Student work

pet rocks or paperweights



shoulder bags with leather strap and felt ball button

This is a kerchief version of "Pademelons - Midsummer", hand felted with merino wool on hand dyed tissue silk.



The colours of Volutidae, a shell of the species, Volutoconus Bednalli, are captured in this hand felted silk chiffon and merino wool kerchief.

Both these pieces have been added to the Summer Exhibition of "Silk and Paper" now on display at Studio Altenburg, Braidwood, NSW until February, 2011.

"Volutidae : Paramoria guntheri #2, distribution Southern Australia, merino, mohair and silk chiffon hand felted kerchief (52 x 49cms).

The original I made of this kerchief was entered in to the Royal Canberra Show and then sold at the Rapt in Felt Exhibition of the Canberra Region Feltmakers earlier this year.

A friend requested another. So here is version #2, incorporating a border of floating silk to represent the foot of the Hydatina Hydatis sea snail, transformed into a swimming organ.

Latest additions.

To celebrate the birth of identical twins to my nephew and his wife, I have made a revised version of the Heirloom Blanket - smaller snuggle size for pram and bassinet (86 x 53cms).



Ava Wilhelmine



Emily Sophia

Studio Altenburg - Summer Exhibition

Sea and Sand - Large scarf/Stole. Hand felted with hand dyed tissue silk and merino wool. (203x43cms)



Detail - Sea and Sand



Habitat - Wrap for shoulder or skirt. Hand felted Habotai silk, hand dyed with beach stones, merino wool and tissue silk embellishment. (126x66cms)



Detail - Habitat: Sooty Oyster Catcher.

(This piece has been sold.)

Paper & Silk Group Exhibition at Studio Altenburg, Wallace Street, Braidwood.

Opening on Friday 29th October at 6pm and running through Summer.

A magnificent, changing showcase of the beauty of hand made paper and books lovingly bound and decorated; pairs of framed works on paper from artists from all over Australia - lino cuts, collages, watercolours, gouache, graphite, pen and ink drawings etc; plant printed silks and Nuno Silk wearable art; japanese silk wraps; wood block printed hand made papers; sewn and silk bound journals covered in magnificent japanese papers and more.

Samples of students' work from our recent "Creating with Prefelt" Workshop held in Braidwood.

Braidwood Regional Art Group Exhibition

…And straightway the hues of their feathers unfolden

Are the green and the purple, the blue and the golden.

“Bellbirds” by Henry Kendall (1839 – 1882)

“Feather Hat”

(Size: medium)

Hand felted, stitched and sculpted with merino wool, mercerised embroidery cotton and wire by Lis Mertens.

For the:

Second BRAG Exhibition for 2010. – “The Braidwood Open”

Theme: “Birds & Poets”

When: Opening November 10 – closing November 20 – the week before the Braidwood Quilt Event

Where: The National Theatre

Wallace Street,

Braidwood NSW

Unfortunately, this exhibition is not going ahead.

More blossoms...

apple, and



quince.

Pademelon - Spring

Both these wraps are hand felted using a combination of hand made and machine- needled pre-felt and nude coloured tissue silk.

Cherry Blossom scarves.

detail



Hand felted using yoryu silk chiffon, machined pre-felt and hand dyed, uncarded merino wool.

Cherry Blossom, 2010.

The Challenge, 2010.

This year the Challenge is to interpret a photograph in felt. Photos were available at earlier meetings in sealed envelopes.
Interpretations can be in 2 or 3D, but should be small enough to fit in a shoe box.
Entries will be displayed at the AGM/Christmas meeting in November, and the winner will be determined by a special guest mystery judge.
The winner will have the honour of holding the "Ashes" for the next year. The "Ashes are the remains of the CRF's rainbow tepee which was destroyed in the 2003 Canberra bushfires.

My first attempt:



My second attempt:



While our annual challenge is designed to stretch and challenge our feltmaking ideas and skills, it is also meant to be a bit of fun, which a hand felted rock doorstop certainly is.

Pademelon - " Moonlight"

Detail

Workshop: creating with prefelt.

I will be running a school holiday workshop on Thursday, 7th October at the Central School in Braidwood.

