Where has the yellow gone ?

At this time of the year there are a huge numbers of flowers and leaves that can be harvested and used for dyeing.  Unfurtunately I did not plan ahead and have not got a collection of felt waiting to be dyed.  Shame .  Never mind I shall research this year and plan ahead better next year. I did have this sweet little vase , waiting to be dyed .   I thought it would look lovely dyed yellow.  So out of the multitude of options, I chose hawthorn flowers.  Well in truth I didn't so much chose them , but came across them while looking around the local woods with my trusty 'Wild Color' by Jenny Dean, my scissors and my gardening gloves in my rucksack.      Always make samples they say!  So I did , here they are good shades of yellow , especially on the silk.   Well having made my…

0 Comments

Textile festival Leiden

Last week I visited the Textile festival in Leiden with two friends. The festival was in de Peiterskerk , and large spectacular church , in the centre of the town.  There were more than 30 other textile exhibitions in the centre of Leiden , amazing ,and  as it turned out far more than could be visited in one day. The theme of the festival was Water-land, and this was beautifully interpreted in all forms of textile art.  I photographed a few of my favorites.     Weaving with a whole new perspective for me.    The beautiful woven book /scroll really captured the peace of the seashore for me.    I found this piece with its razor shells , very evocative of the shore.  A more traditional style of embroidery.    A felted piece by  Annemie Koenan , called Genesis - then there was land.             In addition to…

0 Comments

From Photo to Felt

My husband is a keen and talented photographer.  He partakes in Blip photo taking a photograph every day and takes beautiful landscapes often getting up before dawn to catch the light. Occasionally he uses software on his iPad to make composite photographs.  I love the vibrancy, surrealism and the unexpectedness of these pictures and some just cry out to me to be made into felt. Here is an example. I have been experimenting with turning these kind of photos into felt pictures for a while and like to first make a pastel sketch to work from , as it helps me think about the order of the composition.   I make prefelt  and use fabrics in order to get the strong colours and straight lines required .   I always plan to add lots of machine stitching to add texture and details after felting.  Here I am threads at the ready ,…

0 Comments
Close Menu