Skip to main content

Feltfollies

These are FELTFOLLIES - embellished felt shapes which magically develop personalities of their own. I made these three during the week, showed them in Sydney at Hello Dollies on Saturday, and today they are in my ETSY shop. Clockwise from left to right are Feltfollie High Five - a cheerful but thoughtful character who gives you a high 5 rather demurely; Feltfollie Fashionista who is a fashion statement with silver handbag, and high heeled shoes and a fascinator with Swarovski crystals; and Feltfollie Faith - a quiet meditative type. They are a bit "way out there" but such fun to make. Each has a brooch pin attached to the back, to make them into wearable brooches, handbag accessories or just special treasures to uplift one's spirits. The felt shapes have been made with my felt embellishing machine (Janome Expression) and include wool, novelty yarns, mohair, silk rods, silk ribbon and even a piece of heated tyvek.

I was very excited on Saturday to have my White Knight and Owl Woman returned, with blue ribbons and red rosettes from the Sydney Doll and Bear Guild Show 2008 - which was held in Hornsby last weekend. I was even more thrilled to get such positive critiques from the judge - 100 points for the beaded knight and horse ( it also won first prize in the mixed media section of the Contemporary Clay Competition last month) and 98 points for the owl woman. Congratulations to Dolly friends, Ann Maullin who won the professional section with the really stunning doll she made for the last challenge, and Marg Laughlin whose beautiful doll, Hunter Belle, won the cloth doll section.



Remember to check out the great items in the ETSY DUST team sale ( this month - only a few days left- to get a bargain in the Oceans and Islands theme sale. Just look for items with the tag 'DUST TEAM SALE '. DUST (Down Under Street team) is a group of Australian Artists, Craftspeople and Artisans who support ETSY and wish to promote independent handcrafted goods here in Australia and worldwide.

Comments

  1. Congratulations Wilma, very well deserved!!, I love your felted bags in your previous post too, they are gorgeous. Will be in touch soon re sale day
    Tracy

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Thanks for reading my blog and please share your thoughts about my blog post by leaving a comment.Your comment won't appear immediately as comments are verified before publication in an effort to reduce the amount of spam appearing. Anonymous comments will not be published.

Popular posts from this blog

Fish and Sticks : Art Dolls

This week I've been working on fish and sticks ....  The sticks are the message stick art dolls which were very popular, attracting some attention and a few orders at the Wise Women exhibition. Each of the message stick dolls are from the Wise Women series, each with her own personality and  message of wisdom, handwritten on a handmade timber tag. I gather the sticks during my walks around my neighbourhood and the tags are made from special bits of timber, some collected by me or  my husband or from off cuts gifted to us  from another doll making friend whose husband makes bagpipes. These dolls start off very simply with a wrap around a stick, in the general shape of a body. 'Naked" message stick dolls - strips of wadding wrapped around found sticks.   Then I usually wrap other layers of fabric, wool, and/or fibres, over which I do some simple embroidery. I sculpt  or mould small face masks for these dolls. I really like using "sari ribbon" as w...

Fabric Tags for Tag Tuesday

At Tag Tuesday, this fortnight Sandie  is hosting the Steampunk/Mechanical challenge. Although this isn't a theme I usually tackle, Sandie's tags are so fantastic and inspirational that I was motivated to create a tag this afternoon. I had some fabrics on my desk which I discharge dyed last week.and this piece with the addition of a few copper cogs reminded me of " industrial and mechanical" . The way the background fabric was created was by applying bleach gel with a roller over the top of a plastic stencil. The fabric was originally a  bluish dark grey   cotton, When the bleach had removed the colour, the process was halted with a commercial  neutralizing solution  called AntiChlor. I have been told that a vinegar solution  will also stop the discharge of colour and act as a neutraliser. The metal cogs were stitched on to the fabric by hand. Here are  a couple of great resource sites for discharging colour with bleach. - Threads ...

Lilly Pilly

Today is Australia Day. I chose a photo of some Lilly Pilly berries as a celebratory image for this national day. Lilly Pilly is  a common name for a plant, Syzygium smithii which grows mostly in Eastern Australia, from the northern  rain forests of Queensland, throughout NSW to the southern Wilson's Promontory in Victoria. In New Zealand it is called "monkey apple, but other names used in Australia, besides lilly pilly, are Eungella Gum and Coast Satinash. The largest Lilly Pilly recorded was found in Dingo Creek Flora Reserve, near Tenterfield where I once lived.  The tree now growing in my garden was once a small seedling which I was gifted when I left Woolgoolga, a small coastal town in northern NSW. Its name  is said to come from the Aboriginal word 'weelgoolga' describing the lilly pilly which grows in profusion there. It is probably no surprise that the lilly pilly berries are edible as bush tucker, and make a beautiful jam or jelly. I have even seen re...