Participants will have the opportunity to explore some of the many and varied ways in which prefelt can be used to create a finished piece of felt.

Numbers are limited and places are filling fast, so leave a comment for further information and to book your place.

Some examples of pieces created with prefelt.


"Scribbly Gum" hat, hand felted, merino wool with hand and machine made prefelts and hand spun yarn.


"Scribbly Gum" merino wool scarf, hand felted with machine made prefelt.


"Autumn Leaves" wrap, leaves were pre-cut from machine made merino wool prefelt and hand felted onto silk chiffon.


Scarf with hand made merino wool prefelt, hand felted onto silk chiffon with silk embellishment.

For Fathers Day

Hand felted, single thickness, merino wool scarves for those still chilly September mornings and evenings in the South.

l-r Urban, black and china blue; urban, smudge and moss; and smudge, black and turkish red.

Weekend workshop with Claire Hayashi

Participants began the workshop with Claire, who specializes in pictorial felt, by sharing prefelts to create a picture.




"KIngs Canyon", strips of prefelt laid side by side and overlaid with silk.

Happy birthday, David.

Single thickness scarf in merino wool.

Cherry blossoms in merino wool and mohair yarn on silk chiffon.

Made to order scarf in double thickness merino wool for the discerning Italian motor cycle rider.

Another in the Pademelon range, "Midsummer" - wrap in hand dyed silk chiffon and merino wool.

Hand felted overjacket in merino wool, hand dyed silk hankies and tie dyed Indian silk from Gujarat.

Some shapes, patterns and colours brought back from the remote island of Hoga, located off the south-east coast of Sulawesi, Indonesia. It's an island situated close to one of the best reefs in the region for diving and snorkeling.

Despite bombing of the reef being the preferred method of fishing some 15 years ago, it continues to provide a rich habitat for a wide variety of tropical marine life. The colours and their combinations are an inspiration for transformation into pieces using wool and silk.

Of particular interest to me is the shell on the bottom right, with it's extensions, as well as another shell - hydatina hydatis - I spotted in a reference book, a picture of which showed parts of the body of the shellfish - lanaellae - extended outside of it's shell, waving around like silk in the wind.

Collaboration

The collaboration continues with this wrap on yoryu silk chiffon. (October, 2010)
(Photo by Lis Mertens)


I am most fortunate to have the opportunity to collaborate with a very astute, fellow lover of textiles.

Together we have come up with new colour combinations for the Pademelon Wrap. This one is "After the Firestorm".




These photos by Sandra Fisher.

Time to deliver

Saturday is the deadline to deliver work for the annual Rapt in Felt Exhibition, Fashion Parade and Bazaar held by Canberra Region Feltmakers Inc., at the CSIRO Discovery Centre in Clunies Ross Road, Black Mountain, ACT.

The Exhibition opens on Wednesday, 26th May at 7.30 and will continue through to 4pm on Sunday 30th May. There will be a fashion parade of members' pieces at 12.30pm on both Friday and Saturday.

I will be entering some new work in all three areas.

The tunic below will appear in the Fashion Parade. It is handfelted in merino wool with silk inserts which were hand painted by Alison Alder.






This "Scarfigan" in autumn tones, with pockets, will be in the exhibition along with an Heirloom Blanket and a fine nuno kerchief based on a shell design, hand felted with silk chiffon, merino wool and mohair yarn.

There are some new pieces to go in to the Bazaar.



A Red Scarfigan in merino wool with pockets.



An 80's revival wrap using recycled indian cotton voile designed by Susan Howard for Amnesty International, and merino wool.
Photo by Kim Hopper.



and a poncho / wrap in merino wool on silk chiffon.

I will be on roster all day Friday 28th May, so come and introduce yourself.

I look forward to meeting you and sharing all the colour and excitement of the show.

This week's work

And for something completely different... the results of a weekend workshop with Anita Larkin.

I created these 3D objects using a variety of multiple resists including shade cloth, fabric, bubble wrap and an orange!



Perfect for the autumn chill, a nuno felted scarf in merino wool on silk chiffon.

New work