Arty Places 2011 #5

Continuing the series of  Arty Places,  last week, I visited a great  little shop, Feltfine  .  Feltfine is a wonderful resource and treasure trove of fibres at 156 Beaumont Street, Hamilton ( Newcastle NSW) . It has everything for felters, spinners and weavers and for those who just love beautiful felted art, whether it is decorative, utilitarian or wearable. Creating a visual heaven for fibre artists are fine felted items, fleece, fibres, silk, and dyes and other supplies.  It was a lovely surprise and an exciting discovery for me. Recently I have not been such a frequent visitor to  Beaumont Street, since Anne's Glory Box moved to New Lambton. However, I realise I'll be there much more often now with  both Timeless Textiles and Feltfine in the same street.

My purchase was not terribly exciting this time, but  I'll be going back. Great service by Kris and fantastic fibres made shopping at Feltfine a really enjoyable experience.  I bought some black wool tops ( roving) as I plan to create a  new doll - another of my bird women, on a Halloween theme.

I recently finished a wrapped armature doll with a "skin" of  hand dyed panne velvet ( photo below) - there are at least two interpretations of this doll .

The first  is half insect - half woman, or the second is inspired by the story of Britomaris, who trying to escape from King Minos of Crete, jumped off a cliff into the sea and was miraculously saved by fishing nets. I like the idea of half -half so I hope to make another  doll using the same technique, but with a felted "skin" using the black wool  I purchased from Feltfine and  perhaps a felted head of a black raven. Mmm .... I'm still thinking about the wings ....  perhaps some silk from Feltfine for a bit of nuno felting?