Fashioning Felt Exhibit

Fashioning Felt is an exhibit at the Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum in New York City, through September 7, 2009.

Quoting from their website:

"This exhibition will explore the varied new uses of felt—an ancient material, believed to be one of the earliest techniques for making textiles. Made by matting together wool fibers with humidity and friction, felting requires little technological expertise and is an extremely versatile material. The exhibition will begin with historic examples of felts, showcase innovations in handmade felts, and feature contemporary uses of industrial felt in a range of fields, including product design, fashion, architecture, and home furnishings. The exhibition is being organized by Susan Brown, assistant curator, Textiles."

... and ...

"About the Exhibition:

Fashioning Felt presents an extraordinary range of felt. From two-dimensional carpets to three-dimensional environments, each work reveals the virtuosity of both the material and the designers. The exhibition and book focus on felt that has been produced by traditional hand- or machine-felting processes; they exclude non-woven felt and techniques, in order to underscore the essential elements of feltmaking — wool fiber, agitation, moisture, and pressure."

There's a page on the website that shows one process for making felt in Turkmenistan, that's very interesting and very labor intensive!

The felting blog, also on the site, and is worth visiting.

Read the art review of the show "Humble Fabric Takes Center Stage" by Roberta Smith in the NY Times on April 30, 2009. There are also other felt shows mentioned in the review, that you might want to visit if you're in New York.


As an artist, who focuses on the use of fiber, this show is of great interest. Last year, I created on 6" x 6" piece of felt each week. Take a look on on my website, and read about my process here on my blog. I also wrote an article that is in Quilting Arts Magazine's December/January 2009 issue about my 2008 project, and my experiences with felting from art school through the present day. The title of the article is "Journal Felting with Punch", and can be found on page 76.

I hope I can get to New York to see this show before it closes.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media/Felt Review

From 1999-2005 I created one small quilt a week. About a year ago, I bought a needle punch/needle felting machine. Not knowing what to do with it, I wanted to find a way to use it and learn more about needle felting. Because of my past experiences creating art on a weekly basis, I decided to create one 6" x 6" piece of mixed media felt each week in 2008.

The images posted here a summary of all 52 pieces I created. You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work on my website, and read about it here on my blog.


Looking at these 52 pieces, there are some that I think are very beautiful, and that I love. There are some that are OK, and then there are some that I think are not at all successful art-wise, but may have been in terms of learning what to do or not to do, technique-wise.

Now, the question for me is, what am I going to do with a pile of 52 6" x 6" pieces of felt? I am thinking about that, and will post some thoughts about that soon.


Besides reading about my year of felting here on my blog, if you want to know more, you can read an article I wrote that's in Quilting Arts Magazine's December/January 2009 issue. It's about my 2008 my experiences with felting from art school through the present day. The title of the article is "Journal Felting with Punch", and can be found on page 76.


This is the last year I plan on working on a weekly project. It's very time consuming, and while the growth and finished products are very exciting, I think it's time to move on to other things. If you hear me say I'm going to do a weekly project again, please remind me to read my own blog so I can remind, and stop, myself before I dive in.

Also, if you have a minute, please visit Natalya Aikens's blog, where you can see her 2008 and 2007 fabric Journals. If you scroll down a little, on the right side you can see slide shows of her work. They are all 4" x 4", and are very beautiful!

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front side of my 52nd, and final, Weekly Mixed Media piece for 2008. Below is the back side.


This piece was created with left over strips of black wool felt fabric from week #47, and also leftover felted scraps, also from previous but not necessarily identifiable weeks. I attached them by zigzaging them together on my sewing machine. No additional needle felting this week.

I am now finished creating work in this series. I started the first week of 2008, and even though there's still a half week left to the year, 52 pieces is it.

I'll post a summary of this project, probably next week. In the mean time, you can see all of my 2008 weekly mixed media work on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

Above is the front side of my 51st Weekly Mixed Media piece this year, and below is the back. One more to go in this series of fifty-two.


I have to say that I like both the front and the back sides this week. Maybe the front a little more because it's got more texture and contrasting color. The back does look like an abstract painting. There were only a few weeks in this series that I liked the back sides almost as much as the front sides.

This week I used scraps cut from pieces created in previous weeks. Instead of placing the scraps in an organized way before felting them together ahead of time, I picked the pieces out, and felted them, one by one. No advance planning. It was much easier to work this way because I couldn't forget what went where, and as things shifted in felting, it didn't matter.

You can see the 51 pieces already created in my 2008 Weekly Mixed Media serieson my website, and read about it here on my blog.

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Please visit SmallArtShowcase.com, and TheFineArtDepartment.

The Artist's Valentine / Grant!

It's mid December, and it's time to get ready to submit my 2009 Artist's Valentine, which is due by January 19, 2009. Above is my entry that's made of felt, antique lace and thread.

