Felting and Fabric Cats

It's been a great start to the new year - a few days at the beautiful and peaceful Bodhi Glades in Wentworth Falls (Blue Mountains), lots of successful sales on ETSY, a visit from Riikka's mother and sister from Finland, a lovely "welcome to Australia' with friends (24 of us in total) on Monday night at our place, and the usual busy days with Dylan and Brandon, our older grandsons ... as well as some creative work, of course. I have been trying to get some samples prepared for my workshops with The Eclectic Studio in Sydney later in the year. I even had to write an artist bio - I felt a bit stange having to do that, but you can check it out on the studio's website : http://www.eclecticstudio.com.au/ and follow the prompts from "class and workshops" to "meet the teachers". While you're there, please check it all the great stuff and workshops Roz is offering this year.

Anyway, this week I did manage to complete a sample (pictured) - a kind of "sea" bracelet made of felted beads, embroidered with glass beads and accompanied by foil glass beads. Even if I say so myself, it looks quite spectacular when it is worn. I have also half -made a necklace in similar colours with an elongated focal felted bead perhaps a photo next week? The beads are needle felted, wet felted and then finally needle felted again to make them really firm - I am not sure if this is the usual technique other felters use, but I found it the best way to make beads as firm as a tennis ball, whatever the size. I remembered this time to weigh the wool roving before felting so each bead is the same size.

I have also been making fabric cats this week. I purchased some metres of Laurel Burch cat print fabric soon after she tragically died last year, as a sign of the great respect I have for this exuberant designer. I am not really a great lover of cats, but I do love the fabric. Like a lot of things in my stash, they stay there for ages until almost forgotten and suddenly, I do something about them. Late last year, I made quite a few of these cats for an exhibition at Lorne Gallery. Since then I have adapted the pattern, and finished these four yesterday... actually I made five,but Brandon wanted one of them which had a fabric depicting planets and stars, so only these four made it to my ETSY shop. 1. Carnelian Cat, 2 Chinese Fortune Cat, 3. Hydrangea Cat and 4. Valentine Cat For a better look and more detailed descriptions, please have a look at them listed in the ETSY shop http://www.empresswu.etsy.com/.

While I was in my workroom yesterday trying to finish some alterations to newly purchased clothing for my daughter , Brandon (grandson, nearly 5) also did some needle felting - I have a Clover needle felting tool which is excellent for small children as it has a safety cover around the needles and a locking mechanism. I also gave him some large biscuit cutters and egg rings and he placed the wool inside these shapes, and kept his fingers on the outside - safe felting! Here is a photo of his work in progress - a lot more was added throughout the day.

Hope you all have a creative week , Wilma

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...

"Temari Or Not Temari?" Tutorial

Background Information: Temari (literally translated “hand ball”) is a Japanese folk craft that is alleged to have originated in China and was introduced to Japan five or six hundred years ago. Traditionally, the balls were constructed from wrapped kimono fabric remnants and silk threads. They were made by mothers and grandmothers for children to play with. Nowadays, decorative embroidered temari represent a highly valued and cherished gift symbolizing friendship and loyalty. Recently I've wondered if your don't use traditional techniques whether you should call what you create "temari". That is an ongoing debate but today I share what I do to make a "non-traditional temari".... 1.I start with a polystrene ball ( traditionally the balls were wound silk scraps or other organic materials) and begin to wrap with approx 4 ply wool, turning the ball as I wrap. 2. I then wrap another layer of wool in a similar fashion , this time a 3 or 2 ...

From my workshop page....

Current Workshops Offerings Thinking of a workshop for your group in 2022? Art Doll Workshops : - Garden Thread Dolls (one day workshop - WoW -(Woman of Wisdom) - embellished stump doll with either cloth head or clay head. This is an a rt doll workshop .... either offered as a series of workshops or 2 full days days! - Message/Story Stick doll - doll made with found objects and upcycled cloth. ( one day) - Elemental totems - stick doll variation , with sculpture ( one or two days, depending on surface decoration of fabric) TEXTILE AND MIXED MEDIA WORKSHOPS Temari - embroidered wrapped balls in traditional style. - Dipping Into Tea - tea and embroidery on canvas with photo transfer on fabric. ( two days) work by Judith Bee, workshop participant. - Tea Bag sculpture : ...

Empress Wu Designs with Wilma

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