My first wet-felted wall hanging

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Here is the felted painting. I will embroider in details when its dry. However, I’m pleased with how it has turned out. I like how the pineapple fields details show through. 🙂

I usually paint in acrylics, but since I’ve been felting for a few years, I’ve exercised my creative juices through wool and silk.

A few months ago I experimented with a felt ‘painting’ of Uluru.  It wasn’t bad, but was rough and ready in a few ways.  However it showed me that I had the potential to turn wool rovings into a recognizable picture.

Today was the day.  I got out my wool rovings, silk tops, silk noile, silk hankies and odd scraps of patterned chiffon and lace and a piece of cream pre-felt.

Then I took a deep breath.

This had been several weeks ‘cooking’ on the inside after I had the desire to make a felt wall hanging, but like any good baby it does take a while to bring it all together on the inside before it makes its appearance in the outer world.

I can’t say exactly what goes on in my psyche when I’m cooking a painting, but I think a lot of it is accepting the idea, pulling together thoughts about what I can make and how I can best bring it into reality.  Then there are the resistances that my desires and thoughts butt up against.  The ones that caution me not to waste resources in case it turns out like a dog’s dinner, or what will happen if I put all that time into creating something beautiful but which turns out like Rosemary’s Baby.

I’m all for fun and like to avoid frustration like most of us, so over the years I’ve learned not to physically start the project until I feel ready.  Otherwise the whole thing becomes an exercise in pulling teeth: very painful and very laborious.

Well enough rambling, I’ve got a few pics to document the process for anyone that’s interested.

You know, it never ceases to amaze me that you can basically start with raw unspun wool, mash it together with soapy water for ages and you end up with a stunning fabric.

Enough said.  Here’s today’s work:

Here is one of my paintings of Coonowrin that I used as a guide for my felt ‘painting’. I used this because the size was large enough for me to see without glasses lol, and also I knew the mountain detail was accurate.

Here is the piece of pre-felt I used for the base of the felt ‘painting’.

Here is the beginning of the wool layout. As you can see, I started with the sky in variations of blues.

Here is a piece of pre-felt that I am making which will be cut out as the shape of Mt. Coonowrin. I’m using a pre-felt piece as I want a specific shape, and if I just use wool rovings, I can’t guarantee they’ll stay in the shape I place them. Felting is a bit like painting with water colours in that regard.

Here is a blend of greens and black that I used to create definition on the mountain and also at the base of the rocky part, where the mountain meets the green hill.

Here is the finished wool layout. As you can see, I have used lots of shades of wool rovings. I have also added silk noile to give pineapple fields detail, sillk tops to add lustre, pieces of patterned lace and chiffon to add detail to the base of the hill. In the front I’ve added three rocks on the right and a pineapple on the left.

Felted (wool has ‘stuck together’) – now for the fulling process (where it shrinks to 30% of its original size).

Here is the felted painting. I will embroider in details when its dry. However, I’m pleased with how it has turned out. I like how the pineapple fields details show through.

Felted wall hanging, drying against the backdrop of Coochin Hills, also in the Glasshouse Mountains. Size is now approximately 30 x 45 cm

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