Some of my favourite flowers

 My favourite flowers are not the double blooms with showy flowers but the tradition cottage garden ones. I think the bees prefer them too. I also like to bring some indoors, especially the ones with scent as well as beauty. 

I have just made a felt with my favourite combination. Old fashioned Calendula always look bright and cheerful and I have some deep purple sweet peas which are almost black and have the most amazing perfume which you can smell as soon as you enter the room. The variety is called Winston Churchill if anyone would like to try them .Lime green  Ladies mantle makes a zingy addition and Ami major, which are a sort of domesticated cow parsley, add structure. Here is the felt.

I have added lots of french knots to help describe the ladies mantle and free machine stitch makes the calendula pop.

faces in felt

Recently I have done a couple of felts featuring faces. One was of foxes faces and the other my first attempt at a human. Both were quite complex to do because in order to achieve depth and detail I had to  add very fine layers to create shading. I had a lot of fun with the girls hair though.

The foxes have sold already but the 'girl with the wind in her hair' is still available.

Because I like a challenge I am now attempting a womans face in embroidery done by hand. That is purely a challenge for myself and I do not expect it to be for sale. When it is eventually finished I will show you but it will take some time.

Spring lambs

Here in Wales we have an explosion of lambs! It's the same every year but I never tire of watching them. When they are very young they stay with their mothers but soon gain confidence and make friends with the other lambs. Then they race around in gangs, playing chase and leap the ditch. From watching them I'm pretty sure the ewes take turns to keep an eye on them as well. Here is my latest felt of a young lamb with mum.

New felt adventure.

I told you in my last post that I had started an exciting new venture. Well, I am making felt panels for opera jackets! Designer Susan Hollingsworth of Sukaz jackets has asked me to design and make panels for her one of a kind opera jackets. She already has textile artists in India and China working with her. I am honoured to be part of such a talented team.The first panels have been completed and sent off to Texas. I can't wait to see them in a jacket. 

Felt art paintings - How to finish and display.

Hello there,
 today I thought I would try to help with a dilema some felt makers have. You have made a beautiful felt painting but how do you diplay it to it's best advantage?
There are several options.
1) Handmade felt has irregular, organic edges which some people like to display. It is possible to add a sleeve to the back of the felt and put in a rod for hanging. I think this workswith boho/hippie style decor but not in the average house.Here is one of my felts with the edges on view,

I am happy with the actual image but think the presentation (or lack of it) looks messy.

I usually stretch my felts  on to an artists canvas or matt them ready to be framed. If you do want the edges on show you can mount the felt on to a plain piece of felt or other fabric and then put it on canvas or frame it.

Here is the same felt painting but this time it has been mounted.

Don't you think that looks better?

If you want to do this it takes a bit of practise getting the felt to the correct size. You must add some for the usual shrinkage and then add some to go around the sides of the canvas and then some to allow it to be fixed at the back. Don't put any major elements of your design near the edge as you may find them dissapearing round the side when it comes to mounting. The fabric of the felt musn't be too bulky either or the corners will be messy. I usually start with a needle punch prefelt and then add  3 - 4 layers of fibre. Each layer should be thin enough to read through. The easiest method for fixing is with a staple gun.

If your felt is smaller you can make it have more impact and seem more 'impotant' by matting and framing. Here is a photo of one which has been matted in preperation to be framed.

The aperture is only 6 x 6 inches but the matt is 2 inches around the edges so will fit in a frame of  8 x 8 inches. To get you felt to fit the desired size is a bit easier with this method. just allow for shrinkage plus a bit more then trim the edges to fit. I usually attatch the felt to the backing board with double sided tape and the front matt to the backing board with more double sided tape.

I hope this has given you food for thought and will help to make the most of all your hard work. To see more of my work visit my etsy shop here

 https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SueForeyfibreart?ref=hdr_shop_menu

to follow me on Face book go here     https://www.facebook.com/SueForey?ref=hl

Poppy pictures!

I've had a rush on poppy pictures this week. I just thought I'd show you the two which have new homes to go to.

The first one was a custom order for a lady in S. Wales and the second one was sold to an art trail visitor. I'm sure they will both be well looked after.

One more week to go of the Ceredigion Art Trail where you can visit artists in their studios, look at their work and find out more about the processes used in their creations.

