Fantasy flower nuno felt scarf

Keeping on a theme of undyed tissue silk as a base for my scarves, which I rather like as it allows the bold colours of the flowers to stand out, I have taken lots of hand dyed silk, cotton scrim, silk tops and hankies and added them to both ends, to create a fantasy flower effect.  Adding a hint of Angelina fibre to the centres of the flowers, catches the light and gives a subtle dash of sparkle.

This one predominant colours are rose, lavender and heliotrope, with some aqua green for leaves.

The long edges of the scarf are more fluted than usual too, as I laid the wool in a different direction this time as I wanted more of a softer, cobwebby effect, which I am happy with.

Blue and pink flower scarves together

Nuno felt scarf – Fantasy flower – tissue silk, merino, silk hankies, silk tops, cotton scrim – all hand dyed

Closeup of nuno felted flower scarf – Fantasy flower – tissue silk, merino, silk hankies, silk tops, cotton scrim – all hand dyed

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New wall hanging – with bobbly bits!

I’ve been waiting for some wool nepps to arrive.

Wool nepps – ‘bobbly bits’!

Nepps are round, bobbly bits of wool that can be used in felting.  Gawd knows which part of the sheep they come from, but since I saw some on a website I’ve been itching to get my hands on some.

They arrived yesterday.

As I’d had a while to let my imagination run riot while I was waiting for Canadian and Australia Posts to talk to each other, I came upon a variation on a theme.  Another beach, only this time, instead of turning it into a realistic painting, I wanted to make it more impressionistic.

What was I going to do with my bobbly bits?

When I saw a photo of nepps, they reminded me of the smooth small pebbles I’d enjoyed sitting on when I was at Monaco another lifetime ago.

In the felt painting I envisaged, these little nepps would make great closeup grains of sand.

I’ve made this one a long, thin wall hanging 27 x 50 cm approximately.  It has lovely bright colours that flow from deep blue sky, to turquoise ocean, to yellow sandy beach, to white dunes with sand and some impressions of grass and rock/shell details.

Nepps layout

The nepps were a little harder to felt than regular wool tops, but I persevered and most of them felted in.  I rather like the effect.

Ocean Sparkle

While I was ordering the nepps, I also ordered three little bags of different coloured Angelina Fibre.  This is great stuff and extremely reflective.  Less is more with this stuff unless you’re going for a disco look.

I added a few strands on top of the white silk tops that highlighted the waves rolling onto the beach. At different angles the light catches the fibre, and it looks like ocean spray sparkling in the sun.

Tiny threads of angelina fibre on top of the silk tops, to create ‘ocean spray’ effect.

The finished wall hanging

So, here it is, and I’m very happy with the result.  I like the longer thinner shape of this one.

Beach wall hanging, drying

I think the colours work well, and there’s enough detail to make it interesting without overdoing it… keeping it simple.

It is a style I will use again.

What next?

I have another piece of felt batt that I used as my ‘canvas’, so I want to make another wall hanging in a similar impressionistic style.

Not sure yet whether to do another beach scene, so I have a diptych, or a different theme altogether.

New felting skill – 3D flowers

I just learned to make a 3D rose.  It used several layers of bubble wrap with holes in the centre and a little imagination.  Made with merino wool and a little silk plus a tiny amount of angelina fibre.

No more talking, just showing:

3D rose drying on a rack in the kitchen.