Coral, a textile mixture,

In this wall hanging “coral” I experimented with different textile techniques, ( as usual) to express the feel and the look of the coral.

I started with dyeing the wool with fiber reactive dyes and than felted the main image, fishes, starfish and some of the coral included. I did use a bit of needle felting to secure some of the pieces in place and the rest was done with wet felting.

I wanted to add some more coral, so I tried some crochet until I was satisfied with the texture.

Quilting was a good way to give the whole piece a bit of relief. When I was happy with the result, I did sew the crochet pieces onto the rest.

I than hang up the whole panel onto a beautiful piece drift wood.

This wall hanging would look lovely in your beach home.

See more detailed pictures of coral, a felt wall hanging in my etsy shop.

How to make a piece of felt.

Are you familiar with how to make felt? If not, following is a very basic felt making tutorial for beginners and suitable for adults and children, exited about learning a new technique.

Felt making requires a few tools, already available in most households:

-a table

-plastic to protect your table

-an old towel

-a piece of bubble wrap, at least 40cm x 50cm or a beach mat or bamboo stick window blind

-50g wool slivers merino wool or other good felting wool

-a piece of fly screen at least 40cm x 40cm

-a spray bottle with hot soapy water

-tape measure

-some rags

Put the plastic on the table for protection and put the towel on top of the plastic. Now put the bamboo window blind or the bubble wrap on top of the towel, the nobs facing upwards.

Mark off an area of 30cm x 30cm.

Take the wool sliver and divide into 4 equal parts.

We are now ready to lay down the wool for our piece.

Take the wool sliver into your left hand (left handed people in right hand).

With your right hand, gently pull a piece of wool and put it in a corner of your square, the side that you hold in your hand goes on the edge, except if you want very irregular edges.

Repeat this with a second piece of wool and put it next to the first one, just overlapping a bit. Repeat until the row is finished.

We are now ready to start a new row. This time we let the loose bits overlap the first row. Every piece we lay down is now overlapping the wool of the first row and the previous piece.

When we have covered the total surface with wool, we spray water over it.

We repeat this whole process in the second layer, which is placed at an angle of 90 degrees on top of the first. We keep going with 2 other layers, each time changing direction and wetting with the spray bottle after each layer.

After wetting the fourth layer, we put the fly screen on top of the wool. Push down the fly screen and make circular movements with your hands over the fly screen until the piece is flat. If you can't get the air out completely, means that the wool isn't wet enough. You can spray on some more water on top of the screen until the wool is wet enough.

If there is water coming through the screen, when you push down the wool means that it is too wet. Now the rags will come in handy, use them to soak up the water.

When the wool is flattened, carefully take off the fly screen and roll the wool in the bubble wrap.

Roll up and down for approx. 5 minutes for a start and than check. If the wool is still very loose, keep rolling. You can test that by carefully lifting the fibers.

Roll again for 5 minutes and do the previous test again. If the wool is still a bit loose, keep rolling. Turn the piece on an angle of 90 degrees and roll again for another 5 minutes.

When the wool has felted enough, this means the whole piece holds well together, we can go over to the next stage, called the filling. This can be done as long or as short as you want. The longer you do it the harder and stronger the felt becomes.

The filling can be done by more rolling in the bubble wrap or the bamboo roll. Another method is by rubbing it over the sink, which goes faster and makes it harder as well.

When you are satisfied with the felt piece, rinse it and dry it flat on a towel.

Happy felting!

What is Felt - an overview

Maybe you have already asked yourself the question “what is felt” after seeing my work and work from other felt artists. Felt is the oldest fabric known in history, before weaving and knitting was initiated. Felt is non-woven.

The felting technique originates from Central Asia, where nomads felted wool and other animal hair into tents (yurts), clothing, rugs... It is still practiced in these areas.

Felt and felt making are gaining popularity all over the world now and the possibilities are endless, the results often a surprise.

I would like to give a short overview of the different felting techniques and I will post some tutorials soon, so that you can give it a try if you haven't already.

There are different techniques in feltmaking.

Wet Felting:

To make wet felt, layers of wool are spread out onto a plastic piece of bubble wrap, wet with hot soapy water and agitated until they hold together as a fabric. What happens here is that the wool fibers have scales, opening up with hot water and soap and through friction they will hook into each other. This is called felting.

I used wet felting to make this kangooroo rug

.

Dry Felting or Needle Felting

Another form of felt making is the dry felting, also called needle felting, where special felting needles are used to felt the wool together. The needles, which have hooks, are moved up and down into the wool. This created the friction and the fibers hook into one another, which makes them felt together. Needle felting creates a much more softer and fluffier felt than wet felting. You can however make harder items by using courser wool and felt it really long.

In this wall panels "clefts" I used both wet felting and needle felting.

Nuno Felting

Nuno felt is made using one of the 2 techniques above and instead of using only wool, a sheer fabric is used in between the wool layers. With nuno felting it is possible to make a much more thinner felt, because the fabric holds the wool together. You can cover the fabric everywhere so that you don't see the fabric anymore, or you can add bits of wool here and there and it is possible to create wonderful textures with this. It is a big favorite of mine.

Check out this purple nuno felted scarf in my etsy shop.

Come and check out soon for tutorials about feltmaking or follow my blog.

