half of the roving.  You flatten it out a bit so it is even and pull it from the ends.  I show it wrapped around my wrist to show how you keep it off of the piece you are working on but I actually use short pieces at a time so I don't accidentally move my fibers once laid down.   The bottom item is what I use instead of bubble wrap, it is sort of like shelf lining material but in a huge piece.

The pieces are thin and this particular merino is "fluffy" so seems much thicker once laid out.  The blue is spa bubble wrap that is meant to cover a hot tub and more durable then the traditional bubble wrap used.  I use it on top of a piece after it is wetted to help felt it rather then as the bottom piece since it is a small piece.    The piece lies on a long wide piece of painters tarp that is thin and comes in rolls.  It is essential to help flip the pieces and for rolling/sanding.

I cover it with a mesh to first press it down to work out any air pockets that can cause the wool to slide when wetted.  I wet it and do a gentle pressing motion on top of this mesh.  

This shot is to show how wet your hands get doing felting.  This is also after I have laid the top plastic piece.  You can see my sander is a Ryobi battery operated one. 

This just shows how I usually work.  I like the floor as I can spread out and not have to worry about fitting it onto a craft table.  The bucket is filled with soapy water.  My plastic was to narrow so I taped a another piece to it for when I do dresses or wide pieces.  These 2 pieces of gift roving were in the color range so I used one to line the edge where you can place buttons and as a pocket.  The pocket is meant to be decorative rather then practical as I did not strengthen the area underneath or add a layer of felt to make the pocket itself strong.  I knew it was a sample piece and not one meant for daily wear or for sale. 

This is the back of the vest, the front flaps used different pieces of gift roving and these were from my stash of extra materials.  I love texture in my pieces and wanted to show it.  The collar is actually very long, though hard to tell from this shot of it.  

The tan is silk lap leftover from other projects. I believe most people use it to spin but I like it for texture.  It is flat right now but once it dries it fluffs back out a bit.  The purple shades are my hand dyed merino from a raw fleece.  I have hand carders and combs to work with the fleece and think of it as quality control.  though it is much easier to buy already colored roving!  You can see it is fluffy roving along the top edge and toward the bottom you can see where the roving felted in the dye bath.   I do not mind that as I love texture in my work and this is the last of the stash I had made.  I used it on a top and dress and had a bit left over.

The rolling process...  all felters know this is important and makes you work up a sweat!   This is another important part of the process and determines the quality of the finished piece.  You wrap this in the bubble wrap and then can use a towel to help hold it together as you roll it.  You roll it in the direction you want it to shrink.  You must often check it and turn it so you roll evenly.   

I love "organic" edges, meaning I do not concentrate on making them straight and even.  I like it looking hand made, that is the point to me.  This top of the vest uses a technique I am trying for the first time.  I have the white vest and then place a narrow piece of left over resist then cover that with more wool.  This was a thank you roving that was too small for a whole project so I decided to use it here though it all is mismatched...   Once it is felted you cut into it to remove the resist and it leaves this interesting effect.  Like torn almost.  I think it adds an interesting dimension to a piece. 

Here you can see it better.   There is additional material going down more to use up the pieces and add interest to it.

 This pocket is a gift sample of an art batt.  These batts are made on a drum carder and help you combine different fibers together.  I used it to make a pocket and used a leftover piece of resist that was in a half circle to form it.

You can the other pocket here.  It was a small sample and matches the edging roving almost perfectly.  The resist used was a leftover piece and smaller then the other pocket but the roving was smaller too so it worked out.  This was meant to be decorative rather then practical.

The back and the textures!  What is great is over time it will loosen up a bit but still stay strong and felted.  The silk lap is multi layered and will fluff out a bit over time (or I could work it fluffy by hand now if I wanted).

You can see how the textures are loose in some places and this is meant to look this way.  I love how the dark pieces sort of half hang off like this.  Makes me feel like it is maybe a hand me down piece instead of just created!

I was experimenting with collar height since this was a sample piece anyway.  You can see it is to the top of her head.  It can be worn "upside down" as well this way where the top collar is the back and the long back can go over her head though I did not get a picture of it. 

Showing the collar up, perhaps for a windy day.  It can be rolled down or folded, with the merino material it is flexible.

 I plan collars and cuffs as part of my wardrobe idea so wanted to sample a piece.  The only silk I had was black and the only silk lap I had was this seafoam color.  It is meant to hang down like that but I can always use a needle to felt it back onto the rest if I wanted to (which I dont, I love this shabby chic look).

 I really love silk lap fiber, it is many layers of silk and so soft but strong too.  I think people use it to spin into a lovely yarn but I like using it in my felting.  It is hard to see in this pic but the black silk has a sort of bow effect at the edges of the silk lap that is apart from the long back piece. 

I love the effect though think it would have looked much more "wow" on a piece of white silk or even a pale blue or green one!

This I made awhile ago.  It has 4 colors of merino as the base and red bamboo and the white is fine silk.   I designed it to be worn casually at the computer.  the collar is loose so you dont get to warm but can be pulled tighter if you feel a bit chilled.

There is red, blue, and then 2 shades of pink merino here.  One is a baby pink and the other more rose pink.  This is another example of using up fibers.  I had bits of these colors so decided to create a very colorful piece to counter the winter months.

Here you can see the fine silk as texture.  It can be worn inside out too if you don't like the textured effect too.   I loved how the colors sort of bleed together so in my mind I call it "Only Woman bleed" after the Alice Cooper song.  This is a shot of the arm textures.

 This is a side shot like the one below, I wanted to show how the red bamboo really pops in places.  I think where it is a bit thicker it looks a bit deeper.  I like the variation of it a lot.

here is the edges and shows my "organic" edges again.  I want everyone to know at a glance this was made my hand!  

This is one of my first scarves.  I had dyed the merino this pink color and was going to use the hand combs to turn it into roving but then decided "why?!"  I love texture so decided to try it as a fluffy one.  It took a lot of work to felt this together, the many layers and thickness of it was different then the flatter types.  Instead of smooth pieces it was more like cotton balls dropped together.  I love how it came out though, super soft!

 It is meant to be worn at the computer desk. 

I included a shot of the edging to show the unevenness of it.  It is not a flaw but part of the design.  I can always use needle felt technique to bring it up with the rest if I wanted to.   

so, just a quick look though the pictures I am using for my video.   Wanted to share it with everyone else since I wont be sharing the video.  I do plan on creating mroe videos, I know it seems I lost interest in my youtube channel but just very slow at doing it.  that plus we changed our place around several times but now getting a new spot set up and can vlog more often now.