Mid-Term Project and Exhibit

To say that I have been busy over the past few months is an understatement. Between work and school and projects I had little free time and that free time was mostly spent sleeping. Now that I'm on break, it's time to play catch up. First, a review of my Feltmaking mid-term and some words about the exhibition I was in. I'll cover my final projects in another post since I have too much ground to cover. Next semester I'll have to be better about keeping up with the blog.

Laying out the wool roving for the base

The semester was amazing. Given that I was completely terrified about what was ahead the first couple of weeks of class, I was doubtful that things would turn out okay. But once I settled in I actually started to enjoy myself. By midterms I was really getting into classes and I made this really cool felt sculpture that looks kind of like a tentacled monster. Here it is, step-by-step.

Pre-Felt stage and adding felted spikes

I first felted the base of the project, laying it out flat. I knew I wanted the final piece to be sculptural but I decided to work flat and insert wire later on for shape. Once I laid the roving out, I pre-felted it and added felted spikes once the base dried. The spikes were insert from the inside out since the inside wouldn't be visible when the piece was complete.

Inserting rubber tubing as a resist

When I finished inserting all the spikes I began to sew in some rubber tubing as a resist. With the tubing in place, I could later come back and insert wire to form the piece into something three dimensional. This was by far the most time-consuming step of the project. Not only did I have to carefully hand-sew each of the lengths of tubing in so they wouldn't move around once I felted another layer over them, but I then had to remove all the stitches once they were secured so it wasn't visible from the outside.

The legs in their pre-felted stage.

Then it was on to the legs. The legs you see here are actually the second set I made. The first set didn't come together as nicely as I would have liked and I spent so much time and effort on the base of the project that I didn't want to ruin it all by attaching legs to it that didn't fit my high standard of quality. If something is worth doing, it's worth doing right, right? Anyway, I constructed the legs by winding the wool roving around some flexible armature wire. I did two layers of contrasting colors so that I could cut multicolored stripes into them after the pre-felt stage.                        



Once the legs were finished and dry, I was able to start assembling the finished piece. I cut holes in the

Assembling the finished piece

middle of the base and threaded the legs through. After that, I flipped the piece over and sewed the petal structures together so it would form a sort of pod shape. It didn't turn out exactly like I thought it would, which was a little disappointing, but I did learn a lot while creating this piece. Sometimes messing up is the best lesson there is. I intended for the petals to all come up into a point, but the structure was too wide for them to all come together, so it wound up being open on top. Next time I'll make a better pattern so things match up the way I envision them.  I also would have liked the legs to support the pod but they weren't strong enough in the end. Next time I'll use a thicker gauge wire.

Finished piece, top view

 In any case, I really like the finished piece, flaws and all. It's something I worked really hard on and it's completely different than anything I've ever made before. It was nice to get out of my comfort zone and attempt something totally new. Although this piece was quite a departure from my normal style of art, I do like it and I see myself making similar items in the future.

Finished piece, side view

Around the time I was working on this felt piece, I also had the chance to be part of the Morgan Conservatory's annual open house exhibition and silent auction. I donated a piece made entirely of origami folded paper, sewn onto a 2ft by 2ft canvas. I made the piece over the summer and was so proud to finally see it displayed for all to see. The open house was great fun, with live music and amazing food and my piece even got auctioned for a respectable amount. I already can't wait for next year's event.

Me, smiling next to my lovely piece