Wool and Felting
Needlefelt Creations
Most of my creations are landscapes based on scenes around Scotland, places my husband and I have visited or places we would like to visit, but I do other landscapes around the UK.
Occasionally inspiration will come from something in my head, an old drawing, a blend of wool or nature..
I was taught to needlefelt by Anne Arnold from
Solway Woolscapes
and I was taught to dye by my mum.
This is a selection of my landscapes, all of which are original one off pieces, never to be repeated. I have lots of pictures available at the fairs I attend or you can order a picture from me.
Idea to Picture - The process of creating a landscape
Most of my pictures are based on landscapes around Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland. I start with a picture of the landscape and then start building up layer by layer until I have something I am happy with. These are not copies of those landscape pictures but an interpretation of them with a certain amount of artistic licence thrown in! Each piece can take me anywhere from 15 minutes to a week to complete depending on the size, design and how I feel about it as I felt.
I use a lot of curls in my work, either Wensleydale or Blue Face Leister, I love them for the texture and interest they add. I also use a lot of my own processed and hand dyed texel wool which comes from my neighbours sheep. I also buy some of my colours and blends either from World of Wool, which is also where I get all my pre-felt.
I start with a piece of pre felt
A rough layer of wool is added
Then felted in
Iron flat
Start adding the furthest away detail
Then the next layer
and the next
and the finishing touches
Cleaning and Dyeing Raw Fleece
Processing and Dyeing my own wool is an integral part of my art. All of my hand processed wool comes from Dumfries and Galloway so 90% of the wool I use in my pieces has travelled less than 20 miles.
To process raw fleece (fleece that has not been cleaned at all and contains all the oils, bits of twig and plant and possibly poo), you first need to wash it. As I am only needle felting I can be a little rougher with the fleece than if I were using it to spin. A warm bath and plenty of shampoo is what you need, plus good ventilation and rubber gloves. The wool may take one, two, three or more washes to get it to the stage where its clean enough to be used.
After its cleaned the wool gets dyed, we use Acid Dyes and Citric Acid to get the vibrant colours. We use dyes from George Weil and Colour Craft. After all this the wool is ready to use, some of it I card, the process of combing the fleece, but some I use as it is as it adds great texture to my wool paintings.
