More Nuno felt

   I thought that I would follow up my nuno felting workshop with some photos of nuno felt work done by some of out gallery members.

Paige Garber and Roz Houseknecht try on nuno felted "boas" made by felting ruffles of wool to a central strip of silk.

                                      
My wool boa (Joanne Strehle Bast) of white wool on white silk.

 Kay Collins has used china silk, silk ribbon and merino tops wool to make the peach-colored nuno-felted scarf. Nuno-felting is called laminated felting by many felt artists.  The wool and ribbon are coaxed and imbedded through the woven silk fabric causing a ruching of materials. Hot water and olive oil soap were also used. Friction causes the fibers to migrate creating the felt cloth. The shrinking of the wool causes the ruffling of silk and ribbons which do not shrink.

 She used silk chiffon and white merino tops wool to make the peach-colored nuno-felted and hand-painted shawl.
                                      
Another of Roz's scarves felting wool flowers onto hand dyed silk.

                                      
 Nuno, hybrid or laminated felt produces a lighter weight result than an all wool product, perfect for the upcoming spring weather. Joanne

Hybrid Felt

Greetings, I am Joanne Bast back as your blogger for the month of April. I just returned from a wonderful workshop on Hybrid Felting given by Anne Vickery Evans as part of the SDA (surface Design Association)/SAQA (Studio Art Quilt Associates) conference in Philadelphia, PA. Hybrid Felt also sometimes known as Nuno Felt is the bonding together of wool fibers with other fibers and/or fabrics. This is me using a thin layer of wool roving to attach small squares of colored silk charmeuse to a background fabric of hand dyed silk gauze.
I can't wait to expand on this technique to create items for the Gallery.

5, 10, 15 Minutes…Do a Little with a Little

Life is so busy. There are meetings to attend, family events to coordinate, projects for work that eat up time and somewhere in there sleep is needed. With all that’s going on,  sometimes  those large chunks of creative time that we think mean so much (and they do) can be lost in the shuffle.

 

However, sewing and craft guru Nancy Zieman stresses the practicality of utilizing  smaller chunks of time to do the little things associated with creativity.   Use those precious few minutes to help prepare  for a big project,  organize your planning or  for the business side of your art.

Try these examples when there are just a few minutes available:

• select  yarns or notions
• press a yard of fabric
• layout a pattern
• mix a small portion of dye
• wind some bobbins
• organize  receipts
• mail a few invoices
• order supplies
• read a short chapter in an art book or manual
• clip or bury a few threads
• change needles
• sew on a button or bead
• organize one small section of your studio
• clean out the dust/lint in your sewing machine
• tag some art for the next jury day
• dust your loom

You get the idea. Don’t just sit there, do something!

Technorati Tags: organize

Spring Color—The Pantone Picks

With an unusually mild winter almost a memory, designers and artists are thinking about spring. Spring is a time to refresh and renew and try new things. Exciting new color choices are always a great way to experiment and change direction from the somber shades of the colder months. 

Pantone, created in 1963, is the world-renowned authority on color and color systems.  They are known for the language for color communication for designers, manufacturers and retailers. Pantone specializes in textiles, plastics, architectural interiors and the ever popular paint chips found in hardware stores, designer studios and art stores.

The 2012 selection is dazzling in variations of color and in color names.  Take a look at the names and descriptions they’ve come up with for spring:

Tangerine Tango—described as a juicy orange

Solar Power—an energetic, cheery, yet deep yellow

Bellflower—an ornamental purple

Cabaret—a sensual and intense rosy-red

Sodalite Blue—a calming, classic maritime hue

Cockatoo—a tactile blue green

Margarita—a piquant yellow-green

Driftwood—an adaptable blend of beige and gray

Starfish—a perfect warm summer neutral

For more details on the forecast and designer trends, go to http://www.pantone.com

Technorati Tags: color,Pantone,spring

Unlocking the Block—Part 3

Still struggling? Nothing coming to you? Can’t face your studio? Sometimes it helps to dive in, move some things around or root around in things that are familiar.

Floris Flam shares this:

I have two different strategies for dealing with creative blocks.

Sometimes I don't have any idea what my next quilt might be. At those times, I may have been working on a series of quilts, but making another quilt in the series feels as if I'm treading on the same path with nothing new to say. I might focus for a while on other things I make, like card cases or collaged greeting cards. Spending time on these reduces the pressure to come up with a new idea for a major work and sometimes new ideas emerge when I'm not trying so hard.

