Last week was a good week for felting. Two days after my fleecy adventure, I went to spend a day felting with Ruth Packham – a wonderful felt artist who lives locally. I had done a two-day course with Ruth last summer and I wanted to spend some time with her practising some of the techniques I learned then. Over the years I’ve been on various felt-making courses, but I decided that the time had come for some one-to-one tuition.
As it turned out, I chose the perfect day. I started raining overnight and didn’t stop all day. Sitting under the Velux windows in Ruth’s studio, listening to the rain hammer down, I was very happy that I was spending the day indoors, playing with wool. Ruth’s studio is full of amazing creations and loads of inspiration:
After some debate about what I would make, I decided to have a go at a sculptural piece, mainly based on wet felting, but starting with some needle-felted balls that would be felted onto stalks and then the stalks would be felted onto an undulating base. This was the piece made by Ruth from which I drew my inspiration:
one of Ruth’s creations
First, I chose my colours… which Ruth described as ‘sludge’! Because I’m interested in natural forms, I wanted some colours that might be found in natural habitats, so I went for a couple of greens and a reddish-black. I got so carried away with the first part of the process – needle-felting little balls, making cords, attaching the cords to the balls and making the ‘resist’ that would define the basic shape of the base, that I forgot to take any photographs, but I did capture most of the rest of my work:
And after some more work to get the little antennae to stand up straight/ point in the direction I wanted them to and the base to sit nicely and the edges to smooth out, I ended up with this:
I’m thinking of it as life emerging from the primordial soup… I may add some more evolved critters to it.
Whilst I was working on my creation (I was with Ruth from 10am to 7pm, although we did have coffee and stop for lunch), she made these cute little ‘creatures’:
I have made so many useful things recently, that it was rather lovely to spend a day making ‘art’. Ruth is a brilliant teacher and I highly recommend her courses… she will teach you how to make rather more traditional things if you like (!) and she sells needle-felting kits too in her etsy shop. She also sells her creations
Ruth’s creatures
I have made so many useful things recently, that it was rather lovely to spend a day making ‘art’. Ruth is a brilliant teacher and I highly recommend her courses… she will teach you how to make rather more traditional things if you like (!) and she sells needle-felting kits too in her etsy shop, along with some of her lovely creations.
Have you been doing anything arty this week? Share your more frivolous or quirky creations!
Wild Daffodil
/ July 17, 2017I love, love, love this!!!! Primordial aardvarks spring to mind.
What fun, I can just imagine how wonderful it was to immerse yourself in that day.
The Snail of Happiness
/ July 18, 2017It was great – being in a studio dedicated to felting was so inspiring. plus a day away like this removes all the domestic distractions.
Wild Daffodil
/ July 18, 2017Bliss!
katechiconi
/ July 17, 2017It’s so long since I did any serious felting, sounds like a lovely course. Shame I’m too far away to take advantage of it! Your piece reminds me of a close up of some kind of moss 🙂
The Snail of Happiness
/ July 18, 2017Actually, it was inspired by the fruiting structures of some mosses.
katechiconi
/ July 18, 2017Woo hoo! My eye does not fail me 🙂
unionhomestead
/ July 17, 2017Love those sludgy colours! Felting is yet another entry on my One-Day-I-Must-Have-a-Go list.
The Snail of Happiness
/ July 18, 2017I love felting, but I only seem to get round to it when I go on a course since it’s not as easy to dip in and out of as knitting and crochet.
nanacathy2
/ July 17, 2017Fantastic creations. I am still bogged down in skirt making, for which I am deciding life is too short.
The Snail of Happiness
/ July 18, 2017I’m sure that the skirt-making will get easier, and it’s certainly more functional that my felting!!
anne54
/ July 18, 2017What an intriguing process, and I love the result. I agree with Wild Daffodil ~ primordial aardvarks! I have never done felting, but would love to give it a go sometime. It is a shame that I am too far away from Ruth. BTW….what are those creatures leaning out of the basket in the top left photo?
The Snail of Happiness
/ July 18, 2017Those are some of Ruth’s Quirky Birds – there’s a gallery here: http://ruthpackham.com/?page_id=1023
davidprosser
/ July 18, 2017Danger ! Leave quickly. I spot alien life forms.I’m sure they must come from the Clangers World.
xxx Massive Hugs xxx
Wild Daffodil
/ July 18, 2017Haha! Clangers yes!
The Snail of Happiness
/ July 18, 2017Somewhere I have a Clanger… it would make a perfect addition to this!
xxx hugs xxx
Born To Organize
/ July 19, 2017What fun! My friend Liz taught me how to felt many summers ago. I’ve never done anything beyond her workshop, but it was a lot of fun. I love your creation. I thought for sure you had created snails crawling out of the ooze.
The Snail of Happiness
/ July 19, 2017I may make some little needle-felted snails to go on it.
Born To Organize
/ July 20, 2017Oh perfect!