I found out about The Artist's Valentine from a friend, who had been participating for a few years. Last year was my first time participating, and I posted about the Valentines I made on December 13, 2007, December 14, 2007, and also on December 16, 2007

The idea behind The Artist's Valentine is very clever. Artists submit handmade Valentines, made in any media they want, with no submission fee or jurying. I wasn't able to attend the sale last year, but what I understand is the Committee organizers price all submitted work, that ranges from simple cards to larger works of art, with prices from $3 - $300. The Valentines are sold in early February to the public, at the Kalliroscope Gallery in Groton, MA.

The money raised is used to provide grants to the artists who submitted Valentines. There is a deadline for the artists to submit their portfolio for grant review, and the juror each year is a person involved in the arts in the Boston area, typically from a museum or gallery.

Last year's juror was Allison Kemmerer, Curator of Art since 1950 and of Photography at the Addison Gallery of American Art. She awarded the 2008 grants to five artists, and I was one of the recipients. Last weekend I got to see the work of the other four awardees. I was very impressed, and felt like I was in very good company.


Above is the back side of the Valentine I'm submitting. There's a pocket attached so the sender can put a note inside. What's a Valentine without a note?

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

It's been a busy week, so I rushed to make my 50th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. The front is above, and below is the back side. Fifty created, two more to go.


I used scraps from last week's piece, and added some other brightly colored scraps to perk it up. I have a lot of scraps left over from doing this project every week this year.

Because I wasn't totally paying attention when I was getting started with the felting machine, I broke a needle. Grrr. Two more weeks left, and two more needles in my drawer. I guess I should take a walk to the sewing store and get another half dozen or more needles. I hope they have them in stock because The Fabric Place, where I also could have gotten needles, closed last week.

The reason I've been so busy is that I've been helping my friend Jon, who owns Cocoapelli Chocolates, box chocolates. It's his busy time of year. If you are in need of chocolates, I highly recommend Cocoapelli Chocolates. They are made by hand, and are absolutely delicious.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

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Please visit SmallArtShowcase.com, and TheFineArtDepartment.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front side of my 49th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. Below is the back side. Forty-nine created, three more to go.


Like last week, I decided to use a piece of antique lace, but this week I didn't put a piece of sheer fabric on top of the lace before felting it. The results are much nicer, in my opinion, but the process was more difficult. There were a few times that the lace got stuck in my machine, at the beginning when I was felting it upside down. It didn't get stuck as much as a Valentine I'm working on for the Artist's Valentine project has, but more on that in a few days.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

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Please visit SmallArtShowcase.com, and TheFineArtDepartment.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front side of my 48th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. I'm not posting a back picture this week, because the back is solid gray, and is not worth posting.

I got some antique lace pieces from a friend, and I used one of them in this week's piece. I added a layer of sheer violet fabric on top of the lace and wool fleece, before felting. I can't remember if the violet is silk or other, and I guess it doesn't matter. I wanted to use the violet sheer to help hold the lace in place, but I'm thinking that if I remember, next week I might use another piece of lace without a sheer fabric, and see what happens.

While the violet is nice, and helps with color, it does limit the amount of detail seen in the lace. After felting it as much as I felt I should, I felt it was very boring just looking at a piece of felted lace, so I cut it vertically, and repositioned it back in place off an inch or so. Then I cut it horizontally and repositioned it again. The cut edges were a little floppy because I probably didn't felt them as much as I should have, so I reinforced them with a quick zigzag stitch for further reinforcement.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

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Don't forget to visit SmallArtShowcase.com, which is a collection of fine artists who are making their work accessible and affordable to art lovers and collectors.

Felting Article

I wrote an article that is in the just released Quilting Arts Magazine's December/January 2009 issue. It's about my 2008 Weekly Mixed Media project, and my experiences with felting from art school through the present day. The title of the article is "Journal Felting with Punch", and can be found on page 76.

It is a pleasure to see some of my 6" x 6" pieces printed in the article. I think their photography is excellent! It was also a wonderful experience working with everyone at Quilting Arts.

The felt images in this post are from my website, where you can see all of my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far). Or, you read about it here on my blog.







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Don't forget to visit SmallArtShowcase.com, which is a collection of fine artists who are making their work accessible and affordable to art lovers and collectors.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

These are pictures of the front and back sides of my 47th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year.


This week I wanted to try felting gray fleece squares on black wool felt, to see how a regular pattern would turn out, and how I could change the "color" of the gray via the felting technique and not changing the actual fleece.

After I was more or less finished, I realized it it needed something, so I snipped a + in four squares in the upper left. It's not very obvious in the photos, since my scanner flattened it when the lid was down, but it does add some color and dimension "in person."

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog. Only five more weeks to go before the end of the year (and this project).

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front side and back sides of my 46th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. To be perfectly honest, I am not happy with the way it turned out.


I was gifted a wonderful package of scrap woven wool from Linda Frost, that she had from Ortega's Weaving Shop, in New Mexico. These pieces were left overs from making coats out of rugs. Linda sent these to me, to use for felting if I was interested. I was, but I think I didn't think the whole thing out as much as I should have.

