Saturday, January 30, 2010

My “Felt Smack Down” Entry…

Well, here's my entry for the "Felt Smack Down" contest! I really enjoyed making this. I have loved working with felt now for quite a while and have been inspired by Salley Mavor for years.
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It was a learning experience for me as well as a fun project to make. I tried some techniques on this piece that I haven't employed before as described below. My piece is a wall hanging that is 8" x 9", mounted to foam core board and finished along the edges with ribbon and pearl headed pins.

My “Little” (doll), as I call them, measures 1 3/4", including the little tip on her cap. I painted her face (no easy feat being as she is so small!) and embroidered her tunic and skirt. Her hair is made from yarn.100_1403
The pot of hydrangeas measures just over 3/4" and is sculpted and then painted using watercolors for extra dimension. Each flower was made individually with a single strand of embroidery floss worked in colonial knots, gathered and then sewn in place.
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The apple tree measures 3" and is sculpted and painted using watercolors as well for extra dimension.
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I needle felted the clouds then stitched them down to the sky.
The wisteria vine is actually a couple of different colors of floss that I dipped in a 50-50 mixture of white glue and water, then wrapped around a paintbrush to dry before stitching in place with some silk fleurette's. The clouds ended up being my least favorite part of the project. I need to experiment more and come up with something more satisfactory and realistic.

Overall, I am pleased with my end result. There were times that I was feeling dissatisfied with it, but as I added more detail, the picture started to match what I had in my head. I can see making more along these lines in the future.

8 comments:

retdairyqueen said...

Fantastic
What else can I say

Allie said...

That is the most amazing thing I've ever seen. Wow.

Kenleigh's Fiber Studio said...

Amazing!!! I can't wait to see all of the entries. You did a really nice job.

Cindy Is Crafty said...

Loralynn, this is so fabulous! I love, love, love it! Great job!

Sarah - Kala said...

It's darling!

Katherine said...

Wow! What a lot of work that must have been! I think for nice clouds you could try putting some wool roving on top of your sky, and just lightly needle felting it in place.

My Life Under the Bus said...

Loralynn Good News !!! Check out The Bus : ) , Patty

Teresa aka MarieSews said...

The felt work is gorgeous. I could spend a great deal of time perusing this. It is delightful.