Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Wet Felt Workshop

I have to say...I just loved taking this class! The "Felting Flat, Wet Felt Workshop" given by LAFTA (Louisville Area Fiber and Textile Artists) member Judy Goodwin was such fun. We were taught how to make a piece of hand-made felt. The size of my piece is approximately 11" X 12 1/2". All the pieces were very different. There wasn't a great selection of colors, but the point of the class was to learn how to make the felt--not specific design. I really love the process of making the felt--the "something from nothing" concept; I love the feel of the fiber.
After all the pieces were finished, each class participant showed their piece. Suggestions were made as to the possible uses for the pieces. Several participants thought mine reminded them of a horse hide. (It reminded Robin of a squished "yipper dog." She suggested I call the piece "Yip No More!" It reminds me of "road kill" or an animal pelt of some kind. While I was working on it and the wool roving pieces were all wet, it looked like the stuff you would find in your shower drain!) I'm thinking of doing some hand embellishments on the piece--maybe similar to cave paintings of horses or African masks or... Now that I have the piece, I'm not sure what to do with it, but it will be fun experimenting. This is my second "art" piece of the year. I "vowed" to make 12 fiber art pieces by the end of the year. We'll see how it turns out. Hopefully, it looks better than squished yipper dogs and road kill!

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