Unexpected inspiration.

Inspiration for art can come from many places but my latest felt came from a few splodges! Many of you will know that I enjoy playing with art journals. I usually decorate the blank pages in some way before journalling. This often simply involves splodging paint on a page and letting it do what it wants. Last week I looked at a page which had been given this treatment and 'saw' a landscape. I drew over the important lines and placed a house in the middle and liked what I saw.

It's strange how our brains work isn't it?

Anyway I decided to see how it would translate in to felt and ended up with this.

Can you see the resemblance?

Felt art in monochrome !

I thought I would share this challenge with you (and it WAS a challenge). I belong to an art team on etsy who are setting monthly challenges. This month was to create a piece in monochrome. As you know this means using variations on only one colour. Anyone who is familiar with my work will realise how hard this was for me.
The obvious choice is black, white and grey but that would be too gloomy for me so I settled on orange. Here is my colour palette

I sketched a simple landscape for my design and needle felted the fibres loosely in to place. I found it tricky getting enough contrast for different elements to be clear so added silk fibres to help.

The next stage was to wet felt which ,of course, tends to blend colours together so did not help with making a clear image. Happily the final stage of adding stitching did help to define things and this is the finished piece.

I must admit I did miss being able to use black thread in the stitching and am almost certain that I won't be repeating the exercise. I probably did learn something about use of different tones though. Why not try it for yourself?

Mynydd Bach - It's history by Eirian Jones

I went to the book launch of Mynydd Bach last night. Mynydd Bach means' little mountain' in the Welsh language and we live in the foothills of the Cambrian mountains. I am honoured to be featured in the book as there is a section about local artists.
The launch was held in Blaenpennal chapel which was overflowing with people. I was lucky enough to grab the last seat. Refreshments were in the vestry afterwards which was also overflowing (nice cakes though).
Here is the book

and here is my page. I gave the author the felt art I made depicting a hill farmer as that is the traditional occupation of the area and I thought it would be apt.

patchwork quilt felt painting.

Sorry for the delay in showing you this. Life took over!
Anyway here is the other 8 x 8 inch felt on canvas.

Tallenge vote.

Hi everyone. I've just been invited to take part in a Tallenge competition. Any one can vote for my art work. I would really appreciate some votes! Thankyou.

Here is the link if you wish to vote.

http://www.tallenge.com/vote/vote.aspx?vid=ff9bb5d7-63a0-4c3e-bb5d-84762e28eaa1

affordable felt art

I have just discovered some really cute canvases sized 8 x 8 inches which is 20 x 20 cm. They are big enough for me to make a decent landscape on but small enough to be affordable at $39.00 or £25.00. I have listed the one pictured below and am working on another one. The new one shows a landscape with a washing line and a patchwork quilt hanging out to dry. When it is complete I will show you.

latest felt painting

Here is my latest felt painting.

The weather has been so warm that I have seen lots of dogs cooling off like this so I decided to make a picture of it. When I needle felted the dog it looked great but after wet felting the fibres had moved around a little and the dog was slightly distorted. This is the nature of wet felting. Sometimes you have a happy accident. This time it was not so happy but it is still recognizable as a dog so the picture tells the story I intended.

felt painting minis

I thought I would let you know that I have just finished a series of mini felts at very affordable prices. They are made in the same way as my large felts and are sent stretched on to canvas's 5 x 8 inches / 13 x 18 cm. Here is my most recent

If you would like to take a look at the other mini felts go to the mini felt section in my shop  here https://www.etsy.com/uk/shop/SueForeyfibreart?section_id=11274296

I hope to make some more soon but am working on something a little larger at the moment.

My latest felt painting

I've just finished this latest felt. When we were travelling through Wales I saw a string of cottages draped around a hill. They reminded me of beads on a necklace and I just had to capture the scene in felt! To make the cottages I first made a semi felt as straight lines are difficult to achieve.

Making Felt cards

Things are hotting up for the year now the tourist season is almost upon us. My pictures for exhibition at the National Botanical gardens of Wales have now been sent off and it is time to replenish local shops. Today I have been making cards. They are not prints, each one is a mini felt. I've had a request for some floral cards as mothers day is almost here and I've also made some little house in the hills cards.