Another strategy I sometimes use to get back into the creative groove is to use a cut-and-repiece technique I learned several years ago from Cynthia Corbin. I find a fabric I like in my collection of hand-dyes, either one I dyed or one I purchased from another dyer. A half yard or even a fat quarter will work for this. I cut this piece up into pieces of various sizes, keeping the most visually interesting areas intact and slicing the rest into narrow strips or smaller rectangles. I then rearrange the pieces on my design wall to make an interesting composition, add more fabrics as needed, then stitch the pieces together and quilt them. I find that this process can create interesting work even if I don't have any plan when I start.  The two examples below of this technique use hand-dyed fabrics  by Heide Stoll-Weber.

“Blue City”

 

“Pueblo”

Both Cindy Grisdela and Merle Thompson share a few techniques that they rely upon.

Cindy writes:

When I have a creative block, I look at old sketches, pull out my most cheerful fabrics and just start cutting and sewing. Sometimes it helps to set a timer for 20 minutes and just sew something. Often when the timer rings, an idea has emerged and I’m off again. I don’t try to make something that’s art, or that I think will sell, or anything else like that. I just go back to the joy of choosing colors and sewing fabrics together.

Merle shares:

When I  hit a design block for my simple purses or jackets, I haul out my thick files of pictures that I’ve ripped out of magazines. I’ll pick out a color scheme here, or a pleat there, and outline here, an abstract sign there. And soon, I have a new idea.

Floris, Cindy and Merle  all relied on finding inspiration within their studios or home. Things that they already had near. You can never underestimate the power of what’s present and at your fingertips. It doesn’t cost anything extra and you don’t have to get in your car and go anywhere. Just look around.

Technorati Tags: creative block,Grisdela,Flam,Thompson

February Gallery Show: Songs in One’s Head—part 3

The theme for the February 2012 show is “Songs in One’s Head. Artists were asked to create work based on the titles and phrases from songs that they love.

Roz Houseknecht’s “Singing in the Rain”, a nuno felted shawl, was selected for recognition. The Jurors stated that the shawl danced with color. And what an appropriate description since the song was made famous by Gene Kelly’s famous dance with an umbrella on a rainy day.

Roz’s chosen technique, nuno or laminated felt,  happens when wool fibers dive through the cloth which is then moistened with warm soapy water and gently rolled in bubble plastic. When the fibers begin to hold the patchwork pieces together, the puckering starts and the cloth and fibers felt together.

Roz provided some insight about her techniques through a picture story board. She selects a fabric and lays many fibers over the fabric. This fabric had umbrellas in the pattern so, she replicated those shapes with the fibers.

 

     

 

In the picture below, you can see the completed layout of side one of the shawl with a piece of plastic covering the wet fibers. The fibers are  agitated so that they bond and blend well.

Here is a close up of the fibers after felting and shrinking which causes the puckering texture.

The completed shawl is reversible and the two sides are distinctly different. One side shows the umbrella pattern and the other shows a more abstract pattern. To truly appreciate the technique and finish of the shawl, go to the gallery and see it.

Technorati Tags: Houseknecht,nuno,felting,songs

Unlocking the Block–Part 2

When you just can’t get going and nothing new comes to mind  or when you hit a road block in a project, sometimes you just need to step back in order to step forward. Or like my mother used to say when I was little, “for heaven’s sake, keep still”. Now, my mother was usually telling me this while I was wiggling around in church but, this phrase is pretty powerful when considered during unproductive times. Stillness can lead to breakthroughs.

Eileen Doughty shares the following:

“When I have a block, I let it go for a few days to percolate somewhere deep in my head. Eventually, I reach a moment where I am in a quiet place and pose the problem as a question to myself. My mind is open enough to hear the answer at this point. It seems maturing as an artist is being able to hear the answer, whatever it may be. The quiet place can be while falling asleep, taking a walk, but most often seems  to be while taking a shower (Sort of a sensory deprivation chamber?) If it is a really big problem, it helps to go out to a museum or look at art books; it jars something loose and helps me get going again.”

A quiet place. Does the mind need a quiet place in order to help move past an issue? Perhaps so. With so much coming at you via the internet and social media, sometimes the mind needs a break from all of the overload.  How often have you  been sitting, just sitting there, not doing much and an idea has popped into your mind? Perhaps while stuck in traffic, you’ve been struck by a new color to try or motif that might work.

Go to your favorite park and sit. Take yourself on a date and watch the boats sail along the river. Make a pot of tea, play some quiet music and stare out of a window. You don’t have to go very far to find a space to just be. And, keep a notepad and pen handy for those moments of quiet. An idea is certainly on its way. Just wait and listen.