Laughing Dog Arts

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Wet felting


I'm getting excited about the embellisher machine I recently bought.  It hasn't arrived yet but I am busy creating some felted pieces that I will be able to play around with once it arrives.  Above you can see a piece that I began on Saturday night.  It is built on top of a piece of plain cheesecloth so it is Nuno felting.

Here I am showing the cheese cloth background with the colored roving on top. 
The next step is to wet it all down before I roll it up in plastic bubble wrap and spend a bit of time rolling and felting the fibers.
Here is the same piece after the felting process is finished.  I am intending to cut this up and use bits and pieces in other dooleybobbers.  I needed some hand made felt as opposed to the  commercial craft felt.
Then I made this small piece, incorporating some silk fibers as well.  The silk is held by the wool fibers but doesn't actually felt by itself.  I will be embellishing this with hand stitching and beading.

  I received a few comments about my creative mess in the previous post so thought I would show you the equally creative mess on what used to be my dining room table in the house.  Or maybe it is purely a mess?  It is certainly no longer a dining table.  My whole house is a big mess.  I don't have time for cleaning, there are more important things to do.  Art needs to be made!  Cleaning only comes before creativity in the dictionary.

I hope you are all safe and snug in your cozy homes. 
Be well.
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15 comments:

audrey said...

Jan, this is all very exciting! The pieces ready to be worked on... the colors, OH I LOVE the colors... and the coming arrival of the new machine.
I am liking that cactus in the background of your dining room table (I mean, your art work table)!! hahaha It looks like green sticks or a tree. I have a number of cacti - love them!!
Not getting much done in the creative department with company staying here ~ many ideas floating around in my head though.
♥ audrey

Tam Hess said...

What amazing light you have in that room! That does NOT look like a mess to me it looks like fun. :) You always use such amazing colors. Can't wait to see what you create with all that felting. xoxo

DVArtist said...

I so love felting. I don't have time for it though. I am curious to know what the embellisher machine is. I will stay tuned for your post on it.
Hey you and I have the same work space. Organized Chaos

Nicole/Beadwright

My Creative House said...

Jan your felting looks wonderful, I'm sure you will love the embellisher machine, I love my,it's so great to use it.
Anni

Anne Huskey-Lockard said...

I love that piece of felt just the way it is---BEAUTIFUL!!!
Hope the machine meets your expectations. But you do a lot of felting and I am sure you will get the hang of it.
Creative mess....I refuse to discuss mine. It tripped me this morning...

XXOO~~♥
Anne

Anonymous said...

An embellisher, ooooh lucky you. I think those machines are quite incredible. Your nuno felted piece is great, should be quite interesting to see how you use it cut up. Mess, cleaning? What's that, who has time for anything other than dog walking and creating?
I don't, do you??? Well a little cooking....xox Corrine

yoborobo said...

Ohhhh! Those colors are really yummy! I've only felted once (back in college, when dinosaurs roamed the Earth). As for your mess, I see nothing at all wrong with it. It looks exactly like mine, maybe even a little tidier. Most days I have about a 6 inch square to work in. :) Such is the life of a creative person! xox

Robbie said...

You'll have so much fun with the embellisher! Right up your alley! Good for you!!! Can't wait to see what all you do with it.

Anja said...

I begin with the last foto, I had to laugh and didn't recognized the mess, everything is clean and everything is at the hand when needed. I am much more worse I make little mountains at my table laying one thing on the other in the everydays hurry. After a while I don't know what lies under the top! So I don't see any mess!
The blue piece with the silk in it, already looks there very charming! The scarves is so nice you also could make one for wearing and not for cutting and with little silk in it would look great at your neck. Thank you for showing every processing step. Looking forward to your machine, what it will do for you.

Marlene said...

Jan that looks so pretty. I love playing with wool roving but have a lot to learn. I bought some silk to make a scarf with roving wet felted on it, but haven't had the time yet to start. Also what is an embellishing machine?

Heloise said...

Lovely colour combinations you have used for your felt. Enjoying using the embellisher when it arrives.

Bunny said...

Your felting is amazing I just love the colours you have here. Gorgeous. Oh my you will love your felting machine I have one. I have never used roving although I have some. I ususally used a canvas base and felted small pieces of lining fabric and then some lame and some angelina. I had so much fun playing with all sorts of fabric. Enjoy your new toy.

Maggi said...

I can't wait to see what happens when the embellisher arrives. These pieces look wonderful - and of course you don't just have to embellish onto a felt background.

Laura said...

Beautiful, Jan.
What is an embellishing machine? Is it like a needle felting machine? If so, you are in for a lot of fun. Silk does wonderful things (do you have a thrift store anywhere near?), and you can felt poly fleece, and even quilting cotton, especially if you put a little something in the sandwich to hold things together, like fleece or wool or silk.
I can't wait to see what comes next.
Laura

Emmy said...

have fun with your new toy