Latest felts - finished!

 As the title of this blog post may suggest, here are the finished pieces with the addition of hand embroidered french knots to give a little more texture.  The photo above shows the first piece I did, which worked well, although I decided the second piece would need to have more depth of colour. When I laid the design out, the sea line (or horizon line, depending how it looks to you) was straight, but as always, the wool decided to exert its influence and gave me a wavy line instead.

The second piece has worked well too, and I feel the added depth of colour is very effective.  This piece is now winging its way to my Peace Felt receiver in Ohio, USA and I really hope she likes it.  The purple colour represents the sea lavender which was all across the marshes, interspersed with grasses.  The shiny areas at the front are made using silk thread and silk fibres.
I now need to create another piece, using the stronger colours, as an example piece so that I can remember how I made it, just in case anyone wants to commission one!

Peacefelt - designing the felt

I have received the name of my Peacefelt partners, both of whom are from the USA. I now have a month or so to design the piece I am going to send, and I am thinking of a variation on the sunset above. This was Chris' suggestion and I think it will work very well. Sunset is a peaceful time of the day, when things are quietening down and everything is getting ready to sleep. I really like the colours in this piece too, and the addition of the silk thread gives another texture (and a bit of shine) to the design. I wonder what felt piece will be sent to me? It will be very interesting to find out! When I send the felt out, I can include information about myself and where I live and what my hobbies are too, so hopefully, the person who sends me her piece will do that as well. It's a really nice idea.

Latest felt

This is the final piece for my colleague at work, with the navy blue silk threads running vertically (sort of) through the white layers. It is the natural colour of the Black Welsh cross Texel and took most of the morning to complete, although I put rather too many layers into it and consequently it is a very thick piece. It took about an hour to felt as well, but the end result has a lovely texture. Now it will be interesting to see whether my colleague likes any of these pieces. If not, I shall add them to my stock and I am sure someone will like them. As I am felting as a hobby, rather than a business, I don't have the pressure of having to sell to make money, but it is always exciting if someone does buy the work.

New felt piece

Here is my latest felt piece, using the natural coloured wool from my sister's sheep and a little navy blue silk thread. It is slightly bigger than I usually make, about A4 size. I am going to make a similar piece in merino wool to compare the results.
I spent Saturday afternoon making this piece. I had the TV on for company, and it took the whole of the film 'Death on the Nile' to complete! The Texel cross Black Welsh wool requires a lot of carding as all the pieces of twigs, grasses and other oddments have to be removed as you go along and the actual felting takes about 45 minutes too. The wool does make a really solid, tactile felt though, so all the hard work is worth it.

Seven followers!

I am thrilled to see I now have seven followers! Hooray! I thought I would add this photo of a felt piece I made, based on tractor tyre patterns in the mud. It is always interesting to see what provides inspiration.
I have received a commission for two, possibly three, pieces of felt from a colleague at work, which is very encouraging. I am hoping to get started tomorrow. I also have some small sample pieces to make, experimenting with silk threads...and gardening and sewing my quilt and starting a patchwork quilt and... if only I had more hours in a day!