Well, I have not been so great at keeping you posted, have I?!!!
I have had the best week of my creative life in Haliburton.
My friend and I have both said that we will certainly make this kind of get-away an annual thing...maybe even twice a year...why not!
The Haliburton School of the Arts is an off site campus of the Fleming college located in the Haliburton Highlands.
The course took us from the art of felting to embellishing with embroidery, beads quilting and so much more.
The group was small and we all worked very hard and passionately on every piece we tackled. I left feeling so motivated, inspired and ready to create.
Then
REALITY CHECK!
I am watching over my two little grandchildren for the next 7 weeks because my daughter's maternity leave is over! When I come home at 5, I'm out of energy to start felting.
So, the ideas are simmering away in my head and as soon as school is done and daughter is on holidays and I am back in my studio, I'll be back at it in full force.
In the meantime I'm enjoying the wet kisses and hugs from the little ones.
But I can show you some pictures of a few things I made.
First day was to make landscape felted panel.
This picture shows the fibre layed out before wetting and felting stage.
I did not continue to document the process...but this is what it looks like now.
A bit of embroidery has been added. More will be added, maybe some beads too.
This is not yet completed but you get the idea.
Just experimenting with colour and pencil roving...not too crazy about the colours and this piece does not speak to me at all....call it a learning piece.
A merino silk blend roving gives a wonderful effect. The silk seems to just float and create wisps of softness and texture. It does take more work to felt it so beware!
I have no idea how this piece will be used but Maggie (the teacher) uses pieces like this and creates wonderful wall art and adds quilting and some needle felting.
Pieces of burlap make an interesting background to felt upon.
Night sky over water
Small rocks were placed between layers of wool. Once the piece was partically felted, the rocks were removed by cutting a small bit of felt and the felting and fulling continued.
I was on a night sky kind of mood all week and this piece also has dark sky, water and large moon. It's been tacked to a hand dyed piece of cotton and batting and will be quilted by machine one day.
Next time, I will share the scarves and vessels that I made.
