Wet felting Archives - Page 8 of 9 - Jane Mercer Felt Artist

A Radical Decision

Back in June at a workshop with Jeanette Appleton I made a reasonably large piece of felt inspired by lichen covered rocks. Ever since then I have looked at this piece , thinking what an earth should I do now with you ???? I eventually decided that something about it did not really work and maybe I should just use parts of it! Eventually I made a mask out of brown paper thinking maybe make it into a three part piece. I liked the effect even though it was not choosing my favorite parts with this simple mask. So I thought how about choose three parts , and make them into a large felt piece. The more I thought about this the more I liked it . So a made the radical decision to cut my favorite parts out of this large felt piece and reconstruct it. I faffed around…

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18/10/2015

Textiellink / Wet felting

Felt passion

Felt passion is a felt collection all made by German speakers collated by Ellen Bakker of Textiellink. It is currently exhibing at Meervilt in Haarlem. The book Felt Passion is amazing and the exhibition interestingly contains some of the artists from the book , but features different work. Last week I tried to visit with my good friend Els , but due to a suspect terrorist alert in Rotterdam staton , which cancelled all the trains for the whole morning we never made it . This week I made it , but sadly had to go on my own. It was wonderful to see the variety of felt , large and small, 2D and 3D on display, such a huge amount of inspiration. As usual with such event a picture cannot really capture the tiny special details or the real feel of the pieces but here are some of my favorites. …

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27/09/2015

Natural dyeing / Wet felting

DIY

Most of my natural dyed felted vessels are quite small , about 5cm in diameter and only weigh about 10 grams, as such they are so light they are likely to be blown over unless fastened down in some way. I have thought about how to make a base in keeping with the natural nature of the pieces for quite a long time , and eventually decided to give small pieces of weathered slate a try. Small pieces of slate are readily available in the spoil heaps from old slate mines. I like the idea that the wool , the dye and the base were all originating in the countryside. But how to attached the two together ? Here is the solution. Not my normal felting equipment but very well used for other things as you can see by its battered case. I needed a small training course before I could use…

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20/09/2015

Wet felting

Talking about felting

A number of months ago I was asked to speak about felting at the Pickwick club (International Women's Club Rotterdam ). This seems like a good thing to do so I agreed. As time got nearer I began to think about the logistics . First I needed to work out how to make a presentation with just an iPad ! I needn't have worried, there is of course an Ap for everything in this case Keynote which works very well. Then there was the content of the talk , just felting ideas or some information on were felting sits historically and how it fits into the world of wool. I decided on the later as I think part of the magic of felt is how old it is as a craft and art , and I am also keen that felting is seen as one element in the whole context…

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13/09/2015

British wool fibres / Wet felting

Slow stitching

I have a small felt piece made with masham and merino fibres and lots of other fabrics that needs the addition of some stitches. My usual working mode is fast , but in this case I have deliberately gone slow, to add some stitches and then put it to one side , wait a while then look again before adding another stitch. First some simple neutral running stitches Add in some bright green cross stitches Think for a while then add some rust coloured French Knots Is this enough , no ! A final touch is needed of with some delicate bright green stitching. Enough I think . Do you agree?

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06/09/2015

British wool fibres / Wet felting

Masham Merino Mixes

I am trying slowly to use more and more British or at least European fibre in my felt and dyeing work. In pursuit of this aim , I bought some Masham fibre from Adelaide Walker at Woolfest. Creamy white and beautiful brown. Although I have this aim I do have a large stash of coloured merino. I decided to try working with the coloured merino and the natural Masham together. I did not physically mix them , but have used them together to make a number of pieces. The Masham is slightly more coarse than the merino , but they blend together beautifully and I love the mix of natural colors in the Masham with the bright colours of the merino. Here are my finished mixed pieces. and here is a small one, actually made with left overs before stitching. This post has been reissued due to problems with the…

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13/08/2015

British wool fibres / Mordant / Natural dyeing / Wet felting

Boring but ……

Over the last few months I have made quite a number of wet felted small vessels. These vessels have been made out of different white fibers and then dyed. At the time I made them I knew exactly what I had done , but coming back to them a few weeks later and I began to get seriously muddled up . I was no longer sure which was the nettled dyed BFL , or the nettled dyed Polwarth ( Thanks to Teri Berry for these fibers they are great) Time to take control and keep on track before I was totally confused. Better admin was an urgent necessity? So I gave each vessel a reference number and a small label with the critical information. And I started I vessel register on a spreadsheet. This feels a bit like work But I know that the key to being able to reproduce…

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01/08/2015

Eco Dyeing / Natural dyeing / Wet felting

Blackberry pink

Beautiful juicy blackberries growing in all the hedgerows. Good for eating and also good for dyeing. I have to admit I am not a big fan of eating them straight of the plant , but I do like them stewed with some apples. But today I could not waste them by eating them as I wanted to check out the results of using them as an dye. I first made a tiny little wet felted vessel, with six points , which I stupidly did not photograph ! I then did some simple stitching on it with cotton yarn. After soaking for an hour or too, it was plunged straight into the dye pot. Just a few hours later a sweet little pink pointed vessel emerged. I love both its smallness, it's pointedness and its pinkness. Now I have heard that you can freeze blackberries and then dye with them , so…

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01/08/2015

jewellery / Wet felting

Brooches

I have discovered that of all the felt I make, I sell more jewellery than anything else. Maybe it's because its small and relatively cheap and can be given as a present ? But I don't really know why it sells better. This fact frustrated me for quite some time , but now I have decided to embrace it. I find making jewellery relatively easy . More to the point is very portable and with my increasingly nomadic, two country, lifestyle that brings loads of opportunities. Slowly as I travel I have been making the odd extra pieces. The pieces were never all together until this week . When I stopped and counted and realized I had 40 pieces !! How did that happen ? Most of them are brooches . This one is my favorite . I also have quite a few necklaces and have been experimenting with making…

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01/08/2015

Textile art / Wet felting

Work in progress

Slightly delayed post due to problems uploading photographs when away from home !. I recently went on a workshop , lead by Jeanette Appleton at the lovely Art van Go studios in Knepworth. We looked at mark marking in felt and the effects of different densities of lots of different fibres. I was introduced to Soy which I had never used and liked particularly the effect of flax. The workshop was so relaxed , no pressure , unlike many of the other workshops I have been on there was space to experiment and ask questions. I made a few a samples. And two pieces that need finishing off. I thoroughly enjoyed the great location and the workshop. Lots of individual attention and encouragement to take it easy and let the felt do the talking.

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21/07/2015