Overlapping the red and blue weaves felted just fine. But, putting the black patterned woven material on top proved to be too thick, and guess what? I started breaking needles. Because of that, I stopped felting and sewed the unfelted parts. I distracted by these "new" materials, and wasn't paying as much attention to the design as I should have. When I noticed it wasn't working out as I thought, I didn't have any bright ideas about how to correct it. I tried washing and drying it, to see if it would felt in the dryer, but that didn't work. I guess if I spent more time on it, I could have saved it, but sometimes it's just better to call it a day, and move on to the next project.

Thank you Linda for thinking of me. It was very much appreciated. I will try using these woven goods again.


One silly thing..... the picture above is of this week's piece, in progress, but my camera freaked out. I actually like it better than the actual work. Oh well.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

The busy-ness of the election, and this week in general, means I've had little time for art, including time for my Weekly Mixed Media project. Because of that, I used scraps from previous weeks, as well as some rick-rack from tweaking some sweaters, and I quickly whipped together my 45th piece. Above is the front side, and below is the back.


You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front of my 44th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year, and below is the back. Eight more weeks to go.


Before I cut it up and felted it back together, the center of one side reminded me of this painting by Mark Rothko.


You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front side of my 43rd Weekly Mixed Media piece this year, and below is the back side.


What I thought was going to be a quiet week, turned in to a busy one with nice surprises. Because of that, I had less time to create this week's piece than I thought I would have. I was taken by the circles I felted for the blue sweater I tweaked last weekend, so for this week's piece, I decided to felt more circles on black wool fabric, and cut the centers of each circle, so a hint of black shows through the color at the cuts.


You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

Above is the front side of my 42nd Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. Below is the back side.


This piece was made from scraps of felt from the piece I made last week. Last week's turned out ok, as opposed to OK. I like this week's better. It's more interesting, and fun to use both the front and back sides of the felt.

I have ten more weeks to go on this project. I think I should make felt next week, cut it up, and then reassemble it.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front side of my 41st Weekly Mixed Media piece this year, and below is the back side.


I still had scraps left over from weeks #38 and #39, and decided to incorporate them in to a layer of yellow, and a layer of red, pre-felted fleece. I also used a piece of netting with small dots, that I cut from a piece of antique hat lace. I spend quite a lot of time needle felting it. I plan was for the background to be mainly signal yellow, but the netting wouldn't felt from the top down, so I had to do almost all of the felting form the bottom red side, which took over color-wise. Ugh.

This piece is OK, not great. I do like the back side, which looks very quilted, even as a piece of felt.

I have come to the conclusion that, for this project, I prefer working with patchworked felt, using scraps to create a collage, instead of making one piece of felt as a finished product. This conclusion is VERY interesting to me since in my art work, I use only one piece of fabric, and I add paint until I am happy with it. No collage.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This week didn't feel THAT busy, but it was busy enough that every time I was about to start my Weekly Mixed Media piece, something happened to distract me. (This is the front side of my 40th piece this year, and below is the back side.)


So all of the sudden it was 5:00pm on Friday, and I had a few minutes to work on it, before it was time to help cook dinner. What to do?

I took strips of felt made in previous weeks, figured out a decent placement, and zigzagged them together. Then I cut it down to 6" square and it was done. A few quick scans on my computer, so I could post them here, and on my website, and then my husband called saying he's on his way home. Phew.

My weekly deadline is actually Saturday night, but I wanted to make this, just in case I got busy on Saturday and forgot. Wouldn't want to ruin my yearlong project, since the end is in sight. I'm going to try to make next week's piece on Sunday or Monday, so I'm not so last minute about it again.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

I wasn't sure if I'd make my weekly deadline, but I did. This is the front side of my 39th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. Below is the back side.


My intention was to create a piece with fleece and yarn, but this week was really busy, and my time got away from me. Because of that, I decided to make a collage out of felted scraps from previous weeks, starting with a piece from last week.

I'm three quarters of the way through my year long project. You can see what I've created so far, on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

Above is the front side of my 38th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. Below is the back side, which is pretty plain.


This week, I decided to use some netting-like fabrics I had in my studio, because I enjoyed using them in my felting in past weeks. I don't know what these fabrics are called. I got the thicker black one in New York City, a few years back, when I was fabric shopping. The thin black, and white, knitted netting, is from fabric shopping in Budapest Hungary in the fall of 2006. I am pretty sure it's made out of linen, but not positive, since there was a language barrier. What ever it is made of, it feels like linen to me, and I love the knitting.

This piece ended up on the large size, as I was finishing the felting. I have some really good scraps after cutting it down to 6" x 6", that I can use in future weeks.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.

2008 Weekly Mixed Media Project

This is the front side of my 37th Weekly Mixed Media piece this year. Below is the back side.


I sandwiched pieces of antique black millinery trim between layers of pre-felted wool fleece. After needle felting it from both sides, over and over, I cut into five pieces and reassembled it.

You can see my 2008 weekly mixed media work (so far) on my website, and read about it here on my blog.