Highland Fairy chooses organic shopping

Highland Fairy is the blog of Heidimoon, a fellow etsian. She reclaims and recycles fabrics to create one-off garments and accessories.. jewellery out of clay, gemstones, and found objects..
Her shop http://heidimoon.etsy.com is definately worth a visit.

I was featured on her blog in her favorite shopping list for organic and natural items, along with two other etsian artists whos work is quite amazing.


Go to http://highlandfairy.blogspot.com/2009/03/organic-shopping.html and check it out for yourself.

Eco Etsy: March Madness-Free and Green

I'm a member of the EcoEtsy Street Team (www.ecoetsy.com), a group of artists and crafters who create and sell in an eco-conscious manner on Etsy.

During the whole month of March our team is having a month long promotion, March madness-free and green. Anyone who buys from one of the participating shops and includes the promotion code at checkout will receive a freebie from that shop.

You can find all the information, as well as the links to the participating shops here:
http://www.ecoetsy.com/marchmadness.html

More sales

The pink felt art handbag "Find the Centre"has been sold yesterday. This lovely handbag will be sent to the UK today.

This nuno felted shawl, "Intense Love", was my februarychallenge for the Fibre Art Etsy Street Team. The monthly team was emotions.
The shawl will go to a lucky owner in California.

You can find more februarychallenges by going on www.etsy.com and search for februarychallenge.

Help support the Victorian Bushfire Appeal

The country side of Victoria has suffered loss of lives as well as loss of property and lots of land burnt out in the last weeks.
To support the victims of the bushfire, the Down Under Etsy Street Team (DUST team) has decided to open an etsy shop and all proceeds will be donated to the Australian Red Cross.

Many items have been donated and purchased by Australian and International etsians.
If you have an etsy shop and want to donate or if you want to support, go to:
http://ozbushfireappeal.etsy.com

Three beautiful felt art pieces found a new owner.

This 3 pieces, Maroon Silky Poncho, Green Royal Shawl and Romantic Neckpiece in old pinks and reds, will leave tomorrow on a journey to meet their new owner in Turkey.
I loved making them and am happy that someone is going to enjoy wearing them.

Longing for the ocean nomination.

I just got to know that I am one of the winners of the 'Longing for the ocean" nomination of the eco etsy street team. Knitstorm nominated me with my item Blue Ocean Shawl. Go and check out the other winners as well at http://ecoetsy.blogspot.com/2009/01/themed-nomination-winners-longing-for.html

Recycling fabric scraps

I like to keep all my scraps and don't like the idea of throwing them away. Often I come across my collection of forgotten treasures what someone else would probably throw out.
Being in a cleaning up mood, I found some bags with tiny leftover fabric bits and was wondering what to do with them.
We need some cushions, wow, great idea. I use them for cushion fillings, they are too small for anything else anyway. Everything goes in the cushion bag: cotton threads, silk bits, felt snippets.
Cleaning up can be fun after all.

My new blog about sustainability

Besides my love for textiles, I have a passion for a healthy, sustainable and natural lifestyle.

On my new blog, sustainable ways, I am going to share some of my experiences and creative ideas with you.

I welcome you to have a look at http://sustainableways.blogspot.com

A creative new year for everyone

Lots of creativity this year, for everyone . I have enjoyed writing last year and want to also bring some tutorials this year to give ideas for new creativity.
Difficult times can make people inventive and creative. There is always a positive side on every situation.
I am sure that we are all artists, we just need to let it flow.
Be aware though, it can become addictive!

Handy handbag gone

This handbag was sold in my etsy shop a few days ago and will be on her way to meet her new owner.

The handbag is made in hand felted wool on a background of recycled cotton fabric.

The cotton was a mustard yellow and has been overdyed with natural indigo dyeing.

New Shawls

After some serious struggling with internet access, I finally could add some pieces to my etsy shop.

I have been making some shawls that I'm really proud of.

OCEAN SHAWL.

I liked to picture the foaming waves in the ocean near the beach. I used silk chiffon and also some knitted white cotton to achieve that. I wanted the silk to ruffle so that there would me more life into it. This happened naturally during the felting process.

go to ocean scarf on etsy

COLOURS OF THE REEF.

This shawl was really playing at good luck and see what the outcome would be. I used silk for this nuno felted piece and 2 thin layers of wool, one on each side. I played with colours and added some fabrics and lace. This is the outcome.

This shawl has been sold.

ROYAL GRACE GREEN SHAWL.

This time I took my leftovers from other projects and felted them all together in this one shawl. It was very experiental and totally unpredictable, as every part reacted differently to the felting process.

go to royal grace shawl on etsy

Embossed Copper Flower

Marta had been doing a lot of artwork during her childhood and did rediscover art in her adult years. Now she is having a lovely time making paintings and drawings. She also loves playing with shapes and textures; the copper flower is a good example of both: http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=9797233

She makes a lot of Art Cards, Editions and Originals, in short called ACEO. These cards are the size of a trading card, 2.5" x 3.5". Art Cards have been traded among artists for some time. They have become more and more popular, and now ACEOs are available for sale to collectors who wish to buy them. Art Cards are highly collectable and affordable mini-masterpieces. They enable art collectors to own a large variety of art from around the world.

She loves to share her techniques with other people on her blog http://sebentamarta.blogspot.com

where she gives step by step instructions about techniques used in her work.

Her etsy shop: http://martaharvey.etsy.com